Recent RSR fast pass experience

[bonoriffic]

Our first day at Carsland was this past Weds. We entered at park opening, having gotten through security about 25 minutes prior. The line for fast passes was to just past Carthay Circle, which I was mistaken to think was long. We did Mater, Luigi, saw the 75 minute RSR wait, bathroom break and headed back to get a fast pass. It was just longer than 1 hour after park opening and fast passes were gone.

On Friday I planned to just wait out the fast pass line while my family went elsewhere. An ideal plan, if you remember the park opens an hour earlier, which I remembered about 30 minutes before opening. By the time we got into the park it had been open for 5 minutes. The line for fast passes was also past Aladdin. I assumed I wouldn't get a fast pass, but 25 minutes later had passes for 2:45.

The actual RSR fast pass line took about 10 minutes. As awful as everyone makes it out to be, if you have the one person willing to wait out the line near park opening, you should be just fine.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I agree. The moral of the story is, go straight to the FP line when you go in the park. We arrived at 8:15 for a park opening at 9am. The gates opened at 8:30 and we went straight to the FP line and were just past the Carthay. DH got the tickets for us and the line took a little longer than usual because one of the machines didn't have a CM helping so that slowed things down a little. The rest of us took the little ones to Bugs Land at 9 while he got the FPs.


Also to note. On Monday night, the last day of the Vet's holiday weekend, the RSR sign said 45 min wait. So we got in line. It turned out to be 57 min. and there were times when we didn't move at all for a long time. Still worth the wait and it was our last ride before the park closed. But wanted to offer up, the stand by wait time could be longer then posted. We would never go in if it said 75 or 90 min.

 

[firefly87]

I also got FP's for RSR on Friday. Park opened at 10 am, so I got in the main gate and went straight to the FP line (it was 9:40 am). The end of the FP line was at the Off The Page store. Once the park officially opened at 10, the line moved rather quickly. We got our FP's for 3:00 that day.

I always had a hard time trying to picture what everyone was describing when they talked about where the FP end of line was. So here is my feeble attempt to try & describe that for you! When you go thru the main gate, walk up Buena Vista St. At the end of that street is a circular water fountain, go around that and you will see Carthay Circle restaurant on the corner to the left. The street that CC sits on to the left is called Hollywood Blvd I think (it used to be called something else when it was the street that went to the Hollywood Backlot area). So if you keep going past that, you will come up towards Bugs Land on your left. Right before Bugs Land is the RSR FastPass queue area. So the line will start there, go back down towards Carthay Circle, then go to the right down Hollywood St and on down. At the end of Hollywood St is the Hyperion Theater where the Aladdin show is. When you see the line going all the way down that street, it's a little alarming and disappointing. But I was pretty far down it (almost to Animation Bldg) and was able to still get a FP.

Hope that helps??

 

[*Seanaci*]

So moral of the story is don't freak out about the RSR FP line being too long. I'll just have to remember this and be the level headed one when we are there next month (my mom tends to get annoyed when lines are super long).

 

[firefly87]

So moral of the story is don't freak out about the RSR FP line being too long. I'll just have to remember this and be the level headed one when we are there next month (my mom tends to get annoyed when lines are super long).

Exactly! . Just make sure you get in the line first thing and you should be fine. Don't wait til late morning to get them.

 

[Blue32]

Are you able to actually ENTER this line before the official opening(rope drop) on a Non EE day?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I know a lot of people like to get the fastpasses, but so far I haven't been able to get to the parks early enough to stand in line.

Last weekend, I had my nephews with me, and they had 2-day park hoppers. We were there all day Saturday, and so I needed to let them sleep in on Sunday. Also, one of them had a cold, so he needed his rest. We got in the single rider line Saturday night and it was around 40 minutes.

Yesterday, I had the son of a coworker who is here in town, and took him with a 1-day park hopper to both parks. We got in the single rider line around 2pm, and waited 20 minutes at most to get on the attraction.

If I had got to the parks earlier, stood in line for the park to open, and then got fastpasses; then waited in the fastpass line for the ride, I can't see that I would have saved any time. Maybe the fastpass line was faster than the 40 minute wait last weekend, but yesterday we were on the attraction at the same time, if not sooner than the fastpass line.

The stand-by line was 160 minutes last weekend and 150 minutes yesterday.

