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.

Average wait times for the busiest rides in both parks

Pick a good date — and a good month

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

Average wait time by day of the week: version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"? 0 10 20 30 S F Th. W T M S S F Th. W T M S S F Th. W T M S 2015 2016 2017 Saturday 22 min. Saturday 22 min. Saturday 25 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 10 20 30 40

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: version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"? 0 10 20 30 10 8 6 4 2 12 10 8 10 8 6 4 2 12 10 8 10 8 6 4 2 12 10 8 2015 2016 2017 3 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: version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"? Posted wait time Single-rider wait time (measured from when we got in line to when we were seated on the ride) Indiana Jones Adventure California Screamin’ Grizzly River Run Splash Mountain Radiator Springs Racers Indiana Jones’ Adventure 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 7 0 80 California Screamin’ 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 7 0 80 Grizzly River Run 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 7 0 80 Splash Mountain 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 7 0 80 Radiator Springs Racers 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 7 0 80 70 min. 4 min. 5 2 11 2 55 50 25 15 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 — 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. version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"? Average wait time per day at Guardians of the Galaxy 0 60 120 180 June May May 27 (opening day) 2 hrs., 54 min. June 11 2 hrs., 26 min. version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"? Average wait time by hour at Guardians of the Galaxy 0 60 120 180 10 8 6 4 2 12 10 8 8 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 — 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 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 () and single-rider lines (). No rides found ADVENTURELAND Average wait: 44 minutes Indiana Jones Adventure Average wait: 18 minutes Jungle Cruise Average wait: 10 minutes Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room CRITTER COUNTRY Average wait: 35 minutes Splash Mountain Average wait: 10 minutes The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh FANTASYLAND Average wait: 33 minutes Alice in Wonderland Average wait: 20 minutes Casey Jr. Circus Train Average wait: 24 minutes Dumbo the Flying Elephant Average wait: 14 minutes It's a Small World Average wait: 11 minutes King Arthur Carrousel Average wait: 15 minutes Mad Tea Party Average wait: 46 minutes Matterhorn Bobsleds Average wait: 21 minutes Mr. Toad's Wild Ride Average wait: 41 minutes Peter Pan's Flight Average wait: 15 minutes Pinocchio's Daring Journey Average wait: 17 minutes Snow White's Scary Adventures Average wait: 18 minutes Storybook Land Canal Boats FRONTIERLAND Average wait: 30 minutes Big Thunder Mountain Railroad MICKEY'S TOONTOWN Average wait: 18 minutes Gadget's Go Coaster Average wait: 26 minutes Mickey's House Average wait: 25 minutes Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin NEW ORLEANS SQUARE Average wait: 23 minutes Haunted Mansion Average wait: 23 minutes Pirates of the Caribbean TOMORROWLAND Average wait: 23 minutes Astro Orbitor Average wait: 21 minutes Autopia Average wait: 22 minutes Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters Average wait: 18 minutes Disneyland Monorail Average wait: 28 minutes Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage Average wait: 65 minutes Space Mountain Average wait: 40 minutes Star Tours — The Adventures Continue A BUG'S LAND Average wait: 11 minutes Flik's Flyers Average wait: 7 minutes Francis' Ladybug Boogie Average wait: 8 minutes Heimlich's Chew Chew Train Average wait: 5 minutes It's Tough to Be a Bug! Average wait: 9 minutes Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies CARS LAND Average wait: 19 minutes Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters Average wait: 15 minutes Mater's Junkyard Jamboree Average wait: 83 minutes Radiator Springs Racers GRIZZLY PEAK Average wait: 32 minutes Grizzly River Run Average wait: 47 minutes Soarin' Around the World HOLLYWOOD LAND Average wait: 94 minutes Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT! Average wait: 16 minutes Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! Average wait: 5 minutes Turtle Talk with Crush PARADISE PIER Average wait: 26 minutes California Screamin' Average wait: 7 minutes Golden Zephyr Average wait: 25 minutes Goofy's Sky School Average wait: 10 minutes Jumpin' Jellyfish Average wait: 6 minutes King Triton's Carousel of the Sea Average wait: 30 minutes Mickey's Fun Wheel (swing) Average wait: 10 minutes Silly Symphony Swings Average wait: 10 minutes The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure Average wait: 45 minutes Toy Story Midway Mania!

Tips from our readers We asked Los Angeles Times readers if they had any Disney secrets. Got a tip of your own? Let us know on our Facebook page. Here are some of our favorites. “There's another separate line for Dole whip on the other side of the [Enchanted Tiki Room]. Almost no line every time.” “Arriving after 5pm on Sunday is a great way to experience all the best rides with less than 20min wait times. The park stays open until 12 on Sunday's so you can get a ton done! Plus main street stays open until 1am so there's plenty of time to shop afterwards without all the crowds. TIP: Father's Day & Easter are practically ghost towns at Disneyland:)” “Go on a rainy day. One of those typical rainy Southern California days where it drizzles off and on throughout the course of the day and then clears up at some point. Had a day like that last year, never waited longer than 25 minutes for any ride, and went on the best rides twice. And the rain pretty much cleared up and was gone after about 5 p.m. that day.”