We were there sunday am, and were let in to a soft opening -- saw the new belle show, rode Journey of the Little Mermaid and had a LaFous Brew. We got to the park about 9:30 or so, and I went straight back to get a peter pan FP; I swung by the entrance to the new FL area, and asked a cast member if they were letting people in. She said it was cast member previews only. I asked about tomorrow (same answer -- all this week) and about the previous night (I like to torture myself with wouldda shouldda coulddda). As I was turning to go, she asked me how many were in my party, and she said she might be able to make some magic happen.
I ran off to find my wife and three kids, and sure enough, they let us on back and directed us to the Belle area and saw her show (it was very cute -- a role to play for every kid who wanted to). I talked to another CM outside Gaston's tavern, and his story was that it was indeed CM previews all week, but in the morning, oftentimes not enough of them show up, so they will let people back there so the CMs working it can get their practice in.
My advice based on my very limited experience -- show up closish to opening (I think we may have been one of the first people let back there at 9:45 or so), hover outside to see if they are letting people back (if you see people getting let back after showing the CM a paper -- it's probably another CM for the preview) wander up and ask if they're letting people back there. Be nice, smile, chat, produce cute kids, etc. I have no idea what the criteria was. They had clearly stopped letting non-CMs back there by 11:00 or so (that's when we left), because the CMs with reservations had begun to show up in force for the Be our Guest Restaurant lunch.
