Getting in before park opens with early ADRs???

[herringluv]

I know this is a silly question, but I have 8:00am ADR for Cinderella's Castle on May 23. The park opens at 9:00.

How do you get into the park and what line should I go to or CM to look for, etc....?

I'm sure if I had made this reservation on the phone, they could've helped me with this question-but I did it online and there's not good info. on the website.

BTW, got this ressies last week...just goes to show that if you keep checking you never know what you will find! I'm so excited, because this is a surprise for my DD5. We are FL residents and she's always wanted to go in the castle.

 

[JoePa4Ever]

At MK to the far right there will be 1-2 turnstiles labeled "Character Dining" - just get in either of those lines. You will be let into MK at approximately 7:45-7:50 for your breakfast adr.

 

[Ringgold Tiger]

We have an 8:25 a.m. ADR at Tusker House in AK. We are staying off-property and will drive in but I've read where the parking lot doesn't open until around 7:45. Any truth to that and is there a separate entrance for character dining at AK?

Going June 12-19!!

 

[Missytara]

I know this is a silly question, but I have 8:00am ADR for Cinderella's Castle on May 23. The park opens at 9:00.

How do you get into the park and what line should I go to or CM to look for, etc....?

I'm sure if I had made this reservation on the phone, they could've helped me with this question-but I did it online and there's not good info. on the website.

BTW, got this ressies last week...just goes to show that if you keep checking you never know what you will find! I'm so excited, because this is a surprise for my DD5. We are FL residents and she's always wanted to go in the castle.

You will have some great photo ops with the park just about empty.

 

[MyVirtueAidan]

Ours is at the same time at HollyWood and Vine... We'll be staying at Sports... Are the busses running that early????

 

[squirrel]

We had no problems catching an early bus to MK on our early entry for breakfast at CP.

We arrived before 7:45am. There were a few people in front of us at the turnstyles. We waited their til about 7:45am and then the CM's let us though to the area just past the turnstyles but before you go under the railroad bridge. At approx. 7:50 the CM's let us go up Main St.

 

[JoePa4Ever]

We have an 8:25 a.m. ADR at Tusker House in AK. We are staying off-property and will drive in but I've read where the parking lot doesn't open until around 7:45. Any truth to that and is there a separate entrance for character dining at AK?

Going June 12-19!!

I don't know about the parking lot because we use WDW buses, but yes there are 1-2 turnstiles to the far right at AK that will be labled "Character Dining."

 

[JoePa4Ever]

Ours is at the same time at HollyWood and Vine... We'll be staying at Sports... Are the busses running that early????

Buses will begin running as early as 6:30 am (personal experience) and have heard here on the DIS that some have even gotten buses earlier. They may be a bit more infrequent/unpredictable very early in the morning so I would recommend being at the bus stop no later than an hour prior to your adr time.

 

[goofy4tink]

Buses, from the WDW resorts, will start running as early as 6:30, sometimes a bit sooner at 6:15. But, as mentioned, they don't run as frequently as the regular park buses do. So, if you get to the bus stop just as the park bus is leaving (the one you wanted), you may face a 30 min wait for the next one. I usually leave an hour for travel time when getting to early ADRs.

As far as the AK parking lot goes, I've heard that it just doesn't open all that early simply because the CMs don't use it. So, it opens about an hour or so before the park itself opens. I just can't give you an answer that is going to be correct on this one...I am just not sure how it's going to work for offsite folks. If you have an 8:25 ADR, I would try to get to the AK parking lot entrance by 7:30 and see what happens. If it does, in fact, open at 7:45, you'll be right up front in the line. It shouldn't take you more than 30 mins to get to your ADR.

 

[DustGlitterVapor]

Please forgive me, I'm trying to figure this out and this is my first trip to Disney in 2 decades!

We're staying off-site. We have an 8:10 at CRT. The park opens at 9 that day.

