AP Early Entry Registration
 

Got an email about AP early entry.

Link here

Carsland Craziness weekend is unavailable.

Yup Matt and I are doing the DCA early entry on Thursday August 2nd at 7am...so I won't be missing anything on June 15th

Huh? Maybe I wasn't working it right, but it offered me only June dates. Doubt I'll use them, but if I'm feeling particularly insane, I can go the early morning of the evening I was planning on going - just to look around and get fast passes for later that night. I doubt it would be much fun trying to get from Anaheim to L.A. in time for work - so I may have squandered my early entry by doing the website wrong. :(

It didn't look like there were a whole lot of dates available but if you didn't select any I think you will have the chance to go back and do it later.

I just used the right arrow to move the calendar ahead until August then selected the date I wanted. They only had morning available. The longer you wait I'm sure the less dates will be available to choose from. We only choose DCA since Disneyland has nothing new.

Is there a late exit option?

Nope, I did select a date in June ... and harebrained a scheme as it is, I think I'm kinda liking it.

The only defect in my previous plan to go one evening after work is we wouldn't have fast passes for Radiator Springs Racers, which Al says is so much better at night. We'd barely get to DCA before 8 and they close at 10, so that would be our entire evening.

This way, we could go to DCA super early, get fast passes for later, ride the troubled Flying Saucer ride (whatever they're calling it) that's bound to be one of the slowest-moving, longest lines in the history of Disney. And look around a bit. Then I could brave the commute from Orange County to Los Angeles, all the while thanking the Traffic Gods for my heavenly 30 minute usual commute. Then back to DCA after work, ride the Racers in a breezy fast pass line, do the Mater tow truck thingy ride and even watch World of Color, which I've seen maybe 3 times.

It's crazy but I'm really liking it. Thursday, June 21st. First Day of Summer! Cars Land, baby!!!

I think it depends what day you choose. The day we are going they only ad 7am time slot.

Yeah, if I hadn't gone momentarily retarded and forgot how to work, um, every computer calendar that's ever been, I would have picked some date in July.

But now I'm rather liking my stupid mistake, as per my previous post.


First I wanted to bash my head against a wall, now I want to give myself a big wet kiss. :D

That's good ya we wanted August so I don't mind waiting until then to experience Cars Land actually. As long as you grab a fast pass for evening you should be good to go because I wouldn't be surprised if they enforce the fast pass times for Radiator Springs Road.

Well, that would suck. Because we'd not be within the official "window." Also, I'm wondering what is meant by the event time being 7:00 to 8:00. Is that just our window for arriving?

Ok the event time is the time you have I the park so hence 7am-8am is my window so we are supposed to be there 15-30 minutes ahead of time to boot a certain ticket booth to sign in and get our wristbands BEFORE entering the park. It should be in fine print in your email confirmation as well as when you actually registered and had an order number.
On the fast pass lets hope they don't enforce the return time BUT because of all the hype and probability of DCA being insanely crowded they just may enforce the return times. Only time will tell

So is there any real benefit to these deal other than the chance to experience the park on less sleep?

Not really in my opinion...I'm hoping that by August plus the time you have o be there (for us at least an hour drive as well) we are looking at being up at a very ungodly hour lol. I think that the only thing I've EVER gotten up at predawn hours for was snow skiing in Mammoth but that's when I was MUCH younger.

Was that supposed to read, "the event time is the time you have IN the park"???


i.e., the 7 to 8 window means you can enter DCA at 7, but must be the heck out of there by 8? Huh? That makes no sense. That's not early entry.


I guess I'll try and confirm what gives. I would have to be out of there by 8 anyway - to get to work - but if it doesn't flow to the normal operating day, they won't be distributing fast passes - which is my personal only reason for going that morning. Must.Get.Details.Ironed.Out.

It sounds like it works like early entry for people who stay onsite in Disney hotel rooms. You can enter the park an hour earlier than the general public and get on some rides, or get in line an hour before everyone else who isn't staying on site or registered for the AP day (aka the general public).

That's all, you don't hang out for an hour then get booted out of the park, you just get in an hour before the general public can. It's been a perk of getting hotel rooms at DLR or WDW for years.

