Nemo line recently??

[princesskim]

I am going to DL tomorrow and was wondering if the Nemo ride is still "must run as soon as the park opens" status, or if it has calmed down since the opening? TIA!!!!

 

[damo]

We were there last week and it was crazy long all day. At around 11 pm it shortened up a bit and we were able to ride it with about a 45 minute wait.

 

[eduk8r26]

This past Friday it was an hour and 45 minute wait.

 

[DLR29]

On Wednesday, 8/15 the line was at least an hour by 8:30. On Friday, 8/17 the line was just about the same, maybe a bit longer by 8:30. I definitely recommend doing the "Subs Sprint" at park opening.

 

[jacmo]

We've been here for a week. Every day the line has been 2 hours. Even very early. Did you know there is an 'observation deck' that runs a video of what you would see on the sub ride? We went in the exit and asked and were guided to an A/C cooled room with a few seats and a big screen. As far as my kid is concerned, he rode Nemo!

 

[Anater]

We've been here for a week. Every day the line has been 2 hours. Even very early. Did you know there is an 'observation deck' that runs a video of what you would see on the sub ride? We went in the exit and asked and were guided to an A/C cooled room with a few seats and a big screen. As far as my kid is concerned, he rode Nemo!

Can anyone use the observation area? What was the wait like? Looks like that is the route we'll be taking as well.

 

[stacy~**]

We rode it last Wednesday (the 15th I think) and the wait was just under an hour. We got in line at 6:45PM.

 

[grumpyvet]

Today, the Nemo ride had a posted wait time of 2 hours at 8:30AM. We chose to "walk on by!!".
I never checked later on , but things looked BUSY!!!

The rest of the parks were much more doable, SpM's wait was 30 minutes at around 11:00, got on ToT after 10 minutes about 4:30PM.

Today was pretty great..enjoy yourself tomorrow!!

 

[DLR29]

Can anyone use the observation area? What was the wait like? Looks like that is the route we'll be taking as well.

It was built for handicapped guests who aren't physically able to board the subs, but anyone (especially claustrophobics) are allowed to view it. It's just not the same experience even though you see the same stuff.

 

[SilverCeladon]

So, if I have any hope of seeing it with my 3 and 1 year olds I should get at the gate on early entry at 6 or 6:30am and mad dash it to Nemo?

 

[tinkerbelt]

Today (the 22nd), it was 45 minutes at about 3:00.

 

[G&GMom]

So, if I have any hope of seeing it with my 3 and 1 year olds I should get at the gate on early entry at 6 or 6:30am and mad dash it to Nemo?

We rode Nemo last Thursday at early entry. We arrived at 6:30 and were held up at the bag check area. There were approx. 20 people in front of us. ABout 6:45 security let us through to the gates. We had 6 people in front of us at our gate. While the opening family was doing their part, the ticket taker went ahead and scanned our tickets so we were able to get in very quickly. We ran for a bit, I have a 4 and 6 year old so we were not super fast by any means. We were passed by some super sprinters but not very many at all so we changed our pace to a brisk walk. When we arrived at they held us in line for a few minutes and then let us wind our way through the queue. It took a long time to do that, even though there was no slowdown, just a lot of winding back and forth. We were on the 2nd sub and when we got off the line was just unbelievable. We went and finished 90% of fantasyland before 8 am.
I think our strategy worked well for us.

ETA: the family in front of us had just the mom run to the line and the dad and small kids met her while we were all walking in the line.

 

[Torontogal]

We were at Disney a couple weeks ago. We arrived for the Early Entry at 7:15am and it was a 2 to 2 1/2 hour wait. 2 days later - we arrived exactly 7:00am and they said the ride was closed for maintenance. It was really disappointing as we would have been in a decent location in line. Many people still lined up but heard it did not open for several hours. So so diappointed as I never got to ride it. Wondering if it is even worth the 2+ hour wait...

 

[Master Mason]

Wondering if it is even worth the 2+ hour wait...

