Another tip gleaned from the trenches + park pics

[WonkaKid]

Another tip gleaned from the trenches of the new norm at DL: if you plan to park in either of the Disney lots, you won't be able to be at the front of the line for DL. M&Fs opens at 6:30 these days. Yesterday a friend had his wife drop him off at the DL Hotel at 6:00 and walked to the park gates. He arrived at approx 6:10 and even then he was third in line. I presume that other folks are staying at local hotels and arrive even earlier.

As I've posted in other threads, park crowds were crazy in the morning. This seems to be what he'll have for the foreseeable future: lines to get into the park are insane but later in the day crowds don't seem to be a problem. I imagine that people go into DL to get their ROTR BGs and then skip over to DCA. That's fine because it makes things are little easier for everyone. But again, crowds in the morning are horrible. I arrived at the park gates at 7:25 and the line stretched all the way to the DCA gates and in some cases even into the scanning kiosks. That's the first time I've seen that myself but I understand from others that it's relatively typical since ROTR opened. They'd already began to admit guests but it still took about 20-25 minutes to get in. I began to worry that I wouldn't make the 8:00 deadline for the ROTR BG. I did but even at about 30 seconds after 8:00 I got BG 57. I left in the early afternoon and the count wasn't even close to that. In fact, the attraction didn't begin to board for anyone until about 10:00.

I have park maps (once again) for anyone who'd like a pair. The DL ones are the spiffy SWs/ROTR ones.

A few park pics. Didn't take a lot yesterday and I may take a break from DL for a few weeks.

The line at approx. 7:20 yesterday.







A rare (to me) bird and a hidden Mickey.




As I walked past this trashcan, a girl pointed out a hidden Mickey to her family. It took me a moment to spot it. But that's one of things that I love about DL: you can be on your 100th visit and still see something new or something that surprises you.

The iconic pic. The sky was so pretty yesterday I felt compelled to include this one.

 

[TikiRob]

Thanks, pal!

 

[maleficent55]

I love your reports!
They bring a little Disney magic my way while I’m at work...

so when we come in April we will be staying across the street on Harbor. I’m used to getting up early for work (0430) so I’ll have no problem getting to the gates early. In your opinion, is it frowned upon for family to join other family in line? I know IN the park it’s mostly considered line cutting, but I want to clarify about the general consensus for lines at the gate?

 

[BadPinkTink]

thanks for the updates... hmmm, need to keep an eye on this, hopefully by June things will have calmed down a bit. I guess I need to prepare myself to arrive for 6am

 

[WonkaKid]

I love your reports!
They bring a little Disney magic my way while I’m at work...

so when we come in April we will be staying across the street on Harbor. I’m used to getting up early for work (0430) so I’ll have no problem getting to the gates early. In your opinion, is it frowned upon for family to join other family in line?

I think it depends on who's behind you and how many people join you. I've had people do it to me -- they've always given me advance warning, which helps. A few years ago two women were ahead of me and later three kids and a husband joined them. Since I knew to expect it, it wasn't really an annoyance, especially since I beat them all to rope-drop anyway. It's done pretty commonly so it's not much of a bother. I think that now, though, people get in line at 5:30 or something and they don't like it when people show up at 7:30 and jump in front of them. I suspect said early-arrivers aren't park regulars. Just know that it may be OK, it may not, given the new line culture.

As an aside, something we hate -- and, thankfully, haven't seen in awhile -- is when a kid sprints to PP at rope drop, gets there first and then his/her family of six joins the kid in line. It's like they all ran.

 

[maleficent55]

I think it depends on who's behind you and how many people join you. I've had people do it to me -- they've always given me advance warning, which helps. A few years ago two women were ahead of me and later three kids and a husband joined them. Since I knew to expect it, it wasn't really an annoyance, especially since I beat them all to rope-drop anyway. It's done pretty commonly so it's not much of a bother. I think that now, though, people get in line at 5:30 or something and they don't like it when people show up at 7:30 and jump in front of them. I suspect said early-arrivers aren't park regulars. Just know that it may be OK, it may not, given the new line culture.

As an aside, something we hate -- and, thankfully, haven't seen in awhile -- is when a kid sprints to PP at rope drop, gets there first and then his/her family of six joins the kid in line. It's like they all ran.

Yes, understood
It would be 2 joining me. We’ll see...

 

[VandVsmama]

Another tip gleaned from the trenches of the new norm at DL: if you plan to park in either of the Disney lots, you won't be able to be at the front of the line for DL. M&Fs opens at 6:30 these days. Yesterday a friend had his wife drop him off at the DL Hotel at 6:00 and walked to the park gates. He arrived at approx 6:10 and even then he was third in line. I presume that other folks are staying at local hotels and arrive even earlier.

