How early to arrive for EE?

[karylrocks]

I am wondering what time we need to arrive at the gate if EE is at 8:00 in order to be towards the front of the line.

 

[Shelebeen]

I don't think there was any lines when we showed up for EE at the end of June.

 

[Redcon1]

Although I've seen other messages that state a half hour prior, when we went at the end of May, there wasn't a long line and we arrived about ten minutes before EE opened. The crowds may have increased since then, so I'd allow maybe 15-20 minutes.

 

[CalGal]

I agree, 15-20 minutes is good for EE . You might want to add at least 5-10 minutes more for non-EE days.

Last Thursday, we got to the Mickey and Friends parking lot around 6:32. We got parked and on the tram very fast. I think we were at the gates around 6:40 and ended up being the first guest through the castle (the majority of the guests went towards Space Mountain). On Sat. we arrive a few minutes later, perhaps around 6:45 (we stayed on-site, so had EE again). We were pretty close to the front and got in quickly.

My recommendations -- Don't go to Space first. It takes up lots of time and everybody else was going there. Use FP later, or go after you do other rides after the first rush. We did SM on Sat at around 7:40 with around a 5 minute wait. I recommend Peter first, since it backs up quick.

 

[Artuero]

On a Monday in July, week after the anniversary, we were first in line in front of one of the gates when we got there at about 6:25-6:30. Don't think we really needed to be there that early; people didn't start coming for another ten minutes or so and even after that you would get in pretty quick (assuming you weren't stuck behind someone who doesn't have valid early entry media or some other problem). Still it is kind of cool to have a picture of my daughter on Main Street and in front of the castle with no one in the background.

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

We showed up at 6:15 (yes, we were a little anxious) for 7am EE last Monday (8/1) and we were first in line. The music wasn't even playing yet when we got to the gate!

 

[HydroGuy]

We showed up at 6:15 (yes, we were a little anxious) for 7am EE last Monday (8/1) and we were first in line. The music wasn't even playing yet when we got to the gate!

We were trying to get there on Monday Aug 1 by 6:30AM for 7AM EE, but someone forgot something in the room which slowed us down and we did not make it to the gates until 6:45AM. We were about the 10th group in line and thru the gates by 7:05AM. I would say 15-30 minutes early will get you close to the front.