Recent Experiences on DCA Park Opening Procedures?

[HydroGuy]

OK all, here is your chance to help HydroGuy with a DLR trip. Yes, I need help!

I will be DCA next Monday and am aware Disney has changed some things since I was last there in December.

What are some experiences the last couple months on how things work in the morning on EMH and non-EMH days? I will be staying at the DLH and will be using EMH Monday. Here some of the things I would like to understand better...

1. On EMH days are guests being allowed thru the DCA turnstiles prior to EMH starting or held at turnstiles until 7AM? If let thru, are the still held at Carthay Circle like before?

2. When is it advisable to line up for DCA EMH? It was 30-40 minutes early last summer.

3. On EMH days and as EMH ends at DCA, are non-EMH guests allowed thru the turnstiles to line up behind a rope in Carthay Circle? Or are they held at the turnstiles? My question is really about the competition for RSR FPs when EMH ends and how best to manage getting an RSR FP at that time. Any experiences along these lines?

4. Any other experience on DCA during pre-EMH, during EMH, and then as the park officially opens?

5. Any other experiences with the above issues on non-EMH days? In case we decide to go to DCA on a non-EMH morning on one of our days?

Thanks!

 

[interstate70s]

I can answer number 3.

I was at DCA last Monday without access to EMH. We were held at rope entrances to the lands, not turn styles. We went to TSMM rode twice, rode Screamin' before making our way over to RSR FP. There was no line to get FP. Our return time was 12:20 Rode RSR SR with no real wait. Standby was 35 min.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

OK all, here is your chance to help HydroGuy with a DLR trip. Yes, I need help! I will be DCA next Monday and am aware Disney has changed some things since I was last there in December. What are some experiences the last couple months on how things work in the morning on EMH and non-EMH days? I will be staying at the DLH and will be using EMH Monday. Here some of the things I would like to understand better...

1. On EMH days are guests being allowed thru the DCA turnstiles prior to EMH starting or held at turnstiles until 7AM? If let thru, are the still held at Carthay Circle like before?

A: Both of our EMH mornings we were let in right at 7am after the family opened the park and we did a countdown. The CMs had scanned as many as the tickets as they could reach prior, so it was just a matter of getting those first 10 people at each gate through.

2. When is it advisable to line up for DCA EMH? It was 30-40 minutes early last summer.

A: We got there at about 6:35 each morning, after a stop at the DTD Starbucks (which was empty when we got there, but starting to form a line as we left for anybody trying to time it). Both times we were about the 4th family to the gates and the 1st family at our gate. DD was the first into the park both days (minus the opening family)

3. On EMH days and as EMH ends at DCA, are non-EMH guests allowed thru the turnstiles to line up behind a rope in Carthay Circle? Or are they held at the turnstiles? My question is really about the competition for RSR FPs when EMH ends and how best to manage getting an RSR FP at that time. Any experiences along these lines?

A: I don't know where regular park guests are allowed to line up/when they're allowed to get it. DH got the FPs for RSR for us, but my understanding from him was he was allowed to line up prior to regular park opening. Ok, just called DH to confirm and he said there wasn't an official line yet, but a large group of people waiting in the area. They were not told to move on, but they also hadn't formed a line. One morning they opened the line at 8am, one morning at 7:55am. Both mornings they were ahead of any regular opening guests, who were walked to the line. He says as long as you're there by 7:45-7:50 you'll be fine and it will go quickly. I know they did the walk through down to Carsland using the hose for regular opening.

4. Any other experience on DCA during pre-EMH, during EMH, and then as the park officially opens? 5. Any other experiences with the above issues on non-EMH days? In case we decide to go to DCA on a non-EMH morning on one of our days?

A: Both of our EMH, TSMM was down. The first one it didn't open until after regular park opening and the 2nd day at about 7:30. Both mornings DH had our FPs by 8:05am, heading over toward the FP machines at about 7:50am. If you are a Starbucks fan, I find stopping at the DTD one to get breakfast and then eating in line outside the gates works well. They are really efficient at that Starbucks.

Thanks!

Answered within the quote, under each question

 

[HydroGuy]

Thanks!

Bumping for more feedback...

 

[Malcon10t]

1. On EMH days are guests being allowed thru the DCA turnstiles prior to EMH starting or held at turnstiles until 7AM? If let thru, are the still held at Carthay Circle like before?

Last weekend, they were let in right at the start. (ie 7am)

2. When is it advisable to line up for DCA EMH? It was 30-40 minutes early last summer.

I know a lot of people like to line up 30-45 mins prior, but to be honest, I usually arrive about 2-3 mins after 7 and there is little to no wait (ie 1-2mins?)

