Magic Kingdom’s New Early Entry Process & Pitfalls of Dreaded Delayed Openings
Early Entry at Magic Kingdom is a good way for on-site guests of Walt Disney World hotels to get a head-start, accomplishing a few attractions with low waits. This photo report offers a run-through of my morning, including: 1) the park’s new-ish protocol for the bonus time; 2) dangers of the dreaded delayed opening and the difficult dilemma it creates for guests; 3) why you should skip MK’s most popular attraction during EE.
As always, Early Entry at Magic Kingdom is a mixed bag. We’re generally big fans of the on-site perk, which gives hotel guests a head-start to do headliner attractions with shorter lines and lower wait times to beat the crowds. Early Entry at Magic Kingdom has actually improved a lot lately, at least if you know what you’re doing and don’t make any mistakes (easier said than done).
Even though Early Entry is an underrated perk as a whole, it is arguably overrated at Magic Kingdom. I’ve done Early Entry at Magic Kingdom dozens of times in the last few years. It’s my least favorite park for Early Entry, but I keep returning for the sake of research. I also love mornings in the parks, so there’s that.
I strongly suspect others share my perspective of Early Entry at Magic Kingdom. Since it’s the most popular park at Walt Disney World and the one guests tend to do at the start of their trip on Mondays, many conclude Early Entry is “not worth it” on the first day of their vacations, call an audible, and skip Early Entry at every other park. This is my working theory, and it would explain a lot about Early Entry at Walt Disney World, from perceptions to crowds.
Before we even get started, I can tell you that the optimal approach is to zig when they zag in a few regards there. First, don’t do Magic Kingdom on a Monday. Second, start somewhere else where crowds are lower at the beginning of the week, do Early Entry there, and reap the rewards. By the time you get around to your Magic Kingdom day, Early Entry still won’t be as good at the castle park as the other 3, but at least it won’t sour you on the whole extra half-hour experience. But I digress.
This particular Early Entry runthrough at Magic Kingdom was done on a Monday (don’t laugh…most of my Early Entry at Magic Kingdom testing is done on Mondays for the sake of having the worst crowd experiences so I’m not constantly showcasing sunshine and rainbows). The park opened to the general public at 9 am, meaning Early Entry began at 8:30 am.
I was out the door of our room at the Polynesian by 7:15 am, which is necessary due to the long commute and unpredictability of transportation. The boat to Magic Kingdom arrived at 7:33 am and dropped me off at 7:47 am. After slight hiccups at bag check (the joys of carrying a camera), I was on Main Street by 7:54 am. This was a little later than I would’ve liked.
In terms of Early Entry basics, our normal recommendation is to be there roughly 30 minutes before the start of Early Theme Park Entry. If your plan is to do Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, you want to arrive 30+ minutes in advance. Less time is fine for Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain, or secondary options.
Arriving earlier also gives you time for fun photos on Main Street with empty backgrounds. Once done with that, head to the right of the East Plaza Garden for Early Theme Park Entry. There’s a row of Cast Members stationed to scan MagicBands or room keys to verify Early Entry eligibility.
Everyone is allowed to enter Magic Kingdom and hang out on Main Street, taking photos or waiting for rope drop over on the Frontierland and Adventureland side of the Central Plaza. But you can’t access Tomorrowland or Fantasyland without scanning here. Once you’ve done that, you’re good to go for the morning.
From there, you proceed on to either the Tomorrowland Bridge or Fantasyland Bridge.
It used to be the case that guests were held on this bridge until roughly the start of Early Entry (usually a few minutes early, but not always, and never a consistent amount of time). As a result, a large crowd would form that was basically a large, amorphous blob of humanity.
There was no line. It was a “fill in all available space” situation. Meaning you’d generally be better off by arriving earlier, but not definitely. People leaving extra space in the blob would mean that got filled-in by later arrivals–you get the idea, we’ve all been there. It also meant that there was a power-walking race to the first destination, as guests jockeyed for position even further.
