Nemo, June 17

[HydroGuy]

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.

I do not think that is what happened. If you arrive for rope drop and go straight to Nemo the line will not be 2 hours unless something goes wrong with the CM's or the ride or something, or if it is a special situation like opening day or a Sunday in June with lots of AP holders. If, however, it is an EE day and you do not have EE, and then you get in line for Nemo, the EE people may have already built the line up to 2 hours by then.

Bottom line is either ride Nemo first thing on an EE day (easier to do if you have multiple EE days) or, better, first thing on a non-EE day.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

I do not think that is what happened. If you arrive for rope drop and go straight to Nemo the line will not be 2 hours unless something goes wrong with the CM's or the ride or something, or if it is a special situation like opening day or a Sunday in June with lots of AP holders. If, however, it is an EE day and you do not have EE, and then you get in line for Nemo, the EE people may have already built the line up to 2 hours by then.

Bottom line is either ride Nemo first thing on an EE day (easier to do if you have multiple EE days) or, better, first thing on a non-EE day.

I agree. It's key to get to the very front of the line at the gates for opening (whether EE or non EE day). It's a mad dash, and if your not quick people will race ahead of you, and yes the line gets to be an hour or two very quickly if your not fast enough at getting to the sub line.

 

[brenda1966]

It is possible to dash with a stroller? Or would it be better to park the stroller on main street and retrieve it later? I've read they are letting strollers in the line, but am doubtful this would occur during the morning rush. Not sure how to park and still get into the line in a timely manner.

i'm still not clear on the route to Nemo. So we should go around behind the matterhorn, like by the teacups? In looking at the map, one would think going in front of the matterhorn, in between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland would be the most direct route.

This is starting to sound like a nightmare. Sounds like they are starting to have it open during EE but am not sure I want to waste my one EE on this line. In fact, I'm quite sure I don't want to, so that leaves the one non-EE morning which happens to be a Sunday and likely quite busy.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

I know what you mean about wasting your one EE day. We basically did that. BUT only because we were able to walk on to all of the Fantasyland rides every single day that wasn't a EE day that we were there. I guess with everyone rushing over to Nemo it left all those lines short, at least for a little while. We probably did just as well on non-EE days then we would have on our EE day. So by the time Saturday came around we had rode Peter Pan 3 times ect... so it wasn't a big deal for us to use our EE day to get to see Nemo. I wanted to experience it once!

Sorry I don't know about the strollers, we didn't have one. But I did see A LOT of people rushing over with them. Honestly it did seem like a nightmare most days, to where we wouldn't even dream of trying it. I just wasn't going to waste 2-3+ hours of our day standing in line for any 1 ride. After seeing everyone rush off to the right at opening the first day we had pretty much decided that we wouldn't be seeing it until our October trip. If it wasn't for my Dh being able to power walk REALLY fast I doubt we'd have seen it Saturday even. I tired out pretty quickly and people were just leaving me in their dust! LOL

 

[TINKERIFIC]

Our DCA day is 6/24, but we plan on DL before DCA opens...basically just for Nemo. DH and I plan for him to hightail it over to Nemo and get our place in line. I will follow, but with a stroller it is difficult to get there quickly. I would like to ride it, but I do not want to run over people or have people run over me and my children to get on the ride. No ride, IMO, is worth that sort of headache. If my DH gets there, safely, and it is not that long of a wait then we will wait it out.

 

[KelsiesMommy]

I do not think that is what happened. If you arrive for rope drop and go straight to Nemo the line will not be 2 hours unless something goes wrong with the CM's or the ride or something, or if it is a special situation like opening day or a Sunday in June with lots of AP holders. If, however, it is an EE day and you do not have EE, and then you get in line for Nemo, the EE people may have already built the line up to 2 hours by then.

Bottom line is either ride Nemo first thing on an EE day (easier to do if you have multiple EE days) or, better, first thing on a non-EE day.

That is EXACTLY what happened last Friday!!!! I was at the FRONT of rope drop, followed the CM directions, nearly got trampled from the pushing and shoving, and once we were to the line, as posted before on that particular day, the CMs without any organization at all, shoved people into line.... in spite of waiting patiently at the rope drop where we were told to go for Nemo- for 45 mins!- we ended up at the 2 hr mark in line. Seeing as how everyone but my DH had ridden it during a lucky preview chance, I gave him the choice- he left the line b/c he was so peeved at the chaos and disorganization- he hates crowds at Disney and was mad he waited for all that time to get shoved around and not get in closer to where we should have been.