3. On EMH days and as EMH ends at DCA, are non-EMH guests allowed thru the turnstiles to line up behind a rope in Carthay Circle? Or are they held at the turnstiles?

They are let in the gate 30 mins prior and held at various ropes. They are told NOT to queue for FP, but move up when the park opens.

 

[DisneyAZfam]

We were in the parks last week. While I can't answer the questions about EMH or rope drop stuff, I will say that fast passes for RSR is much easier to get. We go fast passes two different times in our trip. Once we got them in the morning (9:45ish) for an early afternoon time. The second time we got them well after 11:00 (I had to spend a half hour at the ticket booth getting my AP fixed) and got passes for 7:00PM.

 

[allsaintsatx]

These reports of the RSR fast passes are pretty incredible. We went to DLR last year and the fast passes for the entire day were gone by 9:30-10am, so to read that people are showing up at 11am in the middle of the summer and getting a FP is almost unbelievable! We are headed back to DLR mid August so I'm taking notes!

 

[BayGirl22]

Last I did DCA was February but my experience matched above. EE was let in through the turnstyles, they prescanned some of us. We lined up at the rope until opening time. One day after EE we were heading out to go to DL and I saw all the non-EE people lined up again at the rope, so they had been let in up to the rope right before the FP line. I won't comment on timing because obviously it will be different in July vs. Feb.

 

[lifeguardette]

I haven't been in a year, so I am no help, but will gladly bump the thread for you! Bump!!!

 

[HydroGuy]

These reports of the RSR fast passes are pretty incredible. We went to DLR last year and the fast passes for the entire day were gone by 9:30-10am, so to read that people are showing up at 11am in the middle of the summer and getting a FP is almost unbelievable! We are headed back to DLR mid August so I'm taking notes!

It is not so much that guest behavior has changed regarding RSR FPs. The RSR FP system itself has changed.

RSR FPs are lasting longer as that they they are now connected and it appears they are distributing more FPs each day.

 

[BensWife]

We hit the EE one day of our recent trip (7/16) and this was our experience...

We were staying at the DLH, so we left about 6:15 from the hotel. I am a pretty slow walker, so we got to the bag check about 6:25. They weren't letting anyone through until 6:30. I was surprised by this, so I don't know if there was a problem or what, but we did get through pretty quickly once they opened it at 6:30. Once we got through bag check, we lined up at the gates. We were the 2nd family in line. At about 6:45 they had a few CM come out and start scanning tickets in line ahead of time. The family in front of us were not hotel guests so they were asked to leave, and that made us 1st in line!! (We later saw the same family in RSR line and wondered how they ended up getting through, but oh well.) We saw the family in the line next to us get picked to open the park. They were sooo excited! At 7:00, they opened the gates, but didn't actually let us through until they counted down. Once they did, we made our way to RSR trying wide right. It seemed to work. Being 1st in line was helpful for us getting in to RSR pretty fast. Again, I am a slow walker and even though there were a lot of people passing us by, we went straight to RSR and I'd say there were about 40 people in line in front of us. We only had to wait about 5 minutes before we were riding RSR. After we rode RSR, we went to TSMM and rode 2 times in a row. By then, it was just about 8am, so we went to go get FP to RSR. WOW, the line for fast passes was CRAZY then!! I mean, wrap around forever crazy. We decided we didn't care to stand in a line that long to get FP. We went to eat breakfast a Flo's, and once we were done there (not sure of the time, but I would say about 8:45), we went back to look at the line for FP for RSR and there was NO ONE in line! We got FP with a return of 1-2. We then hopped over to DL and spent the day there.

I can't really talk about non EE days as we were only there for 2 days, and the 2nd day we didn't hit rope drop. Hope this helps!

 

[mom2rtk]

RSR FPs are lasting longer as that they they are now connected and it appears they are distributing more FPs each day.

That's interesting.

Over on the WDW side they ran a test this week using standby return slips at the Anna/Elsa meet & greet, turning the entire attraction into more of an appointment system (some via FP+, some by same day return slips).

So then I see your comment that you think DCA is issuing more FPs each day. Makes me think they are inching further down the path toward an appointment system.

 

[alvernon90]

We were at DCA for early entry on July 21 and July 23. Both days the lines to get in were shockingly short. We left the DLH at around 6:20, and based on prior trips expected to see long lines at the security check. One day there was a single family in front of us, the other day we just walked right through.