To me it seems the chief benefit to early entry is knowing I should't worry about getting to the park at rope drop since there will already be lines. That translated into more sleep and a happier park visit later in the day.

BTD is right. It's like the Magic Mornings that they already do for onsite guests. They've just opened up certain days for AP's. I'm guessing to try and let everyone have a chance to get in when it's a bit less crowded. You can only do one reservation for each park per AP.

I think it's more to spread out the APs a bit more so they don't crowd out the regular guests.

And I think I just figured that my crazy plan for early entry days is just that. I'd have to leave L.A. at 5:30 a.m. to get to the wrist-band place by 6:45. And I could only stay an hour before having to leave for work.

If I took the day off, I wouldn't need to get there by 7:00 - so the whole early entry thing is a bust for me. But I'm not so bummed I messed it up - there's not a single day I want to leave for Disneyland at 5:30 a.m.

ISM us either why we never picked a day for Dineyland only DCA.

We're in for June 20th (the Wednesday after the opening).

Actually, we're in for Thursday, the 21st. That's tomorrow. Anyone else going?

Seems almost a moot point, but what the heck.

Maybe you can get on RSR with less than a 45 minute wait ;)

We were there today, not on early entry, but by the time we got in ten minutes after general opening, Tom ran straight to the RSR FP line, which extended from the machines all the way past the animation building. We got our FPs for 6 PM at
8:10 AM on a Wednesday... So I'm sure getting an early hour would help.

Today we got through the turnstyles at 7:45, and followed the mass after roap drop to RSR. The line was 2 hours at that point! The fastpass line looked like it take just as long, so we just got in line.

Now that DLR has two parks with Early entry, I wonder how traffic patters will compare with what happens at WDW.

In short, the park with early entry gets most of the traffic which somewhat lightens the load at the other parks for the entire day. Of course it's most pronounced earlier in the day but still noticeable right through till closing.

I'd guess you would see the effect early in the morning, Disneyland will be less crowded than average on Tue, Thu, Sat and Sun mornings but given the ease of switching parks at DLR little or no real difference later in the day compared with WDW.

Hey stupid* your early entry was for 7:00, not 8:00. Woke up early for nothing. RSR stand-by was already at 2 hours when we got in.




*Me

Yeah, and I'm sitting at my desk all day so really who's the stupid one?

Says the guy going to Austalia in November

Yup that's why when Matt and I have early entry for DCA on August 2nd we have to be up at predawn in order to get there in time to check in etc

Well yeah, but I'm going all that way for just two full days. That's pretty damn dumb.

With about three day's worth of travel.

So you admit defeat?

Never!!!

Boy did that ever work out well for us. The usual best way to do a Disney day is to visit in the early morning, bail for the crowded and hot afternoon, and return for the twilight and evening magic.

Early Entry allowed us to reverse that for our first DCA 2.0 visit, to great advantage. We had nighttime first and early morning afterwards.

I could not have been more right that the best time to first experience the new DCA was at twilight. Buena Vista Street was simply magical at this golden hour. The vibe and the architecture are just wonderful, and the red car trolley just SOLD it.

We were so enthralled, we delayed a few minutes and missed the lighting "ceremony" for Cars Land, but arrived there just as everything was so magnificently lit up to the nines. The new land is SO FREAKING beautiful and beautifully-lit. It's amazing.

Anyway we got to ride Racers (yay, single-rider line), which was RAD, and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, which is more fun that it looks at first. Ghiradelli was next. Yum. Then a nice tour of Cars Land, and back to Buena Vista Street to check out the beautiful new shop interiors.

In the morning, early entry found Racers 101, so we went on Luigi's Flying Tires first. No wait - which is NOT going to be the case all summer long. The Tires are fun, and we mastered them with no problem. Great ride (but I would not want to wait 2 hours, nope).

Racers was still down, but fastpass opened at 8 - so we got one for a 9am window start. Over to Disneyland for our first ride down the icy slopes of the majestic Matterhorn in the new bobsleds. I can see why some find them uncomfortable, but we were fine with them.

After a bonus Space Mountain ride (nothing new there), we went back to DCA for our 5-minute fast-pass line for Racers. Yay.