Unless the party has to ride together, or it is important to all be in the same car (for pictures/shared experience, etc.), I still prefer the single rider line.

Oh, and for the first time in a long time that I have ridden Radiator Spring Racers, EVERYTHING was working as it should. It was very nice.

 

[figment_jii]

Are you able to actually ENTER this line before the official opening(rope drop) on a Non EE day?

Last Thursday (11/15) was not an early opening day for DCA, but the turnstiles oped around 9:30 am (park opened at 10:00 am). They started letting guests in at that point. You could get in line for a RSR FP, but they hadn't started distributing them yet. They wait until nearly 10:00 am (or park opening) to do that because that's when the line started moving.

 

[cats mom]

I know a lot of people like to get the fastpasses, but so far I haven't been able to get to the parks early enough to stand in line.

Last weekend, I had my nephews with me, and they had 2-day park hoppers. We were there all day Saturday, and so I needed to let them sleep in on Sunday. Also, one of them had a cold, so he needed his rest. We got in the single rider line Saturday night and it was around 40 minutes.

Yesterday, I had the son of a coworker who is here in town, and took him with a 1-day park hopper to both parks. We got in the single rider line around 2pm, and waited 20 minutes at most to get on the attraction.

If I had got to the parks earlier, stood in line for the park to open, and then got fastpasses; then waited in the fastpass line for the ride, I can't see that I would have saved any time. Maybe the fastpass line was faster than the 40 minute wait last weekend, but yesterday we were on the attraction at the same time, if not sooner than the fastpass line.

The stand-by line was 160 minutes last weekend and 150 minutes yesterday.

Unless the party has to ride together, or it is important to all be in the same car (for pictures/shared experience, etc.), I still prefer the single rider line.

Oh, and for the first time in a long time that I have ridden Radiator Spring Racers, EVERYTHING was working as it should. It was very nice.

If we're in the park at opening RSR FP's are worth the wait in my book, and I'm generally the one doing the waiting while the rest of my family is off playing.

That said, we also utilize the SR line and think it's a great option for anyone who is OK riding alone.

It drives me crazy when people choose the SR line and then pout, or worse, when the CM doesn't put them in the same car though. Sometimes you get lucky and that happens, sometimes not. But just the other day we watched several groups either trying to shuffle around at the last minute or flat out asking to ride together. One group got their way, the others didn't, and that holds up the line for everyone. So my caveat is ONLY use the SR line if you're really willing to ride alone.

 

[coaches24]

If we're in the park at opening RSR FP's are worth the wait in my book, and I'm generally the one doing the waiting while the rest of my family is off playing.

That said, we also utilize the SR line and think it's a great option for anyone who is OK riding alone.

It drives me crazy when people choose the SR line and then pout, or worse, when the CM doesn't put them in the same car though. Sometimes you get lucky and that happens, sometimes not. But just the other day we watched several groups either trying to shuffle around at the last minute or flat out asking to ride together. One group got their way, the others didn't, and that holds up the line for everyone. So my caveat is ONLY use the SR line if you're really willing to ride alone.

Agree.

The single rider line for RSR wouldn't work for me as DD would want to ride as well and she isn't old enough to ride alone. So it's either FP of stand by for me and my family unless we split up and one of us takes DD elsewhere ( which we won't do for rides she is tall enough for and wants to go on).

But for rides like Indy the single rider line is great. DD isn't tall enough so one of us rides while the other takes DD elsewhere and then we switch (often don't need to do rider swap as it ends up being the same thing for us).

 

[PinkBudgie]

I always think the single rider line sounds like a good idea, but then I get there and realize I would just rather ride with DH and enjoy it with him rather than with a bunch of strangers. It just seems more fun with him.

Also, most of the wait takes place before the park opens anyway, so may as well. Once the park opens it doesn't take up much park time. On top of this, we don't stay on property so we are behind the EMH crowds anyway.

 

[tanyaewa]

I would rather wait in 3 20 minute lines than one 60 minute line. And I know my boys feel exactly the same way. The FP method might take as long in total but its a guarantee to get a ride ( unless it breaks down) and doesn't mean an exhausting line of 60 min+
We will do he FPs and just see how the possibility of SR plays out.

Hopefully we can get a ride on TSMM this time. The lines there are very prohibitive!

 

[tinkerbelt]

We pretty much never go for rope drop, so we use single rider. We've been really lucky, because we almost always ride together in the same car.