Early morning entry or not..

[Pooh2]

We have our first DL trip coming up in the fall,staying onsite. At WDW, we often plan to do a park that does not have early entry for lower crowds. Should we use the same strategy for DL?
We will have three mornings to plan out, we did get park hopppers.

 

[thatgrljme]

You can get a lot done in Fantasyland during the early entry time and if you want to ride Peter Pan I'd suggest doing it at least once for Disneyland. Radiator Springs Fast Passes you will need to line up for during early entry at DCA from what I've read.

We went in May and the line for the FP's was ridiculous before rope drop.

 

[Cheshirecatty]

We have our first DL trip coming up in the fall,staying onsite. At WDW, we often plan to do a park that does not have early entry for lower crowds. Should we use the same strategy for DL?
We will have three mornings to plan out, we did get park hopppers.

You will absolutely want to utilize your Extra Magic Hour at DCA---you can get so much done(in our experience), and the crowds are much smaller, than they are at Disneyland Extra Magic Hour!

When it comes to Disneyland, the later the Extra Magic Hour is, the larger the crowds. Since Park hours begin later in the Fall, I personally would use an Extra Magic Hour at Disneyland, on a Saturday, if possible(not sure which days you will be there), because Saturday hours are earlier, and many people have a harder time getting up and going if the EMH begins at 7:00am or 8:00am.

 

[Girimama33]

If you are staying onsite at one of the 3 Disney hotels you should start at the park that has EMH. If you are not staying onsite, start at the park that does not have EMH.

 

[Rubygoose]

Definitely make use of EE if you're staying on-site, especially for DCA. You can get so much done in that first hour before the parks open and then if you want to, you can easily hop over to the other park later in the day.

 

[madasax12]

Definitely make use of EE if you're staying on-site, especially for DCA. You can get so much done in that first hour before the parks open and then if you want to, you can easily hop over to the other park later in the day.

This is our plan.....especially for RSR and that sort of thing. We will most likely take advantage of it everyday so then our afternoon break wont seem as bad for missing out on the park.

I also think we are going to rent a Double stroller from Citystrollers.....anyone use the City Mini Double?

 

[Pooh2]

Thanks for all the replies. We will arrive late Sunday afternoon and hope to have a few hours in DL (first time!!). So we will have 3 more mornings to plan. I will go with the early morning entry after reading these posts.

Any additional comments for mapping out an itinerary for two adults would be welcome!

 

[Girimama33]

Thanks for all the replies. We will arrive late Sunday afternoon and hope to have a few hours in DL (first time!!). So we will have 3 more mornings to plan. I will go with the early morning entry after reading these posts.

Any additional comments for mapping out an itinerary for two adults would be welcome!

Definitely use the Single Rider line for RSR when you go standby and get a FP in order to ride together. I usually head to TSMM first and ride that a few times before the line gets too long. No FP available for TSMM.

 

[Cheshirecatty]

Thanks for all the replies. We will arrive late Sunday afternoon and hope to have a few hours in DL (first time!!). So we will have 3 more mornings to plan. I will go with the early morning entry after reading these posts.

Any additional comments for mapping out an itinerary for two adults would be welcome!

You are very welcome!

You will have so much fun with just two adults!

The first time we went without our children was amazing---we thought we would be sad, but instead, had a marvelous time!

A Sunday arrival is typically what we do---get there late afternoon, head over to Disneyland, have a nice dinner and take in the Parade, or Fireworks, and get those out of the way----that way we can focus on other things the rest of the week. Sunday closings are late---usually 11:00pm or 12:00am, so you really can accomplish quite a bit if you desire.

You will have Extra Magic Hour at DCA on Monday and Wednesday, and one at Disneyland on Tuesday.

Be warned that the EMH at Disneyland will most likely be very busy/crowded(later EMH brings larger crowds), but if you get up and get over to the gates, 30 to 45 minutes before EMH begins, you should be pretty near the front of the lines, and able to get quickly to where you want to go first.

