Toy Story Midway Mania?

[Sherry E]

I am debating whether it is worth it to get to the gate early just to not have to wait as long for the ride. According to this plan, you have already waited at the entrance for 30 minutes and then have to wait up to another 15 minutes for the ride. Even if you get right on you have already waited 30 minutes to get in the park. This doesn't really seem to save time over riding later in the day when the wait is the usual 30-40 minutes.

No, there really isn't as much waiting as one thinks there is. And as I have said before, the key is that DCA opens at 10:00 a.m. Many people have already been in DL for 2 or 3 hours at that point and do not want to break their stride getting on DL rides by going over to DCA yet...which can be used to your advantage.

Don't just idly wait at the entrance to DCA for 30 minutes before it opens. What you do is, if you are already in DL, start moseying over to DCA at about 9:40 a.m. By the time you get in the gates of DCA (they let everyone in at 9:30 anyway) and over to where the early line forms for TSMM, that line will just about be moving over to TSMM. The CM will most likely start walking everyone over to TSMM before 10:00 - maybe even at 9:45 or 9:50. So there is very littel actual waiting. By the time you get over to TSMM, you will only have the people who waited in that early line in front of you, but by the time you get off the ride, you will see the masses of people who lined up after you and be relieved. In other words, you won't be just standing and waiting for long periods of time, as you will be on the go most of the time, whether it be on the way to the early line, on the way to the TSMM line, or moving through the queue to get on the ride.

I did it this way, and it was, by far, the best experience I had in getting on TSMM, and I have been on it morning, noon and night. Sure, it is not an exact science and things could backfire (like is people waiting in another line somehow get in front of you), but enough folks have done it this way by now where it can be recommended. I just don't want people thinking that there is all this standing around and waiting, wasting time, because you can plan it so that it doesn't go that way!

 

[karylrocks]

Thanks, Sherry. That helps me understand it better. So a lot of that initial "waiting" time is actually time that it takes to get to the ride (which is quite a long walk). When I was there in the middle of December, we caught it just right one night and rode 3 times in a row just before closing, then the ride broke down right before we got off and they gave us passes to ride it another day. My next trip I don't plan to be in DCA at closing and will be bringing someone who has never been there so I want to try to get at least a couple of rides in. I will try getting there before opening.