As I've posted in other threads, park crowds were crazy in the morning. This seems to be what he'll have for the foreseeable future: lines to get into the park are insane but later in the day crowds don't seem to be a problem. I imagine that people go into DL to get their ROTR BGs and then skip over to DCA. That's fine because it makes things are little easier for everyone. But again, crowds in the morning are horrible. I arrived at the park gates at 7:25 and the line stretched all the way to the DCA gates and in some cases even into the scanning kiosks. That's the first time I've seen that myself but I understand from others that it's relatively typical since ROTR opened. They'd already began to admit guests but it still took about 20-25 minutes to get in. I began to worry that I wouldn't make the 8:00 deadline for the ROTR BG. I did but even at about 30 seconds after 8:00 I got BG 57. I left in the early afternoon and the count wasn't even close to that. In fact, the attraction didn't begin to board for anyone until about 10:00.

I really really appreciate you mentioning this tip from your friend! I'm going to try that out on Sunday 3/8 when we'll be driving in from Fontana (staying w/friends there). I'm going to drop off DH & the kids at the Harbor Blvd guest drop-off/pick-up area at 6:00-6:10-ish and then go park at the Toy Story lot. 1 of my kids is grumpy about having to get up that early, but the other kid is eager to give it a go. DH, on the other hand, well...he thinks we're nuts for entertaining this idea.

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

The bird looks like a Kingfisher.

I was in the parks Thursday through Sunday and yes, it was crazy in the mornings. Saturday was real nuts with EMH. CMs were telling all non EMH guests to line up at the first bank of gates and all other gates were for EMH. Then at 7:20 they started switching all gates to normal entrance and it was a mad free for all as the masses moved forward. We moved all the way towards DTD as there were actually formed lines and not just a sea of humanity at the other gates. I thought leaving from my hotel at 6:30 for an 8 am opneing was early enough, so wrong, and I was just a block away.

Sunday I left the room at 6:15 and was about 10th in line at gate 17. Family joined me about 7:25 right as gates were opened. We got boarding group 26 but still did not get on until almost 1pm. Not even close to the uptime the ride saw on Saturday.

 

[erinlynn2020]

Those crowds! The humanity

 

[Carolwoodpr]

So why are you giving Disneyland a break? I love your reports!

 

[goooof1]

Wow !! that picture of the Castle with that BLUE , BLUE sky..... beautiful !! Thanks for the pictures and reports, always... living / touring vicariously through them ! hahaha

 

[theluckyrabbit]

thanks for the updates... hmmm, need to keep an eye on this, hopefully by June things will have calmed down a bit. I guess I need to prepare myself to arrive for 6am

Keep up with the ROTR Superthread, especially in the weeks right before your trip. It's been just over two weeks, and the trends and crowd patterns are already starting to show and be discernible based on the daily reports. And things could change by your trip dates, so keep checking in to stay up to date!

 

[mouschievous]

Dear lord I am hoping it calms down before our trip in September! I can't handle getting up that early!!

If you still have maps, I may take you up on that. My dad is super stoked about SWGE, which is funny because he's never been the biggest Star Wars fan, but all of a sudden it's a major thing with him.

 

[mom23boyz]

New to the whole Star Wars thing. We'll be there next Thursday, Feb. 13, staying off-site. Is the process the same to get on to the Smuggler's Run ride as it is for RoR? Can you try for both?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

New to the whole Star Wars thing. We'll be there next Thursday, Feb. 13, staying off-site. Is the process the same to get on to the Smuggler's Run ride as it is for RoR? Can you try for both?

Smuggler's Run just has a standby line and a single rider line. No boarding groups and no fastpasses for Smuggler's Run. If you are eligible for a DAS, then there is accommodation for that of course.

 

[mom23boyz]

Thank you. So for an off-site guest, 8am is the opening time. How early do they actually let you in to the park or Main Street?

 

[WonkaKid]

Thank you. So for an off-site guest, 8am is the opening time. How early do they actually let you in to the park or Main Street?

These days it’s around 7:30. I think it depends in large part on how long lines are at the gates. The longer, the earlier they’ll open. Rope drop has happened about 7:50. I think they want to get guests spread out so they’re not all trying to score a BG in the same place.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I have a Flex Pass, but the fam will have 5 day PH with a MM each. I'll probably send them off for MM to enjoy the parks without me for a bit and just wait in line to get our BG. DH is useless at apps, but I might get DD1 to download it to her phone and give it a try. I really want to show them around Batuu, and doing both rides will make the lines at MF:SR much easier to take.

I also second the "I love looking at your photos" mentioned above.