Some questions for first day

[mshanson3121]

Our first day is going to be at Epcot, late afternoon arrival. Now, we have two things we need to do before we start park touring:

1. We need to get a DAS card for our children
2. We want to extend our passes by a couple days and add the water parks option

So, my questions are:

1. Where do we go when we arrive?
2. How long will the process take?
3. If we want to be in the parks touring by 4:00, how early should we plan on being there to take care of business?
4. And even just as a general rule of thumb, how much time should we allow at each of the parks to get through ticket check, bag check etc.. and actually get into the park? We have RD planned at MK, HS, AK, then a couple other days, we're doing later arrivals (EP, MK, HS).
5. How long do we need to allow to get from parking lot to gate at each of the four parks? With early morning arrivals and then late afternoon arrivals?

If it helps, crowd levels are predicted to be 8-9 every day.

 

[Robo]

Our first day is going to be at Epcot, late afternoon arrival. Now, we have two things we need to do before we start park touring:

A. We need to get a DAS card for our children
B. We want to extend our passes by a couple days and add the water parks option

So, my questions are:

1. Where do we go when we arrive?
2. How long will the process take?
3. If we want to be in the parks touring by 4:00, how early should we plan on being there to take care of business?
4. And even just as a general rule of thumb, how much time should we allow at each of the parks to get through ticket check, bag check etc.. and actually get into the park? We have RD planned at MK, HS, AK, then a couple other days, we're doing later arrivals (EP, MK, HS).
5. How long do we need to allow to get from parking lot to gate at each of the four parks? With early morning arrivals and then late afternoon arrivals?

If it helps, crowd levels are predicted to be 8-9 every day.

1. Go INTO the Epcot gates, then veer left as you go around Spaceship Earth (the big ball) to Guest Relations.
(See 9b on my map below.) Then upgrade the tickets there, and get your DAS card.
2. Figure 10-30 minutes.
3. 3:00 PM makes sense.
4. Arrive at the GATES no later than 30 minutes before the scheduled opening time. (Earlier couldn't hurt.)
5. MK, allow 30-45 minutes. 10-25 minutes elsewhere.

 

[tink9702]

4. bag check takes 5-15 minutes depending on lines and what you are bringing in with you. Our rule of thumb is to be at the park 30-40 minutes before park opening since most of the parks open 10-15 minutes early.
5. with early morning (pre-RD) about 15 minutes if you have a stroller or ECV and are driving. quicker if you don't. parking is quite close to the gates at that time of day. No idea in afternoons.

Both of these are based on 5-6 crowd level days.

 

[mshanson3121]

So I'm thinking that since our house is 15-20 minutes to Magic Kingdom, if we want to RD there at 9:00, we should be leaving the house by 8:00 at the latest?

 

[sharonabe]

8:00 is too late. At MK, you have to take a tram from the parking lot to the TTC, then the monorail or a ferry to the entrance where you will go through bag check. I'd be leaving by 7:30. 7:45 would be the latest I'd try it. You never know what traffic will be like either.

 

[Lucius Best]

So I'm thinking that since our house is 15-20 minutes to Magic Kingdom, if we want to RD there at 9:00, we should be leaving the house by 8:00 at the latest?

Note that 9am MK rope drop might actually be closer to 8:45am (other parks similar).

At AK and HS in the morning, you can park sort of close and have 5+ minute walk to gate. The earlier you go, the quicker to get through bag check, usually only a few minutes. At Epcot last trip they were parking us pretty far away even at rope drop, there is parking shuttle tram but that can be very slow (10-15 minutes to get to gate). Like others said, parking at MK takes longer because you are parking at TTC, then need to walk/tram, and then need to take monorail (or ferry). Going to parks in afternoon, you will likely be parking far away and would want to use tram.

Also, if you are in a hurry the first day, note that you can upgrade your tickets at any point during your trip.

 

[ariane37]

I would definitely leave no later than 7:30 for MK RD. Hopefully you'll be parking by 7:50 if you don't hit traffic; by the time you get out of the car with your stuff, wait for and take tram to TTC, walk to and get on monorail and get to MK.........you should be through bag check by 8:30. As Lucius said above, MK will often open a few minutes early (after the morning show-which is really great to see). It is our experience that the majority of the time each park will open 5-15 minutes early, so being at the gate 15 minutes early will usually get you in right for opening but put you pretty far back in line behind many guests.

 

[mshanson3121]

Do the same time frame rules apply to the other parks, specifically HS and AK (those are the other two we wanted to RD). Hehe... not sure my husband is going to love the idea of being up and out of the house by 7:30 am... lol

 

[Alesia]

Last Year we stayed in a house that was 15 minutes from MK. We were in the car no later than 7:40.

 

[sharonabe]

Do the same time frame rules apply to the other parks, specifically HS and AK (those are the other two we wanted to RD). Hehe... not sure my husband is going to love the idea of being up and out of the house by 7:30 am... lol

The other parks don't have the extra step, so leaving around 8:00 SHOULD be okay, but they also open earlier than posted times most days.