Early morning line up "rules" at the entrance gates

So…when you show up early are there actual “rules” about lining up. Specifically, there are no arrows telling you where to line up only signs indicating whether or not any given gate is early morning or not. Each gate covers 2 turnstiles. Sometimes people make one line between numbered turnstiles (say between 11 and 12) and other times people form 2 lines–one in front of 11 and one in front of 12. Had a family lose it on another family because one family was accused of “cheating” when lining up in front of one turnstile with a shorter line rather than between 2 turnstiles–although the other line was basically in front of 12. It wasn’t clear to anyone else around that there were defined rules about any of this. Some of your guides specifically say to form a line in front of a specific turnstile number (not between them).

I think there aren’t really any rules, it really depends on what happens as people begin to show up. I think that you take a huge risk making 2 lines at a gate because they don’t always man every single turnstile, and when they don’t open that line, you then have to rely on the kindness of the people in the line next to merge in and if they are upset that you “cheated” then that can get awkward quick.

Also, looking for the shortest line can shoot you in the foot because all it takes are enough people who are there for the first day and need to do the whole write your name on your ticket & take a photo to crimp your time getting in.

As for lining up at a specific gate, yeah there are some that people swear by. There’s some that I have a preference for, BUT like I said above, it really does depend more on who is in front of you, because the best one in my opinion while it has gotten me in the fastest, has also been one that took me the longest (but that was more a result of them ONLY staffing one turnstile at EVERY gate, so no lines were splitting and the lines to get in were long to begin with).

Thank you for your thoughts. Seems like Disney could more clearly mark where to line up or have a cast member help control the situation. They know how many people they’ve got working on any given day.