Trip Planning (many) Questions

[ociana]

I have a few remaining questions in advance of our Christmas week trip for 16 people (yep, 16) and am hoping you all can clarify things for me.

• Is there anything we can do the night before our park days start to get our initial ticket scan/photo or is that just going to be an unavoidable bottleneck at gate entry our first day no matter what?
• How far before park gate open time does the Toy Story Lot bus start running? Does security open up over there at the same time, or is there potential of catching the bus and then waiting in Harbor security line - even on a day when they are going to run security there?
• Am I correct that gate open is 30 min before rope drop and security starts sometime before that? Is Jolly Holiday Bakery open during this pre-rope drop time and are they taking mobile orders? If so, how early can we place them?
• Is it still true at park close that the shops remain open for another hour?
• For the DAS pass, does your group of 5 other people have to be set for the whole time or can they swap in and out? We have one person with us who will have a pass and they will not be with the same sub group the whole time.
• Are Trader Sam's reservations now for all seating or just for inside seating? Initially I read inside only, but the popup message with the updated app says it is for any seating there. We are close to having enough reserved seats at one time, but not quite there yet...

Thank you all for helping me make this a magical trip for my group! We have first time visitors with us and this is a potential last visit for my son (at least for a long time) before he moves to New Zealand. Your time responding to my questions is greatly appreciated!

 

[poptart90]

• Is there anything we can do the night before our park days start to get our initial ticket scan/photo or is that just going to be an unavoidable bottleneck at gate entry our first day no matter what?

I don't think you can do anything before, so my recommendation for a group that large (and especially if you are trying to rope drop) would be to spread out between several gate lines, like maybe groups of four? Then have one person be the organizer for the group and display the barcodes from a phone or the printed ticket confirmations AND corresponding IDs to the CM while pointing out the people who need their photos taken. The CMs are really fast, but I've found it works so much better if people are 1) simply organized and ready with documentation and identification out and 2) everyone in the group knows they will be having a photo taken and is paying attention for their turn to smile. If those two things happen, everyone behind you in line will be both patient and grateful. Plus, you'll all be through the gate in a flash.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[Brandonius]

I've done several trips in the last few years with a group of 16-20 at once. Things get hectic, and there are inevitable slowdowns and bottlenecks. It can still be a phoenomenal day though!

• Is there anything we can do the night before our park days start to get our initial ticket scan/photo or is that just going to be an unavoidable bottleneck at gate entry our first day no matter what?

Unfortunately no. It's just going to be a bottleneck at the gate. It's not the slowest thing ever, but everyone will have to have it happen. Believe me, I've tried to see if there's a way around. According to the CMs I've asked, there isn't.

• How far before park gate open time does the Toy Story Lot bus start running? Does security open up over there at the same time, or is there potential of catching the bus and then waiting in Harbor security line - even on a day when they are going to run security there?

Toy Story Lot security and busses start 1 hour before the earliest park opening of the day. If DL opens at 8, security and busses over there open at 7. In order to board the bus, you have to go through security. There is no way to "catch the bus" and then jump into the harbor security line.

Also, if there are any strollers in your group, highly recommend not doing the toy story busses because you'll have to collapse everything for the bus ride. And when your group of 3 families is holding up the line, things get awkward

• Am I correct that gate open is 30 min before rope drop and security starts sometime before that?

Gate (turnstiles) open and rope drop are not scientific at all. I've been there when they open gates 45 minutes before rope drop. Generally, it's roughly 30 minutes before. Rope drop is not exactly at posted park open time. Some days they drop the rope as early as 4-5 minutes before posted time. I've been there where they are 3 minutes LATE on posted opening. Security all opens at 1 hour before the earliest posted park opening time.

Is Jolly Holiday Bakery open during this pre-rope drop time and are they taking mobile orders? If so, how early can we place them?

If you manage to get into the park pre-rope drop, it's a cattle pen. You will not be enjoying the area lol, shops are NOT open (except Starbucks, sometimes), you are waiting for the rope to drop so that you can stampede to the first ride. No restaurants are open, but as soon as your tickets are scanned they ARE accepting mobile orders. For later in the day.

Also (unsolicited advice time! yay!) I don't recommend rope drop with a group of any more than 8, and that's if they are all adults or teens who have the same priorities and are all going to go hard for the morning section. The first rides of the day can be kind of chaotic and it's almost impossible to efficiently track with a large group. I've tried, it did not go well.

• Is it still true at park close that the shops remain open for another hour?

Yep. Main street is open for an extra hour. Downtown disney is significantly later.

• For the DAS pass, does your group of 5 other people have to be set for the whole time or can they swap in and out? We have one person with us who will have a pass and they will not be with the same sub-group the whole time.
• Are Trader Sam's reservations now for all seating or just for inside seating? Initially, I read inside only, but the popup message with the updated app says it is for any seating there. We are close to having enough reserved seats at one time, but not quite there yet...

These, I can't help with. I've never tried to even THINK about dining reservations with a group (and I've never been to Trader Sam's... I'll get around to it eventually), and I've never used DAS passes. Hopefully the rest of the info was helpful tho.

 

[Calidisneyfam]

I was there in November with 8:00am park opening. Security didn't open until 7:15 at the Harbor security area. Turnstiles 7:30, and rope drop 8:00. Have a fun trip!

 

[ociana]

I've done several trips in the last few years with a group of 16-20 at once. Things get hectic, and there are inevitable slowdowns and bottlenecks. It can still be a phoenomenal day though!

Thank you so much for all the details, that was extremely helpful! We have no strollers, or even anyone under 16, but we will have 3 ECVs in the group. We are splitting into the speedy and slow teams, so just the speedy team is focused on rope drop with me in the lead.

