Sounds like those more local know better than I, but when I did it 2-3 years ago, we...
1) arrived in parking lot about 11 p.m. Saturday night and easily identified where the "line" was;
2) at 5 a.m. the ranger came out, checked IDs and put plastic bracelets with times on each person;
3) at 6 a.m. we moved from the parking lot to the pro shop and paid for our tee time.
4) Grab a quick snack, banged some rocks and teed off around 8:15. A whole lot of fun and worth the experieince.