Divide and Conquer at Park Entrance?

[Buzzandthemermaid]

You guys have been so helpful as we plan our first WDW trip with our DS (5.5 Months). It will be DD's (4.5 Years) sixth trip. We leave in 10 days!

I have a question about the entrance to the park. As I understand it, bag/stroller check has gotten a bit more stringent. We are taking a city mini double stroller for the kids. Also, this will be the first trip DD will have an actual ticket and she'll have to use the finger scan. To maximize efficiency, I am thinking of having DW and DD go in the no-bag line and load DH (me) and DS up with the bags on the double stroller and we go in the bag line. The hope is DW and DD will get through the no-bag line much quicker than us and can then move on to the ticket line where DD may encounter slight delays with the finger scan. I won't be long in the finger scan line since it's just me. Then we'll all just all meet up at the front of the park on go on our way. Does this sound better than having us all go together? TIA for your help!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Honestly, I don't see what the difference is. If you are all meeting up once you get beyond the tapstiles, it isn't going to save you any time. You DW and DD will have to wait for you to get through bag check regardless of if they are waiting with you or beyond the tapstiles, so I"m not exactly sure why you are dividing up. If the goal was for DW and DD to get into the park to get to an attraction, yes, this would be the best way to do it, but that doesn't seem to be the plan.

 

[Princess Minnie321]

We all stayed together and we also had a city mini double. I was in front with all the bags unzipped and ready to be checked. They want to look in everything including the bag with the rain cover if you are renting one. Once they checked the bags, DH pushed the stroller up. We had some guards who would look behind the stroller visors and in the basket. The kids sat in the stroller at this point.

My DD is 3 and had a hard time with the finger scan. They reset hers and used DH's finger. So once through the bag check, I would help DS scan and DD and DH went together as well, but we were in the same line. There would be two places to scan in each line so we used both. The delays were not terrible. The longest wait we had was AK, but the rest of the parks, we were in quickly. It is busy and chaotic so we felt it was easier to just all stay together.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

I agree with DisneyWishes14. Don't split up, you aren't going to save any time. Worst case, your daughter can't get the hang of the finger scan thing and it takes a whopping 30 seconds to figure it out. Surely you can spare 30 seconds.

Splitting up risks not actually being able to find each other which will add way more to your time. Additionally, it can be helpful to have extra hands at the bag check station. One person to push the stroller, and the other person to unzip all the zippers on the bags and then zip them all back up again.

My advice, stick both kids in the stroller. Go through security together, and expect to spend a few extra seconds teaching your daughter how to use her ticket for the first time. She's actually going to think that part is pretty cool.

We have split up many times "to save time." And it almost always results in us waiting around excessive amounts of time trying to find each other again.

 

[maxiesmom]

Also people who go thru the bag check line are more liable to have to go thru the metal detector too.

 

[thelittlemermaid2]

I think I agree! Splitting up would save around 1 minute maximum of time, it might be easier to stick together!

 

[lpizzuro123]

Don't know if there is any difference in splitting up but PLEASE have your bags out and unzipped as much as possible.

Thanks,
Linda

 

[DisneyOma]

You guys have been so helpful as we plan our first WDW trip with our DS (5.5 Months). It will be DD's (4.5 Years) sixth trip. We leave in 10 days!

I have a question about the entrance to the park. As I understand it, bag/stroller check has gotten a bit more stringent. We are taking a city mini double stroller for the kids. Also, this will be the first trip DD will have an actual ticket and she'll have to use the finger scan. To maximize efficiency, I am thinking of having DW and DD go in the no-bag line and load DH (me) and DS up with the bags on the double stroller and we go in the bag line. The hope is DW and DD will get through the no-bag line much quicker than us and can then move on to the ticket line where DD may encounter slight delays with the finger scan. I won't be long in the finger scan line since it's just me. Then we'll all just all meet up at the front of the park on go on our way. Does this sound better than having us all go together? TIA for your help!

This may save you a minute or two of time? Or it may take more time to find each other after - and it may flag your wife and daughter over to the metal detectors.

 

[The Yodeling Cowgirl]

We went on a trip in Sept, and used this approach with bag check. I always took the stroller and cooler through security myself while DH and DD (3) went through the no bag line. However, we did always go through the turnstiles together as the finger scan did not always work well for DD.. I did not want to have one adult through the turnstiles and have the other one with DD stuck on the outside of the park. My reason for doing this was simply that DD loves her mommy so much, that she would have slowed down the bag check process for me. It was just simpler to not have her in that chaotic line.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

You guys have been so helpful as we plan our first WDW trip with our DS (5.5 Months). It will be DD's (4.5 Years) sixth trip. We leave in 10 days!

I have a question about the entrance to the park. As I understand it, bag/stroller check has gotten a bit more stringent. We are taking a city mini double stroller for the kids. Also, this will be the first trip DD will have an actual ticket and she'll have to use the finger scan. To maximize efficiency, I am thinking of having DW and DD go in the no-bag line and load DH (me) and DS up with the bags on the double stroller and we go in the bag line. The hope is DW and DD will get through the no-bag line much quicker than us and can then move on to the ticket line where DD may encounter slight delays with the finger scan. I won't be long in the finger scan line since it's just me. Then we'll all just all meet up at the front of the park on go on our way. Does this sound better than having us all go together? TIA for your help!

this could save time if DW is not chosen for scanner as daughter will have to wait near scanner by self while DW walks thru or they wait until you guys clear bag check to wait with daughter. from our Aug trip every time I went no bag ended up going thru scanner and kids were not allowed thru with parent so splitting up could end up taking longer