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Park Queue TimesPQT

Disney California Adventure cheat sheet

worked out from 60 days of our own wait data20 rides

Arrive for 08:00 and ride Radiator Springs Racers, Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Dark and WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure first. Leave Toy Story Midway Mania! until after 3pm, when its queue drops to about 11 minutes. The park's queues peak around 19:00 at 30 minutes and are lowest around 08:00.

Before you go

When to go

The days and months this park's rides run quietest

Quietest weekday
Tuesday
Busiest weekday
Saturday
Quietest month
October
Busiest month
April

Each ride's own quietest and busiest day, tallied and weighted by how long its queue runs. For a dated answer use the crowd calendar, which scores every day of the year.

The shape of the day

Average queue across the park, hour by hour

  1. 08:0011mquietest
  2. 09:0015m
  3. 10:0019m
  4. 11:0022m
  5. 12:0022m
  6. 13:0022m
  7. 14:0023m
  8. 15:0024m
  9. 16:0027m
  10. 17:0028m
  11. 18:0028m
  12. 19:0030mpeak
  13. 20:0028m

Arrive for 08:00. Queues climb to their peak around 19:00 and fall back through the afternoon; the last hour or two is the quietest the headliners get all day.

Ride these first

The headliners: longest queues, worst by late morning

  1. 1Radiator Springs Racers ~66 min typical · up to 75 at peak · worst around 5pm66m
  2. 2Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Dark ~55 min typical · up to 46 at peak · worst around 9pm55m
  3. 3WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure ~36 min typical · up to 39 at peak · worst around 5pm36m

Straight to these from the gate, in this order. Every minute before the park fills is worth three later.

Leave these until later

Rides whose queues collapse late in the day

  1. 1Toy Story Midway Mania!~36 min typical · about 11 min after 3pm11m
  2. 2Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!~29 min typical · about 6 min after 3pm6m
  3. 3Soarin’ Across America~34 min typical · about 14 min after 3pm14m
  4. 4Goofy's Sky School~24 min typical · about 6 min after 3pm6m
  5. 5Grizzly River Run~20 min typical · about 5 min after 3pm5m

Save them for the last two hours, when the coach parties have gone and the queue is a fraction of the afternoon's.

Fill the gaps with

Walk-ons at any hour, and the single-rider lines

Usually under 10 minutesJessie's Critter Carousel5mGolden Zephyr6mSilly Symphony Swings6mJumpin' Jellyfish7m

Watch-outs

Rides that spend the most of the day not running

  1. 1Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Darkrunning 48% of the park's open hours48%
  2. 2Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!running 51% of the park's open hours51%
  3. 3Luigi's Honkin' Haul-O-Weenrunning 77% of the park's open hours77%
  4. 4Radiator Springs Racersrunning 82% of the park's open hours82%
  5. 5Goofy's Sky Schoolrunning 84% of the park's open hours84%

If one of these is the reason you came, ride it the first time you see it running rather than saving it. The full picture is on the reliability page.

On the day

Your day-of sheet

The same park, for one date: the forecast, the hours, and your ride order

Plus members get this sheet for a date: the crowd forecast for the day, its published hours, a ride order worked out against that day's wait curve, and a printable version to take in.

PlusThe day-of sheet is part of Plus

Here, that is a ride order for your date, the forecast and the hours, printable.

  • Your rides, in order

    Sequenced against the wait curve, so the headliners land in their quiet windows.

  • quiet till 111pm · 66m

    Your date, hour by hour

    How the wait climbs on the day you picked, and the window it stays low.

£4.99for a park dayor £29.99 for a year. Paid once, never renews. Your first park day on Plus is free.

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Everything above is each ride's own recorded queue over recent weeks, sampled every few minutes through the park's opening hours - not an opinion. A ride with too little history is left out.