Carsland Without EMH Plan

[theworldneedscolor]

We are planning on going to DCA either 10/10 or 10/12. We are stay off property, so we won't have EMH. How early should we get to the gates? Also, our plan as of now is to get RSR FP, ride Toy Story, then go to Carsland for Luigi and Mator. Is this a good plan?

 

[ArchOwl]

A good rule of thumb is to be at the gates, tickets in hand, about 20 to 30 minutes before park opening.

Luigi's line climbs quickly and remains long throughout the day, your best shot is to ride it early. Grab RSR FPs and head to Luigi's. After that, hightail it to TSMM. Don't worry about Mater's, the line is manageable throughout the day, when you are ready to use your RSR FP you can catch Mater's.

Have fun!

 

[DLR29]

Any chance that you could visit on the 11th? There's no DCA EMH on Thursdays so you would have an equal chance at Cars Land as everyone.

Either way I still agree with ArchOwl. You want to do Luigi's early because the line builds quickly and the line moves very slowly. TSMM's line has been building slower and it moves much quicker too.

 

[theworldneedscolor]

Thanks for the advice, guys! So if I want to be at the gates 30 mins early, when should I plan on getting to the parking lot? An hour early? 50 mins?

Any chance that you could visit on the 11th? There's no DCA EMH on Thursdays so you would have an equal chance at Cars Land as everyone.

We have a three day parkhopper, so Thursday is the only day I can use my MM at DL.

 

[Blue32]

Anyone have success riding RSR in standby at park opening and then getting a RSR FP and then still getting to Luigi's with a minimal wait?

 

[kevdo]

A good rule of thumb is to be at the gates, tickets in hand, about 20 to 30 minutes before park opening.

Luigi's line climbs quickly and remains long throughout the day, your best shot is to ride it early. Grab RSR FPs and head to Luigi's. After that, hightail it to TSMM. Don't worry about Mater's, the line is manageable throughout the day, when you are ready to use your RSR FP you can catch Mater's.

Have fun!

I don't know if they're doing it differently in October, but in August they opened the gates 30 mins prior to park open to let people onto Buena Vista St. and into a RSR FP line. Thus, I would recommend being at the gates about an hour ahead of park open so that hopefully you can be one of the first few people in one of the turnstile lines. Then high-tail it to the FP line forming near the Carthay Circle Theater.

Grab FP then ride Luigi, TSMM, then whatever other attraction you like. Remember, Calif Screamin is not attached to the rest of the FP system so you should be able to get a FP for that while holding RSR FPs.

 

[julieheyer]

I don't know if they're doing it differently in October, but in August they opened the gates 30 mins prior to park open to let people onto Buena Vista St. and into a RSR FP line. Thus, I would recommend being at the gates about an hour ahead of park open so that hopefully you can be one of the first few people in one of the turnstile lines. Then high-tail it to the FP line forming near the Carthay Circle Theater.

Grab FP then ride Luigi, TSMM, then whatever other attraction you like. Remember, Calif Screamin is not attached to the rest of the FP system so you should be able to get a FP for that while holding RSR FPs.

Has anyone been there recently that can update this? I'd love to know this also. We're going in Nov, and not staying on property. We'll be trying to get FPs for RSR and possibly do the single rider line too. Trying to decide how early we'll need to get to the entrance to make that happen w. minimal waiting inside. Dh and the kids will whine at the waiting at the gates, but I'd prefer waiting "off the clock" so to speak, than wasting precious park time!

 

[KateDrake]

Anyone have success riding RSR in standby at park opening and then getting a RSR FP and then still getting to Luigi's with a minimal wait?

I have a plan I'm going to try on our trip in two weeks, so I haven't tried it yet, but you are welcome to it! And of course I'll report back after I try it. Here it is, feel free to critique:

Enter DCA 30 minutes prior to opening on non-EMH day.
DH goes to RSR FP line
Rest of family lines up for rope drop and follows "wide right" technique to ride RSR.
DH gets RSR FPs, then comes over and rides RSR in single rider line.
Hopefully we finish within a few minutes of each other.
Meet at Luigi's, ride, then proceed to TSMM. Come back later to ride Mater's and RSR with FPs.

I have no idea if this will work, but I figured it was worth a try!

 

[ArchOwl]

I was at DCA yesterday morning and they did not let us in early. We were there 20 minutes to 10am. We sent a runner to RSR FP and he had RSR FPs in 15 minutes for 2pm. Our runner met us at the exit to Luigi's, which he didn't care to ride. We then did Mater's, TSMM, rode and FP Screamin'.

