Question about Early Entry

[TuffyCatt]

Hey all!

Quick question - does anyone have any recent experience with early entry at the DLR? We'll be staying at the Grand Californian for our trip next week and want to take advantage of early entry since we're morning people (and it will be easier for us to handle the mornings thanks to the opposite coast time change anyway!). We'll be planning on doing early entry on both the Disneyland days and the California Adventure days. My main question is, what attractions are currently available during early entry at both parks? Any tips on good attractions to hit during early entry that might be more manageable than during regular park hours?

Thanks for your help! TWO DAYS until we leave for our trip!!!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

If I remember correctly it is Fantasyland and Tomorrowland that are open for early entry. A lot of people head right to Peter Pan and get that out of the way since the line can be long and slow. We went to Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Star Tours, and then hit up almost all of Fantasyland (no Pan or Alice because we had done those a different day) and were heading to Autopia by the time the park officially opened.

 

[dweezil78]

Here's my typical day with the luxury of magic morning. Usually I've done the a significant chunk of the park by lunch this way, leaving the rest of the day to just do whatever. Granted, this is not for families with little ones which I'm not sure if that is your case.

1. Grab a FP for Space Mountain
2. Peter Pan (it will be a solid 35-45 min the rest of the day regardless of crowd size -- could already be a little long if the FP above is a must-have)
3. Alice
4. Matterhorn
5. Star Tours or Nemo, depending on your preference (Star Tours does have FP so you could grab one later on and do Nemo if it's more important to you)
6. Space Mountain - FP slot should be open by now
7. Whatever else is high on your list for Fantasyland or Tomorrowland -- though if you're close to park opening, I recommend...
8. Haul butt toward Splash Mountain on the other side of the park. Grab a FP for Indy on the way
9. Start working your way back towards Indy starting with Haunted Mansion
10. Pirates
11. Indy
12. Everything else... Most of the remaining attractions are generally short waits or even walk-ons. Small World, the other FL rides (Toad, Pinocchio, Snow White), Pooh, Buzz, Tiki Room, etc. You can take your time, explore, whatever.

That formula has never failed me. It requires a bit of hustling up front, but then gives you the rest of the day to really enjoy the park without a strict agenda and hit up some of the big rides a second time.

Also if single rider is not an issue to you, you can save even more time by utilizing it with Matterhorn, Indy, and Splash Mountain.

Enjoy!!!

 

[tare]

Great plan of attack!!!

 

[007mickey]

Here's my typical day with the luxury of magic morning. Usually I've done the a significant chunk of the park by lunch this way, leaving the rest of the day to just do whatever. Granted, this is not for families with little ones which I'm not sure if that is your case.

1. Grab a FP for Space Mountain

I may have missed this on our trip but I don't recall being able to obtain FP's during MM/EMH. I thought FP's weren't available till general public opening time.

 

[TuffyCatt]

I may have missed this on our trip but I don't recall being able to obtain FP's during MM/EMH. I thought FP's weren't available till general public opening time.

That's one thing I've been wondering. From what I've read, this is definitely true for RSR (no fast passes until after the early entry hour - can anyone confirm?). However, how about other attractions in California Adventure and Disneyland - it sound like you are about to pick up fast passes during early entry?

Thanks again - you guys have been so helpful, as always!

...and I'm going to be there TOMORROW!

 

[dweezil78]

I may have missed this on our trip but I don't recall being able to obtain FP's during MM/EMH. I thought FP's weren't available till general public opening time.

You know what, I think you are right. I'm mixing that up with a regular day at the park. In that case, I'd bump Space Mountain down a bit since lines won't be much longer than a walk-on until rope drop.

 

[TuffyCatt]

Cool - between the input from you guys and TouringPlans, I think we'll be able to get everything done during our extra hours regardless of whether there's fastpass or not. We're definitely fans of doing a lot of rides up front so that we can take the afternoons slow to enjoy parades, shows, etc. Thanks again for all the great help!

 

[ToTRider]

You probably have all this settled, but here's what I did: I took advantage of the early entry and went straight for Tomorrowland. I got a Star Tours FP (it wasn't long after it re-opened so I expected long lines), then I hit Space Mountain and the Matterhorn before I was able to get on Star Tours. Do the same for DCA; get a FP for Radiator Springs Racers then hit the more popular rides like ToT, Soarin' Over California, etc. before getting on RSR.

After all of that, you'll feel pretty good knowing you got some rides down before the crowds come pouring in. But like I said, you probably have all this settled...

Have a great trip!

 

[Marc Gil]

Haha thank you for asking this question. I was about to post the same question on the forums. This thread has been lots of help so far!

 

[007mickey]

We need one of the DLR regulars to chime in, I had read (prior to our trip) and saw first hand at RSR that FP's were not given out till normal park opening. Now you can line up for FP's during MM/EMH but they won't start distributing them till around regular opening (at least that's my understanding).

 

[Californian Elitist]

We need one of the DLR regulars to chime in, I had read (prior to our trip) and saw first hand at RSR that FP's were not given out till normal park opening. Now you can line up for FP's during MM/EMH but they won't start distributing them till around regular opening (at least that's my understanding).

This is true.

 

[shipley731]

We need one of the DLR regulars to chime in, I had read (prior to our trip) and saw first hand at RSR that FP's were not given out till normal park opening. Now you can line up for FP's during MM/EMH but they won't start distributing them till around regular opening (at least that's my understanding).

I'm not a DLR regular, but on our visit in May, we were staying at Disneyland Hotel and took advantage of the EMH morning at California Adventure. EMH entry was at 9am that day with the park opening at 10am. We got in about 5 minutes after 9am, and there were folks already waiting in line for FP for RSR. We walked straight over to RSR and the stand by line was only 10 minutes at that point. (My husband & I were prepared to just ride single rider.) We couldn't figure out why anyone would wait in the FP line so they could grab a FP at 10am when they started to distribute them, when the stand by was 10 minutes. By the time we got off the ride, the stand by line was up to 40 minutes, but the park still had not opened. We were able to ride the flying tires ride & the 'Mater tractor ride before the official 10am opening.

 

[TuffyCatt]

I'm here now and can confirm that there are no fast passes until regular park opening for ANY of the rides, DL and DCA. We've been following advice here from the tour books and from you guys and we've been doing great! We're crazy and doing the early 7 am entry every day, but the parks have been pretty crowded (as we would expect for July), so this has allowed us to knock out some of the more major and slow loading attractions in the mornings without much wait and then take the rest of the day at a more leisurely pace and just enjoy our surroundings. Thanks to all the help with planning, we have been the family to count down the opening to Disneyland yesterday, the very first family on Peter Pan yesterday, on the very first car of the day for Radiator Springs Racers today, have had some amazing food, and generally having an awesome time. Thank you all for your help!