New Security Entrance

[kes601]

Thanks for sharing. Did you happen to see how many security lines they had open?

3 at most. This was at 5:00p on a Sunday.

 

[Weber Prof]

We spent three days at the Villas at the Disneyland Hotel last week and rope dropped three consecutive mornings. I found the exit entrance between Adventure and Frontier Towers to be the most direct route to the new Downtown Disney Security entrance.

You walk out the gate, across the road and there is the entrance. Very convenient.

Sunday June 23 we got there around 6 am and were the third family in line. Monday June 24 we meant to get there later but arrived around 6:15 am and were the second family in line. Tuesday June 25 arrived around 6:05 and were first in line. Only a handful of families between 6 and 6:15 each morning. About 20 to 30 families by 6:30 and too many to count by 7:00. Very few people coming from Pixar Place or the parking lots. Most people came from hotel via the Sorcerer's Hat. I didn't pay attention to the time security actually opened but it was never at 7, always a bit after. You know it is nearly time when the dog comes on duty.

At opening there were between 3 and five lines open. We spend less than one minute going through security and then began the walk to the park gates. We arrived at the park gates around 7: 18 am and were about the fifth family in line each day.

We left the park each day around noon or one. The exit gate changed sides each day. Returning to the parks around 4 or 5 pm we usually only one or two groups ahead of us with about 3 to five lines open.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Thanks for the detailed info!

 

[LKing]

Returning to the parks around 4 or 5 pm we usually only one or two groups ahead of us

Thanks for sharing. So, on Sunday night, did you see the long lines that kes601 wrote about? Something must have happened that caused a sudden change.

Very few people coming from Pixar Place or the parking lots

Sunday and Monday would have been DCA EE dates so the Pixar Place guests probably used their DCA entrance.

People who park in the lots wouldn't have EE. The structures open an hour before the park opens, so people were barely getting into the structure by 7 am.

 

[Pluto468]

Is there an aerial view map of the new entrance somewhere? Even looking at the pictures and hearing descriptions I can't wrap my head around where it is. I'm sure it's just me lol

 

[LKing]

Is there an aerial view map of the new entrance somewhere? Even looking at the pictures and hearing descriptions I can't wrap my head around where it is. I'm sure it's just me lol

Look at the Disneyland app. It is there. It is the oval structure that my poorly drawn red arrow is pointing to. The blue X is where Din Tai Fung is located.

 

[kes601]

We spent three days at the Villas at the Disneyland Hotel last week and rope dropped three consecutive mornings. I found the exit entrance between Adventure and Frontier Towers to be the most direct route to the new Downtown Disney Security entrance.
View attachment 872786
You walk out the gate, across the road and there is the entrance. Very convenient.

Sunday June 23 we got there around 6 am and were the third family in line. Monday June 24 we meant to get there later but arrived around 6:15 am and were the second family in line. Tuesday June 25 arrived around 6:05 and were first in line. Only a handful of families between 6 and 6:15 each morning. About 20 to 30 families by 6:30 and too many to count by 7:00. Very few people coming from Pixar Place or the parking lots. Most people came from hotel via the Sorcerer's Hat. I didn't pay attention to the time security actually opened but it was never at 7, always a bit after. You know it is nearly time when the dog comes on duty.

At opening there were between 3 and five lines open. We spend less than one minute going through security and then began the walk to the park gates. We arrived at the park gates around 7: 18 am and were about the fifth family in line each day.

We left the park each day around noon or one. The exit gate changed sides each day. Returning to the parks around 4 or 5 pm we usually only one or two groups ahead of us with about 3 to five lines open.

We must have been just behind you on Monday / Tuesday. It was just after that when we started using VGC I believe.

 

[Pluto468]

Look at the Disneyland app. It is there. It is the oval structure that my poorly drawn red arrow is pointing to. The blue X is where Din Tai Fung is located.

View attachment 872854

Thank you so much! I didn't even think to look in the app. It's all clear to me now

 

[LKing]

Not sure what hotel security looked like, but this was Mickey & Friends security at 11:30 am on July 4.

There was no wait to enter the parking structure, no line for security and no line for the trams.



I didn't take a picture of the absolute chaos in the evening. They were running four trams back to the structure and the line for each row of seats had at least 12-15 people in them. Traffic getting out of the structure and onto the freeway was gridlock.

 

[Weber Prof]

Thanks for sharing. So, on Sunday night, did you see the long lines that kes601 wrote about? Something must have happened that caused a sudden change.