Our experiences match others posted above, but two more notes:

1. Not only are the RSR FPs lasting longer, but the rush to RSR is no longer "everything" during early entry. Last year we avoided Carsland and were able to ride Screamin' multiple times during the hour, usually without even getting out of our seats to go around the queue. This trip, a decent number of people headed to Paradise Pier. Neither CS nor TSMM were walk-ons by 7:20 -- the lines were short, but there were lines, unlike prior years when Carsland absorbed all crowds.

2. If you want RSR FPs first thing, get there no later than 7:55. There is no line back to Carthay, but they let the early entry guests just walk in and get them. It actually felt a little weird doing it while hundreds of people were standing there for rope drop, but we got FPs both days and on both days the "wait" was only as long as it takes to walk through the queue.

 

[HydroGuy]

That's interesting.

Over on the WDW side they ran a test this week using standby return slips at the Anna/Elsa meet & greet, turning the entire attraction into more of an appointment system (some via FP+, some by same day return slips).

So then I see your comment that you think DCA is issuing more FPs each day. Makes me think they are inching further down the path toward an appointment system.

From the beginning RSR FPs were running out within 60-90 minutes and were disconnected. That led many to speculate that Disney was not giving out as many FPs as they normally for rides because they ran out so fast. Now that they all of a sudden are lasting 2-3 times as long seems to indicate they are giving out more each day just for RSR and it is more like the other DLR rides now. I do not think it has anything to do with the WDW trends you mention.

 

[lk2500]

I was there at opening on Saturday 6/28.

We arrived 5 minutes before rope drop (7:55AM) and had decided to do TSMM since we were way at the back of the crowd to enter CA. At the last minute I yelled to my family that we should try wide right for the heck of it. We stuck to the right at the back of the crowd and, after admittedly making a few aggressive moves around some planters, ended up at the front of the crowd. We were on RSR in about 10-15 minutes.

We then rode TSMM (it broke down and had to be evacuated) and Screamin'.

We could have grabbed some RSR FP's but wanted a night time ride. We hung out for a while at Starbucks and finally settled for a 5:55PM return time FP around 11am. (Didn't want to wait any longer)

We returned at about 6:30PM but, luckily for us, RSR was down. We returned after dark and were still allowed to use our FP's for a night time RSR ride.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Just want to add, it's also natural for the "new car smell" (pun intended) to wear off a new ride after a while. RSR opened two years ago. It sounds about right that the frenzy would begin to wane around now. At least a little. It's also not everyone's favorite ride (my partner is all "meh" about it), so as first-timers to Cars Land come back, some of them may be skipping RSR, too.

 

[mvf-m11c]

RSR FPs are lasting longer as that they they are now connected and it appears they are distributing more FPs each day.

RSR FP's have been lasting longer than usual now they are connected. I was there today and around 9am, we got FP's for 1pm to 2pm. Later that day around 10:40am, the return wait time was around 6:30pm to 7:30pm. That was late during the day to get FP's for RSR.

 

[sleepymouse]

We did DCA rope drop (nonEMH day) 7/22 and 7/24. We usually don't get to the parks until about 10 minutes before opening. I don't see much point/advantage in getting there any sooner when allowed to enter turnstiles before opening time. To each his own. Everyone was then held at rope until 8am, and the crowd was not too bad.

In April, we did 8am EMH days at DCA, and people were also allowed to enter early and then held at ropes.

My experience with RSR FPs was the same as many described. On Thursday, park opened at 8am and we waited to pull FPs until 10:35. Our return window was 7:15-8:15pm. I think our timing on Tuesday was about the same too.

On a side note, we did rope drop on Friday at Disneyland, and I was surprised by how light the crowds were. We entered the park at 5 minutes before drop and still got to PP with only a 5 minute wait.

 

[allsaintsatx]

It is not so much that guest behavior has changed regarding RSR FPs. The RSR FP system itself has changed.

RSR FPs are lasting longer as that they they are now connected and it appears they are distributing more FPs each day.

Thanks for the that, I wasn't looking forward to waiting in the RSR FP line before official non-EMH rope drop (again) while my family were having a blast on the open attractions (again)!!

 

[Disneylandfan1]

Thanks for the that, I wasn't looking forward to waiting in the RSR FP line before official non-EMH rope drop (again) while my family were having a blast on the open attractions (again)!!

Same here! Thanks for all the input everyone.

Another question: Is anyone getting FP's for other attractions, like Soarin' or TOT, before getting RSR FP's? I'm assuming once you get RSR FP's, you're blocked out of the FP system for 2 hours. I'm struggling with strategy here, too.