Do they open the gates before the official opening time?

[Soprano]

Hmmm, I thought I posted this thread twice now, but they vanished!

Anyhow, a lot of people say arrive at the parks 20-30 minutes before they open. Do they open the gates before the official opening time? Or is it just a good plan to get there as early as possible? It should be fairly easy to do so during the first few days of our holiday as we will be on UK time for a while.

We are going very early March and I am expecting crowds to be light as we avoid Easter and most of Spring Break.

 

[carolfoy]

we always arrive at MK at least 30 mins before official opening as thats always our first park day and we like to see the opening ceremony, I'm not sure if theres much of a ceremony at the other parks tho' - someone on here will know. I have seen them let people through early but I'm thinking these people probably have character breakfasts booked.

 

[tim june and sam]

Seems to differ park to park from visit earlier this month.

At Disney-MGM, we were held outside the gates until opening time - indeed they were distributing wristbands to buy a special edition of pins outside the gates too. We were also held outside the gates at AK.

At both TL & BB, you were allowed in, but only as far as a rope, which was then dropped at the official opeing time so that you could then find a seat/lounger.

Historically at MK, they had the same rope drop ceremony and this allowed you to shop on Main Street, but I was lead to beleive that post 9-11 this was no longer the case.

Like anything in life, never harms to arrive early though?

 

[disneyholic family]

it's nice to be there early so that you can see the opening ceremonies (if there is one)..

when we were there recently, the opening ceremonies were as follows:

MK - they let people through the turnstiles but held us in the area before going under the train station....then exactly on the hour of opening, the mayor and a bunch of dancers came out to welcome us and dance for us....and then the train pulled into the station carrying Mickey and some other characters (as well as the family picked for the opening)...

after this little bit of welcome is done, they let you in....it's a very cute opening...

Epcot - they had us wait until opening hour...then a big bus came by carrying the characters (and a family came by in a replica test track car)...after the opening ceremony was over, we had to walk quickly behind a line of CMs leading the way to Soarin (or test track if you turned the other way - but we only headed for Soarin so i don't know what happens the otehr way)....the CMs lead you all the way into the land pavilion, to Soarin....so that no one can run..

AK.....we were let in before opening, but only up to the Tree of Life, where there was a rope....there we had to wait for opening hour when a bus came up with characters on it (Goofy, Minnie, pluto and maybe someone else)....they went through this cute thing and then said, "where's mickey"....who then can be seen in the distance in front of the tree of life...
when the opening is done they drop the rope and the CMs lead the pack (we follow the CMs to dinosaur, but there are of course CMs leading in the other direction to Kilimanjaro Safaris)....again to prevent people from running....but they do walk very fast...

MGM.....i'm trying to remember what they did here......they've changed this opening from how it used to be but i can't remember what they do here...
but they also open before opening and let you go down a ways to where a rope is.....at opening, after the opening ceremony (whatever it was, i can't remember), they drop the rope and again lead you at a fast walk to the big attractions (basically tower of terror and rock and roller coaster)...

so yes, it's nice to be there early so that you have an opportunity to be in position to see the ceremonies..

 

[wicket2005]

In July we found that Disney allowed you in stages as per what Disneyholic has said. The second stage being closer to the rides at another rope drop but still didn't let you get on any rides till the official opening times.

Universal and Islands, however, were open a good 20 minutes before the official time which was fantastic, we were able to get loads done in that first hour. However, this was in the peak time, they may not do this in the off peak season.

 

[JamieUK]

Does anyone have the official opening times for all the parks, and what time's best to get to them? About 30 mins before like you say?

 

[basas]

The parks open at 9am.

Note: World Showcase opens at 11am (in Epcot)

And during the busiest times (Christmas, New Years, Easter, 4th of July, etc.), some parks open at 8am.

 

[seashoreCM]

I think the exact opening procedure varies with crowds. If there are too many people between the turnstiles and the front of the train station at Magic Kingdom prior to opening time, people are let down Main St. up to the ice cream parlor.

For Magic Kingdom it appears that the turnstiles open for resort guests before the first ferry and monorail filled with day guests arrive.

 

[disneyholic family]

I think the exact opening procedure varies with crowds. If there are too many people between the turnstiles and the front of the train station at Magic Kingdom prior to opening time, people are let down Main St. up to the ice cream parlor.

For Magic Kingdom it appears that the turnstiles open for resort guests before the first ferry and monorail filled with day guests arrive.

not when they have the opening ceremony...
they used to let people down mainstreet, but not any more...not if they have that opening ceremony..
in that case, if the area between the turnstiles and the train station gets too crowded they just stop the turnstiles (we saw that happen a lot when we were there)...

 

[tink too]

Also, being there early gives you a chance of being picked as the family to open the parks! Although I've never done this, there's plenty about it here on the Dis. BTW - you can't ask to do this, the CM's pick a family out of the crowd apparently!

The MK ceremony is lovely - very cute and adds to the magic!