Arriving a little late to Early Theme Park entry

[Burgermom]

Hi, my family and I will be staying onsite at Disney (split Poly and Beach Club). It's our 2nd trip, last trip was 2016. We have 8 park days. i am trying to figure out my best approach to park touring and timing. One of my big questions is about rope dropping Early theme park entry times. I am trying to avoid as much waiting and chaos as possible because my daughter has a disability and finds these situations stressful, especially waiting in a line that does not move at all. I am concerned about leaving for the parks really early and then having to wait for a long period of time in a stagnant line waiting for the park to open.
My question is: If we plan to arrive a bit after Early theme park hours start will it be absolute chaos trying to get into the park? For example, will the monorail/boat/buses be super busy, will the wait to get into the parks be super chaotic? Or do they process people entering the parks pretty smoothly?
I'm not super concerned about missing out on "prime" attraction low wait times because we have lots of days at the park and will be utilizing ILL, genie plus and DAS and we are not set on doing everything. We want to take a somewhat relaxed approach to our trip. I want to try to go to the parks in the mornings because we are visiting in August when the midday is super hot. I'm just trying to weigh the pros and cons of arriving REALLY early to the parks and also figure out the best timing. TIA

 

[scrappinginontario]

Historically the first couple of hours (including before ETPE until 1-2 hours after a park opens) are some of the busiest times for entering the parks. Guests will be arriving continually during the 30 min ETPE time as both guests onsite who are trying to take advantage of this time plus offsite guests trying to be there for official park opening will be arriving too.

Arriving during the time above will make transportation busy but as long as the park is open, lines should be moving through security and entering the park, it is transportation I would be more concerned about.

 

[Burgermom]

Historically the first couple of hours (including before ETPE until 1-2 hours after a park opens) are some of the busiest times for entering the parks. Guests will be arriving continually during the 30 min ETPE time as both guests onsite who are trying to take advantage of this time plus offsite guests trying to be there for official park opening will be arriving too.

Arriving during the time above will make transportation busy but as long as the park is open, lines should be moving through security and entering the park, it is transportation I would be more concerned about.

Ok, yes, this is helpful. I will likely have to look closer at the transportation piece. Less of an issue if we walk from BC to Epcot and HS but more of an issue trying to take monorail from Poly to MK or bus from anywhere to AK

 

[loves to dive]

I was there in April and try as I might, I just couldn't get to the parks before early entry. Most days I got there about 5 min. into early entry. There were lines to get into the actual park, I think I remember HS actually having a separate line for EE and once you are in there are CMs with signs telling you which direction to go for EE. I think the only park I stood in a non-moving line was AK, otherwise the lines were moving pretty well. I didn't have any problems with crowding on the bus to AK but the one to MK was standing room only.

 

[MomOTwins]

Since you mention you'll have G+, you may want to consider spending mornings at the resort and then stacking afternoon times, and arriving to do the parks in the afternoon/evening starting around 4pm. You'll avoid the rope drop crowds, be able to use your G+ on everything you ride without waiting around in between, and in August we find there is usually a big 2/3pm thunderstorm and it cools everything down so that 4pm to close weather is much more pleasant than the steamy mornings and midday.

 

[Burgermom]

Thanks so much everyone! I think maybe we will do RD once or twice; see how it goes and then if it goes badly use the afternoon stacking strategy.