If you have more specific questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

[BriannaRuth]

Radiator Springs Fast Passes you will need to line up for during early entry at DCA from what I've read.

No, you do NOT need to get in line for RSR FPs during EE. Spend your EE time doing TSMM and whatever else you want to do that may get longer lines during the day. You can get your RSR FPs later; they don't run out for at least two hours. And when we were there last week it was more like 3-4 hours, but don't count on this.

The main thing is to be sure that you don't block yourself out of pulling an RSR FP (in other words, don't pull another FP that has a longer return time of 2 hours after park opening before pulling your RSR FP).

 

[Pooh2]

No, you do NOT need to get in line for RSR FPs during EE. Spend your EE time doing TSMM and whatever else you want to do that may get longer lines during the day. You can get your RSR FPs later; they don't run out for at least two hours. And when we were there last week it was more like 3-4 hours, but don't count on this.

The main thing is to be sure that you don't block yourself out of pulling an RSR FP (in other words, don't pull another FP that has a longer return time of 2 hours after park opening before pulling your RSR FP).

Is RSR open during the early morning hour? Should we do that first, then Toy Story Mania?

 

[mirage0306]

Yes, RSR runs during EE at DCA.

We found that EE for DCA was WAY better than the DL magic morning. The rides my older son wanted to do weren't included in the magic morning, it was actually pretty crowded (8am) and so we decided we won't do that next time. However, DCA was great. My older son and I did the wide right technique and walked right on to RSR--we got into an empty car. We then did Toy Story, and then got in line for Fps for RSR (they opened the line before letting in the crowd waiting at Buena Vista St) and then rode Tower of Terror. My husband and younger son rode TSMM three times in a row.

So yes, I would do RSR first, then TSMM. If you reverse it you will be in line for RSR for the rest of EE.

 

[BriannaRuth]

I think it really just depends what's important to you. We always tried to do TSMM first because it doesn't have FPs and the wait quickly goes to an hour at regular park opening, if not sooner. You can always get a FP for RSR, so we chose to wait on that one and use our EE to get a ton of stuff done in the Paradise Pier area. Also rode Soarin' during EE.

The catch is that both RSR and TSMM have a tendency to go down early in the mornings, so you have to stay flexible. If TSMM doesn't go down in the AM, it may have short lines for up to 30 minutes into EE. If it does go down, it will get LONG lines AS SOON AS IT COMES BACK UP. If you go on RSR first and it goes down while you're on it, it could totally mess you up for going on TSMM. Versus if TSMM goes down while you're on it first thing, you can still get RSR FPs.

 

[Dduckmom]

We were just in DL at the beginning of Aug. We only had 2 day PH so we did not have EE at all. We chose to go to DCA on a Saturday when DL had EE. We were at the ropes around 7:45 am (so, we had already had our bag checked, gone through turnstyles, etc). Park opened at 8 am. We waited on the right to go by Soarin' to head straight for TSMM. We went directly there and got right on. I was worried about RSR FPs so I headed over to get them as soon as we got off TSMM. When I got to the FPs for RSR, there was no line at all. I walked right up and pulled a FP for 11:15 - 12:15 (or so - may have been about 15 mins earlier). Went back to TSMM and my family was on that ride. Waited for them and since it's my favorite ride, we all rode it again together. About a 5 minute wait, if that. There was also no wait for Screamin' at this time of day but we skipped it since we had done it the night before. The kids rode Goofy's Sky School, which they love, with no wait at all on our way to ToT. DD and DH rode ToT with about a 10 minute wait. We walked around Hollywoodland and that side of DCA. Then, headed over to Carsland and looked around. Rode Luigi's Flying Tires (longest wait all day - maybe 15 - 20 mins) and then RSR, just as our FP opened. When we were getting on and off RSR, there was absolutely no line at all for single riders. On our way out of DCA (around 11:30 or so), I noticed that there were still RSR FPs available for later in the day - can't remember what time exactly but they still had them. Not sure if this was a typical day but it was a busy Saturday in the summer and our plan seemed to work well for getting us onto TSMM and RSR.