turnstile/park opening questions

[PRINCESS VIJA]

when you get there early in the morning, (we will be there in August)...

1. Will all the turnstiles open up? (I'm always paranoid about lining up in front of a turnstile that might not open)

2. What time would you say you need to be there to be first in line? Sort of a crazy tradition we have, even at WDW, we get to the parks SUPER early and love to be the first at turnstiles. On a Magic Morning (yes, we are on site) and non magic morning?

3. If the park opens at 8am what time do they start letting people in? Is it at 8am, or do they open the turnstiles earlier and you "walk with a purpose" to the rope drop and then the rope drops at 8am

4. If they open to the rope drops, where are the rope drops located... at each of the lands, or at the hub?

 

[FairyDust2008]

For Disneyland, you go through bag check 1st and then head to the turnstiles. There are several obvisously and whatever the park time openings are going to be on the day you go, I would guess an hour before if you definitely have to be up there in the front line, etc. They don't do a rope drop. At least they didn't when we were there. We were there early one morning because we had 7:15 reservations inside the park at the Plaza Inn for Minnie & Friends breakfast. We had our own turnstile and there were sevreral others in the normal ones waiting for early hours in the park and they picked a family out of the crowd and did a little countdown thing and then the turnstiles opened and we walked in the parks. We weren't at the park early on any other day. We would get there around 9:00-9:30 most days and were fine with that getting in. We didn't have to wait overly long and the lines went pretty quickly. We lucked out for a rope drop at WDW last year and that was cool but not something we would have to get up extra early for. One experience was good enough. We just made sure we were at the parks early enough to maximize the day and we had reservations at different breakfast on different days so by the time we finished eating, seeing characters, etc it was time for the parks to open so we never had a problem getting there really. Have fun

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

For Disneyland, you go through bag check 1st and then head to the turnstiles. There are several obvisously and whatever the park time openings are going to be on the day you go, I would guess an hour before if you definitely have to be up there in the front line, etc. They don't do a rope drop. At least they didn't when we were there. We were there early one morning because we had 7:15 reservations inside the park at the Plaza Inn for Minnie & Friends breakfast. We had our own turnstile and there were sevreral others in the normal ones waiting for early hours in the park and they picked a family out of the crowd and did a little countdown thing and then the turnstiles opened and we walked in the parks. We weren't at the park early on any other day. We would get there around 9:00-9:30 most days and were fine with that getting in. We didn't have to wait overly long and the lines went pretty quickly. We lucked out for a rope drop at WDW last year and that was cool but not something we would have to get up extra early for. One experience was good enough. We just made sure we were at the parks early enough to maximize the day and we had reservations at different breakfast on different days so by the time we finished eating, seeing characters, etc it was time for the parks to open so we never had a problem getting there really. Have fun

Thanks, does anyone know what time the bag checks open?

 

[FairyDust2008]

Again, check the times the parks are opening during your visit for each day and just try and arrive like an hour before. Did you say you are staying onsite? We stayed at the Grand Californian and truly we walked out of our resort, into Downtown Disney, (always stopped for some JAMBA JUICE-YUMMO!) and then headed towards the bag checkin/parks and it was a short walk and then you had Disneyland to the left and California Adventure to the right. It depends on where you are staying too. The Disneyland Resort and the Paradise Pier are farther away. That is why we LOVE the GC because it is such WONDERFUL LOCATION, not to mention just a beautiful, wonderful resort! It also depends on the crowds too. Like I said, we had reservations for character breakfasts alot and they were set for like 7 a.m. and after we finished up wth breakfast, we would stroll to the parks and never had a major problem getting in with crowds. It was smooth, even on the days where it was more crowded which we had because of June grad days, etc. Disneyland is just set up so much better than WDW and with everything being compact, it just worked out so well. That is why we LOVE Disneyland Staying at the GC, we never used the monorail, only for a fun ride and a couple nights leaving the Magic Kingdom before fireworks. The monorail took us directly back into Downtown Disney and we were just a short walk back to our resort.

 

[DangerMouse]

If MM is at 7 am, then security bag check will open somewhere between 6:30 and 6:45 am. It is never exact, and there is usually a line up at security. If you want to be first at the turnstiles on a MM day, then I would plan to be at the security tents at a few minutes before 6:30 am.

By the way, I share your tradition of wanting to be first in the parks. It's fun walking down a completely empty Main Street USA!

 

[FairyDust2008]

On the day we were there for early breakast in the park, we did walk down Main Street being fairly empty but I wouldn't say it is completely just empty. There are several others just like you that want to be there early too so it fills up quite quickly so the alone time doesn't last long, LOL plus people were RUNNING, not walking and several were getting yelled at by Castmembers to stop running and walk. I always find that part a little too much for people to be running. Reminds me of the Roseanne episode I would rather enjoy and take in stuff rather than racing through it.

 

[blackjackdelta]

When we were there last, people were running for Nemo...after riding it, I have never understood why! I have seen so many little ones fall and get skinned trying to keep up with their parent.
We also like to be at the gates early but have never been the 1st.

Jack

 

[Eeee-va]

The gates that will open are labeled as entrances, so you shouldn't need to worry about waiting in a line that will not open.

As I understand it, ALL of the Magic Morning gates (when applicable) will open up before the park opens to the general public. A lot of people will hang out in the area near them (during our visit, the three leftmost entrances) and then slide into place when the sign changes. During our visit, two Magic Morning entrances opened up maybe 10 minutes before park opening, while the leftmost entrance switched over just a couple minutes before park opening. In all cases, they changed the sign and re-closed the gates until park opening, just like regular entrances.

We were in line next to a Magic Morning entrance and edged over to it when it changed over. Others literally seemed to appear from nowhere, and in a minute or two, the former Magic Morning lines had become as long as the rest of the entry lines! So using the old MM line when necessary is a good trick, but you have to use it promptly.

Another key to being first to the turnstiles will be walking quickly (and probably not having too much for them to go through at bag check, or at least getting a checker who is not super-thorough). We were NOT first in line at bag check on Sunday, 6/21, but still made it to be first in line because we are fast walkers. They seem to coordinate and let people through the Downtown Disney bag check exactly the same time as the other bag check, but if you were unlucky and the Downtown Disney bag check people walked through even a minute earlier, you would not be able to be right in front. (Not sure if that's possible or not, as we were only there for the opening of bag-check once.)

But there's no opening show like at WDW, so it's not necessary to be the very first in, but I understand wanting to keep to tradition.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[FairyDust2008]

We only rode Nemo once and the line was 65 minutes long. We did it because we wanted to experience it. The only thing that saved me was the music singers next to Nemo putting on a show and singing some of my fav songs and I was dancing and singing in line, LOL I would have been quite bored if it weren't for the music I enjoyed it but it wasn't worth that long of a wait. Definitely something you would do once unless the lines were REALLY short and you could basically walk on and even then, it isn't something I would be into over and over really. The other thing I noticed at Disneyland as was the case at WDW and I hope I don't get flamed, LOL was the stroller mania People with strollers literally felt that had free run of the park and would literally use their strollers as a way to just push their way through without any regard to anyone else. That drove me NUTS at WDW. They would not part their way but would make everyone get out of their way. Quite rude! They need to make beepers/horns for strollers like those carts at the airport, LOL Well, not really because I wouldn't want to add to what already is a problem from what we've experienced. I'm not saying ALL people with strollers were rude pushing their way through running over people but there were many that were and that was our exact experience at WDW. It literally was CRAZY I was reminded of this when you mentioned the kids falling and bumping their knees, etc...