Stretching room

[Aeowens71]

Can you skip the stretching room at Disneyland?

I’ve seen a lot of posts that say you can but when I went with my husband in august 2021, I inquired about it and they said that there is no way to skip it.

 

[PalmettoPath]

Interesting question. I'm sure it's possible somehow, but I haven't experienced that... When we do VIP Tours (on both coasts) we still have to go through the stretching room and where they get you ahead of the entire crowd happens after that (basically you don't line up at all, but go straight to boarding). So I find it interesting that even the VIP Tours don't bypass it (as often they will bypass something if they can). Looking forward to hearing from someone who has actually skipped it and if it had to do with something or some situation that is very specific.

 

[mdmost]

The only time I saw them skip the stretching room was after they reopened after the Covid shutdown and that was more to keep people from bunching up together in an enclosed space. I think that was only at WDW as they don't have a real elevator. The room stretches up, not down.

 

[DLgal]

I don't know how you can, considering it's an actual elevator that moves you to a different level.

We have a DAS, my kids HATE the stretching room. We have asked if we can skip it with our DAS. Told it is not an option. Kids haven't ridden it in over 10 years. They refuse to go in that dark room where people scream and there is simulated thunder and lightning (one kid is sensory averse to thunderstorms due to autism).

 

[Pluto468]

I think it was only possible to skip it right when they reopened after covid.

 

[Aeowens71]

I don't know how you can, considering it's an actual elevator that moves you to a different level.

We have a DAS, my kids HATE the stretching room. We have asked if we can skip it with our DAS. Told it is not an option. Kids haven't ridden it in over 10 years. They refuse to go in that dark room where people scream and there is simulated thunder and lightning (one kid is sensory averse to thunderstorms due to autism).

My son is very sensitive to noise and has anxiety issues so he’s never ridden it. We’ve shown videos and explained how everything works but I don’t think he’ll ride. I know I’ve read posts about skipping but I’m assuming that must be at WDW

 

[DLgal]

My son is very sensitive to noise and has anxiety issues so he’s never ridden it. We’ve shown videos and explained how everything works but I don’t think he’ll ride. I know I’ve read posts about skipping but I’m assuming that must be at WDW

Yes, it can be skipped at WDW. We did that once as part of the Keys to the Kingdom Tour (several years ago, want to say 2007).

 

[DLgal]

I think it was only possible to skip it right when they reopened after covid.

Not at Disneyland. They still used it. However, there IS a staircase that I believe they opened temporarily to allow guests to use as a way to divide up the groups and have fewer people in there, and they even lightly themed it (it's usually a cast member only space), but it is sort of integrated into the regular queue and there is no way to access it for just ONE group at a time, so they won't allow it to be used to bypass the stretching room. When they were using that, you couldn't request it, people would just randomly get diverted there.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Not at Disneyland. They still used it. However, there IS a staircase that I believe they opened temporarily to allow guests to use as a way to divide up the groups and have fewer people in there, and they even lightly themed it (it's usually a cast member only space), but it is sort of integrated into the regular queue and there is no way to access it for just ONE group at a time, so they won't allow it to be used to bypass the stretching room. When they were using that, you couldn't request it, people would just randomly get diverted there.

I went through that way a year ago. When we went right after they reopened last year, we were directed through a door off the outdoor queue that went down a flight of stairs and through a hallway and came out after the stretching room in the indoor queue. We were asked if we were okay skipping the stretching room and were we able to walk down stairs. When we said yes, they sent us through that way. It's also the "chicken exit" - I once exited through that same hallway and stairwell when my DS (who was 4 at the time) decided that the stretching room was too scary and he didn't want to go on the rest of the ride. It wasn't themed back then, but when they had us go that way during the covid reopening I was happy to see some theming added.

But as others have said, because it's an elevator that takes you down to the loading level, it's not normally something you can skip.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

I don't know how you can, considering it's an actual elevator that moves you to a different level.

We have a DAS, my kids HATE the stretching room. We have asked if we can skip it with our DAS. Told it is not an option. Kids haven't ridden it in over 10 years. They refuse to go in that dark room where people scream and there is simulated thunder and lightning (one kid is sensory averse to thunderstorms due to autism).

We’ve tried to skip it in the past with a DAS and was also told it wasn’t possible. It was way to stimulating and scary for our daughter with epilepsy. Same with that room you go into when GoG was ToT. It was too scary and stimulating for her and the first time she tried it she had a panic attack. The next time, she still REALLY wanted to ride the ride so we asked if she could skip the room and they said no because there were important safety instructions in the room. A year later, she wanted to try again and we were talking to her about the room as we scanned her DAS pass and the CM said, “Do you want to just skip the room? You can just walk through the room directly to the line if you want.” I wish there was a way to bypass the stretching room like that.