I am a bit surprised at the tight window between security and rope drop. It used to be an hour when we went between security open and gate open (when gate open = rope drop), so you had plenty of time at the gate to grab La Brea for breakfast.

 

[poptart90]

Thank you so much for all the details, that was extremely helpful! We have no strollers, or even anyone under 16, but we will have 3 ECVs in the group. We are splitting into the speedy and slow teams, so just the speedy team is focused on rope drop with me in the lead.

I am a bit surprised at the tight window between security and rope drop. It used to be an hour when we went between security open and gate open (when gate open = rope drop), so you had plenty of time at the gate to grab La Brea for breakfast.

The Harbor side opens later than the other DTD entrance. Not sure if that’s an option for your group, but you might want to research the parking and/or hotels from that side. Sorry I can’t be more help with the details because we stay at GCH mostly. We were there at the beginning of December and security opens for GCH and DTD at 7am. Harbor opened either at 7:15 or 7:20am…hard to tell as we were already in line at the gates. But the huge crowd joined us around 7:30ish. That’s probably the reason for the tight timeline. They hold that side the longest. There’s no time to grab coffee at Starbucks at that point.

This time, I packed a Walgreens $10 toaster in my suitcase (no joke!) and had bagels delivered from the local Vons grocery so my kids could eat while we got them ready. Absolutely saved our mornings. If that’s not an option, food delivery services are available for early morning drop off (many starting at 6:30am) from Grubhub or others. With little kids, it’s a challenge. But with “big” people you might find a delivery service or restaurant close by is a better option. Anything but last minute in DTD right now, IMO.

 

[gatorfreud]

Sort of off topic, but kind of not... we are on the harbor side on katella, kind of near Toy Story lot so sounds like OP... wondering if we should just get early to security at harbor side, try to be near front, or go to DTD side for the 15 min jump.... thoughts!? We do like to be near the front of the turnstiles hahahaha.

 

[poptart90]

Sort of off topic, but kind of not... we are on the harbor side on katella, kind of near Toy Story lot so sounds like OP... wondering if we should just get early to security at harbor side, try to be near front, or go to DTD side for the 15 min jump.... thoughts!? We do like to be near the front of the turnstiles hahahaha.

My answer will incorporate our recent experiences both before Thanksgiving, during, and after…which was insanely busy, IMO. But others have said the time we were there was pleasant and the lines not too long.

For my fam (MaxPass lovers) waiting more than 30+ minutes for a ride is not a Win. For others it’s no big deal.

However, we pay to kennel pets, pay parking at the airport, pay to fly into SNA, pay for a cab to our hotel, pay for hotel, pay for grocery deliveries, pay, pay, pay for every little thing cause we’re on vacation. And that’s fine, it just means we have a different level of investment, again IMO.

Long winded response to say for everything we’ve already paid just to FINALLY step into the Esplanade? Yeah. That 15 minutes made the difference. First in line at the gate 2 days in a row for the first time ever. Walked on RIse and Webslingers. Win.

if you want to be at the turnstiles (if that’s your level of investment ) go thru DTD.

 

[ociana]

The Harbor side opens later than the other DTD entrance. Not sure if that’s an option for your group, but you might want to research the parking and/or hotels from that side. Sorry I can’t be more help with the details because we stay at GCH mostly. We were there at the beginning of December and security opens for GCH and DTD at 7am. Harbor opened either at 7:15 or 7:20am…hard to tell as we were already in line at the gates. But the huge crowd joined us around 7:30ish. That’s probably the reason for the tight timeline. They hold that side the longest. There’s no time to grab coffee at Starbucks at that point.

This time, I packed a Walgreens $10 toaster in my suitcase (no joke!) and had bagels delivered from the local Vons grocery so my kids could eat while we got them ready. Absolutely saved our mornings. If that’s not an option, food delivery services are available for early morning drop off (many starting at 6:30am) from Grubhub or others. With little kids, it’s a challenge. But with “big” people you might find a delivery service or restaurant close by is a better option. Anything but last minute in DTD right now, IMO.

I love the toaster idea! We were going to get grab and go food that was non perishable or fit in the mini fridges in our rooms, but the toaster is a perfect addition. Might even get a cheap coffee pot....

I may look at the walking distance to the DTD security and have our core commando group head out and secure front of the turnstiles that way. As another posted assumed, our hotel is across from the Toy Story lot, which is why that is the best way to go for the majority of our group.

 

[Malcon10t]

Sort of off topic, but kind of not... we are on the harbor side on katella, kind of near Toy Story lot so sounds like OP... wondering if we should just get early to security at harbor side, try to be near front, or go to DTD side for the 15 min jump.... thoughts!? We do like to be near the front of the turnstiles hahahaha.

I don't think it would be worth it now. Since a blogger suggested this a couple weeks ago, the lines have become huge on that side. We were trying to enter Dec 4 at 930a, and the line to enter the security section was backed out to the parking lots. So we had to walk from our hotel tower, back out to the parking lot to get in line. Security wasn't happy. Said people were getting dropped off on Magic way because the blogger said it was faster, and that there was no line on the other side. It was not that busy even early morning Thanksgiving.

And on the 15 min jump, remember you have about a 8-10 walk back to the esplanade.

 

[Malcon10t]

I have a few remaining questions in advance of our Christmas week

• Is it still true at park close that the shops remain open for another hour?

• The shops on Main Street remain open. The shops in the rest of the park start closing at park close.

• For the DAS pass, does your group of 5 other people have to be set for the whole time or can they swap in and out? We have one person with us who will have a pass and they will not be with the same sub group the whole time.

  They will include the 5 passes of the 5 people. They can't change back and forth. That said, they aren't using pictures of the 5. So you can send 5 people in. Who you send can vary, but you can't change the names on the DAS.