offsite with early entry?

[Grumpy92]

As stated earlier the WDW policy is that only Disney Resort guest and those staying at the Swan/Dolphin/DTD resorts have the opportunity for this benefit of EE. This is one of the benefits these guest receive for choosing a Disney resort. Disney uses this as a competitive edge with lower cost hotels that are offsite.

As for checking id it depends on when you are going, which cm you interact with and even which turnstyle manager is on duty. I will tell you when it is busy the cms are told to card for that very reason. You may be asked for id on the bus, boat launch or at the gate. You just never know and WDW can turn anyone away they choose.

 

[LvsTnk]

Originally posted by Grumpy92
As stated earlier the WDW policy is that only Disney Resort guest and those staying at the Swan/Dolphin/DTD resorts have the opportunity for this benefit of EE. This is one of the benefits these guest receive for choosing a Disney resort. Disney uses this as a competitive edge with lower cost hotels that are offsite.

As for checking id it depends on when you are going, which cm you interact with and even which turnstyle manager is on duty. I will tell you when it is busy the cms are told to card for that very reason. You may be asked for id on the bus, boat launch or at the gate. You just never know and WDW can turn anyone away they choose.

Yep, and there's not a thing you can do but stand there and wait like the previous poster said. It's like the pool thing, on our last trip to the Polynesian there was more than one party there that weren't resort guests but management chose one in particular to check their I.D.'s and ask them to leave. I would hate to waste my vacation time on trying to get away with something.

 

[Hawk]

I guess to some people it is not "what we have", but "what can we get away with" (and not just once, but continuously). Probably many times to the detriment of those who are honest, pay for what they receive and eventually lose out by having less perks. Let's hope that the dishonest remain in the minority.

Hawk.

 

[RescueRanger]

Hawk, I couldn't agree with you more. An innocent mistake is one thing but to continue to do something you know is wrong is another. I will even go one step further: as a resort guest, we pay higher rates at Disney resorts to get these perks. If you are intentionally abusing the EE privilege, IMO you are stealing. It is no worse than someone trying to sneak into somewhere without paying admission. To say that EE should be available to everyone is ludicrous. Like someone said before, then it wouldn't be early entry it would be normal operating hours.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...those staying at the Swan/Dolphin/DTD resorts...

Actually, only the Hilton has Extra Magic Hour. All the DTD resorts do have E-ticket nights availability, though.

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> ... waiting in the hot sun ...

One disincentive for trying to beat the system.

Defacto enforcement of Early Entry at Magic Kingdom occurs at TTC where the express monorail and ferries don't start operating that soon. Apparently not opening the parking lots that early has been tried before.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Sammie]

My suggestion is: as a paying guest of Disney resorts and the perks that go with that cost, if you are unhappy with nonDisney resort guests "sneaking" into Early Entry, email Disney, include a copy of this thread and complain about lax CM's looking the other way.

I believe proactive is better than reactive. Then maybe the thread will read " I was turned away at the gate because I tried to sneak in and was not a Disney resort guest."

My email is on the way.

 

[Kallison]

Originally posted by Deb & Bill
Actually, only the Hilton has Extra Magic Hour. All the DTD resorts do have E-ticket nights availability, though.

Swan/Dolphin has Extra Magic Hour -- I just used it last week. For the first time ever I was asked for my resort id at the Animal Kingdom.

 

[justhat]

Sammie, I think e-mailing WDW is a great idea. We actually complained about this in person at MK on the Sunday of President's Weekend. We arrived at 8am for EE and everyone was being let in, no checks for resort IDs. By 8:30 it was so packed in the park that lines were already over 30 minutes for Buzz, Space, and the Speedway. By 9 you needed a fastpass if you wanted to ride anything so we went to Guest Services to complain. As onsite resort guests, we didn't feel this was the 'perk' we were entitled to since the idea is to only allow Disney resort guests to keep the crowds down. We were told that they do check IDs (which we all know is a lie, sure they do sometimes, but not nearly everyday) and that 'offsite guests don't get in' and that onsite guests have their admission on their room keys so it's they don't have to specifically ask. We explained that while we were staying onsite, we have APs so our tickets were separate from our room keys and yet no one asked to see our room keys. The CM then seemed stumped, left for a moment, then came back with a coupon for a free cheeseburger and fries for that counter restaurant by Alien Encounter that doesn't even serve them and acted as though the 1 free cheeseburger (though there were 2 of us) should compensate for our lack of being able to go on rides due to immense crowds. We told her we didn't want a free cheeseburger, what we wanted was for them to patrol the gates so that those of us who pay for privileges like EE get them, and not offsite guests who don't and just take away from our 'uncrowded' experience. Had it not been such a busy weekend we wouldn't have cared, but it was President's Weekend!! The MK was mobbed all day so with EE being open to anyone it really took away from the ability to ride rides without waiting in huge lines. She then told us to keep our free cheeseburger pass and also gave us a 'fastpass' good for any ride, one time only. She still didn't seem to get our point that we didn't want anything free, just for their policy to be enforced on very crowded days.

 

[Geoff_M]

We weren't asked for IDs at MK in June. It appeared to us that the size of the herd waiting to get in seems to affect whether or not they check. The area inside the security check was about 80% full and they were just trying to get people into the park as fast as possible. They didn't want to slow things down for people fishing for room keys.

 

[Letsbgoofy]

In the past 7 years I have been at a park for EE at least 50 times. Of those 50 times, I was asked for resort ID one time; about 5 years ago at Epcot. This has always been a pet peeve of mine, so I have enjoyed this thread.

We are always at WDW the last week in August, or the week after Thanksgiving; both out of season times. Even if the crowds are smaller, I would still like to see only resort guests enjoying a perk that we are paying for.