The Official Scoop on DCA's Unofficial Morning Opening Hours

[DVCRocks]

Thanks for all of the great info on this. We're staying at the Grand Cal for our first trip in August, so I'm combing the boards looking for tips. This is a great one. Thanks again!!

[Disneyland 1951]

UPDATES FROM JULY 1, 2011


These are the changes from the July 1, performance of the 4th of July Pre-show. There are quite a few changes, improvements for most people (BLUE or Non-Fastpass holders), and very bad for the Preferred Dining Fastpass holders that do not arrive very early.

PREFERRED DINING Area was again reduced by eliminating the Upper Stairs to Yellow and Blue, and the Flat round Fountain and area behind the lamps were changed to YELLOW ??? The Preferred Dining area was oversold and anyone arriving later than 45 minutes before the show, had a spot worse than many of the Free Fastpass areas. This will make late arriving PD ($40) less than happy. It may be that they are selling fewer PD meals.
BLUE The Entrance was moved from in front of the Mermaid entrance towards the bridge. The Lower areas became PD, the old entrance became an early exit. The upper areas towards the center are easy to get to if you line up early (25 min before the earliest time listed).
YELLOW Is greatly expanded to include the flat area and the area behind two lights that was a bad spot for PD. Just past it towards the Bridge is about 10' of good viewing area!

NEW NON_FASTPASS STANDING They have added standing room in front of the Mermaid Ride and behind BLUE in front of the Red Tower. These are OK views, you will not see as much as if you are at the better Fastpass spots, and fill in 30-45 minutes before show time. A big improvement for those without Fastpasses.

[perlster]

Originally Posted by HydroGuy

What is complicated?

Quantum mechanics is simple.
This is complicated.

[TLPL]

HydroGuy, can you come up with a Super Ultimate plan that cover both DCA's Unofficial Morning Opening Hours and DL Magic Morning for us? We are not local and we don't know all the details about the parks. We are staying at GC I want to get in the park early and do all the most popular rides before the locals show up, and maybe go back to the hotel to swim/ rest during the hottest/ most crowded period of the day, and go back in the parks in the evening to enjoy the shows. Please help.

[meljensmom]

Originally Posted by HydroGuy

Well, this thread is not official anything - I just thought it made for a catchy title. But it does relate some solid and confirmed information about DCA's opening time. Which is confusing because DCA always opens earlier than its posted time. Don't ask me why. It is just how Disney does things.

The question of DCA opening pops up a lot in conjunction with World of Color and the Soarin' Over California ride and FPs. Here is what you need to know:


o Year round DCA opens officially at 10AM.


o For many years DCA has opened every day unofficially at 9:30AM. Never has Disney published this, but it is a well known fact and it is available to all guests - offsite, onsite or day trippers. During the first 30 minutes only one ride is open - Soarin' Over California. And the Soarin' FP machines are open. Since WOC opened in June 2010 DCA has also offered WOC FPs during this first 30 minutes.

Some people use this time to line up for "rope drop" for popular rides like TSMM which do not start until 10AM. And I expect this will also happen for LMAUA starting this summer. Guests are inside DCA but are held back in two places: near the BugsLand entrance and on the GRR route into Paradise Pier. Usually the GRR route is better for rope drop.

There is also a rope drop to the entrance of Hollywood Backlot/HollywoodLand on the way to ToT and MI rides.


o For guests staying at the DLR hotels DCA allows entry at 9AM to get WOC FPs. This is available through the special entrance to DCA through the GCH. Each guest must show proof of being a DLR hotel guest - namely a room key. This perk is also available to those who eat breakfast at one of the GCH restaurants but are not DLR hotel guests. They must show a receipt for their meal. See World of Color Superthread.

The 9AM opening through GCH was used regularly starting with the World of Color debut in June 2010, but there are reports that recently on low crowd days this is not available at 9AM. Which means it would then be available at 9:30AM at the latest.

These guests can also get best position for rope drop if they are so inclined.

June 8, 2011 Update...: Since the Little Mermaid ride opened last Friday it appears Disney is letting DL hotel guests ride it at 9AM and everyone else at starting at 9:30AM.