That’s why we long ago coined the term the ‘Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Shuffle.’ Guests are revving up their double-wide strollers, preparing to do some serious damage to the ankles of anyone walking too gingerly. The slow-sprint-slash-shuffle to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a high stakes, eat-or-be-eaten game.
I’ve made no secret of my hatred for the SDMT Shuffle over the years. Not only is the experience itself unpleasant (and it really is!), but it offers little upside. On normal mornings, the only people breezing on and off Seven Dwarfs Mine Train stress-free were those at the front of the pack. And the only way to get at the front of the pack was to arrive really early…and wait.
Honestly, the term SDMT Shuffle really undersold it; I just like alliterations. SDMT Death March would be hyperbolic, and Excruciating and Unnecessarily Stressful SDMT Slow-Walk would be a bit too verbose. No sense in workshopping it now, several years too late, as the SDMT Shuffle is dead.
New Early Entry Protocol at Magic Kingdom
The new procedure for Early Entry still involves a rope drop at the bridges to Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, but it occurs far earlier.
My experience is fairly limited so far, but at around 7:45 to 7:50 am, these bridges open and guests are allowed to proceed to their first destination. There isn’t really a crowd to speak of at that time, as Early Entry is still 45 minutes away.
Part of the reason my experience is limited is because I’ve done this 5 days since the new protocol started and have missed the rope drop on 3 of them. Meaning it’s happened before 7:55 am every single day I’ve done Early Entry.
This new Early Entry procedure started back during the peak of spring break, and I was told at the time that it was a test. I’ve asked again more recently, and multiple Cast Members on the ground have confirmed that it’s the new normal. I’d stop short of calling it “permanent” (a word more than one used) because few things are truly permanent when it comes to Walt Disney World protocol.
I could see the Early Entry approach changing again once Party Season starts, sometime in 2026, or 5 years from now. In any case, it’s been the process for the last few months and the intention is to continue indefinitely. It’s no longer a test or temporary measure to better absorb spring break crowds.
Once the bridges open and guests are allowed to proceed to their first destination, that means they can line up for an attraction. Of course, you could just wander around Tomorrowland or Fantasyland enjoying the atmosphere, but on this particular day, that meant 90-degree temperatures. Most people would probably prefer a shaded or indoor queue.
From what I’ve seen, nothing else has changed with regard to Early Entry.
Bag check, turnstiles and Main Street still open at approximately the same time. My anecdotal observations are that guests still arrive at roughly the same time, so this hasn’t really pulled forward demand.
Most importantly, the start time of Early Entry is also unchanged. Attractions still begin operating at 8:30 am, meaning guests are allowed to “pre-load” into queues for 35-45 minutes. Hurry up and wait, as they say.
This new approach to Early Entry is much better than the alternative!
If you’re in a queue, you are not in an amorphous blob. You aren’t standing in a sea of humanity, anxiously watching as later arrivals squeeze into space around you. Arrivals are pulsed organically, meaning there is no jockeying for position on the walk from the bridges to the attractions.
It also saves a bit of time, both because the walk to the first destination began before Early Entry and because sometimes an attraction or two might start operating before the rest. In just about every conceivable way, this is the more guest-friendly approach to Early Entry. Take it from someone who has done this dozens of times: this is by far the best approach to Early Entry, on balance.
New Pitfalls of Dreaded Delayed Openings During Early Entry
However, it’s not perfect. And that’s because there is no such thing as perfect when it comes to Walt Disney World touring. It’s all a series of tradeoffs and balancing of interests. Some guests might favor waiting at the bridge for whatever reason and doing the SDMT Shuffle. Maybe it’s nostalgia talking, or perhaps they’re simply psychotic. Who knows.
One objective drawback of this approach is the dreaded delayed opening.
