Quick questions before my weekend trip!

[PirateFish989]

I'm going to Disneyland this Saturday and Sunday (December 8-9) and I haven't been since the beginning of May. For the most part, we have a plan, however since we are traveling with two kids we are open to winging it, taking in the holiday atmosphere, snaking, shopping, and just making sure we have as much fun as possible. But I do have some things I just want to clarify before I leave.

1. Are Fastpass times being enforced? (Meaning if my Fastpass return window is 2:10-3:10, are they still letting me come back after 3:10? After I heard WDW is enforcing return times, I just want to make sure Disneyland isn't).

2. We are staying at the Paradise Pier so we get Magic Morning both days we are there. We plan on doing Disneyland on Saturday and DCA on Sunday. From what I've read, when we get into DCA foe Magic Morning, we need to go straight to RSR (using the Wide Right technique. If RSR isn't up and running, come back later or get a fastpass when the park officially opens. Is this correct?

3. On Saturday when we are in Disneyland for Magic Morning, we will do Fantasyland first thing (specifically Peter Pan) and then head over to Space Mountain and Star Tours. Since Indy reopens that day, should we head directly to Adventureland and ride/get Fastpasses? Or get a Fastpass for Space or Star Tours first and then Indy when we can?

I would appreciate any input/advice! Thanks

 

[scrapshappen]

1) As of last Thursday, there was no FP enforcement on any rides and no mention that it was coming.

2) You will want to be to the gate at least 30 minutes before early entry. The closer you are to the front of the line the better since you might get stuck behind someone going in for the first time with a hopper that needs to have names written on them. We tried wide right one day and just couldn't get close enough to the front of the line. We did only wait about 20 minutes for RSR though so that was OK.

As far as the FP thing goes, don't waste your entire EMH standing in line for FP. Plan to jump in line about 10-15 minutes before official opening. You will be behind all those that have been waiting the whole hour to get passes, but well ahead of those that aren't staying on site.

We also found on Sunday, 11/25, that we were able to get a second set of FP around 11 or so without waiting at all. This was after our first FP window had opened and they ended up being around 5 that day. So keep an eye out and you might get a bonus ride.

3) We always do Peter Pan first. Last Thursday, we ended up waiting about 25 minutes for it, even though we went there first. I imagine you should be better off on an extra early Saturday morning than on a day where early entry was at 9.

IF Indy is open as scheduled, than I would get that FP first. Chances are it will be early enough that you could grab other FP without issue. When we arrived midday on Saturday, 11/24, there were still FP left for pretty much everything in DL so I wouldn't worry about not being able to get them later in the day as well.

Have fun!!

 

[ArchOwl]

I'm going to Disneyland this Saturday and Sunday (December 8-9) and I haven't been since the beginning of May. For the most part, we have a plan, however since we are traveling with two kids we are open to winging it, taking in the holiday atmosphere, snaking, shopping, and just making sure we have as much fun as possible. But I do have some things I just want to clarify before I leave.

1. Are Fastpass times being enforced? (Meaning if my Fastpass return window is 2:10-3:10, are they still letting me come back after 3:10? After I heard WDW is enforcing return times, I just want to make sure Disneyland isn't).

2. We are staying at the Paradise Pier so we get Magic Morning both days we are there. We plan on doing Disneyland on Saturday and DCA on Sunday. From what I've read, when we get into DCA foe Magic Morning, we need to go straight to RSR (using the Wide Right technique. If RSR isn't up and running, come back later or get a fastpass when the park officially opens. Is this correct?

3. On Saturday when we are in Disneyland for Magic Morning, we will do Fantasyland first thing (specifically Peter Pan) and then head over to Space Mountain and Star Tours. Since Indy reopens that day, should we head directly to Adventureland and ride/get Fastpasses? Or get a Fastpass for Space or Star Tours first and then Indy when we can?

I would appreciate any input/advice! Thanks

Hey, we will both be there this weekend! I hope you have a great weekend, I think you will love the new look of DCA and especially Carsland.

1. As of right now, FPs are not being enforced. You can return anytime AFTER your window opens.

2. Yes, there is no FP distribution during EMH, so if you want to ride RSR, do the wide right and cross your fingers it is up and running. If it isn't, I advise ditching it right away and getting on Luigi's. Just make sure you are in the EMH RSR FP line at least 10 minutes BEFORE regular park opening. At a few minutes before the park opens, they merge the front of the non-EMH RSR FP line with the back of the EMH RSR FP line. You definitely want to be in the EMH FP line!

3. It depends on what you want to do. I predict Indy is going to be very popular that day, so I am planning on getting that FP first because I want multiple rides. If you are okay with just one FP on that ride, you can do Space and Star Tours FPs first and then get a FP for Indy. Just be aware you might get a later FP. If you get a Space FP right at 8am, you should get a return time at 8:40am. That means you can get a Star Tours FP at 8:40am, and it will probably be at about an hour out. That means at 9:45am or so you should be able to get an Indy FP.

