riding Soarin before rope drop

[edhmom]

In my park report post from last week I forgot to mention one thing. I know many people have reported having luck being able to ride Soarin prior to rope drop. We tried it on January 11 which was an EMH day. The CM at the entrance was checking for room keys before he would let anybody straight thru. If you didn't have a key (we didn't), he sent you to the stand by entrance. We didn't try it on any other days so I don't know if it's a standard policy or just a fluke but I thought I would pass it on.

 

[Cal-Pie]

Bummer, I was planning on attempting this.

 

[Christin82]

When you say that the CM at the entrance sent you to the stand-by entrance, do you mean he sent you away from Soarin’ to wait at the ropes elsewhere? Or did he allow people without keys to get in the standby line for Soarin’?

Sorry if that’s a dumb question, but I’ve never attempted to ride Soarin’ before rope drop, so I don’t know much about how it works. We usually head toward TSMM at RD and get a Fastpass for RSR, but we were considering trying to fit Soarin’ in before opening if possible, based on advice from others who have been able to do it.

 

[edhmom]

When you say that the CM at the entrance sent you to the stand-by entrance, do you mean he sent you away from Soarin’ to wait at the ropes elsewhere? Or did he allow people without keys to get in the standby line for Soarin’?

Sorry if that’s a dumb question, but I’ve never attempted to ride Soarin’ before rope drop, so I don’t know much about how it works. We usually head toward TSMM at RD and get a Fastpass for RSR, but we were considering trying to fit Soarin’ in before opening if possible, based on advice from others who have been able to do it.

He allowed people without keys to get in the Soarin standby line.

It was an 8 AM regular open. We grabbed a Fast Pass for Guardians as soon as we entered. Rode Soarin and were in the FP return line for Guardians by 8:20.

 

[ironband74]

It'll be interesting to see if that's the new normal. Did Soarin' look busy at all with EMH guests? It might be that they tighten up if they are having more EMH volume than usual. When I've gone, it's been pretty dead in that they were barely filling the B section of one theater.

 

[Christin82]

It sounds like they did let her ride, though, which is cool!

 

[Christin82]

Bummer, I was planning on attempting this.

Based on her response to my follow-up question, I think she was able to ride it as you were hoping to do!

I misunderstood at first, thinking that they sent people without room keys away, but I think the CM sent them to the standby line and allowed them to ride.

I might still be misunderstanding, though. I have no idea. Lol

 

[Cal-Pie]

Based on her response to my follow-up question, I think she was able to ride it as you were hoping to do!

I misunderstood at first, thinking that they sent people without room keys away, but I think the CM sent them to the standby line and allowed them to ride.

I might still be misunderstanding, though. I have no idea. Lol

Yeah, I'm confused.

 

[edhmom]

Sorry for the confusion. They sent those of us without room keys to the standby line and did not let us ride it early. By the time we got there, there were probably 60 people ahead of us in the standby line. They started letting the standby line in at 8:00. However, the line was so short it didn't take long to get a seat and ride, and thus be at Guardians by 8:20.

It wasn't very busy. There was a small stream of people going in with keys, but i doubt they were able to fill a theater with what they had.

 

[Jaina]

Same experience for us in November. We were second in the standby line (because they wouldn't let us on before official opening without a key), and I was wishing we were more like 30 back, because they sent us in right as I should have been able to pull another maxpass, and Soarin' is such a dead zone I had to wait until we got back out!

 

[pennym]

Try the park wifi in the soarin building. It's the best wifi spot anywhere in both parks!

 

[Cal-Pie]

Same experience for us in November. We were second in the standby line (because they wouldn't let us on before official opening without a key), and I was wishing we were more like 30 back, because they sent us in right as I should have been able to pull another maxpass, and Soarin' is such a dead zone I had to wait until we got back out!

So, you had already pulled a maxpass when you entered the park, but were eligible for another by opening time?

 

[sherilaine]

So, you had already pulled a maxpass when you entered the park, but were eligible for another by opening time?

You can pull a FP through MP as soon as you enter the park when you are at rope drop. If that fast pass is for shortly after the park opens, then once that fast pass window opens you can get another fast pass. That was our experience.

 

[Cal-Pie]

You can pull a FP through MP as soon as you enter the park when you are at rope drop. If that fast pass is for shortly after the park opens, then once that fast pass window opens you can get another fast pass. That was our experience.

I understand that, but I thought there was a 30 minute minimum before you could pull a second one (unless you scan in). She must have been able to enter DCA quite a long while before rope drop.

 

[sherilaine]

I understand that, but I thought there was a 30 minute minimum before you could pull a second one (unless you scan in). She must have been able to enter DCA quite a long while before rope drop.

Just the usual 30 minutes that they open the gates.

 

[Jaina]

Just the usual 30 minutes that they open the gates.

Yes, this. They opened the gates at 8:30 (but we were second in line at our gate, so they scanned our tickets just before the gates officially opened). We immediately grabbed a FP for Toy Story MM while we walked (tickets were purchased with MP already attached), then headed to Soarin' in case they'd let us ride early. They would not, but started letting the standby line in right at 9 AM. My window for a second FP opened right as we were losing a signal as we got to the bottom of the first line, and we were in line outside the ride door by 9:06, according to my phone's time stamp.

 

[Cal-Pie]

Anyone have any experiences to share from the last couple weeks?