Guardians strategy for July...

[bdiddy]

This summer will be our first trip to Southern California. We are splitting time between LA and San Diego and doing two days at Disney and a day at Universal.

We obviously really want to ride GOTG but aren't willing to give up hours and hours of time for one ride. Especially since we are only doing one day at each park. But with that said who knows the next time we'll be back to DL so this may be our only chance to ride it for the foreseeable future.
We are huge travelers and it's not often we go somewhere more than once (except WDW - haha!).

So we are going to CA on a non magic morning day so I think that will help some but I'm wondering in mid July, how early will we have to be there to be pretty close to the front at open/rope drop to hustle straight to the ride. I'm thinking this is the only way we'll get to ride it without sacrificing too much time.

Should I count on getting there a minimum of an hour before open or should it be even more considering it's a new ride and it will be mid-July. I'm assuming it will die down a little but probably not much right?

Thank you!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Keep an eye out to see how it settles down. No way would I be there less than 90 mins before opening if I really wanted to ride & had 1 day for DCA in July. (Btw, there's a Starbucks in DTD if you need something to wake up with in line waiting for opening!)

 

[Belle83]

My husband went to grab a FP on 5/27 (opening day) around 10am and he got one for about 6:30pm that night without having to wait in line for a FP. On 5/28, my stepmom got to CA at park opening and the line for FP was incredibly long. She went back later in the morning and the FP were gone.

So it's kind of hard to say. I would plan to get there at rope drop though.

 

[Malcon10t]

My husband went to grab a FP on 5/27 (opening day) around 10am and he got one for about 6:30pm that night without having to wait in line for a FP. On 5/28, my stepmom got to CA at park opening and the line for FP was incredibly long. She went back later in the morning and the FP were gone.

So it's kind of hard to say. I would plan to get there at rope drop though.

On 5.27, there was no EMH and the park opened at 8am. I am surprised there were still FP left at 10am, having seen the lines. I had been told by someone in line that the CMs cut the line off stating "You may not get a FP after this point in line" as the line had exceeded the number of FP available that da.

On Sun, we entered the park at EMH at 8am, and were able to get a FP for 905am. During the EMH, we were able to get 3 rides before using our FP, and while we were riding, a friend who couldn't ride, got in line and at 9:05, got a second set of FP for 11am. During EMH, the wait time said 20 mins, but was really under 10 mins. As soon as 9am rolled around, the wait time became 300 mins, but about 30 mins later had dropped to 240.

FP system now starts when Disneyland park opens, regardless of EMH.

 

[Mousequake]

On 5.27, there was no EMH and the park opened at 8am. I am surprised there were still FP left at 10am, having seen the lines. I had been told by someone in line that the CMs cut the line off stating "You may not get a FP after this point in line" as the line had exceeded the number of FP available that da.

On Sun, we entered the park at EMH at 8am, and were able to get a FP for 905am. During the EMH, we were able to get 3 rides before using our FP, and while we were riding, a friend who couldn't ride, got in line and at 9:05, got a second set of FP for 11am. During EMH, the wait time said 20 mins, but was really under 10 mins. As soon as 9am rolled around, the wait time became 300 mins, but about 30 mins later had dropped to 240.

FP system now starts when Disneyland park opens, regardless of EMH.

We were there during EMH on Sunday morning too. We arrived at 7:30 for the 8 AM EMH to already open turnstiles, which surprised me. They were already letting people line up near the Hyperion theater for either the standby line or FP. I elected to do FP, and I'm glad I did-- I pulled one for 8:40, which is the earliest time slot they were giving them for. When 8:40 hit, I immediately pulled another one for 9:20. I got to ride twice before 9:30 AM.

 

[bdiddy]

I didn't realize they were doing FP for the ride! I had read something that said they weren't so this makes all the difference in the world I think. As long as we are there super early before open I think we'll be ok!

 

[bdiddy]

Thank you all for your thoughts! I'll be curious if it does die down at all over the next few months.

 

[Denise0362]

We were there for opening day, the lines were incredibly long and we assumed the FP line would be too so we didn't even go check. Later we talked to a gal who was holding a FP for that evening and said the same as an earlier post that there weren't any FP lines. We went on Sunday and like earlier posted there were no more FP for the day. We watched our App for wait times and jumped in line when we saw it was only 75 minutes Sunday evening. At exactly 70 minutes we were loading to ride. You never know what it will be like just keep trying and checking the App.

 

[lifeguardette]

I am going June 8-12 and won't have EMH, where is the fast pass line located?

 

[GatorChris]

Honestly, this is what I was afraid of. For years, the word "terror" kept a lot of people away from my favorite ride at DCA. Now it's the #1 ride, which means long waits and limited FPs. I guess I would be OK with this had it been a whole new ride. But no. It's just a slip cover that attracts more people without having a place to put them.

 

[Winnowill]

I am going June 8-12 and won't have EMH, where is the fast pass line located?

The machines are across the walkway from the ride's entrance.

 

[bdiddy]

I feel so much better knowing they do have fast passes. I don't remember where I read that but it made me panic. I should have looked closer!

I just checked it though and it says it's a 120 min wait and FP return time is 4:30. So that's not too bad considering the park has been open a few hours.