Another Park Opening/ADR Time Logistical Question

[PlutoLuvr]

Hi Gang!

We have an ADR for Tusker at 9:10 a.m. on a Sunday, non-EMH day. We're staying offsite and most of our party will need to buy their park tix that morning as it's the first day of our trip. Park officially opens at 9:00 a.m.

Ugh!

Half of our party is very well versed with WDW (6-8 trips per year since '72), half of our party have never been to WDW, but, believe it or not, none of us have ever been for rope drop. Will we be able to even get through any type of crowd at, say, quarter of nine to make it to TH a few minutes early? Would it be better for us to get there a good bit early (they do tell you to allot an hour for travel time after all) and see if we can get through the gates a little early, or just plan on going in with the rope drop folks and possibly be five or ten minutes late? We'll need to rent strollers once inside, too. With complete newbies, I really don't see us "racing" to the back of the park to make it to TH.

I'd actually had a much earlier ADR, but then I canceled and changed it to a later time seeing as how our group would need to buy some passes for the week. So I swapped it for a later time, but now I'm wishing I'd kept the earlier one because I hadn't even thought about any park-opening crowds and the fact that our ADR is only 10 minutes past opening.

Has anyone done this, who might have some advice or guidance?

Thanks

 

[wdwrich]

Might be difficult. Since you're staying off-site, I assume you'll be arriving by car. According to other posts on this board, AK parking doesn't open until 15 minutes prior to park opening. If that's the case, I don't see how you could possibly park, walk to the entrance, buy passes, enter the park and be at Tusker House by 9:15. There is a separate entrance line for those with early ADRs, but even with that I think it's going to be a challenge. Is there any way the park tickets could be purchased in advance? Can you get to DTD to get them the night prior?

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Thank you for the response, Rich!

Yes, we're thinking of hitting a Disney hotel or DTD the night before to get the others' park tix to alleviate a bit of stress the morning of our breakfast.

I am getting different responses every time I call WDW about what time we'll actually be able to park in the AK lot. One person said 15 minutes; another said 7:45 a.m.

Also, our group isn't even staying together! Haha!!! So, yes, I think anything we can take care of the night before to iron out any potential wrinkles the following morning we'll try and do.

Thanks again

Do you know where we can buy park tix at DTD, by the way?

 

[wdwrich]

There is a guest relations booth at DTD that sells passes. When we used it last, it was located near the Team Mickey Athletic store.

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Just a quick update for anyone else who might be dealing with this or something similar.

This goes for all the parks

The individual parking lots and ticket windows open one hour earlier than the parks do. They would have to, because rope drop is available for everyone, including those that stay off site and locals. Fifteen minutes would be cutting it awful tight. I spoke with a manager at both the WDW phone number, and I also went ahead and called guest relations at both DTD and AK, and they confirmed.

Now, that ticket and tram center opens (at least this Sunday) at 7:45 a.m.

So I think our question is answered. An hour is plenty of time for us to buy our tix and make it to breakfast on time