Do the parks ever open earlier than the official opening time?

[auntkelly]

During busy periods, do the parks open any earlier than the official opening times? We will be going during Thanksgiving Week and want to be at the parks when they open. I seem to remember reading in one of the guide books that the parks sometimes open early during very busy times.

 

[mplsmom1]

yes they do - during busy periods - and buses start running there well before park opening. Have a great time!

 

[sfberenson]

How/When do they annonce an early opening? We will be staying on site, so I assume the front desk of our hotel could tell us, but does anybody know how early they will announce this info to the public? Also, if a park has Early Entry and they open earlier than announced, I assume that EE is 1 hour earlier than the new opening time. THanks for any help.

 

[sfberenson]

bump

 

[clkelley]

It is not announced at the resort or anything. You will not know that they are opening the parks early until you arrive at the turnstyles.

On Thanksgiving morning last year, we arrived 45 minutes before Extra Magic Hour was to begin and 5 minutes before EMH began they announced that the entire park was open to ALL guests at 8am.

The reason for opening the parks early unannounced is to alleviate the backlog of folks arriving in the parking lots and entrance areas.

The decision to open early is determined by the park manager for that day after hearing reports from parking staff and turnstyle staff as to the crowd levels.

However, I would imagine that on major holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc., they bring in the extra staff early for such a contingency.

Carol

 

[sfberenson]

Carol--

Thanks for the information. I thought your experience at Thanksgiving was interesting. One of the reasons we are staying at a Disney property is to take advantage of Early Entry. Much of that advantage is obviously eliminated when Disney opens up the park to everyone. I certainly understand the need to effectively manage crowds during busy times of the year, but it seems a bit disingenuous of Disney to promote early entry as a benefit of staying on-site, but then take away that benefit from those who have, in fact, paid for and expected what was advertised. I have no doubt that somewhere in Disney's "fine print" that all of this explicitly laid out, but it certainly appears to me to that it is a misrepresentation.

Regardless, now we know to show up atleast 30 minutes before EE. Again, thansk for responfing.

Steve

 

[Dznefreek]

certainly appears to me to that it is a misrepresentation.

"Attraction times and availability are subject to change without notice."

Funny; no one complains if the park is kept open longer?!?!?!?!

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by sfberenson
it seems a bit disingenuous of Disney to promote early entry as a benefit of staying on-site, but then take away that benefit from those who have, in fact, paid for and expected what was advertised.

Don't mean to sound adversarial, but I have two comments:

1. The situation described above is VERY atypical of what you will see at WDW. Since early entry came back in its current Extra Magic Hour format, the park opening times have been very consistent, and they have made good attempts to restrict EE to those staying on-site. I suspect a large part of the equation included the amount of staffing required to check resort IDs before allowing entry to the parks, while factoring-in the additional delays this would have caused.

2. In the scenario laid out above, they really haven't taken away any benefit. You still got into the park an hour earlier than the posted opening time.

With the only viable alternative being to book your stay at a non-WDW resort and stand at the gates hoping they let you in early, I think you made the right decision.

 

[jwfla422]

Although I didn't think MK was that crowded they opened the park 15 minutes early (at 8:45) than usual when we were there on November 3rd. We had 9:00 PS at CRT's.

They stopped the crowds though at the entrance of each land which was a real pain for us because the castle pass through was blocked off and the CM at the Adventureland drop off was very rude and wouldn't let us pass though (they always let you in early for 9am PS since they tell you to arrive 10 minutes prior to your PS time at CRT's.

I had to go to another CM who then had to take us back through the crowd waiting at Adventureland to tell the other CM it was ok to let us through.

This was a bummer since the people who went to breakfast with us missed out on that "empty" walk down Main Street.

I never realized they opened the parks early like this. AK also opened early the day before, but they was a little more organized as the Donald's breakfast patrons were able to pass through a path that was roped off, while everyone else waited behind a rope at the Tree of Life.

I think they do this to prevent back ups at the entry gates.

 

[swilphil]

I would make breakfast PS's before the park opens on non-ee days. We stayed on site, but liked going on the day after each park's ee so we made 8-8:30 p.s.'s at AK and MK. It was a great way to get into the parks early without having to fight the EE crowds.