Have fun!

 

[BayAreaMom]

I just wanted to add to the responses for #2 & 3:
2. When we visited in Nov RSR was down two mornings in a row. I sent DH with 1 kid to ride it and took the other in line to get FPs for RSR. Of course at our FP return time RSR was still down! So be flexible in your RSR plan. And remember only 1 person needs to be in line to get the FPs- that 1 person must collect the scannable tickets for everyone in your party.

3. The only issue with hitting PPan first is that you are burning a huge chunk of your MM. Personally, I don't find PPan to be worth that, esp with kids who want to go on as many rides as possible. So when we hit Fantasyland and the lines are short we chose rides based on line length. But if your kids are just dying to do PPan, then yes, getting that out of the way with the shortest possible line may be idesl.

Again, I would send 1 person to get Indy passes. Space and ST FPs weren't going very quickly when we were there in Nov. One morning we decided to just do ST, the line was so short (15 min).

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

I just wanted to add to the responses for #2 & 3:
2. When we visited in Nov RSR was down two mornings in a row. I sent DH with 1 kid to ride it and took the other in line to get FPs for RSR. Of course at our FP return time RSR was still down! So be flexible in your RSR plan. And remember only 1 person needs to be in line to get the FPs- that 1 person must collect the scannable tickets for everyone in your party.

3. The only issue with hitting PPan first is that you are burning a huge chunk of your MM. Personally, I don't find PPan to be worth that, esp with kids who want to go on as many rides as possible. So when we hit Fantasyland and the lines are short we chose rides based on line length. But if your kids are just dying to do PPan, then yes, getting that out of the way with the shortest possible line may be idesl.

Again, I would send 1 person to get Indy passes. Space and ST FPs weren't going very quickly when we were there in Nov. One morning we decided to just do ST, the line was so short (15 min).

I agree, I would hit as many rides as possible in Fantasyland with that MM. Just know that you will set aside some time to do PP, you can talk about all the fun you had during MM to make the wait in line go by fast.

 

[PirateFish989]

Thank you everyone for your tips and advice! If RSR is not running when we get into DCA, I'm definitely wasting my precious hour standing in the FP line, I'll make sure to send the rest of the group off to go ride something while I go get in the FP line 15 or so minutes before official park opening.

I have done MM before and love how many rides you can get done in that hour. The people I'm going with have never done a MM before so I'm excited for them to experience short lines and as many rides as we can fit in! For us, Peter Pan is a must so we will most likely hit that first thing. However, as much as I absolutely LOVE Peter Pan sometimes I have a hard time justifying waiting more than 20 minutes for a 2 minute ride. So I'm hoping if we get in line for MM well before 7:00, we shouldn't have to wait too long to ride PP.

 

[coaches24]

I just wanted to add to the responses for #2 & 3:
2. When we visited in Nov RSR was down two mornings in a row. I sent DH with 1 kid to ride it and took the other in line to get FPs for RSR. Of course at our FP return time RSR was still down! So be flexible in your RSR plan. And remember only 1 person needs to be in line to get the FPs- that 1 person must collect the scannable tickets for everyone in your party.

3. The only issue with hitting PPan first is that you are burning a huge chunk of your MM. Personally, I don't find PPan to be worth that, esp with kids who want to go on as many rides as possible. So when we hit Fantasyland and the lines are short we chose rides based on line length. But if your kids are just dying to do PPan, then yes, getting that out of the way with the shortest possible line may be idesl.

Again, I would send 1 person to get Indy passes. Space and ST FPs weren't going very quickly when we were there in Nov. One morning we decided to just do ST, the line was so short (15 min).

It all depends on how close to the front of the line you are. If you are one of the first in and you head straight to PP you can walk on and then be ahead of the crowd on all the rides.

We have been one of the first on PP (with a toddler) each time we have done MM on our last two trips and have then walked onto almost all the other rides. We have gotten all of FL done plus star tours, space etc and then headed over to indy at park opening and rode that. But the PP line forms quickly. Last trip (in May) we walked onto PP and when we got off the line had filled up the chained off part of the que. Then our last day that trip we had a ticket issue (from a computer snafu) so by the time we got into the parks (over 30 minutes later) the line for PP was back accross from BBB so we skipped that all together but still got on some other rides with only a short wait.

I agree with the others who have said get indy FP first on that day because it will be very popular and the FP return times will advance quickly thus effecting your ability to get other FPs for a while. So at park opening I would get a FP for indy, ride indy in the standby line, then head back and get more FPs from star tours or space.