In my opinion no. We rode it on Tuesday the 14th, we got in line when the fireworks were going on. Waited just at 1 hour. It was a nice ride, but now having rode it once, I wouldn't wait more than 30 minutes for it again.

Just my opinion.

 

[DLR29]

So, if I have any hope of seeing it with my 3 and 1 year olds I should get at the gate on early entry at 6 or 6:30am and mad dash it to Nemo?

Actually, we found our EE morning more crowded than our 2 non-EE mornings. I'd say, unless you are at the very front of the line, skip Nemo during your EE and visit Fantasyland. It's much more time efficient. Why waste your EE on 1 ride when you can ride every single Fantasyland ride in the same amount of time. Save Nemo for the first thing on a non-EE morning, but still arrive at least 30 minutes before park opening.

 

[SilverCeladon]

I think that's excellent advice DLR. I'll do just that. It'll probably be the same anyways...

 

[CalGal]

We were there 8/13-8/16. The information board posted wait time was usually 120 minutes. The shortest posted time I saw was 90 minutes I think. I didn't check the wait late at night (after the info board shut down). It was cute, but is not worth a 2 hour wait.

Most of the EE guests went to Nemo, and the line was long immediately. I imagine it is the same way on non-EE days. I agree with the previous poster, if I had one EE, I would use it on Fantasyland, and ride Nemo first thing on a non-EE day. But I would also recommend getting to the gates AT LEAST 1/2 hour before opening.

As guests of the DLH, we had 2 EEs, so we used one for Nemo. On our Nemo day, we arrived at security before 6:30 (more like 6:20). Security didn't open up until 6:45, but I imagine if you were not in line by 6:30-6:40 you were going to be pretty far back in line when the gates open. The lines at security were longer on the Harbor side. Even though we ended up being first in line at one of the gates, and first in line for Nemo (my son moves fast), it still took over 1/2 of EE to ride Nemo since you have to walk to entire queue and it's not a short ride.

(If you are a guest at one of the Disney hotels and want to ride Nemo first thing, go to the front gate early; don't ride the monorail - it usually doesn't arrive until several minutes after the front gates open; by then the line to Nemo is very long!)

Hopefully, Nemo lines will start getting shorter now that the peak summer season is coming to an end, but they were still pretty darn long last week. I felt bad for the little ones who especially love Nemo and got their hopes up. And I really felt bad for the poor souls who waited 2 hours in the hot afternoons.

 

[DLR29]

(If you are a guest at one of the Disney hotels and want to ride Nemo first thing, go to the front gate early; don't ride the monorail - it usually doesn't arrive until several minutes after the front gates open; by then the line to Nemo is very long!)

I second this. Another reason not to use the monorail is that you have to walk all the way past the line to get to the point where everybody is joining the line. If you enter through the main gates, the CMs will point you in the right direction to get in the line the fastest.

 

[SilverCeladon]

Great advice. I won't ride the monorail first thing in morning to ride Nemo and I won't waste my EE on Nemo but will do it on a normal opening day. Thanks for all the great info!

 

[HydroGuy]

I agree with the previous poster, if I had one EE, I would use it on Fantasyland, and ride Nemo first thing on a non-EE day. But I would also recommend getting to the gates AT LEAST 1/2 hour before opening.

I thought this way at first, but then changed my mind after our trip in late June. This was only two weeks after Nemo opened, and the lines to enter DL on the EE and non-EE mornings were huge. But the rush to Nemo was much more intense on non-EE mornings. I decided that we could Fantasyland first thing on a non-EE morning and it would be best to use our one EE on Nemo. After doing that, I definitely concluded that was best. We got to the DL gates 40 minutes early for EE (instead of our normal 20-30 minutes early). If you try to do Nemo first thing on a non-EE day, you should get to the gates 45-50 minutes early.

Once we get past Labor Day and park hours shorten and summer high season ends for awhile, I suspect Nemo demand will gradually reduce and the above advice will no longer be relevant - except maybe on weekends. Once holiday season picks up, I expect the advice to be relevant again.