Previously, if there was an attraction that wouldn’t open on time for Early Entry, you’d find out as you arrived at the attraction or shortly after getting into line. The dust hadn’t settled, so to speak, and you could quickly pivot to a different attraction. There would still be short lines elsewhere, since everyone would be scrambling around the same time. We have a lot of firsthand experience here, bouncing from Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to Peter Pan’s Flight on more occasions than I can count.
The problem now is that lines build slowly over the course of 30+ minutes, and delayed openings typically are not known in advance. Meaning that Cast Members aren’t conveying the possibility or likelihood of a delayed opening at ~8 am, because they’re not yet aware of it. Or they do know, but they’re hoping maintenance can get everything up and running on time. Regardless, it’s not usually communicated to guests except on rare occasions.
Meanwhile, lines start ‘locking’ themselves into place. Later arriving guests see a long overflow queue for TRON Lightcycle Run or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Instead of panicking and jumping into it during the chaos of that rope drop rush, they now have more time to deliberate and make a rational decision. That decision is often pivoting to Space Mountain or Peter Pan’s Flight.
The result of this is that, by the time it becomes obvious that a delayed opening is going to occur and an announcement is made, lines are long everywhere as guests have distributed themselves in a logical manner. Once a delayed opening is communicated to guests, they are presented with a difficult dilemma: bail on their attraction, sunk costs and all, and pivot to the back of the pack at a different ride or wait it out.
As I’ve shared elsewhere, I always immediately pivot when a delayed opening is announced. Sometimes before it’s even announced if it becomes clear to me that one is on the horizon (easy to tell with outdoor coasters if trains aren’t cycling).
I’ve gotten burned before with a ride opening a few minutes later, but I’ve come out ahead with this approach over a longer time horizon. I also don’t have the patience for it. I’d be nervously watching the clock, stressed out about getting on an attraction I’ve done dozens of times before. I just don’t have it in me.
At least, that’s what I’ve always done before. I’m honestly not sure what I’d do with this new system if I’d already been in line for 45 minutes and knew the line was already long at the next-best alternative. I probably would not bail immediately, and with each passing minute, it’d be more difficult to justify leaving. It’s a difficult dilemma!
As you’re probably guessing by this point, the dreaded delayed opening is precisely what happened with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train on this particular morning.
Thankfully, I wasn’t part of this line so the difficult dilemma was not mine. But I checked in throughout the morning and very few guests were making the decision to bail. That, or as guests did decide to pivot, they were replaced by new arrivals, as the line did not get materially shorter over the course of Early Entry.
Sometimes, the decision to wait it out would be vindicated. This was not one of those days. Above are screenshots from throughout the day, showing just how long Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was down. I’m not sure when it finally did open for the day, as I stopped checking.
By the time these guests would’ve been able to make an informed decision to pivot, the lines pretty much everywhere would’ve been discouragingly long. I can’t imagine getting up at 6 am, arriving to Magic Kingdom at 7:30 am, being at the front of every holding point, then in line at SDMT for ~45 minutes…only to end up waiting in a ~20 minute line at the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Something they could’ve just as easily done by arriving at 8:45 am!
As you can see from the screenshots above, Peter Pan’s Flight opened with a 40 minute wait.
That was before guests knew that SDMT had a delayed opening, so the line would only get worse over the course of Early Entry. Had guests pivoted right away, I’m guessing their actual wait would’ve been less than 40 minutes, but the queue spilling out this far is seldom a good sign.
By 8:45 am, a surprising number of guests had simply thrown in the towel on Early Entry in Fantasyland and were ready for regular rope drop.
There’s always a small crowd that gathers here, but it got larger, faster on this particular day. Presumably due to the SDMT downtime. At least they’re in the shade! And on another positive note, there actually are more free roaming characters out during Early Entry, which is fun!
Despite the day as a whole only having moderate crowds at Magic Kingdom, Early Entry was busy. Wait times only tell part of the story as they’re somewhat arbitrary at this hour. I’ve seen enough Early Entry lines to know this is a busy start.
