Early entry, express pass, sort of ghost booking - is this kosher?

[liamthompson]

Planning on arriving Saturday after thanksgiving with park days on Sunday and Monday. I would like to ride the big coasters but can skip if the lines are too long. Focus is on Dr. Seuss land, hippogriff, troll coaster, and ET. Is express pass needed?

I would like early entry for myself, spouse, and kid. And express pass if the crowds are bad. My parents will mostly be visiting for the shows so neither would be useful to them.

The catch is that I'm thinking of staying off-site with my spouse and kid and having my parents stay on site at royal pacific.

Does it make sense for me to use my AP discount to book a room at Royal Pacific and specify myself, spouse, child (3 people) as guests but have my parents stay in the room instead?

This is the part that is confusing me...if I remember correctly, early entry eligibility is "proven" by room key. So if myself, spouse, kid take a room key, then my parents won't have one...can we request an extra room key for them? Or does my kid (will be in the stroller) not need to present a room key for early entry?

And are express passes separate from the room keys? So it is OK to pass around the room keys as long as we have the right person assigned to each express pass?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

EP is your room key.
You can add more people to the room up to the max capacity of the room, but more than 2 adults have an extra charge. I think it's $55 + tax.

I don't think you'd have a problem getting room keys naming you, spouse, and child, and having the parents only take the key for actual room entry. It just has to be one person consistently using the same card as EP, since they will do facial recognition.

No one knows/cares if a different person takes the key to access the room or sleep in the room. Although if parents go back to the room early, that might mean key shuffling... unless they take child with them for a nap?

What are you trying to do during early entry? There's not too much open, and anyone can enter the park, the early entry credentials are checked a little later, before entering the areas with open rides.

 

[liamthompson]

EP is your room key.
You can add more people to the room up to the max capacity of the room, but more than 2 adults have an extra charge. I think it's $55 + tax.

Now I'm thinking to make the room reservation for 2 adults and 2 kids and give the "extra kid" key to my parents so they can access the room without us having to swap key cards

One of the reasons booking an on-site room is appealing is so that my dad and kid can go nap. Nap is a hit or miss for kid but a definite activity for my dad!

What are you trying to do during early entry? There's not too much open, and anyone can enter the park, the early entry credentials are checked a little later, before entering the areas with open rides.

Targeting hippogriff for early entry and then riding Hogwarts express over to studios. I haven't checked the wait times recently but I thought the line gets long quickly for hippogriff and doesn't come back down.