How Early to Arrive

[Beckles]

We went to early admission today as well, joined the line to get in at 6:40, walked "briskly" to Hagrid's, got in line, were off by 7:35 and headed out of the parks by 8:30. When we were headed to the parking lot the line to get through security was being held in each garage and everyone looked both frustrated and hot. I was definitely glad we were done for the morning!

I parked in the garage last Friday (June 25th) around 10 AM and it took me an hour to pay for parking, park, get through security and walk to the park. The wait in the security line was 30 minutes, the single biggest part of that wait.

 

[torontominnie]

Sounds about right. We showed up around 10:30 today (against our own better judgement) and waited for about 30 min before we were through security. Park is super duper busy today for sure!

 

[MarcIsMe]

I don’t know if it is any different now but in May the security gate at the hotel walkway opened one hour before early entry. The line really started building about 35 to 40 minutes before opening. I stay at Royal Pacific because the Express Pass cost for busy months is insane and the pass is a major time saver.

 

[ClapYourHands]

What else is open at that point? You're clearly well ahead of the crowds so just curious what else you'd be able to get on with low waits.

You can do all the HP rides. Many people use EPA to do the wand ceremony at Ollivander’s. And there are the windows to practice your wand motions.

There is usually another area open on the other side of the park with one or two rides going if you don’t choose to do HP. I think Spider-Man is usually open in IOA, and I think Minions on the US side.

Sometimes Velocicoaster is open, even if it’s not advertised as such. Honestly, I’d be very surprised if they don’t open it for EPA on this holiday weekend.

One other big benefit is being positioned to get to the next land as soon as the park opens. We were the first to ride pteranodon flyers because we lined up there before it officially opened, and also got an early ride on the River Adventure before heading over to Kong, where we were still decently ahead of the rope drop hordes.

 

[jimandami]

We left Sapphire Falls at 6:45 AM today and decided to walk. We beat the first boats and were 2nd in line at the turnstile for early entry. They started letting us in around 7:30 today and we would have been off Hagrid’s by around 7:55, but it didn’t open right away. It opened a little after 8:00 and we were off at 8:07 at which time the posted wait was 75 minutes again.

Oh, and Velocicoaster IS open right now during early entry.

 

[asuburbanman]

If we need to redeem our AP passes before early entry how early are ticket windows open? Would that even be possible? We get in at 10pm the night before so we won’t be able to redeem them until our first park morning.