This is the typical summer dynamic when heat is high. More guests arrive early, leave for a midday break, and return later in order to beat the heat. All else being equal, you’re going to encounter worse Early Entry crowds this time of year than a comparable day in December or January.
As I shared in our last Early Entry report, my go-to move for morning at Magic Kingdom has been starting at Space Mountain, looping that, and then bouncing over to TRON Lightcycle Run.
The 45 minute posted wait time (although my wait for ride #1 would’ve been more like 10 minutes had I actually got in line first thing) discouraged me from doing that. Space Mountain would go on to have a 20 minute wait later in the afternoon.
Why You Should Still Skip Magic Kingdom’s #1 Ride
Speaking of TRON Lightcycle Run, here’s a look at the line for that ride, starting at 8:10 am.
Note the sign indicating that TRON Lightcycle Run opens at 9:00 am. Meaning that there’s already a long line for TRON Lightcycle Run, which makes some degree of sense given that it’s the #1 worst wait time in Magic Kingdom, on average.
TRON’s status during Early Entry has been a source of confusion, and Walt Disney World is partially to blame for that. For one thing, it’s still not officially open during Early Entry despite being in Tomorrowland. That is counterintuitive, as Magic Kingdom is the lone park to only open two of its lands–but then ‘withhold’ the biggest headliners in those.
For another thing, there have been scattered reports that, actually, TRON Lightcycle Run does open during Early Entry.
It’s not always right at 8:30 am, but it’s often (usually?) before 9 am.
I’ve done Early Entry several times since TRON switched to standby and I don’t recall ever seeing it cycle with guests before 8:45 am. That’s the operative part–cycling with guests. I’ve seen it cycle. I’ve seen the queue open. So the line is moving and it sounds like the ride is running…but no one is on it. Maybe this is a source of confusion? Guests feel like they’re making progress and hear the coaster roaring overhead, even if no one is on it?
In any case, I’ve also seen this sign up more recently and Cast Members repeatedly making announcements to guests in line that TRON Lightcycle Run isn’t part of Early Entry and will begin operating at 9 am.
I take that as a pretty strong sign that, actually, TRON Lightcycle Run is not part of Early Entry.
Here are a few more looks at TRON Lightcycle Run from throughout the morning:
This last one was taken at 9:02 am, and was the first train I saw cycle with guests on this particular morning.
One way or another, these guests were waiting for TRON Lightcycle Run. If they rolled up in mid-afternoon and found a 60-90 minute wait time, their time commitment was more straightforward: it was whatever they actually waited in line.
As is the case with all attractions, Early Entry is deceiving. It’s not just the posted wait. It’s all the time before that, standing around waiting for Early Entry to begin, too. The unique wrinkle with TRON is that there’s another 30 minutes since it’s not even running during Early Entry! Consequently, the “all-in” total for guests towards the front of the pack might’ve been ~120 minutes. That’s an above-average wait on this particular day.
There’s also the opportunity cost.
Instead of standing around waiting for TRON to open and having an above-average wait, they could’ve knocked out Peter Pan’s Flight or Space Mountain with below-average waits. SDMT would be on that list normally, but not today. They also could’ve gone for a ‘singles and doubles’ approach and done 2-3 secondary attractions in Tomorrowland or Fantasyland.
Since TRON isn’t officially opening at 9 am, there’s also the opportunity cost of rope dropping Adventureland or Frontierland after Early Entry. It’s not just the guests arriving at the start of Early Entry; this also applies to guests racing here at rope drop to be at the back of the pack.
That’s why we strongly recommend skipping TRON Lightcycle Run during Early Entry and at the start of regular rope drop. You could literally pick a time at random to do it later in the day and achieve better results.
Speaking of which, after taking those photos of TRON Lightcycle Run, I bounced to the other side of the park to check out the lines in Frontierland and Adventureland.
