Everything Early Theme Park Entry (ETPE) - Please Read Post 1

[Sydnerella]

You could easily grab the walking path at the intersection of Epcot Resorts Blvd and East Buena Vista Drive, so you don’t even have to try to get into a resort lot. Just hop out of the car and be on your way. I think that would be the fastest and then you aren’t waiting for parking lot to open.

We did this too - I put that gas station as my destination and Uber driver knew we wanted to walk to HS so dropped us off on the Boardwalk side so we didn’t need to cross the street. We followed the path along road to connect to the path along the waterway that goes under the road.

 

[4forWDW]

Hi! If anyone has been lately, what time did you arrive at the parks for early entry? 45 minutes before the EE time or earlier?
And any tips you found useful??
TIA!
Amy

 

[scrappinginontario]

Hi! If anyone has been lately, what time did you arrive at the parks for early entry? 45 minutes before the EE time or earlier?
And any tips you found useful??
TIA!
Amy

It has continued to be reported in various threads that arriving at resort transportation 90 mins before ETPE times is still recommended. The only exception is if you're staying at a Skyliner Resort you may wish to arrive at the Skyliner a bit earlier than 90 mins.

 

[4forWDW]

It has continued to be reported in various threads that arriving at resort transportation 90 mins before ETPE times is still recommended. The only exception is if you're staying at a Skyliner Resort you may wish to arrive at the Skyliner a bit earlier than 90 mins.

Thank you very much!

 

[Tiggr88]

Does anyone know hat the curernt RD procedure is at AK? Are they letting guests enter the park before the EE timie and then going directly to the ride queue? Or is there a hold area at the bridge to Pandora for example?

Are they letting non-resort guests in early as well? If so, how does that work for the RD to rides that are not part of EE, like Safari? If I ride FoP first and then head to Safari, would I be behind non-resort guests that went straight there? Or are they held somewhere?

Its been a long time since I've done RD at AK and I'm seeing some conflicting info.

Thanks

 

[sam_gordon]

So everyone (resort guests as well as non) can enter the parks ~1 hour - 90 minutes before official park opening. They're just "held" at designated spots. Resort guests are let past that spot to line up for their desired ride at some point before ETPE begins?

What's the procedure to show you're a resort guest and can go past the holding area? I'm picturing if you're "late" (but before ETPE begins), you get to the holding area and there's a crowd of non-resort guests. Is there a dedicated lane (ropes?) for resort guests? Does it vary by park?

 

[scrappinginontario]

So everyone (resort guests as well as non) can enter the parks ~1 hour - 90 minutes before official park opening. They're just "held" at designated spots. Resort guests are let past that spot to line up for their desired ride at some point before ETPE begins?

What's the procedure to show you're a resort guest and can go past the holding area? I'm picturing if you're "late" (but before ETPE begins), you get to the holding area and there's a crowd of non-resort guests. Is there a dedicated lane (ropes?) for resort guests? Does it vary by park?

Not quite. Transportation will start running and parking lots will open approx 60 mins before ETPE begins. It is recommended to arrive at resort transportation 90 mins before ETPE begins to be towards the front of the line for transportation.

Parks will likely be open when guests arrive. If not, they may be held for a short amount of time but then be able to proceed into portions of the park and line up in open queues. (I believe Epcot and AK guests enter the parks but not the actual queues at this time.)

How you access the park does vary. In the MK all guests can enter once the park opens. Guests eligible to enter will go towards Tomorrowland entrance at the hub when MagicBand/card will be scanned. Guests who are not eligible head towards the Adventureland side of the hub.

Not 100% sure of where non-resort guests are held at DHS currently. I think it's somewhere inside the park but it could be at the tap stiles.

It's an efficient process that they've been doing for years so I would not be concerned about non-resort guests blocking the path.

 

[kylenne]

Does anyone know hat the curernt RD procedure is at AK? Are they letting guests enter the park before the EE timie and then going directly to the ride queue? Or is there a hold area at the bridge to Pandora for example?

Are they letting non-resort guests in early as well? If so, how does that work for the RD to rides that are not part of EE, like Safari? If I ride FoP first and then head to Safari, would I be behind non-resort guests that went straight there? Or are they held somewhere?

Its been a long time since I've done RD at AK and I'm seeing some conflicting info.

Thanks

So everyone (resort guests as well as non) can enter the parks ~1 hour - 90 minutes before official park opening. They're just "held" at designated spots. Resort guests are let past that spot to line up for their desired ride at some point before ETPE begins?

What's the procedure to show you're a resort guest and can go past the holding area? I'm picturing if you're "late" (but before ETPE begins), you get to the holding area and there's a crowd of non-resort guests. Is there a dedicated lane (ropes?) for resort guests? Does it vary by park?

At AK: As an EE guest, once they let you tap into the park (usually well before EE start) there's CMs stationed just past the tapstiles to check your resort credentials, they just need 1 person from your group to scan with their iPad and then you can head over to the holding area. For Pandora it's the bridge. Idk what it is for the other areas because we always start at Na'vi. But they usually start walking people over to FoP and Na'vi a few minutes before EE starts. I rarely rope drop FoP but if you're near the front and can get on one of the first loads you're almost certain to be done with it before EE even officially begins, as long as it's up and running (and it usually is).

