Opening at Magic Kingdom...

[reyberal]

I briefly read in a post some time back, and saw photos also of what looked like the Characters dancing and singing for the opening of Magic Kingdom... I've never seen or heard of this "Opening Ceremony" before.

It looked like they were up by the train station. Can anyone tell me about this? Do they do it every morning and what time? I'm assuming at park opening or possibly alittle beforehand.

 

[LibertyBelle]

It begins at approx 8:50am everyday (**except Sunday and Thursday...those are resort early open days so the show is not done on those mornings**) The characters are brought in on the Walt Disney World Railroad and there are dancers and the mayor (or Scoop Sanders or one of the other Main Street socialites) there giving a speech. The do the opening ceremony and then countdown to the actual park opening at which time they let everyone in. (Prior to the opening show they allow guests through the turnstiles, but they have the tunnels leading into main street roped off until after the show.

 

[reyberal]

LibertyBelle- Thank You!! That is exactly what I was looking for.

 

[kilee]

I personally have never seen this. I seem to get there usually about 15 minutes too late. I am really hoping to "fit it in" on our next trip. Now if I could just avoid hitting snooze that may be possible.

 

[reyberal]

That's always our problem. I intend on getting to the parks before opening, but we never make it. I like to hit that snooze button also.... I love WDW, but it wears me out!!

 

[KevinFSU]

They also have one family open the park. Everyone does the countdown and the family gets to throw pixie dust. I think they also shoot some streamers up in the air.

 

[The Sweetness]

Do they allow a family to open every park, or just MK?

 

[elgerber]

We had never seen this before, but we stumbled upon it twice on our last trip. It's very cute and a nice way to start the morning.

Erika

 

[jtjarvis]

We did see the opening show when we went in January, on a Saturday. It was a quite slow Saturday. Arriving via ferry and waiting for the few minutes for the park to open, we did not expect the pre-show. There with my little boys and my DH and my mom all at MK together for the first time, my eyes just teared up! Especially when we saw Mickey... It made it much more exciting -- I'd done so much planning that I thought nothing much would actually surprise me!

It really does put the extra "Zip" into your morning.

 

[disneychick10891]

i think i saw it but i'm not sure... did all the charecters arrive at the mk by coming in on the train? because it happened last yer while we were in line waiting for the thing you go threw with the park passes we heard some guy talking and other people singing up by the train tracks, they were dancing and singing.

 

[jtjarvis]

Yep, that was it --

 

[Serenity]

Do you have to be at the turnstiles to see this or infront of the train station on Main Street? If you see them come in on the train, it seems you would get a better view from the turnstiles. But if they come off and dance and give a speech, seems like that would be done better on the landing outside the entrance to the train facing Main Street. Which would be the better view?

 

[jtjarvis]

We saw everything from the turnstiles -- seems at least on that day the little pre-show happened before the park opened, as a warmup act of sorts. Maybe it was around 8:45 to 8:50. Now, it's possible there was more after opening that I didn't see, but I wasn't aware of it.

 

[jtjarvis]

We saw everything from the turnstiles -- seems at least on that day the little pre-show happened before the park opened, as a warmup act of sorts. Maybe it was around 8:45 to 8:50. Now, it's possible there was more after opening that I didn't see, but I wasn't aware of it.

 

[Serenity]

Thanks. We have always been inside the castle waiting for the rope drop and not around the front. We will have to go slower this time and see this - it sounds like fun.

 

[elgerber]

You have to see it from outside the turnstyles. This is the opening ceremony, and they do not let people through the turnstyles until the ceremony is over. After you get in, most of the characters that were on the train will be inside on Main Street signing autographs.

Erika

 

[LibertyBelle]

Serenity, not sure when the last time you were there was, but with the morning show (unless you have a priority seating, which would grant you access into the park) they only let you through the turnstiles and into a roped off area in front of the train station (by the Mickey floral). They fill in the roped off area and then hold the rest of the people outside the turnstile until the countdown occurs... after the show, the ropes for Main Street are dropped and you can head to the bridge for the land of your choice where you will encounter the CM's and the actual rope drop which will be accompanied by the park wide speil at 9am...