Where to start at park opening?

[FCDub]

Hi, everyone!

First time posting here on the Disneyland forum. I'm headed out west in early December and will be spending a day at Disneyland. It's a Thursday (so hopefully not CRAZY crowds?), and Disneyland Park has Morning Magic at 7, with the park opening at 8.

I will not be onsite, so not sure how this will impact where I should head when the park opens. Going alone, so I will be able to use single rider lines at Indy, Matterhorn, Splash, etc. (and Radiator Springs/California Screamin' over at DCA). I was thinking of grabbing FPs for Buzz and Star Tours (is Buzz still disconnected?) then heading to Space Mountain and to Star Wars Launch Bay to meet Chewie and Kylo Ren. From there, would head to Mr. Toad, Matterhorn, etc.

Is that a good plan? Should I FP Space Mountain instead of Star Tours? How many people usually utilize the early hours, especially when they start at 7 a.m.? Trying to gauge if my first park time would be better spent elsewhere. Don't care about Peter Pan, so won't be rushing there.

THANK YOU for any help and advice!

 

[FCDub]

ALSO: How early should I arrive for a 8 a.m. general public park opening? I've only been once before, and I arrived midday.

 

[SMD]

Launch Bay doesn't open until 1 hour after regular park opening. You shouldn't need FP for either ride at opening, but Hyperspace Mountain should be back by then, so you might want to FP that and ride Star Tours standby. Pulling a Buzz FP would be a waste that early too. Unless you're trying to knock out TL and not go back to that side of the park, you could probably do Star Tours, HSM and Buzz in under an hour, then go to HMH and come back later to do Launch Bay.

 

[FCDub]

Helpful! Thanks. Didn't know Launch Bay was a delayed opening. Trying to avoid criss-crossing as much as possible, as I did that my first visit and wore myself out quickly.

I will probably wait on the FP for HMH because I want to experience the whole thing at night. Feels much cooler that way!

 

[VandVsmama]

My thoughts in no particular order:

1. When EMH/MM entry at Disneyland is at 7am, not nearly as many people enter early in that hour compared to if EMH was at the 9am hour.
2. That being said, the die hard Disney lovers who are staying on site, along with people with park hopper tickets who are NOT staying on site, will definitely use EMH./MM.
3. If you really want to maximize your time at DL on that Thursday and regular park opening is at 8am, get to the security screening tents at about 7:30-7:40 am. Ask a CM if they're going to open other turnstiles at 8am so you could go into a different line and not have to wait to the side for all of the EMH/MM people.
4. So if you're driving to DL and parking in 1 of the lots or in the huge parking garage, allow for 15-20 min from parking lot/garage to get to the security tents. This would have your target arrival time at the parking lot/garage by 7:15-7:20 am.
5. If, instead, you are staying w/in walking distance, then leave your hotel/motel early enough to allow you enough time to walk there and get to the security tents by 7:30-7:40 am.
6. If Buzz is still disconnected (I think it is), go ahead and get a FP for it even if the lines are super short. It won't hurt!
7. Get a FP for Space Mountain first. Then when your FP window for Space Mtn starts, grab a Star Tours FP.
8. Kylo Ren is no longer doing meet & greets as of 10/13 (or maybe it was 10/12). Darth Vader has taken his place.
9. Use the single rider line at the Matterhorn and go on Matterhorn before Mr Toad's Wild Ride.
10. Download the Disneyland app to your smart phone before your trip. In addition to showing ride wait times, it will show the current FP return time for attractions. For example, as I'm typing this, it's 12:45 pm on a Friday and Space Mountain wait time is 90 minutes and FP return times for that ride are 6:25-7:25 pm. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, by contrast, has a 30 min wait and FP return time of 1:20-2:20 pm. Haunted Mansion right now is a 55 min standby wait time and FP return time of 1:55-2:55 pm.
11. ** NOTE** EVEN IF you grab a FP for Star Tours at the start of your Space Mtn FP window, you can STILL go on Star Tours in the standby line...and then go on it again when your FP return window begins. Then when the Star Tours FP window opens, before you get on Star Tours again, grab a FP for another ride that you want to go on that day. Lather, rinse, repeat for the rest of the day in order to maximize the # of FP rides you go on & also minimize the amount of time you wait in line.
12. Last October, our family went on Haunted Mansion in the 1st 20 min of regular park opening and we were done with HM at the 30 min post-opening mark. Just wanted to mention that in case it might help you with your ride planning. You can still go on HM in the evening, too. I love going on it multiple times the same day because I love that attraction so much. BUT if you go on HM first, you should FIRST grab Buzz and Space Mtn FP's before going to New Orleans Square for HM.