In our case, showing up an hour early would not have accomplished much. We were perfectly happy with our RSR FP times and with riding Luigi's in about 15 minutes.

 

[Eddygirl]

We just got back. We did CA last Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. All 3 days they opened the gates at 9:30.

We were not there until 9:45 on the Monday. On the Monday I lined up for RSR FP's way down the street past the kids theater. I was out of the FP line at 10:30 with return times of 1:35-2:35. I bumped into some folks that got the last 4 passes and they entered the park at 10:05.

We were there shortly after 9 Wed and Thursday. I lined up for FP on Wednesday just in front of Carthay Circle Theater... Out of the line at 10:15 with FP's with a return time of 12:15-1:15. My DH lined up Thursday morning just behind Carthay Circle Theater. Was out of the line by 10:20 with FP return times of 11:15-12:15.

I agree with an above poster.. Sorry on my phone so can't quote you...go to Luigi's first. The line moves SLOW... Painfully slow. Get it done and out of the way with. We had fun but only rode it once. Was not worth the wait to us. The detail in the building is amazing and worth seeing. The ride was fun too. We did enjoy it, but chose not to wait to do it again. Mater's lines are manageable so catch Mater's when you come back for the RSR. We rode Mater's a few times. Longest we waited was 15 mins. If we were walking by and the lines were low we rode.

We found Toy Story Mania's lines were always pretty long. 35 mins at least. But they seem to move quickly as the ride loads fast so it never was painful, KWIM?

HTH!! Have fun! We had a blast!

 

[Geemo]

Wow the details to enjoying CL can be exhausting.
I hope it levels out soon!
I'll continue following these threads so I know just what to do when we're there next time.
Thanks to all for your hints and tips!!!




Geemo

 

[MaloCS]

Wow the details to enjoying CL can be exhausting.
I hope it levels out soon!
I'll continue following these threads so I know just what to do when we're there next time.
Thanks to all for your hints and tips!!!




Geemo

Just be careful to not put all of your eggs in the 'wide right' basket. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. Just be prepared to take what the park and the crowds give you and make lemonade out of any possible lemons you might end up with.

We just got back from Disneyland Resort and only had one successful attempt at riding 'Radiator Springs Racers'. We accepted the fact that due to the popularity of the ride we would have to wait an hour or so just to ride it. As a result we just chose to ride it once and enjoy the small crowds and wait times in the other parts of the park. We just didn't place a huge priority on the ride and I have to say, our personal experience was better off for it.

I will say that having a 5 year old that just wanted to ride 'Mickey's Silly Symphony Swings' and 'Goofy's Sky School' over and over and over helped immensely. His preference of rides helped us slow down and smell the roses so to speak. We just weren't concerned with riding 'Radiator Springs Racers' multiple times.

Good luck.

 

[hpfan100]

I was at DCA on Sunday and Monday this week. On Sunday we arrived about 30 min before opening. We were allowed in the park on BV St. until opening time. We did the wide right technique and were able to nearly walk on to RSR. Then we got in the single rider line right after and rode again. Did luigi's tire with about a 30 min wait. Hit Mater's later in the day with a 10 min wait. Decided to skip TSMM since the wait was 45 min. The CM at TSMM stated that the wait was about 40 min all day long.

My plan would be...
RSR, Luigi, TSMM and then head back to Mater's later in the day


GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[DebbieB]

I am at DL now. We are staying at GC, park EMH this morning was 9:00, regular opening 10:00. We tried to go through the GC entrance around 9:10, the lines were huge. So we walked around to the main entrance. I'd say there were 30 or 40 people in each regular line at that point.

We went to the EMH line, got in right away. We rode RSR twice in about 10 minutes using single rider. We also rode Luigi's and Maters. When 10:00 hit, the crowds started pouring in, RSR standby was down by Sarge. We got in line for a fastpass, we were all the way down by Aladdin. We got a fastpass for 6:10.

 

[SFMommy]

We stayed off-site last week and decided on Friday 9/21 as our morning to try for RSR. I was pleasantly surprised by our experience.

Park opening at 9:00. We arrived at 8:30 and the gates were open.

My DH lined up in the RSR fastpass line. He was standing just past Cathay Circle Restaurant. The rest of us enjoyed Buena Vista Street, took photos with Goofy (everyone was ignoring him, so the kids got to visit and play with him for a while).

