Seeking Tuesday AM strategy thoughts for MP and IC

[HydroGuy]

I want to try and get an MP for Tuesday. I have to go to a 9am business meeting in Orange County so want to get my AP scanned at one of the turnstiles as early as possibly Tuesday AM. Then I will leave immediately for my meetings. Both parks open officially at 8am. DL has EMH/MM at 7am. I do not have EMH privileges.

My question is if I show up early like 7am, which park is most likely to scan me first so I can then just leave? DL and its EMH? Or is DCA scanning folks early and letting them in and holding them at ropes? If so, when? I suspect DCA may be the better bet but will also have the longest morning queue.

Once I get scanned I will leave and just make my MP reservations remotely in between meetings. I should be back to DLR around 3:30 or 4pm and be there for the rest of the evening. IC is #1 priority as we just had 4 days there with the whole family last week as some of you may recall from my other posts.

 

[deannaf87]

I have no advice on this. I just wanted to say that I like your style.

 

[DLRExpert]

Hard to know what park entrance will be open first for rope drop.
You can also just try to go into the Magic Morning entry and see if they will scan your ticket on accident.
Just act like you didn't realize the difference, once you're scanned your good to go in any case.

 

[msteddom]

I’m going to make an educated guess that it will be DL because they are used to dealing with larger crowds at rope drop (even though it might not be the case on that particular day) and have procedures in place to handle them.

 

[BrerMama]

Personally, we got into CA about 15-20 minutes early when DL had early entry last month. They let us in and then held everyone on Hollywood Blvd (in line for Guardians standby or Fastpasses) and then near Carthay Circle. We went right and walked onto Soarin', which was already open for Disney hotel guests. We were off before the park opened. I think I'd see which park had shorter lines and go for that.

 

[Winnowill]

You can also just try to go into the Magic Morning entry and see if they will scan your ticket on accident.
Just act like you didn't realize the difference, once you're scanned your good to go in any case.

This happened to us, actually. We were scanned in around 7:00 am, but we were not eligible for MM. We didn't participate in MM, but we bought our MP and got our first FP then.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I'd just go for whichever park has shorter lines since neither will "officially" start scanning before the other (seems to be pretty variable timing IME). Depending how far back you are, you may be able to just jump over to the other park if you notice their lines moving remarkably early and lines aren't that long...

 

[disneydani]

I don't know which direction you are coming/parking from but can you scan at the monorail entrance/turnstile and then make a quick getaway?

 

[aquamanalaska]

We use the same strategy on the day we get to DLR. We drive from out of state. Go to the drop off zone (east gate off Harbor) and scan our passes before we check in to our hotel (offsite), so we can start collecting FPs for our first night in the park. I wait in the car (in the drop off zone) while DW goes and scans her pass, then DW waits in the car while I scan mine only takes about 20 minutes in the early afternoon.

If you choose to use the DLR gates and there is already a long line at the non-MM gates. Here was my strategy when I went last February. There ended up being a long line at the non-MM gates at DLR, so I waited by the MM gates and just sat on a planter at the base of a monorail support. When you see the cast member come out to change the sign from "MM Entrance Only" sign to "Regular Entrance" sign you are right there, just get up and you're first in with the other regular passes. It ended up being really enjoyable to people watch instead of standing in the packed line at the regular gates.

I thought of the "I didnt know it was the wrong gate" idea, but I witnessed a few try and get turned away. Also it just seems that I would being using up my pixie dust doing something a little dishonest.

As far if DCA or DLR opens first I think it changes all the time. I just like waiting on the DLR side. It is a more magical walking thru the original gates for me.

 

[HydroGuy]

I don't know which direction you are coming/parking from but can you scan at the monorail entrance/turnstile and then make a quick getaway?

Harbor

 

[DizneyMommy]

It’s a crap shoot really, no way to know until you get there and look at the lines.

Please don’t be that person who tries to get in a line they shouldn’t be in (MM). You will only hold up honest people waiting to get in and annoy those behind you.

 

[lunasea]

Neither. DCA usually starts letting people in around 7:30, DL about 7:45. And you can only have one MaxPass at a time, so I don't know how you'd make hem between meetings.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Neither. DCA usually starts letting people in around 7:30, DL about 7:45. And you can only have one MaxPass at a time, so I don't know how you'd make hem between meetings.

You can get another FP every 90 minutes or as soon as your window opens. Only with MP.

 

[aquamanalaska]

Please don’t be that person who tries to get in a line they shouldn’t be in (MM). You will only hold up honest people waiting to get in and annoy those behind you.

I totally agree.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

And you can only have one MaxPass at a time, so I don't know how you'd make hem between meetings.

Side note, but this is incorrect; there is not a limit on how many FPs you can have at one time. The only limit is how often you can pull one. A PP mentioned 90 minutes, but actually, 90 minutes is the maximum amount of time you would ever go between pulling a FP. I often have three at a time without any of them being pulled 90 minutes apart...

 

[HydroGuy]

Post-log - I decided to get in the DCA line. I arrived about 7:10 and was maybe 20th in my line. They started letting guests thru at 7:30am. I had my AP scanned and was exiting DCA by 7:33. Was able to book 3 MP/FP while out and about Orange County in between my meetings. Finished my day then made it to the parks about 4pm. Sitting here in Main Street now.

 

[agamble]

Post-log - I decided to get in the DCA line. I arrived about 7:10 and was maybe 20th in my line. They started letting guests thru at 7:30am. I had my AP scanned and was exiting DCA by 7:33. Was able to book 3 MP/FP while out and about Orange County in between my meetings. Finished my day then made it to the parks about 4pm. Sitting here in Main Street now.

Glad it worked for you. DCA would have been my choice too. They seem to more consistently let people in 30 minutes early. DL seems to be the 15-20 minutes early, and sometimes only 10.

 

[az4boys]

This is fun to read because it gets me excited for our trip. We are going next week and plan to do something similar one day. I've always wanted to check out Newport Beach. We are staying at BWPPI so I plan to make the family go across the street and scan into a park, then come back in the evening with FP loaded up and ready to go. It is such a nice perk of MP if you know how to use it.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

This is fun to read because it gets me excited for our trip. We are going next week and plan to do something similar one day. I've always wanted to check out Newport Beach. We are staying at BWPPI so I plan to make the family go across the street and scan into a park, then come back in the evening with FP loaded up and ready to go. It is such a nice perk of MP if you know how to use it.

Yeah, this is a very nice perk. We went to breakfast at Rainforest Cafe one morning during spring break, scanned in to the park at the monorail, actually rode the monorail into DL but wouldn't have had to, walked back to our hotel and went out for the day on college tours. I checked for good fastpass times periodically throughout the day so had several with evening return times lined up for us when we went to the park that evening for dinner and fun.