Slinky Dog - Early Entry or Lightning Lane?

[torchlight]

Just curious to hear from anyone who has been in the parks lately. Slinky Dog Dash is definitely a must-do ride for us on our Hollywood Studios day. We are staying onsite and will be making use of the 30 minute early entry benefit, but we are also willing to use the Genie+ lightning lane system. How have wait times been for SDD during the early entry? I think I’d prefer to make a beeline for SDD during early entry and use our first Genie+ lightning lane reservation on something else, but if SDD has awful wait times during early entry, I’d probably rethink that. Any input is greatly appreciated!

 

[soniam]

Not sure about SDD EE wait times; however, SDD is the Genie+ that goes the fastest, not only at DHS, but for the entire resort. Not sure if that matters.

 

[torchlight]

Not sure about SDD EE wait times; however, SDD is the Genie+ that goes the fastest, not only at DHS, but for the entire resort. Not sure if that matters.

Yeah, the fact that the lightning lane reservations for it it go so fast is really why I’ve got this question. Definitely not something I’m concerned about with most other attractions in the parks.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Just curious to hear from anyone who has been in the parks lately. Slinky Dog Dash is definitely a must-do ride for us on our Hollywood Studios day. We are staying onsite and will be making use of the 30 minute early entry benefit, but we are also willing to use the Genie+ lightning lane system. How have wait times been for SDD during the early entry? I think I’d prefer to make a beeline for SDD during early entry and use our first Genie+ lightning lane reservation on something else, but if SDD has awful wait times during early entry, I’d probably rethink that. Any input is greatly appreciated!

We were there for early entry and went straight to SDD. It took us approximately 18 minutes to finish the ride once they started running it at 8:30am.

 

[aeasterling]

Just curious to hear from anyone who has been in the parks lately. Slinky Dog Dash is definitely a must-do ride for us on our Hollywood Studios day. We are staying onsite and will be making use of the 30 minute early entry benefit, but we are also willing to use the Genie+ lightning lane system. How have wait times been for SDD during the early entry? I think I’d prefer to make a beeline for SDD during early entry and use our first Genie+ lightning lane reservation on something else, but if SDD has awful wait times during early entry, I’d probably rethink that. Any input is greatly appreciated!

We did both on our trip in late October.

The day we started at HS, we arrived around 8 and got in line for SDD. They started running right at 8:30 and we were off by 8:45 - were able to then walk on TSMM and rode MMRR with a 20 minute wait. Used our first LL for MFSR.

Another day we hopped to HS. I got on right at 7 and got a 2:30 LL for SDD.

I think it you start there, rope drop is better.

 

[AZMermaid]

We were there for early entry and went straight to SDD. It took us approximately 18 minutes to finish the ride once they started running it at 8:30am.

What time did you get to the park? Thanks!

 

[torchlight]

Thank you very much for the feedback! I think it is clear that if we are rope dropping early entry, better to use our first LL for something other than SDD.

 

[Davey Jones II]

If early entry is at 8 a.m., what rides open at that hour? Why does Slinky open at 8:30?
Seems to me that you could do a few rides before 8:30, instead of going straight to a headliner.

 

[soniam]

If early entry is at 8 a.m., what rides open at that hour? Why does Slinky open at 8:30?
Seems to me that you could do a few rides before 8:30, instead of going straight to a headliner.

DHS park opening is 9am, so EE is 8:30am. The park may let people in at 8am, but they are not running rides until 8:30am. They are just letting people get close to areas and/or line up for rides.

 

[DebbieB]

The last 2 times I was at DHS, Slinky was not running at opening. We did TSM instead and when we were done it still wasn’t running but people were in line. Didn’t open until after 10:00.

 

[gharter]

If you are toward the front of the line, and SDD is running, I would RD SDD. But, that is a lot of ifs. It opened right at EE when we were there and the line built quickly.
Otherwise, we have done SDD 5 minutes before close. SDD at night with the lights is amazing! Much better than during the day.

 

[Wood Nymph]

What time did you get to the park? Thanks!

We got to the park sometime around 8am. The majority of the crowd heads for Rise but there are plenty of people who line up for SDD. We were fairly close to the entrance to SDD and the line built behind us. We had purchased ILL$ for Rise, so we didn't have to worry about that ride.

 

[jimmymc]

If you head to Slinky Dog right at early entry rope drop, you can get on with a short wait. It will be 30 minutes by the time regular park guests can enter and quickly over 1 hour.

 

[soniam]

I think at 7am you could try for SDD G+. If you don't get it or a time you like, then you can do it during EE and pick something else for G+. I think that's the strategy I am going with for at least one of our DHS days.

 

[Davey Jones II]

If you are toward the front of the line, and SDD is running, I would RD SDD. But, that is a lot of ifs. It opened right at EE when we were there and the line built quickly.
Otherwise, we have done SDD 5 minutes before close. SDD at night with the lights is amazing! Much better than during the day.

Yeah, one time I ran into the SDD line roughly one minute before closing time (I think the clock said 9:59 and the park closed at 10) and walked right on the ride. Nerve racking to cut it that close, though

 

[Davey Jones II]

DHS park opening is 9am, so EE is 8:30am. The park may let people in at 8am, but they are not running rides until 8:30am. They are just letting people get close to areas and/or line up for rides.

Thanks for the response. But has anyone tried my strategy of using SDD and ROTR as a decoy, i.e. letting most of the crowd race toward those rides, while you do several others with a short or non-existent wait?

 

[wisblue]

See my post in the sticky thread “Everything Early Entry” where we used Genie+ for SDD and IALL for ROTR yesterday (Monday 11/15) and started at TOT and RNRC.

Very effective and much more relaxing than joining the throngs.

As it turned out, Slinky had a delayed opening, so people who went there first had to go to their Plan B. Slinky opened about 9:15 as we were preparing to enter the standby line at TSMM, so it was ready to go when our LL time of 10:10 arrived.

 

[TikiRob]

Thanks for the response. But has anyone tried my strategy of using SDD and ROTR as a decoy, i.e. letting most of the crowd race toward those rides, while you do several others with a short or non-existent wait?

I haven’t been since Genie+, but we always do ToT and RnRC first with no wait.

 

[Mango7100]

We were at HS yesterday. We arrived about 750 and got in line for MMRR which opened the doors at 825 and we were off by 840. Rode MFSR with a 15 minute standby right after And it was a 50 minute wait by the time we’re were done. We had gotten a SDD LL trying right at 7 and earliest was 1040-1140. When we tapped in at 1105 the wait was posted 85 and was every bit of it judging the line length. Yesterday both SDD and ROTR were down at opening so wait times quickly inflated. If you are offsite there is no point to try to standby any headliners first since you are behind the pack by then…

 

[Scalemaster34]

If you are toward the front of the line, and SDD is running, I would RD SDD. But, that is a lot of ifs. It opened right at EE when we were there and the line built quickly.
Otherwise, we have done SDD 5 minutes before close. SDD at night with the lights is amazing! Much better than during the day.

Yeah pre-covid we walked on AS2 about 15 before park closed and then got in the SDD right at park closing and it was a short wait.... then had reservation at Oga's for 30 Min after Park closing. Park was empty when we left.

But without the Star Wars Fireworks or Fantasmic to pull people away, is that still the case?