I'm guessing we drive to the park, park at the TTC ?, show our tickets, then take a bus or monorail to the Magic Kingdom? And we have to be at the Magic Kingdom by 7:45?

I guess I'm asking whether:

1) Do we drive to the TTC, and if so, what time should we be *there* in order to make it to the MK by 7:45? Is it a long trip to the MK?

2) Do we do something else, and if so what?

Thanks for answering my newbie questions! I've been reading these boards trying to figure it out but I'm still very confused.

 

[goofy4tink]

Please forgive me, I'm trying to figure this out and this is my first trip to Disney in 2 decades!

We're staying off-site. We have an 8:10 at CRT. The park opens at 9 that day.

I'm guessing we drive to the park, park at the TTC ?, show our tickets, then take a bus or monorail to the Magic Kingdom? And we have to be at the Magic Kingdom by 7:45?

I guess I'm asking whether:

1) Do we drive to the TTC, and if so, what time should we be *there* in order to make it to the MK by 7:45? Is it a long trip to the MK?

2) Do we do something else, and if so what?

Thanks for answering my newbie questions! I've been reading these boards trying to figure it out but I'm still very confused.

You need to be at the TTC by 7:00. You may have to show your confirmation number to someone there in order to get on the monorail or ferry.
The other thing you can do is to walk over to the Polynesian..takes about 8 mins. When you get to the actual TTC, go to the far left of the ticket kiosks. You will see a sign showing you the way to the Polynesian. When you get to the Ceremonial Bldg, go to the second level and hop on the resort monorail. Get off at the MK stop...takes about 10-13 mins to get there.

 

[DustGlitterVapor]

You need to be at the TTC by 7:00. You may have to show your confirmation number to someone there in order to get on the monorail or ferry.
The other thing you can do is to walk over to the Polynesian..takes about 8 mins. When you get to the actual TTC, go to the far left of the ticket kiosks. You will see a sign showing you the way to the Polynesian. When you get to the Ceremonial Bldg, go to the second level and hop on the resort monorail. Get off at the MK stop...takes about 10-13 mins to get there.

Thank you very much!! This is so helpful!

 

[alexensmom]

With 8:00 adrs at CRT or CP, will that get you into the park at rope drop? About how much time can you expect to spend at these character breakfasts?

 

[JoePa4Ever]

With 8:00 adrs at CRT or CP, will that get you into the park at rope drop? About how much time can you expect to spend at these character breakfasts?

We love CP breakfast & always get an 8:05 am adr on a non-emh day - we have always been done in time for rope drop (without rushing & seeing all the characters) - usually about 10-15 minutes prior to rope drop. We've also had an 8:10 am adr at CRT and were done in time for rope drop as well.

 

[Travel Mum]

This sounds like such a wonderful idea. I'm busy researching our trip for next year and I know that we should be at each park in time for rope drop so that we can rush to the rides and do as many as we can before it gets busy. As it's our first time to WDW and also the first time our youngest daughter will remember any Disney park (she was only 18 mths when we last went to Disneyland), I was feeling sad at the idea of rushing into the parks, especially Magic Kingdom on our first park day, and not having time to take in all the details and soak up the amazing experience of finally being there. So it seems from reading this thread, that we could make an early ADR for one of the Magic Kingdom character breakfasts (was planning on doing at least one character meal anyway) which would mean we could enter the park early, stroll leisurely up Main Street, have breakfast, and still be at rope drop on time. Is this right because it's seems that would be the best of both worlds ?

 

[JoePa4Ever]

So it seems from reading this thread, that we could make an early ADR for one of the Magic Kingdom character breakfasts (was planning on doing at least one character meal anyway) which would mean we could enter the park early, stroll leisurely up Main Street, have breakfast, and still be at rope drop on time. Is this right because it's seems that would be the best of both worlds ?

You are correct - an early breakfast adr on a non-emh day will get you into MK before park opening.