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Wonderful nighttime, beautiful morning. 2 rides on the new E-Ticket, 1 each on the other 2 rides. Great, but hardly exhausting exploration of everything new at DCA - though I'm happy to say there are months' worth of details yet to discover!

Early Entry was Perfect for this. So Glad. :snap:

Never mind - I AM trying to arrange a Drop-Bear encounter for you.

Drop bear!! sheeettzz! Quick mate grab the '303!

Holy carp! Steve likes it! He really, really likes it!






who'd a thunk it.

;)

According to yesterday's Al's Update, Cars Land has been getting a previously-though-impossible 100% Intent-to-Return rate in guest surveys. So I'm simply not immune to the inevitable. ;)


Oh, Al also says the submarines are once again doomed. Low ridership capacity and huge operating costs have apparently sunk the attraction once again. I hardly ever ride it ... but we may have one more Big Sub Meet in our future when it glows away forever, er, submerges to infinite depths.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the demise of the subs. I've never been a fan of any incarnation of that attraction. Hopefully with the spend more to get more reality of carsland staring them in the face they will take the opportunity to create something truly special in that space.

I look forward to another decade of people insisting Disney put back what was there previously and didn't particularly work.

Plus, Lasseter needs to learn that Pixar rides can die too.

What's wrong w/subs? They always have a line, guests like it!

Morri: I love Finding Nemo in DL, BUT.... ya just gotta go to Disneyseas and ride 20K there. Less maintenance (ie: no water) and (to my knowledge) good capacity. From reading Als Update, I dont get why having a show building underneath TL means you cant build a whole bunch of stuff on top, A redesigned show building could provide just the support they need if theyre worried !

[painkiller curmudgeon mode]
I hated the subs as a little kid, I hate them even more with NEMO! being screamed 28 times by the ride audio, not to mention every parent yelling "OH LOOK IT'S NEMO!" every 12 seconds like they've got worse memory issues than Dory. I'd miss the lagoon itself, but would sure love to see that HUGE parcel of land turned into something new, not a polished up turd. Implode innoventions while they're at it, too.
[/painkiller curmudgeon mode]

I really liked the Submarine Voyage AS the Submarine Voyage. But, as still remains today, the capacity is just too low and so the line painfully slow by Disney standards.

Even now, I'd ride them more often if it weren't for the craptactic wait for even a short queue. But, knowing they're on the chopping block again, I'll try to ride a wee bit more often while they still sail.

I think I might like the subs more if I was 5' tall.

I would like Subs more if they were simply a fond memory that people discussed with a wistful lilt in their voice.

That said, at least with them back, at least people stopped talking about how wonderful they were (because to bring them up would requiring admitting that now that they're back nobody* goes on them).

*Hyperbole. You're* a magical unique butterfly.

*You're is whoever is going to reply saying "<sputter>but I go on them every Tuesday!"

Is it the Nemo (as in Captain not Sushi) attraction at Tokyo Seas everyone is always gushing about? Perhaps a version of that would be a good replacement for the subs.

According to Al's article, it's a combination of being the most expensive ride to operate and the ultra-low ride capacity.

cf. This

If you haven't been on it, get to Tokyo IMMEDIATELY. Of course, Alex would have naturally been on it recently, so he can back me up.

**SPOILER ALERT** If you really want to see what you're missing, the image below is a ride layout of 20K at Disneyseas. Note that it is VERY detailed, down to dialogue timings and detailed show scene descriptions. If you want to wait till you get to Tokyo, do not look.

Though I never say never, it's not looking like I'll make it to Tokyo any time soon (i.e, before i die).

So thanks for that. But it's really not much of a spoiler. There's no indication of what is SEEN on the attraction, just what is said in the ride narration at various points (which, when I get around to reading it, may provide big clues). But even that's not a spoiler, since I assume the actual ride narration is in Japanese!

Still, that's rad schematic.

I haven't been on it recently (we stood outside the gates, we didn't go in).

But I have been on it.

It is a ride that I don't ever need to ride again in a very pretty wrapper. More fun to stand outside looking at it than to go on it. But that was how I felt about a lot of stuff at TDS (and it doesn't take much to get me there since I already have so little baseline interest in rides anyway).

I prefer Journey To The Center of the Earth.