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Don’t waste your time at Disneyland. Here’s how to avoid the lines

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Don’t waste your time at Disneyland. Here’s how to avoid the lines

Visitors to Disneyland and California Adventure are experiencing more sore feet and sunburn while waiting to ride some of the parks’ increasingly popular attractions.

On the opening weekend of California Adventure’s latest attraction, a “Guardians of the Galaxy”-themed redesign of the two-minute Tower of Terror drop ride, parkgoers waited in line for up to five hours.

Wait times for nearly all of the resort’s most popular rides have risen, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of data from touringplans.com. They averaged 24.4 minutes for the first six months of 2017, a 28% increase over the same period in 2015 when the park drew record-high attendance numbers.

Pick a good date â€" and a good month

The best days to visit the parks are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Average wait time by day of the week:

0102030SFTh.WTMSSFTh.WTMSSFTh.WTMS201520162017Saturday22 min.Saturday22 min.Saturday25 min.

The best months to visit are September and January, when the average wait time per ride is under 15 minutes. Wait times are highest near major holidays.

Average minutes in line per ride at Disneyland and California Adventure

2015

2016

2017

Get there early

While wait times have increased at all times of the day over the last two years, they are still shortest right when the park opens at 8 a.m. Visitors at nearby resort hotels also have the option to enter the park for an extra hour, beginning at 7 a.m.

Average wait time by hour:

01020301086421210810864212108108642121082015201620173 p.m.22 min.25 min.29 min.10 p.m.18 min.19 min.21 min.7 a.m.9 min.9 min.10 min.

Even if you aren’t staying at the Disneyland hotels, it’s still worth heading to the parks at least a half-hour before they open. Parkgoers who show up early will be the first ones through the gates and will have the best chance of riding the most popular rides without waiting for hours.

Ditch your friends and family

The single-rider line is your real friend. Many of the most popular rides allow single riders to walk up a separate queue that gets them on the ride faster (and helps fill seats). Look for a “single riders” sign or ask a park employee where to go.

On a recent Saturday, we tested out several of the single-rider lines to see how their waits compared to the posted times. Here’s what we found:

Posted wait timeSingle-rider wait time(measured from when we got in line to when we were seated on the ride)Indiana Jones AdventureCalifornia Screamin’Grizzly River RunSplash MountainRadiator Springs RacersIndiana Jones’ Adventure01020304050607080California Screamin’01020304050607080Grizzly River Run01020304050607080Splash Mountain 01020304050607080Radiator Springs Racers0102030405060708070 min.4 min.5211255502515

These rides have single rider lines:

  • California Screamin’
  • Goofy’s Sky School
  • Grizzly River Run
  • Indiana Jones Adventure
  • Matterhorn Bobsleds
  • Radiator Springs Racers
  • Splash Mountain

Guardians of the Galaxy: Go there first

Park visitors walk by the new Guardians of the Galaxy attraction at California Adventure in May. (Al Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

When Guardians of the Galaxy â€" Mission: Breakout! opened on Memorial Day weekend, its wait times soared past every other ride in either park. While the lines have come down from their peak of 5 hours, riders are still waiting about an hour and a half.

Average wait time per day at Guardians of the Galaxy060120180JuneMayMay 27 (opening day)2 hrs., 54 min.June 112 hrs., 26 min.

Average wait time by hour at Guardians of the Galaxy060120180108642121088 a.m.1 hr., 2 min.10 a.m.1 hr., 45 min.

Our suggestion: If you really want to ride, be at the park when the gates open and head to Hollywood Land right away. If you miss the 8 a.m. window, be prepared to stand in line for at least an hour â€" or try your luck with a Fastpass, but don’t count on it. Because the ride is so popular, its Fastpass allotment can run out by 10:30 a.m.

Know when to ride

Map of both Disneyland and California Adventure

Here are all the hourly wait times for 2017, so you can plan your trip to either park accordingly. Look for rides that are equipped with Fastpass (