July 2, 2011 Update...: We rode LM last week at 9:35AM and they checked our GCH room key cards to make sure we were Disney hotel guests. It appears that LM is reserved for hotel guests 9-10AM each day, and sometimes they do not check room key cards after 9:30AM and anyone can ride it.

Wow....thanks for this info.....I will definitely make use of it during our trip next summer!!

[HydroGuy]

Originally Posted by TLPL

HydroGuy, can you come up with a Super Ultimate plan that cover both DCA's Unofficial Morning Opening Hours and DL Magic Morning for us? We are not local and we don't know all the details about the parks. We are staying at GC I want to get in the park early and do all the most popular rides before the locals show up, and maybe go back to the hotel to swim/ rest during the hottest/ most crowded period of the day, and go back in the parks in the evening to enjoy the shows. Please help.

RideMax would be your best bet to put together an itinerary. Your basic approach I think is the way to go.

[sonjaandsue]

Sorry if this is a stupid question. Do we need to make sure everyone has a room key? If we have three adults in the room, do we need to make sure we have three room keys to show to get into DCA early? (I'm assuming the 5 yo can get in without a room key).

Thank you HydroGuy!

[longtimedisneylurker]

Originally Posted by sonjaandsue

Sorry if this is a stupid question. Do we need to make sure everyone has a room key? If we have three adults in the room, do we need to make sure we have three room keys to show to get into DCA early? (I'm assuming the 5 yo can get in without a room key).

Thank you HydroGuy!

A room key is provided for each guest. I'm guessing they won't care about children too young to need tickets to the park (under 3), but they certainly did check for room keys for each of my boys when we stayed at the DLH and took advantage of early entry at Disneyland. (The boys were 8 and 10 at the time.) When we entered DCA early, the CM checked our hotel keys and counted the members of our party before letting us proceed. We've only stayed onsite once in the last several years, so I don't know if this is typical or we met particularly diligent CMs.

[PoohBearFriends]

Do you always get the earliest show FP for WOC if you enter in through the GCH entrance at 9am? (Yes I will be staying at a resort).

I am trying to plan our trip and figuring out best night for WOC. I would like the earlier one but didn't know if it was automatic. Our choices are Thurs-Sat. MM a must at 8 am Thurs, 7am Sat and Sun.

[HydroGuy]

Originally Posted by PoohBearFriends

Do you always get the earliest show FP for WOC if you enter in through the GCH entrance at 9am? (Yes I will be staying at a resort).

I am trying to plan our trip and figuring out best night for WOC. I would like the earlier one but didn't know if it was automatic. Our choices are Thurs-Sat. MM a must at 8 am Thurs, 7am Sat and Sun.

Yes.
Read the World of Color Superthread in my signature line for more info.

[PoohBearFriends]

Thanks a lot. Good to know order so we can plan.

One more ? re WOC.

If your party activates or all go in DLR in the morning do they all have to go into DCA to get FP or can one person run over and get FP with everyone's tickets?

To: Hydroguy: Thanks for all the great work on the tips and superthreads. I just linked a co-worker up with 3 of yours for her upcoming 1st trip to get her oriented.

[rramstad]

Originally Posted by PoohBearFriends

Thanks a lot. Good to know order so we can plan.

One more ? re WOC.

If your party activates or all go in DLR in the morning do they all have to go into DCA to get FP or can one person run over and get FP with everyone's tickets?

To: Hydroguy: Thanks for all the great work on the tips and superthreads. I just linked a co-worker up with 3 of yours for her upcoming 1st trip to get her oriented.

If you activate all the passes in DL, then they are active, and one member of the party can take all the passes over to DCA and get the FP, then reenter DL. Make sure to get a hand stamp when exiting DL initially...

(I've heard of entire parties going to DL for MM, then leaving at 9 AM, walking to GCH, using their resort key to enter DCA, getting WOC FP, grabbing Soarin FP, riding Soarin, riding LM, getting to rope drop, and then riding TSMM. It's a bit ambitious, but totally doable.)

[PoohBearFriends]

That of course was my thought but I am not sure I want to walk that much. I just was prefering the times for WOC on Thursday night. We are early to bed and up early on most days.