Question about EE

[Jager_mom]

I changed our day's around, so we will be doing DL on Thursday and Friday and most likely I will be making reservations at The Candy Cane Inn for those 2 nights, My mil has AARP which gives us a little bit of a discount....So whwat time does the park open on those days and when should I use my EE?

 

[wndrlandcat]

I changed our day's around, so we will be doing DL on Thursday and Friday and most likely I will be making reservations at The Candy Cane Inn for those 2 nights, My mil has AARP which gives us a little bit of a discount....So whwat time does the park open on those days and when should I use my EE?

EE is available on Mon, Tues, Thurs or Sat only. It opens 1 hour prior to park opening. Check out disneyland.com and on the home page there is a link to the park hours and calendar.

 

[HydroGuy]

I changed our day's around, so we will be doing DL on Thursday and Friday and most likely I will be making reservations at The Candy Cane Inn for those 2 nights, My mil has AARP which gives us a little bit of a discount....So whwat time does the park open on those days and when should I use my EE?

Wndrlandcat is correct. That means you can use your EE on Thursday. I know you are dealing with kids, but if you can convince everyone to get to the gate at least 20 minutes before EE starts (30 minutes is better), you can get into DL quickly and get 7-8 rides in FantasyLand done before the park opens. Since EE is one hour before normal park opening, that means you should arrive 1 hour and 20 or 30 minutes before normal park opening. And, that means you should be standing at the gate, not driving into a parking garage or something like that.

You haven't asked yet, but I will anticipate your question and answer it here. The first two rides you should do during EE are:

1. Peter Pan
2. Dumbo

Unless for some reason no one wants to ride these at all. After these two you can use your own judgement, but here is a recommendation assuming you want to do all of these:

3. Alice In Wonderland
4. Matterhorn
5. Mad Tea Party
6. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
7. King Arthur Carrousel
8. Snow White's Scary Adventure
9. Pinnochio

These will probably take an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. So if you do them all it might take you into normal park hours a bit. Even so, the park is not crowded during the first hour anyways.

 

[laura&fam]

Candy Cane Inn is close so I don't think it should be a problem, but be aware that the parking structure does not open early enough to allow you to park and be waiting at the gate 30 minutes before EE. Also the ART shuttle does not begin to run until one hour before the park actually opens.

The only option for EE seems to be walking.

 

[Vanvmom]

Candy Cane Inn is definitely an easy walk, but they also have their own shuttle (don't use ART if you stay there). Candy Cane's shuttle runs every half hour, and you can call them to determine what time they start in the AM.

 

[DisneyDotty]

Please excuse my ignorance here...I'm assuming EE is not like EMH at WDW, which allows WDW resort guests early entry into the parks. Who is eligible for EE at DL? How do I get it?
Thanks so much for the info!

 

[pink elephants]

Another EE question: Can it be used on the same day as Toontown Madness or is that not a good idea?

We'll be there Wed - Sat, which leaves only Thurs and Sat for EE and TTM. We're planning to take the Discover the Magic Tour on Sat, so I'm wondering if I should put both EE and TTM on Thurs. or whether there's still time to do one of them on Thurs and one on Sat.

I think this is my only planning snag (she says, fingers crossed). Any help from you experienced DLers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[HydroGuy]

Please excuse my ignorance here...I'm assuming EE is not like EMH at WDW, which allows WDW resort guests early entry into the parks. Who is eligible for EE at DL? How do I get it?
Thanks so much for the info!

DL has had different strategies in different years for allowing guests into the parks early. In year 2000 we got in early when we stayed at the DLH hotel. I think the whole park was open early back then. Then for awhile there were no privileges for entering early.

To your question, I believe it was just this year that the "Early Entry" (EE) program was started in its current form. There is one formal way to get it. You must buy a 3-day or more parkhopper bonus ticket. This is what is sold, for example, on the DLR website. There are other types of parkhoppers out there that are not bonus. For examples, ones bought thru the military are not bonus.

When you get a parkhopper bonus ticket, it will say on the ticket that you get an EE day. And it is only one day out of your trip that you get EE. In summary, the parkhopper bonus ticket is the only sure way to get EE.

