Pre opening ADR for Crystal Palace question

[Graciegirl5]

If we have a pre opening ADR at Crystal Palace, where are we allowed to go after we finish eating (if we happen to be finished by 9:00)? I'm not interested in 7DMT or A&E, just curious if we would be held outside the restaurant or allowed to start walking back into the park. The ADR is for 8:05, so will we even be finished by 9:00? I've not been to a character meal, so I'm not sure how long it takes. And, one more question--what time are we allowed into the park. I think I remember reading 7:45, but I'm not sure. Thanks!

 

[ErinCat]

Magic Kingdom is often opened a bit before the official time. So you will probably not be super ahead of the crowds. I think you will stroll right over to your ride just slightly behind the rope drop people.

 

[sharona]

I disagree, you will not be behind the rope drop crowd. We had a 820 ADR and were seated by 810 and finished by 840 without rushing. We had plenty of time for pictures and relaxing.

You're allowed to go around the HUB area. There are ropes and cast members stopping you from going into the various lands. We waited at the entrance to Adventureland and were walked to Frontierland a few minutes before the rope drop crowd arrived.

 

[sharona]

Re your last question, you line up at the left side and yes about 745 they let you in. That line could be hundreds of people with BOG now offering breakfast too. CP seems to seat first come first served despite the time of your ADR so be at the front of that line. We arrived at 730 and were about 10 people back and it was perfect.

 

[Graciegirl5]

Re your last question, you line up at the left side and yes about 745 they let you in. That line could be hundreds of people with BOG now offering breakfast too. CP seems to seat first come first served despite the time of your ADR so be at the front of that line. We arrived at 730 and were about 10 people back and it was perfect.

Thank you! I'd like to get some pictures with hopefully very few people in them. Would it be better to do that on the way to CP or after we've eaten? Are PP photographers even there that early? Sorry I have so many questions. I didn't expect to be able to get a pre open ADR. Now I'm excited and want to make good use of it!

 

[sharona]

Thank you! I'd like to get some pictures with hopefully very few people in them. Would it be better to do that on the way to CP or after we've eaten? Are PP photographers even there that early? Sorry I have so many questions. I didn't expect to be able to get a pre open ADR. Now I'm excited and want to make good use of it!

PP photographers will be on Main St. What we did was check in at CP then go take a few castle pics since it's so close then we took more around the HUB after our meal. It's tough to get pics with no one else on them but not totally impossible. There were a few families walkrunnung up Main to get there first. We took our time walking up and it still felt pretty empty compared to the usual Main St rope drop mass if people.

 

[sharona]

Here are some pics we took before and after eating and one of the rope drop crowd heading down Main - that is when we scooted over to the rope to Adventureland. There were about 10 people waiting with us - everyone else headed to 7DMT!

 

[cassie58]

Take pics before because it will not be that quiet any other time. Take your time and take in the magical feeling of Main Street and the castle. There will be PP photographers out as well. We have gotten great shots of the family and special things like my DH and DD walking toward the castle hand in hand. Also enjoy CP brft - it is our favorite! The building is beautiful and you can see the castle out the window, and they have delicious puffy French toast and a chef doing made-to-order omelette and pancakes(you can get Mickey shaped with chocolate chips). And of course great character interaction with my favorite gang. You can bounce with Tigger and check for Eeyore's tail! It usually takes us about an hr. , but even if the park has just opened, you can scoot right back to your first ride while people are still going through the turnstiles and making their way into the park.

 

[Hopefully]

Thank you! I'd like to get some pictures with hopefully very few people in them. Would it be better to do that on the way to CP or after we've eaten? Are PP photographers even there that early? Sorry I have so many questions. I didn't expect to be able to get a pre open ADR. Now I'm excited and want to make good use of it!

You need to set your expectations appropriately. Very few people on Main St USA when they let you in at 7:45 will include Scores of other folks. This is relatively few for Main St, but not usually by most peoples standards. Since there are 3 restaurants all filling right at 8 there are lots of folks all headed there at the same time. Just don't think it will be an empty Main St and you will have pictures of the Castle and your family with no one else in them. That will NOT be the case
Have Fun

 

[Graciegirl5]

You need to set your expectations appropriately. Very few people on Main St USA when they let you in at 7:45 will include Scores of other folks. This is relatively few for Main St, but not usually by most peoples standards. Since there are 3 restaurants all filling right at 8 there are lots of folks all headed there at the same time. Just don't think it will be an empty Main St and you will have pictures of the Castle and your family with no one else in them. That will NOT be the case
Have Fun

Oh, yes, I'm aware it's quite a lot of people, but hopefully not as many as arriving after rope drop. Thanks for making sure I understood that. If I hadn't, it could have been a major disappointment. I just hadn't had any luck getting a pre open ADR, so I was excited when this one popped up. Thanks!

 

[Accident]

As PP mentioned, you'll make it to the hub and the roads leading to the different lands will have a rope and the ride operators guarding it. They remove it and head to their rides when the fireworks signaling rope drop and park open happens. you'll be maybe 1 minute ahead of the herd.

 

[Nancyg56]

Oh, yes, I'm aware it's quite a lot of people, but hopefully not as many as arriving after rope drop. Thanks for making sure I understood that. If I hadn't, it could have been a major disappointment. I just hadn't had any luck getting a pre open ADR, so I was excited when this one popped up. Thanks!

Yes, if it has been some time since you made that quiet walk down Main Street, you might have had Culture Shock. Once BOG started serving breakfast the number of people allowed in has increased exponentially. I was kind of surprised at the mad dash that occured when we were allowed in, and found that my family had a sense of urgency that we did not a few years ago as we strolled to CP.

 

[isabellea]

It is possible to get those photo with no one (or almost no one) in the bkg. We find that Main St is not the best place to take pics with a pre-park. We usually head as close as possible to the castle right away.

My family in August 2014 (pre-BOG breakfast): we were the second family in line to get inside MK that morning as we caught the first bus of the day for MK from AoA (we were alone in the bus) at 6h45.

Last July AFTER our CP ADR: not as good as the previous year but not bad either imo. The RP crowd had started to invade the hub but we found a good CM who didn't hesitate to ask other people to move over!

 

[Hopefully]

But even your first picture has folks in the background on the castle forecourt.
It is very, very difficult to have that perfect picture any more.

 

[Felipe4]

It depends on the time of year you go. I had an 8:20 but I went mid-June. We ended up getting into the park around 8:15 after the ADR line (we only got to the park by 8:00 - there were issues with alarms not working). We waited until around 8:30-8:40 to be seated and didn't get out until around 9:30. It was OK because we had FPs for big things like 7DMT, but it did take a while. When we were seated, we apparently had just missed the first two characters in the rotation so we had to wait another rotation to meet everyone. If you don't care about meeting everyone then you can be in and out pretty quickly.

 

[sharona]

But even your first picture has folks in the background on the castle forecourt.
It is very, very difficult to have that perfect picture any more.

If you take the photos yourself and take several of the same shot, you can use photoshop or elements to fairly easily remove a few people that may be moving through the background.