Whats the big deal with Park openings??

[hallie615]

Whats the big deal with Park openings?? Quick question, we have been to the WDW 3 times and just realized we have never been there when the park opens. What are we missing??
Is it worth getting there when they open? Do the different parks do different things when the open?? We usually go to breakfast early and then hit the parks right after they open. Please tell me what I am missing.

 

[AJKMOM]

The best benefit of being there when the park opens is: most people don't do it. Most on vacation get to the parks after 11am, that's when us "commando" visitors notice a marked increase in attendance. By 11am at the Magic Kingdom, we've been on Space Mountain with maybe a 5 minute wait, headed to Buzz as a walk-on and are working our way over to Philharmagic and Peter Pan.

At MGM, we've been on TOT and R'nR twice and are headed to the Great Movie Ride. If you can get up and moving, time in line is the one thing you will save by arriving early.

There is a cute ceremony at each park to "open" it, that's what else you miss. However, we are ready to roll and probably don't enjoy it as much as a first time visitor would.

 

[NJ2Boardwalk]

Love the "commando" comment. We, too, are commandos and strive for how much we can get done by 11am! This year we are trying to restrain and "take it all in" but I love the challenge!!! As for the OP the MK opening is really great, starts you day with Disney magic

 

[seashoreCM]

Ride lines move faster in the first hour or even two not only because relatively few people arrive so early but also because there are fewer people in the fastpass lines (no matured fastpasses in the first hour).

Also by coming early you can get your first fastpass earlier (use it near the end of its window when the park is a bit more crowded) and the time for next (second) fast pass will be sooner.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[TreslovesWDW]

I never been there as soon as they open but not long after are we there,so to me it is the shorter lines that are great.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Wow...this is a surprise to me, I always thought the parks were extremely crowded @ opening time. Now that I've found out different, we might just have to drag our lazy bums out of the bed a little earlier!

 

[airtime]

If you want to most enjoy visiting the parks (but not necessarily the one with morning EMH), be there before the turnstiles open. You can often ride numerous rides before the crowds appear. We usually visit in January (no lines except in the afternoon), but we are now trying a June trip. We know it will be packed, so we will be there bright and early every day. I expect that before 11 am at MK we will have ridden all three mountains, Buzz (more than once!), Pooh, and PPF, or at least we will have FPs in hand for them.

Who wants to trudge around a theme park in Florida in 90F heat with huge crowds battling sunburn and dehydration when it doesn't have to be that way?


Tim, who is worried that the June crowds will be staggeringly bad!

 

[BlindTyldak]

I'd never hit a park opening until my last trip, and I do have to say the park opening for MK was excellent. They do a nice show and it really kicks off the magic for the day.

 

[Lorelai]

Yeah, we always find that we can probably get on our top three rides, at each park, pretty quickly if we go right at opening.

 

[GarrettJD]

We alwyas go at opening, but we are by no means "commandos." (No offense to anyone who is one.) We stay til about 12 or 1, by which time we've seen most of the attractions we came for. We head back to the room, take a nap, and are ready to go again at about 4:00. We did this for 8 straight days last year and managed to keep from getting tired.

The way I look at it is.... when we're we have to get up at 5:00 am every day to go to work. At WDW, to make it to opening, we don't have to get up til about 7:00, have a quick breakfast in the room, and head out to the bus stop close to 8:00 (we never do EMH.) So even though we get up "early", it's still two hours later than we normally get up.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

In all the times that I have been to WDW, I never have tried to make it to park opening. That said, only once, we got to MK brfore the park opened.
I recall that at park opening they had such an amazing speech over the PA system, , that left a tear in my eye and goose bumps.
I don't remember the words, but I sure remember the feeling.

 

[johnvree]

We try to get to the MK at least once a trip to see the opening ceremony. My kids like it. But the real benefit is that the lines for most attractions do not begin to form until 1-2 hours after official park opening.

 

[AStamm]

By far the best opening is at MK. There is always some sort of announcer (the mayor, the fire chief, etc.) who comes out and welcomes everyone. Next, the Main Street singers come out and sing this great little "Good Morning...Good Morning" song that finishes up with "Casey Jr." at which time the train comes in. Mickey and Minnie, a few other characters, and a family of the day are all riding it. The family gets to officially open the park by throwing pixie dust. The whole thing is a really magical way to start the day.

We always head straight to Fantasyland. We're usually on and off at least 5 or 6 rides within the first hour.

 

[Man In the Red Hat]

By far the best opening is at MK. ... at which time the train comes in. Mickey and Minnie, a few other characters, and a family of the day are all riding it. The family gets to officially open the park by throwing pixie dust. The whole thing is a really magical way to start the day.
[nd/QUOTE]

Has anyone ever been the Family of The Day at the MK opening ceremonies? How do they choose a family? What a feeling that must be for a lucky family

 

[madalex]

I actually have no use for the park opening ceremonies, but I am there early anyway for the same reason that all the other posters said: fewer people and shorter lines. In fact, last night, I was watching the trip video from our trip last week. There was a portion taped at about 9:30 in the morning where I was riding on Dumbo and taping the rest of Fantasyland as we circled around. Looking at the video, I could not believe how few people there were in the park at that early time of day.

 

[lal32]

By getting to the parks early, we were usually able to ride everything we wanted to by 12:00. We would go right around the park and just go on the rides. Then after lunch we would be in ultimate relax mode, doing another big detailed lap of whatever park we were in and taking it all in. We would get fast passes for rides we wanted to do again in the afternoon, happy to wait an hour or two for our time because we had already done the attraction. We would often go to stunt shows or somthing like that in the afternoon, getting a Fast Pass for them.

We will be there again at opening time every day for our next trip.

 

[emang8]

Whats the big deal with Park openings?? Quick question, we have been to the WDW 3 times and just realized we have never been there when the park opens. What are we missing??
Is it worth getting there when they open? Do the different parks do different things when the open?? We usually go to breakfast early and then hit the parks right after they open. Please tell me what I am missing.

despite what most say, everybody taht does do this, they do it just so they say they did it.

 

[kidd_freeper]

No crowds,
low heat,
the park is clean,
sunlight angle makes for some great pictures,
the animals in the parks are active,
in the summer it rarely rains in the morning,
the CMs are fresh (meaning not tired) and
the park is filled with motivated Disney-lovers (and a lot of interesting Europeans who haven't had time to adjust to the time difference) rather than the common tourist

 

[POB14]

despite what most say, everybody taht does do this, they do it just so they say they did it.

So everyone who has posted here is lying? Remarkable.

With little kids, the reason for arriving early boils down to one word: Dumbo.

Now, Dumbo is a carny ride, available in more-or-less similar versions anywhere and everywhere. But little kids love it.

Dumbo takes 90 seconds to ride, and about twice that to load. No way to speed it up. So as the day goes on (and by "day goes on," I mean from 9:00 to 9:06 to 9:14 and so on), the lines get longer and l o n g e r and lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggerrrrrrrrr . . . .

and you're in the sun . . . no preshow . . . no little movie with Rod Serling . . . no singing bugs . . . just Florida sun . . .

I'd much rather get there at 9 and wait for one or two cycles than get there at 10 and wait for seven or eight.

Or maybe I'm lying like the rest of them.

 

[JenniferW]

We get there early in order to minimize our waits. Before having a child, I also showed up when I liked enjoying a sleep in, but with a little one I'm up anyway : )

Jenn