At 8:55 we strolled over to the crowd near rope drop and while everyone else walked towards RSR, we went into Luigi's and had a 5 minute wait.

By this time it was 9:15 and my DH had our fast passes for RSR (return time 11:05). We took a few photos in Carsland, then headed over to Toy Story, grabbing fastpasses for CA Screamin on the way. Our wait for TSMM was less than 10 minutes. Then the kids spent a lot of time riding Jellyfish and Goofy's which they walked onto about 4 times each with no waiting.

We went on Monsters Inc, watched the Franken Weenie preview and by then it was 11:00, so we headed back towards RSR. The standby line was posted as 90 minutes, but with our fast passes in hand, we were in a car in about 5 minutes. The ride was amazing! It was our one and only time that we rode it this trip and we all agree that it is our new favorite. But we were all happy that we got to ride it and that we didn't spend too much time waiting in line or waiting for a fast pass. It didn't have a negative impact on our morning and we were still able to do Toy Story and other attractions.

I was really worried that we would have a tough time because we didn't have early entry to DCA, but it worked out fine! Hope that helps! Good luck!

 

[Steve's Girl]

Appreciate the helpful info posted here.

I will be taking my DD to Disneyland in Nov. and have been concerned about Carsland. My DD is really looking forward to riding RSR, but the reported wait times have me nervous. Still debating if our best bet is to go straight to the FP line or at RD just head to the standby line. Since it is just me and DD, we won't have a FP runner so we will need to stay together.

 

[razza1987]

I was at DCA on Sunday and Monday this week. On Sunday we arrived about 30 min before opening. We were allowed in the park on BV St. until opening time. We did the wide right technique and were able to nearly walk on to RSR. Then we got in the single rider line right after and rode again. Did luigi's tire with about a 30 min wait. Hit Mater's later in the day with a 10 min wait. Decided to skip TSMM since the wait was 45 min. The CM at TSMM stated that the wait was about 40 min all day long.

My plan would be...
RSR, Luigi, TSMM and then head back to Mater's later in the day


GOOD LUCK!!!

Sorry what's TSMM?

 

[SuperDisneyDad]

Toy story midway mania

 

[julieheyer]

We stayed off-site last week and decided on Friday 9/21 as our morning to try for RSR. I was pleasantly surprised by our experience.

Park opening at 9:00. We arrived at 8:30 and the gates were open.

My DH lined up in the RSR fastpass line. He was standing just past Cathay Circle Restaurant. The rest of us enjoyed Buena Vista Street, took photos with Goofy (everyone was ignoring him, so the kids got to visit and play with him for a while).

At 8:55 we strolled over to the crowd near rope drop and while everyone else walked towards RSR, we went into Luigi's and had a 5 minute wait.

By this time it was 9:15 and my DH had our fast passes for RSR (return time 11:05). We took a few photos in Carsland, then headed over to Toy Story, grabbing fastpasses for CA Screamin on the way. Our wait for TSMM was less than 10 minutes. Then the kids spent a lot of time riding Jellyfish and Goofy's which they walked onto about 4 times each with no waiting.

We went on Monsters Inc, watched the Franken Weenie preview and by then it was 11:00, so we headed back towards RSR. The standby line was posted as 90 minutes, but with our fast passes in hand, we were in a car in about 5 minutes. The ride was amazing! It was our one and only time that we rode it this trip and we all agree that it is our new favorite. But we were all happy that we got to ride it and that we didn't spend too much time waiting in line or waiting for a fast pass. It didn't have a negative impact on our morning and we were still able to do Toy Story and other attractions.

I was really worried that we would have a tough time because we didn't have early entry to DCA, but it worked out fine! Hope that helps! Good luck!

This is really encouraging to read! A question though, just to clarify. Sorry if it sounds silly:
Do they have an RSR FP line set up before rope drop? So, they scan your tickets and let you through the "gates" up to a certain point? And a line forms for RSR FPs outside the rope drop area?

I'll be pleased to ride this once. We're not sure if going on an EE day is a good plan (we're staying off site). Currently planning to go the day no one gets in early.

 

[poohj80]

Where are the RSR FP machines located (or will it be obvious by the line)? Where is the rope for rope drop located in the park?

Remember, Calif Screamin is not attached to the rest of the FP system so you should be able to get a FP for that while holding RSR FPs.

I wasn't aware of this. Thanks!