When does Harbor entrance get crowded?

[disneyerin]

I have seen video and photos of what Harbor looks like when people are waiting there in line for the Disneyland gates and it can look kind of horrifying...
When do these lines start forming? We plan to be there around 7:30am, will it be bad then?

 

[wabbott]

We were there in August of last year. We would arrive a little before 7 AM, and were pretty close to the front of the line, maybe 2 doz ahead of us.

 

[disneyerin]

We were there in August of last year. We would arrive a little before 7 AM, and were pretty close to the front of the line, maybe 2 doz ahead of us.

Ohhh....wait....is there a rope drop for the Harbor entrance? Or do the lines for security go all the way to Harbor at that time?
Last time we were there was 2018 and when we got there at 7am we would just immediately walk down the road (towards the Esplanade) to the security line and be through it in 5-10 minutes.

 

[wabbott]

Yes, there's a rope drop about halfway along the sidewalk between Harbor and the security checkpoint. Then you have a wait at the entrance to either DLR or DCA.

 

[disneyerin]

Thanks!