When do gates actually open?

[Snurk71]

Has DL brought back any of its early entries like WDW? We will be visiting DL for the first time in less than 2 weeks and need some help on how early to get to the parks. Do the gates open any earlier than the posted times? Are you able to get into Main Street before the posted opening times, and then wait for the rope drops? Also, we are staying at the Disneyland Hotel and are curious how much time we should allow for walking to the park entrances.

Thanks!

 

[Sonya in Boise]

If the parks open at 8am the gates open at 8am.
If the parks open after 8am, the gates open 30 minutes before opening time. You are allowed in the Main Street/Sunshine Plaza area for 30 minutes before the rope drop at opening time.

So if the park opens at 9am, at 8:30 you can get in to main street. At 9am the rope drops at the end of Main Street and you can ride rides. The half hour early is great for character pictures.

We had breakfast at Goofy's and it took us 15 minutes of walking fairly slow looking at the shop windows to get to the Main Gates. I would say 5 minutes straight walking or 10 minutes regular with kids.

 

[Uncle Buck]

When we were there two weeks ago, they opened California Adventure gates 30 minutes prior to the "official" opening time. Sunshine Plaza and everything between it and the Grand Californian entrance (just short of Grizzly River Run) was open. Soarin' Over California was operating (Fast Pass distribution began about 20 mins later, after the techs finished bringing the machines online).