If they let you in 30 minutes before the scheduled opening, that means EE is really only 30 minutes. If official opening is at 9:00 and early entry is at 8:00, do the early entry people get in at 7:30, or do early entry people get in at 8:00 and everyone else at 8:30?
Is the 30 minutes before official opening just for DCA, or DL as well? I do not recall ever getting in 30 minutes before official opening without EE.
Can anyone confirm these times/locations? It would be nice to know when the general admission rush for the RSR faspass machines will happen, 8:30 or 9:00. Thanks.
Our early entry experience last week, where we only entered via the main gate, was this ...
-The bag check opens 30-45 minutes before the turnstiles.
-Frequently new lanes will open and the people behind you in line to get in, will run to those and get in, in front of you. It happens a lot. Because of this, we found the difference of when we actually got into the park was very slight (plus or minus about 5 minutes) whether we arrived at the turnstiles at 6:15 or 6:45.
-Even when we were waiting at the bag check prior to it opening, and then moved on to the lines, we were never first in line. (Also, even that early, there were always regular entry guests already there to line-up, too.) The park never opened exactly on time, but pretty close. (7:05 AM was latest.)
-There is a TON of space-saving in line, so expect that the number of people in front of you will at least quadruple before the turnstiles open.
-We were NEVER, even on very busy days, let through the turnstiles prior to official opening time, though regular park guests (at their opening time), WERE allowed to enter prior to opening and then held in a pack just before you get to Bugsland.
-There was a countdown before the turnstiles opened and then they started operating. Lines tended to move slowly, because many people don't know/understand that you need room keys to go in. We witnessed several people successfully "crash" early entry by going through lines were Cast Members weren't checking for keys. (These are the faster moving lines.) We also witnessed MANY arguments that delayed entry by people who wanted to use their Magic Morning to enter California Adventure.
-It may be mean to say, but if you really want to get in faster avoid the turnstiles manned by senior citizens. In our observational-only experience they were far slower at checking keys, processing tickets and accounting for strollers, etc. than younger Cast Members. Your mileage may vary and I certainly have nothing against seniors, just something we observed.
-Only one morning of the four early entry opportunities we had, and we used them all, was Radiator Springs actually operating at opening. On one morning Radiator Springs, Toy Story AND Screamin' were all down, which was a major mess.
-One other morning Racers was up-and-running fairly quickly and we hopped in line with a 30 minute wait at 7:45 AM (after riding Toy Story twice), but the other two it never came up until LONG after regular park opening. (And one day, not at all, as far as I know.)
-When you get to Carsland you will be held in a herd (no lines, no order) while Mater and Lightening make their way down the street. Red will then take over the left side of the street at the end of the block, near the Radiator Springs Racers' ride entrance. People will jockey for position, jump ahead, elbow, whatever to get a better spot here. Being to the far right does help, a bit.
-People will run past you, even if the Cast Members tell them not to, push, shove and fight their way down the street. Even if they are admonished by Cast Members to get off sidewalks, they will still be allowed to "rejoin" the herd at the front, no matter where they came from, and will be allowed to do it again and again with nothing but a "move off the sidewalks" or "don't run" admonition. Unless you're ruthless (and I'm not willing to do that) you will be passed by a LOT of people, who will then let their family of 12 join them in line at the ride. All in front of you. Just prepare yourself for it.
-From what we saw the ONLY way to be at the front of the Racers' line is to be a giant jerk. It is a huge cluster of people all going the same place, and all jockeying for position, because there is NO order. It is not pleasant, even if the vast majority of people are nice and polite.
-We tried to use the wide right technique and it helped, but not much. The morning we got there earliest--at the bag check at 6:15, which opened at 6:30, for a 7 AM opening--we were maybe the 6th family in line at the turnstiles and ended up probably amongst the first 100 in line for Radiator Springs and were able to ride it by about 7:30 AM. That was our "best case" scenario and, all told, it took us a bit over an hour to execute from the time we got in line at bag check, to the time we got off the ride.
-You can get into the Fast Pass line before regular park goers even at the last minute (say, 7:50) and still be ahead of them and assured of getting a Fast Pass. The Fast Pass line moves very quickly once it opens. Even getting in at almost the very end of Extra Magic Hour patrons, we never waited more than 20 minutes to get our Fast Passes and they were always for within two hours of park opening.
-If you can do single rider--child must be 7--do it. The line is always shorter and moves quickly. The day my son and I started waiting in the regular line at 7:45 AM, while my husband got FastPasses, he got the FastPasses, then went in the single rider and got off the ride within 5 minutes of us.
-The ride breaks down, A LOT. We wanted to ride at night, but both times we tried, using our Fast Passes painstakingly collected earlier in the day, Fast Pass return times were 1 hour-plus due to breakdowns earlier in the day.
-All told, we rode Racers 7 times during our 6-day trip. It is a great ride, but it took a ton of work and a lot of waiting to accomplish that. I'm not really sure it's worth it.
