Early Park Entry ….?

[cliveywolves]

Hi All,

Were staying onsite 1st week in July and wonder is early park entry worth while? We have not stayed onsite for a couple of years pre covid times and is it still worth making use of the extra park time.? Are folks actually getting many attractions done before other park goers arrive?

Thanks

 

[Smugpugmug]

I think it's extremely valuable at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. On my May trip my group rope dropped AK, both HS days and one MK day. We were done with AK ride wise by noon (we did buy the ILL for Flight of Passage and did standby for everything else. No Genie+). For HS often times Galaxy's Edge is open before official early entry time so if you get there extra early you can knock out Rise and Smuggler's before early entry begins. At MK the only two areas open are Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. In early entry you can knock out Mine Train if you do not want to pay for the ILL, but that line might take up the entire 30 minutes. We did not rope drop Epcot and IMO is the only park where you don't really need to.

I do wish it went back to being like Extra Magic Hours where it was 1 hour before park open. Universal has 1 hour early entry for hotel guests and I feel like there you can get a lot more done before non hotel guests can enter vs. at WDW.

 

[cliveywolves]

I think it's extremely valuable at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. On my May trip my group rope dropped AK, both HS days and one MK day. We were done with AK ride wise by noon (we did buy the ILL for Flight of Passage and did standby for everything else. No Genie+). For HS often times Galaxy's Edge is open before official early entry time so if you get there extra early you can knock out Rise and Smuggler's before early entry begins. At MK the only two areas open are Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. In early entry you can knock out Mine Train if you do not want to pay for the ILL, but that line might take up the entire 30 minutes. We did not rope drop Epcot and IMO is the only park where you don't really need to.

I do wish it went back to being like Extra Magic Hours where it was 1 hour before park open. Universal has 1 hour early entry for hotel guests and I feel like there you can get a lot more done before non hotel guests can enter vs. at WDW.

Thanks so much really helpful to my family travelling over from the UK

Is early parking opening exactly 30 mins before normal park opening time for resort guest or slightly earlier than advertised Thanks

 

[Smugpugmug]

Thanks so much really helpful to my family travelling over from the UK

Is early parking opening exactly 30 mins before normal park opening time for resort guest or slightly earlier than advertised Thanks

Yes, you are held at a ride's entrance/holding area until early entry begins. Galaxy's Edge is the outlier. In February I was in the park at 7:30 for a 9 am opening and was able to ride Rise and Smuggler's before official early entry at 8:30. At MK you are held at the bridges to Tomorrowland and Fantasyland until 30 minutes before park open. When I went to AK they held everyone outside the park until early entry began and then let people enter. There are clear signs from there that dictate where hotel and non hotel guests can go. Something to be aware of as well is that the Safari does not open at early entry or even when the park does. When I was there the park opened at 7:30 and the Safari opened at 8.

 

[Emilie988]

Thanks so much really helpful to my family travelling over from the UK

Is early parking opening exactly 30 mins before normal park opening time for resort guest or slightly earlier than advertised Thanks

We just left today. We did MK early entry yesterday. They let us onto Main Street 20 minutes early, and then let us enter for the early entry 15 minutes early. Definitely worth it. We got a lot done before the park officially opened!!

 

[emilyann704]

Yes! For my MK day I rope dropped Peter Pan and then walked across the road to It's A Small World AND went to the bathroom twice - all before 9:15am. At that point I was well placed to walk right onto Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. Then waited about 15 minutes for Pirates and it was only about 10:30am!