I have been closely watch wait times and it seems like the first 2 hours in DL there are so many rides with low wait times! DCA seems to long waits even 20 minutes after the park opens! I am travelling with older kids so we can use single rider lines plus utilize LL drop times and besides wanting to ride Radiator Springs, don’t see why I would want to go there first??? On my visit Toy Story and Grizzly Run will be down for refurbishment and honestly I am struggling to figure out why to go there first? Does the Wine and Food open early, is that maybe a reason? Any thoughts?
Jenn
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If you have park hopper tickets, it is a valid strategy to start each day at DL since you are right that the benefit of RD / early morning is greater on that side.
That said, the line for Guardians at RD is usually pretty short if you are among the first to enter. Incredicoaster, Toy Story Mania, and Webslingers also usually have much shorter waits for the first hour or so the park is open. You have to be really good to beat the RD crowd at Radiator Springs, but if you do, that’s a huge wait knocked out early.
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Thanks! I wish there were more big rides but it seems like everyone must rush GOG and RS. At DL so many choices.
Jenn
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There is also something to be said about the atmosphere with less people. We did the entirety of Pixar Pier once with no other people just because we had LLs for things later and it was lovely.
But if your focus is on rides, there certainly are more rides with lengthy lines at DLR.
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The most efficient use of just one day tends to be 1 day start at DCA, then hop to DL (because it’s open later and can see some of those same lows from the morning in the last hour or two or park opening if they are open until 11pm or 12am) and be efficient with time by only having one hop to maximize all that.
That said, if you have the ability to SR and will have LL, the option to start in DL would add some hops in, but can equal a higher ride count (and step count) if you’re wanting to max out doing the stuff. So it all depends on your priorities!
And I will say that our last trip in February over the tail-end of the Lunar New Year festival (with the food carts for that out) DCA was PACKED starting that first hour of the park. The food booths don’t open until 10:30-11am but they are quite popular and lines start right away and are long the whole time (that we observed).
And there was a lot in DCA that we ended up skipping because there weren’t good enough low wait times on either end of the day (Goofy’s Sky School, Luig’s, Mater’s & Jumpin’ Jellyfish) and then a lot we waited more than we usually would but it was our only trip/chance the year so we stuck it out (Silly Symphony Swings, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Incredicoaster, Soarin, Little Mermaid).
We had excellent luck with RD in Avengers Campus doing GotG > Webslingers, and if we didn’t need to stop for breakfast could have knocked out Monsters & Soarin too with some ease. The pier struggled the mornings of our trip so it wasn’t a reliable or good choice for RD but we made the best of it.
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I’m with you. Jen. While I like to start at DCA if I’m using LLMP, the main reason I do it is because I like to start at the Pier and walk onto TSMM and then IC. Meantime, I’ve booked Guardians. If TSMM is closed, however, the incentive for starting there diminishes. The only 3 reasons I can see starting at DCA in the spring are: 1. Guardians runs out early and you have to count on drops. When I watched it today, Guardians didn’t drop on the two times I watched it, maybe because the SB time was so long. 2. DCA is wildly popular during FWF. It can be uncomfortable walking around, with such thick crowds in the booth areas. Though crowded in the a.m., it surely must be lighter than later. 3. I think your chances of a reasonable wait in the SR line for RSR are better around 9 or 9:30 a.m. than any other time of day.
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