Sunday and Monday would have been DCA EE dates so the Pixar Place guests probably used their DCA entrance.

People who park in the lots wouldn't have EE. The structures open an hour before the park opens, so people were barely getting into the structure by 7 am.

We never encountered long lines to enter the park (thankffully) when we returned after our hotel break.

Strangely enough on Sunday morning there were people in line who were locals. They have someone drop them off at the hotel entrance because it was more convenient for drop offs they said.

 

[moorish]

We stayed at DLH and used the entrance on Sat, 6/30 and Sun, 7/1 for early entry. We got down to security around 6:50 am on Saturday and around 6:45 am on Sunday. Both days there were longer lines back towards the Sorcerer's Hat but they went pretty quickly once we got going. I was nervous given how long they looked, but we were in place before the in-park rope drop (and towards the front of the crowd) at 7:30 for DL and DCA both mornings.

On Sunday, after rope drop, we used the Pixar Pier entrance to leave, get back into DCA and leave again and we were literally the only people in the space aside from the cast members each time. It's the way to go for DCA for anytime aside from rope drop IMO.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Where is the Pixar Pier entrance?

 

[kes601]

Where is the Pixar Pier entrance?

By the entrance to GCH. At the guard gate for GCH instead of walking into the gate in front of you it is on your right.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Ok, sorry I'm feeling clueless here, sorry.

Are you talking about that entrance into the GCH from DCA that's right across from GRR? You're exiting and entering from there but going to/from the DLH? Wouldn't that exit take you out behind the GCH to Disneyland Drive? Then you walk back to the DLH from there?

I've only stayed at the PP once and that was before they had their own entrance, so I'm just going by what I'm seeing on a map.

 

[kes601]

Ok, sorry I'm feeling clueless here, sorry.

Are you talking about that entrance into the GCH from DCA that's right across from GRR? You're exiting and entering from there but going to/from the DLH? Wouldn't that exit take you out behind the GCH to Disneyland Drive? Then you walk back to the DLH from there?

I've only stayed at the PP once and that was before they had their own entrance, so I'm just going by what I'm seeing on a map.

This post has a map:

Post in thread 'The Official VILLAS at DISNEYLAND HOTEL (Discovery Tower) Owners and Fans Info Thread'
https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...rs-and-fans-info-thread.3923658/post-65462631

 

[LKing]

You are referring to Pixar Place (not Pixar Pier). Is that correct?

If so, you know where this sign is, right? Look to the far left of this picture, you can see a brown gate and the tip of a sign on the wall adjacent to it.

That sign is this. You turn right there, scan your key and are given access to the Pixar Place entry.



You'll walk down a path on the side of GCH. Around the corner from this is security and where you scan into the park.


This is the view from inside DCA.



A wider shot

 

[Weber Prof]

We must have been just behind you on Monday / Tuesday. It was just after that when we started using VGC I believe.

I wish I would have know and said hello.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Thanks, LKing and and kes601 for the link and the photos. Very helpful.

LKing, normally I'm only on this board a couple months at a time before a trip. I've been noticing HydroGuy's absence and see from one of his old posts that he evidently isn't here anymore, which is a shame. However, you're looking a little like the new HydroGuy!

 

[soniam]

Thanks, LKing and and kes601 for the link and the photos. Very helpful.

LKing, normally I'm only on this board a couple months at a time before a trip. I've been noticing HydroGuy's absence and see from one of his old posts that he evidently isn't here anymore, which is a shame. However, you're looking a little like the new HydroGuy!

He and several others left for a group on a different social media format a while back, years now maybe, when there was a great purging of moderators and members. I read it sometimes, but I'm not a huge fan of the format for the new group. It reminds me too much of old message boards where it was difficult to find specific info or follow threads about a specific topic. The channels are way too broad.

 

[LKing]

LKing, normally I'm only on this board a couple months at a time before a trip. I've been noticing HydroGuy's absence and see from one of his old posts that he evidently isn't here anymore, which is a shame. However, you're looking a little like the new HydroGuy!

Sorry, that is before my time. Did he post a lot of pictures?

I'm a visual learner. When I look at Yelp, I immediately go to images and then, if I am interested, I read the reviews. I saw that people were confused with the new Pixar Place entrance, so I took pictures a few months ago. I think I posted them in the Pixar Place thread at the time. Same thing with the new DLH security entrance or Fantasmic. People seem stressed about those things so, when I am at the parks, I try to take pictures to help others visualize what it looks like.