DLR Hotel Guest 9AM Entry for Little Mermaid - Enough Time To Ride Twice?

[tiggeroo42]

Hydro-

there is still info out there about TWO different things. A) getting in 30 minutes early to ride the little mermaid and B) a special access fast pass (using one of the two fast passes that the disney hotesl give you.

Quoting from the Disneyland website

.

elsewhere states this:


So to be clear, I am not talking about riding it earlier than park opening and showing hotel key to get in line. I am talking about the special fast pass, wherein you would use one of the two promo fast passes, that in theory could be used ANY time. I haven't seen this verified in recent threads, but I've been keeping my peepers open.

You DO NOT need to use your special hotel-issued FP to ride Little Mermaid, and there is no special hotel guest FP line to ride it. Everyone enters through the same regular line. Although some people were saying that they were checking hotel keys until 10 AM, they did not check ours the two times we went on before 9:45. It may be inconsistent based on the CMs and the crowds. Hope this clears it up!

 

[Nonsuch]

For anyone who has been the last two weeks and stayed at a Disney hotel and used the 9AM entry to ride LMAUA....is there enough time to ride it twice before 9:30?

On June 4, the resort guest access was 9:30 to 10:00.
We rode 4 times. Room keys were checked.
On final 2 rides, there were no other resort guests waiting -- all the "shells" around us were empty. This left a growing line of non-resort guests watching the ride run empty, until 10:00.

I suspect Disney will (or has already) make adjustments to the resort access to avoid having the ride run empty.

In any case, the 30 minute resort only access is enough time to ride twice

 

[smile4stamps]

I was at DLR June 6-16th. I believe I was at DCA 3 of those mornings. Those mornings Little Mermaid was for hotel guests only till 10am. I entered through the front gates at 9:30 with the masses on 2 of those days and rode LM by flashing my room key. They were checking the room keys and having non resort guests line up elsewhere.

I also used one of my "magic" as I like to call them fastpasses on my last day as I had not had a need for them any other time. You show the CM at the entrance the FP and they send you to where you should go. The wait is a couple of minutes (if that) from that point.

I like the ride. I think it is cute.

 

[HydroGuy]

I was of the understanding they were running LMAUA for hotel guests 9:00-9:30AM and regular guests 9:30AM and after. Some of you report riding LMAUA at 9:15 so it does appear to be running early. Others report using hotel keys up to 10AM.

Can anyone clarify?

 

[smile4stamps]

I was of the understanding they were running LMAUA for hotel guests 9:00-9:30AM and regular guests 9:30AM and after. Some of you report riding LMAUA at 9:15 so it does appear to be running early. Others report using hotel keys up to 10AM.

Can anyone clarify?

As of last week as I said it was with room key card up till 10am. I did not enter the park until 9:30am as I did not want to backtrack through the GCH and go through baggage check again. I did this twice and both times entered with the masses at 9:30 am from the front gates and rode the ride and was in line for TSMM by 9:50.

I assume since others have said they were able to enter at 9am that it is with keycard from 9am - 10am. I believe the only thing open for non resort guests from 9:30-10am is still Soarin and WoC fastpasses.

 

[TeddiBarra]

Finally an answer!

SO basically, the special fast pass for the little mermaid option ... it's essentially a front of the line pass for that ride. Check w/CM at the regular entrance, if using it after the park opens to everyone.

GOT IT! Thanks. This helps me alot, we only have two mornings, and want to do both toontowm morning madness and early entry.... so the front of the line option is great to know for planning out our days.

 

[farmfresh]

sounds good...but Hydro guy, if you have any news after your trip,please post
Will be at GCH in mid July, so updates would be welcome.

 

[lovebug33]

This explains why people cut in front of us! We were there june 10 and the line was never more than 30 minutes.

 

[HydroGuy]

sounds good...but Hydro guy, if you have any news after your trip,please post
Will be at GCH in mid July, so updates would be welcome.

I will try.

 

[Jenn]

Just back! We did CA on 6/16. We stayed at VGC and we were one of the first families in the park at 9:00. We rode Ariel 2x and were finished at about 9:40. Then we headed to Soarin and rode that once finishing around right around 10. We were able to save our special fast passes for other rides and didn't need to use them until later in the day.

 

[frank808]

if you get in to ride at 9am you should have no problem ridong twice before 9:30am. we just did that and was in line for ropedrop for tsmm.5

 

[cccdisney]

I assume since others have said they were able to enter at 9am that it is with keycard from 9am - 10am. I believe the only thing open for non resort guests from 9:30-10am is still Soarin and WoC fastpasses.

I can verify this as well. We were there on June 13th and they were checking room keys up until 10am. We entered through the GCH entrance at 9:25am.
Also, CM's were handing out WOC fastpasses right outside the Napa Rose restaurant (you had to show your room key, of course).

 

[frank808]

both times we got into the park at 9am the CM never asked for room key as the only guests in before 9:30 had to be hotel guests. I dont know about 9:30 as we got to ride both times before 9:30am.

 

[helenb]

Just to confirm, is Soarin' open at 9 am for hotel guests?

 

[HydroGuy]

Just to confirm, is Soarin' open at 9 am for hotel guests?

No, Soarin does not open until 9:30 - and that is for everyone.

"The Official Scoop on DCA's Unofficial Morning Opening Hours" - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2680309

 

[the donut]

Although I did not ride Soarin myself during 9-9:30 and went straight to LM, my understanding is that it IS open for hotel guests.

 

[HydroGuy]

Although I did not ride Soarin myself during 9-9:30 and went straight to LM, my understanding is that it IS open for hotel guests.

Sorry, not that I disbelieve you, but this is out of DCA's pattern. You are quite sure you rode Soarin before 9:30?

If so I have something to else check for this Friday when we are there!

 

[Tablefor5]

We are also going to be there this week (DLH). I will post what I have seen and/or done with the early LMUAU and "magic" FP's. (thinking I will save these for ST)

 

[the donut]

Sorry, not that I disbelieve you, but this is out of DCA's pattern. You are quite sure you rode Soarin before 9:30?

If so I have something to else check for this Friday when we are there!

I am very uneasy about contradicting anything that Hydroguy says as your posts generally influence much of our gameplan, but when we were there a few weeks ago staying at the Grand Cal, the CMs told us Soarin was open for hotel guests at 9am. But, we did not ride it at that time and just grabbed an FP and hightailed it to LM.

I actually rode LM again just yesterday when we were down there for a day trip for Father's Day. We had leftover hotel FPs and used it them in the middle of the day. Standby line was about 60 minutes at that time, so I think that was a pretty good use of the hotel FPs. You get to enter right at the building queue, and it's such a fast loader, it was about 5 minutes from there.

 

[HydroGuy]

I am very uneasy about contradicting anything that Hydroguy says as your posts generally influence much of our gameplan, but when we were there a few weeks ago staying at the Grand Cal, the CMs told us Soarin was open for hotel guests at 9am. But, we did not ride it at that time and just grabbed an FP and hightailed it to LM.

I actually rode LM again just yesterday when we were down there for a day trip for Father's Day. We had leftover hotel FPs and used it them in the middle of the day. Standby line was about 60 minutes at that time, so I think that was a pretty good use of the hotel FPs. You get to enter right at the building queue, and it's such a fast loader, it was about 5 minutes from there.

I would prefer the phrase "update based on more recent information" to "contradict".

I will pay attention to this this week because it is good info if it is true.

Thanks!