Nemo, June 17

[Disney Anna]

Thinking of arriving at DL a little before opening and racing to Nemo subs. Any thoughts on how long my wait may still be? I suppose I would be behind any early entry hotel guests.

Also, any thoughts on what the overall capacity that day? I generally arrive early and duck out by noon or head over to DCA or DD.

 

[ScooterL]

June 17 is a Sunday, so there shouldn't be any Early Entry that day, so that should help - though who knows how early people might start to line up before the park opens.

It'll be interesting to see how the "arrive early and go directly to Nemo" strategy works, once we start getting some reports back on that.

 

[Disney Anna]

Pretty sure I'm going...so I'll report back on the strategy.

 

[HydroGuy]

FWIW, there will be two weekend days for AP holders before their blackout days set in in late June. That is June 17 and 24. Expect massive numbers of AP holders on those days coming to ride Nemo before they get blacked out. You will need to get to the gates extra early to avoid a long line for Nemo.

 

[brergnat]

FWIW, there will be two weekend days for AP holders before their blackout days set in in late June. That is June 17 and 24. Expect massive numbers of AP holders on those days coming to ride Nemo before they get blacked out. You will need to get to the gates extra early to avoid a long line for Nemo.

Well, this is true to SOME effect. The only people affected by the Sunday blackout days in the summer are the Southern CA AP holders. The Southern CA Select AP holders are blocked out on June 17 and 24 already. All other AP holders are not blocked out on ANY Sundays during the summer at all, only Saturdays.

I don't think there is a "massive" amount of people who hold Southern CA AP's who will choose to go on Father's Day, of all days, to ride Nemo. The AP holders have WAY more days to choose from than this particular day, and I really think a lot of local families will not plan to spend Father's Day at DL. I went to DL on Mother's Day last year and the place was a ghost town...

 

[Hound 109]

....I went to DL on Mother's Day last year and the place was a ghost town...

Making a note of this for next year...thanks!

hound

(i'll have to bribe mama with a Croisant Benedict @ CC & a Dole Whip Float w/ 2 straws )

 

[HydroGuy]

Well, this is true to SOME effect. The only people affected by the Sunday blackout days in the summer are the Southern CA AP holders. The Southern CA Select AP holders are blocked out on June 17 and 24 already. All other AP holders are not blocked out on ANY Sundays during the summer at all, only Saturdays.

I don't think there is a "massive" amount of people who hold Southern CA AP's who will choose to go on Father's Day, of all days, to ride Nemo. The AP holders have WAY more days to choose from than this particular day, and I really think a lot of local families will not plan to spend Father's Day at DL. I went to DL on Mother's Day last year and the place was a ghost town...

I am not sure of the numbers, but a very high percentage (80-90% ?) of all DLR AP holders are of the Southern California AP variety. And many of them are young singles who frequent DLR and are not all that likely to skip DLR on Father's Day. And Mother's Day is early May while Father's Day is mid-June.

In any case, if you read the predictions from local AP holders themselves on boards like MiceChat they are predicting massive crowds on June 17 and 24 because of Nemo and blackouts - similar to June 11 and the 4-6 hours lines for Nemo. There are 600,000-700,000 AP holders in all, and it does not take very many of them to add to the regular June crowds to make it a very crowded day for the Nemo Sub ride... similar to what happened for the POTC re-opening in June 2006.

 

[JKanownik]

DH and I were thinking of going today to ride Nemo first thing, but we decided against it. Did anyone go? How were the crowds?

 

[SILLYANDI]

Making a note of this for next year...thanks!

hound

(i'll have to bribe mama with a Croisant Benedict @ CC & a Dole Whip Float w/ 2 straws )

We were there too and surprised by the small crowd!

 

[Disney Anna]

I did it, I went today. I arrived at Mickey and Friends parking lot at 7:20 approx. SHOCKED to see lines of cars extending outside of the parking stucture. It took forever to get in. I was on far left line and we would go apprpox. 3 minutes at a time without moving. I don't know if there was some problem up front. Anyway, was eventually parked on 1st level, Chip and Dale.

From there I made mad dash to tram. Was able to get on second tram. Hit the Disneyland turnstiles right at about 8. From there I did kind of a slow jog, fast walk up Main St., and around Matterhorn (by Alice) and came around. There was a mass of people in line for Nemo. I was able to enter line, but it was CRAZY. Seemed very disorganized. I heard there were 2 lines going, one against the side of the lagoon (which ended up being the correct line) and the other was right at umbrellas. I continued in this line. By time I got to first switch back they were little people who were lined up v. the lagoon into the line. They later closed out the line I had been walking in.

In any event, from there it was about one hour's wait. So overall I wait about one and a half hours-not too bad. It was fairly cool and it was okay once line settled down.

I liked the ride. It was great to be in the subs again. They seem smaller than I remember, or else I've just gotten larger.

Seemed like two rides to me, the first being more like the classic subs and the second a Nemo ride. I thought it was good. I've ridden the Nemo ride in Epcot, so I had seen the technology before. It seems a bit more real here at DL bc you are in the "underwater" environment, instead of just the clam mobile.

