Is there an advantage to going early?

[sbatty]

Many guidebooks sugest that you arrive at the parks at least 30 minutes early. Is there any benefit to doing this? Do the parks let you through the ticket turnstiles early? With young kids (4 & 6) I would think waiting for the park to open would be worse than waiting for a ride.

 

[Micca]

They won't let you enter early (unless it's an EMH day). The advantage is that you're in front of hundreds, perhaps thousands of other people waiting to be admitted. In the past they would open the gates about 1/2 hour prior to the published opening, but with 9/11 that disappeared

 

[jcemom]

When we were there early February they let us throught the turnstiles about 20 minutes early. At AK we were allowed into the Oasis, at Epcot as far as the Spaceship Earth ball, at MK only in front of the train station, and at MGM up to the corner of Sunset Blvd. MK, AK, and Epcot all had a sort of opening "welcome" show with the characters greeting everyone and welcoming them to the park.

 

[catnik]

If you are staying onsite, IMHO it is a real benefit to get to the EMH park early so you can be closer to the front of the "pack", especially with little ones. I expect you will want to hurry back to Fantasyland and Buzz Lightyear and those first few minutes can make a world of difference in terms of wait times for rides.

From experience: if you plan to ride Dumbo, do it first. Get in line with the kids while someone else in your party gets fastpasses for Peter Pan or Buzz. When they get back they can get in line behind you so that when the kids are done riding, if they want to do it again, you can pass the kids to them for a second ride with little or no wait (this is famously known as the Chuck Bubba Relay from the Unofficial Guide to WDW and it REALLY works!). After the first 30 mintues or so, the line for Dumbo is tends to get HUGE and will totally destroy any plans you have for other rides.

 

[confal1]

We like to get there early because now you have to have any backpacks checked by the security people. I usually put on my DD's sunscreen while we wait in line.

 

[ncbyrne]

If you have kids with you, there's a chance for them to be the ones that open the park for the day. Two of my grandchildren have had that honor at MGM because they were the first ones at the center turnstiles. They usually open a bit early too. We're always at the front of the line at opening for each park. For us, every second of Disney time counts!

 

[my3boys]

It is always part of our plans to do the parks as they open; it is amazing what can be accomplished -- especially with Fantasyland.

 

[scotthart]

It is definitely worth it. You will see more in first two hours by arriving early than you will the rest of the day. Sometimes the parks will open early, MK especially during peak times of the year.

 

[karemore]

It's absolutely worth it.

But you are right, you need to plan activities with your kids for that time.

Have a park map to go over with them while you wait, have games to play, etc.

You should have that planned anyway for long lines at attractions or for waiting for shows or parades to start....you can't be too prepared when it comes to having things to distract the kids from the long waits!

I saw an adult once with a paperback in line. At first I thought he was nuts.....going all the way to DW and then reading a paperback in line......but he didn't seem to notice how slowly the line was moving.......lol

Karen