FEA EEMH parking strategy

[CastAStone]

I want to rope drop FEA with my relatively healthy senior parents and my small children in strollers in September, and in my head that will be much easier from IG than the main entrance. I understand the crowd is much smaller as is the walk (there’s zero chance we’ll move fast enough to be among the first people at FEA but I’m hoping we can avoid being among the last rope droppers)


We are at AKL. Since HS opens at 6, I assume I can park there at 7:45-8ish and take a boat to YC or Boardwalk and then walk to IG. My hope is that we beat the crowd from the front gate.

What holes can you poke in this plan? What am I missing?

 

[TinkSassy]

I would use the front gate myself as the leg up is only about 3-4 minutes if you are really moving. Have you thought about booking the breakfast at Akershus? I did that for us last trip at 8am for 9am open and we walked out and right into line in front of everyone else. We were even able to get back in line for a second round with only a 15 minute wait (after that the line was at 60 minutes). September should be easier (as this was Easter week) but the breakfast made for a leisurely morning. In hindsight I would try to book around 15-20 minutes after open so you could walk there (they will let you back due to the walk time) and ride and then go to breakfast. We had so much fun doing pictures - we arrived an hour prior to our reservation so we did our own photo shoots with no crowds as we walked.

 

[SillySallySews]

Are you planning on hopping to DHS later? We've done rope drop at the IG, but only when we stay at BWI or BC. To me it seems like an unnecessary hassle to try and rope drop Epcot from the IG, unless you're staying at one of the resorts in that area, or you have breakfast over there or something similar. If you're going to DHS later in the day then it makes more sense. JMO, but I don't think people coming from the IG have that great of an advantage over the front gate. We are talking minutes at best. If your trip is towards the end of September, keep in mind that the skyliner will be open. There may also be people who visit SWGE first thing in the morning and head to Epcot right after.

 

[TravelandLeisure]

I also don’t think that FEA is the hot ticket it once was. It regularly has standby waits of sometimes just 20-30 minutes. I think you’ll be fine going through the regular entrance. It seems to me that more people tend to rope drop Test Track.

 

[rhawley1]

IG and the front of the park don't always let people start towards the rides at the same time. It's possible that the front of the park will beat the IG crowd because they were let go first.

 

[Wdwfan2016]

You'll have a shorter walk in you enter from the front of the park. The international gateway is often held for a few minutes after park opening so there isn't any advantage. The front of the park is also let in prior to opening and held at Spaceship Earth, the gateway is not. Also as long as your in the park no more than 30 minutes after opening the wait for Frozen won't be that bad. The best tip would be booking a character breakfast at the Garden Grill then walking over afterwards. Garden Grill is cheaper than the Norway breakfast.