 

[JKanownik]

Glad you had a good time! I guess we shoud have gone.

 

[Disney Anna]

Thanks, I did have a nice time. It was nice to enjoy the new ride, now I don't have to obsess over it.

I think the crowds overall are pretty manageable as long as you get there early and if you can leave early too. That's the beauty of going at least once per month. I feel sorry for the people for whom it's their once in a lifetime, or decade trip. DL has just been so crowded. No real downtime. I'm always out of Dodge before it gets too crowded.

If I had stayed longer, I would have headed over to DTD or CA. I don't think I could stand the crowds getting bigger and bigger.

 

[KelsiesMommy]

I did the arrive early and rush to Nemo on Fri.... big headache since many people pushed and ran their way the wrong way and didn't follow CM directions, and even though we waited at the front of rope drop for Nemo for 45 mins, when my DH made it to line and the CMs just told everyone to get in (instead of filing people through the queue in a fashionable order- my DH was at the 2 hr mark

We went back at 9:20pm and watyched the fireworks while in line, heard the band at TT and waited 1 hr and 22 mins

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

We were there this morning and saw the mad dash to Nemo (as we saw all week!). Honestly I think the best way to ride it right now is with EE (if you can go to EE). Get there early before EE starts, and rush over. We only waited 20 minutes, and that was only because the ride didn't open until 20 minutes in to EE.

It is a great ride. We loved it, but I can't say I'd wait more then an hour for it. We didn't even attempt to do it again this morning. We just hit all our favs before making the long trip home! I know around noon on Saturday a CM told us it was around 2 1/2-3 hours. So if you got on after 1 1/2 you did good!

 

[maberlyne]

We did it Friday AM. We actually thought the park opened at 8 AM... but it opened at 9. So we were maybe the 6-8 people in one of the lines. They opened the park at about 8:15 and let us go up through the hub to the beginnings of the lands.

At 9, they did the rope drop and everyone hurried to Nemo. The CM's made the mob squish into a line to enter the queue. Still with all that, we waited about half hour to board. When we left the ride, we heard a CM telling someone the line was 4 hours

Here's a rant, though. After we entered the real line we were power walking as there was no line. We came from the Fantasyland side, and obviously there were people who came from Tomorrowland who had to then walk back far towards Fantasyland to hit the end of the line. So in front of as, as we were walking, ducks a middle aged guy and his kid under the rope in front of us. Um, excuse me?

However, we forgave it because of the preteen girl in front of us and them (his daughter). Wait, or was it? Soon two more kids and then a mom joined the cutter. By the time we hit the front of the line, we determined they were not together. So, mainly, this man just thought it was okay to cut. We were pissed. So rude. People always complain about teenagers, young adults and how rude they are, but look at him. Grr.

 

[JLS]

Kelsie'sMom and others - it is distressing to hear stories of people who are at the rope drop waiting, and go straight to the ride, and still somehow are at the 2 hour wait mark in the queue? How is that actually possible? Is there some way for that to be avoided? We got all the time and don't really care too much because we can always go back, but next Sunday, the 24th, I am taking my two cousins, ages 13 and 9, to Disneyland for what is their first time and probably their only time until they become adults (they live out of state, no funds to travel etc.). I would like them to experience everything including Nemo, but I will also have my 2-year old with us and I don't want to steer us into a total nightmare, and also don't want to get up at the crack of dawn and drive down there only to have a 2 hour line.

Any help is appreciated. If these reports don't get more encouraging, I am going to recommend against trying to go on Nemo.

 

[Adam&Alex's Mom]

We were there this morning and saw the mad dash to Nemo (as we saw all week!). Honestly I think the best way to ride it right now is with EE (if you can go to EE). Get there early before EE starts, and rush over. We only waited 20 minutes, and that was only because the ride didn't open until 20 minutes in to EE.

Just to make sure I understand correctly (forgive me I can be slow at times.... ) Nemo is available to actually ride during EE... not just to line up?

Whoo hoo... I have read conflicting messages on different boards about this! But most posts were not from direct experience.

Thanks for the info!

 

[TINKERIFIC]

ok..we are going to DL on the 24th...questions:

1. how early can we actually arrive to park..when does the garage open for parking or what time should we be there

2. where is the que for nemo...do we enter from fantasyland or tomorrowland?

sounds like i should be hoping for the best expecting the worst. i have a stroller which makes it even worse because we have to park, etc.

HELP....

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

Just to make sure I understand correctly (forgive me I can be slow at times.... ) Nemo is available to actually ride during EE... not just to line up?

Whoo hoo... I have read conflicting messages on different boards about this! But most posts were not from direct experience.

Thanks for the info!

That is correct! EE was at 7am on Saturday, at 7:20 we were riding the subs! We were off the subs before EE was over and was able to ride Buzz and Space Mountain before opening of the actual park!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

DL has handled this rather badly. And it doesn't take any extra CMs. Instead of having the ride operators standing around and waiting, two or three escort the crowd to the line by the designated route. Other CM's rope off the other route into the queue. Once the initial crowd is through, the cm's at the rope let it loose and then go work the ride. It's not hard to accomplish. .