Park Opening Times?

[buckler]

I'm a bit confused about the park opening times. We will be buying 3 day passes and going to the parks Tues. 6/19, Wed. 6/20 and Thurs. 6/21. As I understand it, with a 3 day pass we get the option of doing Early Entry to DL on one day.

The DL scheduled park hours for our dates are:
Tues 8am - 12am
Wed 8am - 12 am
Thurs 9am - 9 pm

Does Early Entry mean you get in an hour before these times? I believe our choices for early entry days would be Tues or Thurs. So does that mean the park actually opens at 7am on Tues and 8am on Thurs for the early entry people?

I took Hydroguy's advice and purchased Ride Max for our trip. We're having a family meeting and trying to plan out our "plan of attack"! I'm a Tour Guide Mike vet from WDW so I'm a bit out of my element right now. I'm sure I'll be asking lots of questions between now and June!

 

[bumbershoot]

The Early Entry, FYI, is for Fantasyland. I mean, yeah, they have to open the gates to let you in, but only certain rides in only Fantasyland are open.

From my notes from these boards, EE happens Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. So that would mean you could use the EE on the Tues or Thurs of your stay, which would mean it would open at 7 on Tues and 8 on Thurs.

If you're only getting it through the parkhoppers, you only get one day. But if you are staying at a Disneyland Resort hotel, everything I've read here says that your hotel stay qualifies you for EE on each day it's offered during your stay (which means both days in your case, if you're staying at a DLR hotel). If you're staying at one of them, you'll get some sort of paper along with your key, as far as I've read, that you can show to get in both days.

But like I said, if it's just through your tickets, then it's just one day!


I hope I actually helped you. I'm just talking from what I've learned here; my actual experience won't come until late September! (ask me how to do a one-day trip and I'll tell ya from experience, though! )

 

[HydroGuy]

Yes, they open the parks one hour early for the EE people, but as Bumber said only part of DL is open.

 

[buckler]

Thanks! We are staying at BWPPI so we only get the one EE day. I think we'll use it on Thursday since we only plan to do a partial day. The extra hour will help us fit a bit more into the day. I understand that only part of the park is open during the EE time. I guess I'm catching on afterall!

 

[HydroGuy]

Thanks! We are staying at BWPPI so we only get the one EE day. I think we'll use it on Thursday since we only plan to do a partial day. The extra hour will help us fit a bit more into the day. I understand that only part of the park is open during the EE time. I guess I'm catching on afterall!

There is some logic to what you are planning. Another school of thought is that each day everyone gets a little more tired and that the first day is the best chance to get an early bedtime the night before. Plus everyone will have the most energy on day 1. Food for thought.