 

[FCDub]

This is so helpful! Thank you!

I will probably catch an Uber to/from the park, so won't have to deal with the garage/tram situation. Arriving at 7:30ish sounds good to me.

I'm actually happy Vader is back! Didn't know that. Kylo Ren is cool, but he's no Vader.

As I make it over to New Orleans Square for HMH, what's the best order of Pirates (which was under refurb my last trip) and Jungle Cruise? Guess it depends on whichever has the lower wait time, but curious as to which one usually has a bigger (and slower) line.

Thanks again!

My thoughts in no particular order:

1. When EMH/MM entry at Disneyland is at 7am, not nearly as many people enter early in that hour compared to if EMH was at the 9am hour.
2. That being said, the die hard Disney lovers who are staying on site, along with people with park hopper tickets who are NOT staying on site, will definitely use EMH./MM.
3. If you really want to maximize your time at DL on that Thursday and regular park opening is at 8am, get to the security screening tents at about 7:30-7:40 am. Ask a CM if they're going to open other turnstiles at 8am so you could go into a different line and not have to wait to the side for all of the EMH/MM people.
4. So if you're driving to DL and parking in 1 of the lots or in the huge parking garage, allow for 15-20 min from parking lot/garage to get to the security tents. This would have your target arrival time at the parking lot/garage by 7:15-7:20 am.
5. If, instead, you are staying w/in walking distance, then leave your hotel/motel early enough to allow you enough time to walk there and get to the security tents by 7:30-7:40 am.
6. If Buzz is still disconnected (I think it is), go ahead and get a FP for it even if the lines are super short. It won't hurt!
7. Get a FP for Space Mountain first. Then when your FP window for Space Mtn starts, grab a Star Tours FP.
8. Kylo Ren is no longer doing meet & greets as of 10/13 (or maybe it was 10/12). Darth Vader has taken his place.
9. Use the single rider line at the Matterhorn and go on Matterhorn before Mr Toad's Wild Ride.
10. Download the Disneyland app to your smart phone before your trip. In addition to showing ride wait times, it will show the current FP return time for attractions. For example, as I'm typing this, it's 12:45 pm on a Friday and Space Mountain wait time is 90 minutes and FP return times for that ride are 6:25-7:25 pm. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, by contrast, has a 30 min wait and FP return time of 1:20-2:20 pm. Haunted Mansion right now is a 55 min standby wait time and FP return time of 1:55-2:55 pm.
11. ** NOTE** EVEN IF you grab a FP for Star Tours at the start of your Space Mtn FP window, you can STILL go on Star Tours in the standby line...and then go on it again when your FP return window begins. Then when the Star Tours FP window opens, before you get on Star Tours again, grab a FP for another ride that you want to go on that day. Lather, rinse, repeat for the rest of the day in order to maximize the # of FP rides you go on & also minimize the amount of time you wait in line.
12. Last October, our family went on Haunted Mansion in the 1st 20 min of regular park opening and we were done with HM at the 30 min post-opening mark. Just wanted to mention that in case it might help you with your ride planning. You can still go on HM in the evening, too. I love going on it multiple times the same day because I love that attraction so much. BUT if you go on HM first, you should FIRST grab Buzz and Space Mtn FP's before going to New Orleans Square for HM.

 

[VandVsmama]

I'd vote to go on Jungle Cruise before Pirates because Jungle Cruise loads more slowly than Pirates does.