Skyhawk Wait Time

Sorry if this is redundant, but can anyone give a rough estimate for wait time on SH? (it took over 45 minutes to get on maXair last year, which I thought was crazy)

I'm staying at one of the resorts this year, and I'm wondering if I should use my early entrance ability to ride SH? What stinks is that we're coming in at the Magnum entrance, so to ride MF, we'd have to run across the park at 9am...

Hop on the shuttle around to the marina entrance. You can catch it by any of the resorts.

If you want Skyhawk for ERT, then you want the Magnum entrance. If you plan on riding Millennium for ERT, then you want the Marina entrance, as JuggaLotus mentioned.

Skyhawk's line is typically not too long until the early afternoon. I think you could pretty easily ride Millennium for your ERT then head back there and jump on Skyhawk without much a wait.

I'd say Doug is right. Head for MF for early entry, then back to Skyhawk. Looking at the Skyhawk webcam right now, and there is no line at 10:50am.

Yeah, people aren't back there till later. I'd go on MF a couple times and then Skyhawk.

It seems to have been going down recently. First time I was there, 45 minutes, later 40, 30 getting shorter as the summer goes on.

I didn't get on Skyhawk until about noon or maybe a little later and we didn't have to wait more then 15-20 minutes. I was suprised.

But then later we rode the CP&LE Railroad and the entire Skyhawk queue was full when we passed it. I'm glad we rode it when we did.

And FYI, its worth a little wait. Its a lot better then you'd think it would be!
*** Edited 8/11/2006 3:35:21 PM UTC by Bodes***

I rode MF first when I stayed at the Breakers and then went over to Skyhawk and got three rides with no line.

From what I hear, Skyhawk runs mostly empty during the morning ERT, so if you want a few rides without waiting (and maybe without anyone else on the ride) that's definately the time to hit it.

Every time I have been there this year it wasn't open, or they were just running one of the arms, which is a real bummer because it just ruins the capacity and doubles the wait time. But the wait time I have always seen is around 45 minutes.

what's this shuttle you speak of? (I could probably find info online or call them, but I'm being lazy).

This was my plan for the day: arrive at 8:30, pre-check it at Sandcastle Suites, and get tickets. Get to Magnum entrance by 9am for Early Entrance. Run to MF and ride it. Then run to SH and ride it, maybe a few times.

I would think that waiting for this shuttle would take too long... am I wrong?

(thanks to everyone for the feedback)

If you look at a map, there are shuttle stops at each on site hotel and each entrance (except, I think, the Oceana entrance). There is also, I think, a phone at each stop for you to call dispatch. I've never used it, but I would think at that time of morning it wouldn't be too busy.

Freako, I'd just head in the Magnum entrance, honestly. It opens for the early entry (the cue to open is the National Anthem so all 4 entrances open at the same time). You can easily hop on MF pretty quickly.

I wouldn't bother with the shuttle at all, honestly.

PS- I less than three your avatar.

Actually, the shuttle doesn't stop at all the hotels. The stops are: Hotel Breakers, Sandcastle Suites, Camper Village, Lighthouse Point, Breakwater Café, Bay Harbor, Marina, Front Gate, Challenge Park, and Pet Chek.

JuggaLotus said:
If you look at a map, there are shuttle stops at each on site hotel and each entrance (except, I think, the Oceana entrance). There is also, I think, a phone at each stop for you to call dispatch. I've never used it, but I would think at that time of morning it wouldn't be too busy.

BE isn't on site, but Breakers, SS, CV and LHP are, and they are all stops.

so the national anthem cue is JUST for Joe Cool / Early Start folks?

I alwasy thought that the park opened at 9:30, and general public started riding rides at 10... with this early start thing, do they actually run rides right at 9am, then shut them down at 9:30? (and then start them again at 10?).

OR - does the park open for everyone at 9am, but only early start people can get in line?

thanks again for answering questions for a noob.

Sorry, JuggaLotus, that I missed your "on site" plug.

Freako, Joe Cool and resorts guests are admitted at 9:00 for Millennium, Skyhawk, Raptor, and maXair. Everyone else is admitted at 9:30. When the park says "10:00 opening," they mean that generally rides will open by 10:00 as long as there isn't a weather or maintenance issue keeping them closed. Once rides are open, (ie: the 4 ERT rides) they're open.

(Or budget and customer service problems that keep rides like MS, Corkscrew, etc from opening as advertised)

DBCP got it right. At 9:30 God Bless America plays, and that's when everyone comes in. The ERT rides will continue running and anyone can get in line for those. Most everything else opens between 9:30 and 10. 10 is the scheduled opening time, but it's not uncommon to see some rides open early. Just depends on how long it takes to get all their morning stuff done.

In May (and it should be the same once school gets back in session), I hit MF twice during early entry, then went back and did Skyhawk 4 times in a row with a one cycle wait between each one.

When I went in June, I went right to Skyhawk at 9:30 and got 5 in a row.

Early morning is definitely the best for SH!