The tapping procedure is the same at all 4 parks though, not just AK. Once you tap into the park guests are divided up based on EE status. Non EE guests will be lined up in one spot (at MK it's by the entrance to Adventureland), EE guests will be directed to the CMs to check credentials. I think AK is the only park left at this point directing EE guests to holding areas after that, everywhere else you can then head to your attraction of choice. They generally are not letting people into the actual queues at that point, just lining folks up outside of them. Closer to EE start they let you into the queues.

 

[sam_gordon]

Still deciding if I'm going to do EE. The one I'd REALLY want to do is HS, but we'll be at Epcot the night before and it's an extended hours night (that's why we chose it).

 

[pens4821]

Still deciding if I'm going to do EE. The one I'd REALLY want to do is HS, but we'll be at Epcot the night before and it's an extended hours night (that's why we chose it).

I’d recommend it. Depending on what you do. We’ve been able to do ToT and RnR both close to walk on then beat the normal rope drop to another ride. Even if you did SDD, you should be able to get TSM and make it to another ride (MMRR/ToT/RnR) before the regular opening people make it.

We usually end up not getting all that much sleep on our trips. We like to take advantage of the evening hours and the early hours if we can. We do plan a couple sleep in days though (we do 6 day hoppers).

 

[sam_gordon]

I’d recommend it. Depending on what you do. We’ve been able to do ToT and RnR both close to walk on then beat the normal rope drop to another ride. Even if you did SDD, you should be able to get TSM and make it to another ride (MMRR/ToT/RnR) before the regular opening people make it.

We usually end up not getting all that much sleep on our trips. We like to take advantage of the evening hours and the early hours if we can. We do plan a couple sleep in days though (we do 6 day hoppers).

My priority will be everything SW. I'd also like to save some of the other rides to ride with DW (assuming she joins me later). I used to get by without much sleep. I"m old now. lol

 

[kylenne]

My priority will be everything SW. I'd also like to save some of the other rides to ride with DW (assuming she joins me later). I used to get by without much sleep. I"m old now. lol

The way we like to balance things is rope drop EE, take a long siesta back at the resort in the middle of the day and then go back in the evening. Sometimes we don’t go back into a park. We also never rope drop more than 2 days in a row, breaking it up with either full rest days at the resort or only going in the evening. This was a lot easier in the G+ era due to stacking. But this is what we found works for us, on top of using LLs. (We always buy Rise and FoP to avoid the chaos)

HS in particular is very challenging to tackle if you don’t do EE. Waits just build so fast there. They do come down in the evenings, especially if you’re lucky enough to have 2 Fantasmic showings scheduled, but Rise is a real gamble to leave late.

 

[sam_gordon]

The way we like to balance things is rope drop EE, take a long siesta back at the resort in the middle of the day and then go back in the evening. Sometimes we don’t go back into a park. We also never rope drop more than 2 days in a row, breaking it up with either full rest days at the resort or only going in the evening. This was a lot easier in the G+ era due to stacking. But this is what we found works for us, on top of using LLs. (We always buy Rise and FoP to avoid the chaos)

HS in particular is very challenging to tackle if you don’t do EE. Waits just build so fast there. They do come down in the evenings, especially if you’re lucky enough to have 2 Fantasmic showings scheduled, but Rise is a real gamble to leave late.

I have a hard time planning on taking a break. I figure you're looking at around 3-4 hours by the time you count getting to transportation, waiting for transportation, transportation, getting to your room, calming down enough to rest, resting, then repeating to return. That's a lot of park time and my FOMO kicks in.

 

[kylenne]

I have a hard time planning on taking a break. I figure you're looking at around 3-4 hours by the time you count getting to transportation, waiting for transportation, transportation, getting to your room, calming down enough to rest, resting, then repeating to return. That's a lot of park time and my FOMO kicks in.

It never takes us that long because of where we stay at. That’s one of the main reasons we do split stays at monorail/crescent lake resorts. Being able to pop in and out relatively quickly makes a huge difference on rope drop days. You also don’t have to get up nearly as early for EE when you can walk to a park vs having to be at your bus stop 90 minutes prior. Once per trip for AK is fine.

Though, tbh, I really don’t get FOMO. It helps being an AP, admittedly, but even before then I was about quality of park time vs quantity. There’s nothing fun to me about dragging myself through a park when I’m exhausted and overstimulated, just to be there. Me and my partner are both neurospicy so we have hard limits.

 

[sam_gordon]

I've never been one who's able to just sit. I need to be doing SOMETHING. DW on the other hand can just sit for hours cross stitching. When we go on cruises, I'm the one who wants to go see shows or do activities on board and she's fine sitting in the room cross stitching. I can "just sit" at home.

And yes, I'm the type who wants to "get his money's worth" out of a trip. Not to the extreme mind you, but it definitely affects what I do.