To do Early Entry or not?

[ennazus]

I've heard stories (and had one experience) of finding that Early Entry Mornings are not all they are cracked up to be (instead there may be long lines & lots of people)

Do you do Early Entry?

or do you purposefully choose another park that is NOT offering Early Entry?

 

[Pooh67_68]

My husband and I did ee for Epcot one time and hit the jackpot for a bunch of characters. They showed up in their character caravan and staked out the place where they were going to stand, it was so early that my husband and I had them all to ourselves for a decent amount of time.
Although that is a very good reason to do ee again, we tend to just go to another park.

 

[Cindy B]

This past trip we just went to EE for MK only. There were tons of characters out, and we got about 3-4 rides in also 2-3 character interactions before our hour was up.


We didn't do early entry at any other park though.

 

[TerryN]

We just came back. We only did EE at MK and Epcot. Stayed at both parks till around noon and leave to swim and rest. At Mk we did all of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and headed over to Adventureland and Frontierland at 9. With EE we can almost do all of MK in one day (excluding Toontown)

 

[currycook]

I think EE is always worth it. I dont think you may wish to stay in that park the rest of the day as it may be the crowded park. What we do is go and use the benefit of the EE and then go to antoher park around noon.

 

[kbhehl]

We went this past May, and avoided early entry parks. Had little no wait getting onto whatever rides we wanted for the first couple of hours of each day. Later in the day, we used FP for rides with loger waits (most less than an hour without FP--amny less than 30 min.).
Example: One day we visited MK in the afternoon, and the wait for Pater Pan was 45 min. The next morning we went to Peter Pan (for our sweet 2 yr; old DD) first thing and rode it 4 times in a row without having to get in a line.
Since our kids little bodies were not used to this time zone, we thought getting them up an hour early for a day they'd spend tromping around in the heat and standing in lines (adrenaline rush for seeing characters notwithstanding) would be asking for trouble.
Maybe we'd do it differently at different times of the year.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

I would think that if you and your family are NATURAL early morning risers, then Early Entry would be right for you.

If you have to REALLY drag sleepy eyed people out of bed, then doing EE will result in crabby people, and a less than happy vacation.

Only you know what your family is like.

I myself, avoid all Early Entry parks.

 

[ennazus]

If you have to REALLY drag sleepy eyed people out of bed, then doing EE will result in crabby people, and a less than happy vacation.

Thanks, Claudia! I think you hit the nail right on the head for me!! We usually prefer to dally around in the morning... Only on rare occassions are we up are raring to go... I guess we could play it by ear if per chance we had a sudden burst of energy one morning. LOL

 

[slp87]

We go to EE at MK once during our trip. Like others have said, it's hard when you're coping with a new time zone. (It's amazing how 1 hour makes a difference!) But my DH is not a big Disney fan and his idea of a vacation is sleeping, so I try not to push it with him!! So I agree that if you're an early riser, go for it, otherwise go to a non EE park.

 

[CalGal]

I like to mix it up a bit, but I still found EMH worth it. One advantage during the summer is that it's not unbearably hot from 8-9. Some parks are more worth it than others for the ride selection.

MK and MGM I found very worth EMH (MK especially). I could get some good riding in and some early fastpasses before taking off for rest and/or another park. MGM was better on Saturday than Tuesday for crowds. AK was probably worth it too, but once a trip is enough. I skipped Epcot EMH since I had already done all the EMH rides on other days and it's nice to hit a water park or alternate park early instead.