Like everyone else visiting the Disneyland Resort, getting on Radiator Springs Racers was at the top of our checklist. But the line for the attraction is usually a few hours long and the ride is plagued by frequent breakdowns, which makes it incredibly difficult to see the most talked about ride.
The good news is that a Guest Relations cast member shared with us a great little tip that helped us get on Radiator Springs Racers twice within two hours.
Radiator Springs Racers Fastpass
The Fastpass tickets for Radiator Springs Racers are in high demand and you need to get to the park at opening if you want to get one. We arrived at Disney California Adventure at 7:30 am, a half hour before the park opened. They started scanning tickets and letting people enter Buena Vista Street at 7:30, but the rest of the park remained roped off. As people entered the park, they immediately ran over to the left, near Carthay Circle theatre, where the Fastpass line began to form.
Tip #1 – Figure out who in your group can run the fastest. As soon as you enter the turnstiles, hand that person all of your theme park tickets. That person then needs to run (or walk fast if an employee yells at you) and grab a spot in the Fastpass line as soon as possible. The rest of your group should then go join the main crowd who are waiting for the rope to drop at 8:00 for the general park opening.
Disney does an excellent job managing the queue for the Radiator Springs Racers Fastpass. I saw at least thirty employees monitoring the line and preventing people from cutting. They helped keep the crowd entertained and were overall very chipper for having to be there first thing in the morning. I was very relieved to see Disney had the line this organized, as it would have been terrible to see line cutters ruin everyone’s advance planning.
At 8:00 am, the park officially opens and the Fastpass line begins to move. The line moved fairly quickly and it only took about 15 minutes to reach the actual Fastpass machines. It was amazing to see how quickly Disney went through the supply of Fastpass tickets. Within 30 minutes, they had already issued return times through noon. By 9:30, all of the Fastpass tickets had been issued for the day. We can’t stress this enough, if you want to get a Fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers, you have to be there at park opening and then get in the Fastpass line right away.
When you reach the Fastpass machines, Disney has employees staffed at each machine to help speed along the process. We saw a couple people get turned away because they brought in tickets that had not been scanned yet at the main entrance. This means that you can’t just have one person in your group head over to California Adventure and grab Fastpass tickets while everyone else stays back at the hotel and sleeps in. All of you need to head into the park and get your tickets scanned at the main entrance. If you don’t, then you won’t be able to use the tickets to get a Fastpass (which would be a real bummer of a way to start the day).
Everyone Else Waits in the Standby Line
While the fast person in your group goes through the leg work of getting the Fastpass tickets for the whole family, the rest of you should head over to Radiator Springs Racers and get in the standby line. If you have a stroller, you’ll need to leave it outside the queue. Be prepared to make a quick drop off of your stroller and then head into the line. People are pushy in the morning as they fight to be first on the ride.
Text messages are the best way to stay in touch, as cell phone service can be spotty inside the parks. When your Fastpass person is heading over to Radiator Springs Racers to meet up with the rest of the group, send them a message to let them know where you are in the queue. If you are far enough along in the line, the Cast Member can let your Fastpass runner walk through the Fastpass line (which goes right down the middle of the queue) so they can easily find you and rejoin the party.
Twice the Fun
At this point, you’ll be in a great position to go on Radiator Springs Racers twice. Your group will only have to wait in the standby line for a few minutes since you were among the first to get in line for the day. And since you were also among the first to get a Fastpass, you will be able to return and ride again within a short time period. It is well worth the planning and effort to do this, as you’ll get to go on the newest ride twice and avoid the frustration of standing in the heat for hours.
This is really good advice. But the biggest issue we had was with the ride breaking down. We got fastpasses, but the ride was hardly even open last week because of some mechanical issues. If they could just keep it running reliably, they might not have such a long wait.
We did something similar by getting the fastpasses first thing. It never occured to me to split up the group like you suggested though. That’s a good tip and would have given us two rides instead of just the one with fastpass.