Like I posted before- we went in line at 9:20 Fri night, watched the fireworks from line, pushed a sleeping 2 and 4 yr old in their strollers in line and waited 1 hr and 22 mins before boarding the subs- it wasn't hot, the people weren't pushy and shoving their way in, and my DH was finally able to ride it.

 

[KelsiesMommy]

If you have children in strollers, IMO, unless you run over people and hit them with your strollers you're doomed... this was part of our downfall, as I wasn't willing to run people over (though many people pushed into me and my 2 y/o in her stroller with no regard to personal safety or consideration). So- run like the wind, push, shove, cut in line, push ahead of the mom/dad/grandma with small children in strollers who waited a lot longer at rope drop than you and your able bodied teens, and yes, you'll make it to Nemo faster.

 

[NotSoLittleMermaid]

Our strategy yesterday (Sunday) was to get in the monorail line in DD about 7:15. They started letting people through the line to board a couple of minutes before 8. We were on the first monorail into the park and among the first off the platform since we sat at the end of the monorail so as to be closest to the stairway down once we got into DL. At the bottom of the stairway we made our way through the gob of people there until we found the end of the line. I looked at my watch at that time and it was 8:15. We boarded our sub at 9:15. I felt like we did pretty well and we didn't have to deal with the huge lines at the entrance to DL or the mob of people on Main Street.

It's a great ride--I'm old enough to remember the original and as others have posted they have retained several elements of the old ride that bring back some fun memories. I thought it was very well done. I also agree with those who said it was worth waiting an hour for--but not longer than that, IMO.

 

[ArielAdventurer]

I guess you already found out yesterday was nuts at DL..I was there all week and practically walked on every ride..(except Nemo)..we even went standby for Splash Mountain and got on after 30 min... but yesterday there was even a long wait for Small World...

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

I guess you already found out yesterday was nuts at DL..I was there all week and practically walked on every ride..(except Nemo)..we even went standby for Splash Mountain and got on after 30 min... but yesterday there was even a long wait for Small World...

Same here, I don't think we ever waited more then 15 minutes for any ride. Most we walked on to. My guess is that it really helped having that many people in line for Nemo all day! DH and DS rode Space and Splash many times with little wait (we also used Fast pass a lot though too).

 

[ArielAdventurer]

Our strategy yesterday (Sunday) was to get in the monorail line in DD about 7:15. They started letting people through the line to board a couple of minutes before 8

What was frustrating for us is..we made it to the monorail line at 6:30 on Saturday..only to be told the monorail was going to run about 20 minutes behind opening at the front gate..so we had to race to the front gate..One good thing once we got in..since I had 2 8 year olds with me..they had a lot of CM's along the way telling people they couldn't run..so we got there pretty fast..I was on the sub within a 1/2 hour of getting to the line..and..I had blisters on my feet already! lol

 

[HydroGuy]

That is EXACTLY what happened last Friday!!!! I was at the FRONT of rope drop, followed the CM directions, nearly got trampled from the pushing and shoving, and once we were to the line, as posted before on that particular day, the CMs without any organization at all, shoved people into line.... in spite of waiting patiently at the rope drop where we were told to go for Nemo- for 45 mins!- we ended up at the 2 hr mark in line. Seeing as how everyone but my DH had ridden it during a lucky preview chance, I gave him the choice- he left the line b/c he was so peeved at the chaos and disorganization- he hates crowds at Disney and was mad he waited for all that time to get shoved around and not get in closer to where we should have been.

Like I posted before- we went in line at 9:20 Fri night, watched the fireworks from line, pushed a sleeping 2 and 4 yr old in their strollers in line and waited 1 hr and 22 mins before boarding the subs- it wasn't hot, the people weren't pushy and shoving their way in, and my DH was finally able to ride it.

Well, then by your description it fell into the category of "something went wrong with the CMs". My point was that if everything works relatively smoothly what happened to you will not be typical.