Now, to confuse things, there is another "unofficial" way to get EE. Starting on July 18 of this year DLR began allowing DLR hotel guests to use EE for each day they stayed at the hotel and EE was available as an experiment. It is not guaranteed to be available like the parkhopper is, and the experiment can be ended at any time. You will not see this EE method published on any website or on any materials. It is purely a verbal, unofficial, test that may end tomorrow. There were rumors DLR was going to end this in September, but they didn't. In short, you should not expect to get EE this way. Rather, if you stay at a DLR hotel and the test is still ongoing, you should just be glad and use it.

Unlike in previous years where early park privileges allowed you pretty much full access to the park, the EE program was always focused on FantasyLand. And even then, not all of FL is open. Just most of it. Then DL started opening parts of TomorrowLand. When Buzz LY opened (in March I think) DL started opening Buzz during EE. Then when Space Mtn reopened in July they added that. However, there is no official list of which rides will be open during EE. The actual open rides can change at a moment's notice.

 

[HydroGuy]

Another EE question: Can it be used on the same day as Toontown Madness or is that not a good idea?

We'll be there Wed - Sat, which leaves only Thurs and Sat for EE and TTM. We're planning to take the Discover the Magic Tour on Sat, so I'm wondering if I should put both EE and TTM on Thurs. or whether there's still time to do one of them on Thurs and one on Sat.

I think this is my only planning snag (she says, fingers crossed). Any help from you experienced DLers would be greatly appreciated.

For those who do not know what TTMM is, it allows early entry into TT one hour before normal opening. However, TT always opens one hour after normal park opening, so when you get into TT one hour early, you are actually into TT at the normal park opening time. Got that? If DL opens at 8AM, then TT opens at 9AM, and TTMM is one hour before TT opens, or also at 8AM.

I have used EE, but not TTMM. Most people who report on TTMM are not very excited about it, like they are with EE. The rides in TT are not actually open during TTMM. Rather there is a cermony of some sort and some character interactions.

To your question, you can use EE and TTMM on the same morning, and it may be a good idea. Let's assume that for your Saturday DL opens at 8AM. If you use TTMM on a different day, then you will need to be sure to get to the DL gate extra early (at least 30 minutes before normal park opening - e.g., 7:30 in our example) so you can get into DL right away and back to TT. Since TTMM will start at 8AM when DL actually opens for normal hours at 8AM, you will be lucky if you can get back to TT by 8:10 on such a day.

On the other hand, if you go to TTMM on the same day as EE (EE would start at 7AM in our example), you can easily get to TT by 8AM because you are already in FL doing rides.

 

[noryglory]

Honesty, I think that Hydroguy should write one primer each on "Getting the Most out of Early Entry" and "Getting the Most out of Fastpass" and they should be stickies at the top of these threads. He is entirely too generous with writing these great messages over....and over....and over! Who else agrees with me?

How 'bout it Mary Jo and/or Judy?

 

[pink elephants]

Honesty, I think that Hydroguy should write one primer each on "Getting the Most out of Early Entry" and "Getting the Most out of Fastpass" and they should be stickies at the top of these threads.

I'll second that. For us newbies to DL, his posts are so useful. I just printed the last ones out to have before the trip.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Hi guys -- If you go to the Disneyland FAQs thread stuck at the top you'll find information on EE and Fastpass, including HydroGuy's Fastpass tips.

 

[HydroGuy]

Honesty, I think that Hydroguy should write one primer each on "Getting the Most out of Early Entry" and "Getting the Most out of Fastpass" and they should be stickies at the top of these threads. He is entirely too generous with writing these great messages over....and over....and over! Who else agrees with me?

How 'bout it Mary Jo and/or Judy?

Awww shucks....

 

[lglessner]

I bought citypass tickets from costco, so I think I have the 3day park hopper BONUS, since that is what it says on the costco site, although I don't recall seeing anything about EE on the actual citypass tickets after I opened the package.

So since I am planning on using them Mon,Tue, Wed, when I turn in the citypass to DL on Monday I'll get parkhopper tickets and an EE that I should plan on using Tuesday?

 

[gjw89]

Good to know that this info is in stickies. When you are new to the whole Dis experience, it can get so confusing (even with stickies). So thanks a whole bunch for reposting.

 

[laura&fam]

Your plan on redeeming you City Pass should work fine.

One other thing you may want to do if you are able is to redeem the City Pass ticket at the ticket window the night before you plan to use it. This will take less time (shorter lines in the evening) and you can be at the gate ready to enter the park when it opens.

Just remember do NOT tear out the park hopper "ticket" from the City Pass book. You need to hand the entire book to the ticket window.