Disneyland Entry Hours - Question?

[Pacolovestacos]

So this will be my first visit to DL and I want to make sure I'm going about this correctly because I don't like surprises.

I'm told best strategy is to avoid the park with early entry. So if DCA has early entrance, that means that nobody can get into Disneyland early (not even hotel guests)? If Disneyland has early entrance, that means that nobody can get into DCA early (not even hotel guests)?

Is this correct?

 

[Geemo]

There maybe times of the year that both parks will have an early opening. Generally HIGH volume times, like Christmas Holiday.
There are two types of early opening for the parks. They are Early Entry (EE) and Magic Morning (MM).

On-site guest will have EE for both parks.
Disneyland is Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Disney California Adventure is Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Off-site guest with tickets purchased prior to arrival, will have MM for Disneyland Only, on Tue, Thur and Sat.

Many feel it's best to start at the park that isn't open early. For the most part this does make since. Especially when the parks open later in the morning.

With the park crowds being what they are now a days, I'm not really sure if it makes that much difference.

 

[ashley0139]

So this will be my first visit to DL and I want to make sure I'm going about this correctly because I don't like surprises.

I'm told best strategy is to avoid the park with early entry. So if DCA has early entrance, that means that nobody can get into Disneyland early (not even hotel guests)? If Disneyland has early entrance, that means that nobody can get into DCA early (not even hotel guests)?

Is this correct?

Avoiding the park with early entry is more of a Disney World thing, not Disneyland, since Disneyland only has two parks and they are right across from each other.

 

[krispin41]

And sometimes, the times will coinside, for example, earlier this week, DCA Early Morning Entry was at 8am (normal hours 9am), but DL also opened at 8.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

Well the thing is I won't be on site. So I definitely don't want to go to the park that opens early.

 

[ashley0139]

It's not going to matter after the first couple of hours. Everyone starts park hopping anyway. As long as you have park hoppers (which you should since they are so close together), go to whichever park you want. You can always walk across the esplanade to the other side.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

It's not going to matter after the first couple of hours. Everyone starts park hopping anyway. As long as you have park hoppers (which you should since they are so close together), go to whichever park you want. You can always walk across the esplanade to the other side.

It won't matter after the first couple of hours, but it will matter at the start. If I go to the park that opened early, there are already lines. If I go to the park that didn't open early, there are no lines.

 

[ashley0139]

Yes. I thought you were referring to avoiding it for the whole day.

 

[disneychrista]

Honestly, at Disneyland Park if start in Adventureland or Frontierland it isn't going to matter that much if you go on an early entry day. Since only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open during EE/MM/EMH.

I wouldn't stress about it too much.

 

[BriannaRuth]

We normally stay on site and do EMH/MM. But last year we didn't stay on site for part of our visit and did opposite parks. I thought it worked really well. After about 11, it really doesn't matter ... but those first few hours, I would go to the non EMH park. (We're always there in summer, usually early to mid August.)

 

[agamble]

If you have a MM with your 3-day+ tickets then you should plan to use it. On all other days you could avoid the park with EMH. Keep in mind because DCA only offers EMH to hotel guests the number of people who have that privilege is much less than at DL. So going to DCA on a day it opened for EMH doens't put you at a huge disadvantage. On the other side, DL only opens Fantasyland and Tomorrowland during EMH/MM. It is open to hotel guests and those who choose to use there MM that day. A lot more people are using this, and they can only be in those two areas. However, if you must start the day at DL when and it isn't your MM, it's not that big of a deal if you go towards Adventureland/Frontierland. Because those areas were closed to guests during EMH/MM they will not already have queues when you get there. We have been there without a MM before and they block off the other side of the park with ropes for everyone. So you'll start with the same advantage as others on that side of the park.