The above photo was taken at 9:13 am (I could’ve gotten here faster but got distracted by taking photos of the morning light on the Rivers of America promenade). Note the empty log on the left.
After all that racing around Magic Kingdom to document Early Entry, I was already a pool of sweat and finally ready for my first ride of the day. The posted wait time for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was 10 minutes, and my actual wait was however long it took me to walk through the empty queue.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure would go on to have the second longest wait time in Magic Kingdom on this day, behind only TRON Lightcycle Run. That’s one advantage of rope dropping it. The other is that, although it’s improved tremendously, the ride still does have an above-average number of breakdowns. Doing it when the line is short decreases the likelihood of downtime while you’re waiting.
The very first guests in line for TRON Lightcycle Run could’ve made it to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and knocked it out while the wait time was still low. The same would be true for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train + TBA on a normal morning.
For many guests, this will be viewed as a savvy strategy. They will argue that the time spent waiting before the park opens “doesn’t count,” or more accurately, isn’t as valuable as the operating day. And if you’re a commando tourist going hard from rope drop until park closing, that’s true!
For guests arriving at or after regular rope drop, or anyone who can’t do the full day, that isn’t true. It’s all about tradeoffs, and burning so much of the clock on hour(s) when the park isn’t even operating might end up being counterproductive.
As for my morning after Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, I subsequently bounced to Pirates of the Caribbean (also no wait). There was nothing strategic about this; I was just overheating and a dark air-conditioned queue really hit the spot.
By the time I got off that, the line for Jungle Cruise was prohibitively long. If I knew what the “angle” of this post would end up being, I would’ve raced to Jungle Cruise at 9 am, followed by TBA and PotC, instead of goofing around taking pictures.
From there, I bounced back over to Tomorrowland and knocked out the TTA PeopleMover. While on that, I saw that the line for Space Mountain was now nonexistent, and the ~15 minute posted wait time corroborated this. So I did that, and ended up waiting 16 minutes.
Ultimately, if we skip over all the running around to document Early Entry (without doing anything), pretend that I simply arrived for regular rope drop and picked up this morning at Magic Kingdom from there…it was actually pretty good! And the point of this isn’t that Early Entry is bad, because that’s not necessarily true, either. Had I started with Peter Pan’s Flight, I could’ve fairly easily done that and another Fantasyland classic before heading to Frontierland.
My issue with Early Entry is sinking too much time into one attraction and pretending that time doesn’t count because it’s before the park opens. It may be lower value time, but it’s certainly not no-value time. This run-through exaggerates the pitfalls of that approach with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train having a delayed opening until afternoon and TRON Lightcycle Run not cycling guests until ~9 am, but they exist regardless.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you skip Early Entry at Magic Kingdom or take advantage of the perk? What’s your strategy? Start with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or something else? Would you pivot in the case of the dreaded delayed opening, or be reluctant given the sunk cost and wait times everywhere else? Would you opt for the ‘hurry up and wait’ approach of starting at TRON Lightcycle Run, or is the opportunity cost of waiting for a ride that isn’t open too high for you? How would you do things differently to start the day at MK? Agree or disagree with our advice or approach? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Full agreement on the new EE being much more pleasant at MK. I guess we were part of the test crowd during Spring Break and it was a very relaxed experience, despite the crowds later in the day. We arrived at MK maybe 8ish (regular open at 9) and walked unbothered to Peter Pan and in no rush. A short line outside when we arrived but then the ride opened early (8:15 maybe). While the few rides I could see opened normally at 8:30, it became essentially a walk-on for us. We were off and in line for the next ride before 8:30. MK is not my favorite park but this ended up being a positive surprise, at least starting the day. I never understood the historic approach of holding crowds as long as possible away from the rides and then letting them loose all at once. Unless the goal is to maximize the potential for a good trampling.
“Unless the goal is to maximize the potential for a good trampling.”
If I were designing a theme park, it’d definitely be a key metric of success.
Perhaps that’s why they don’t let me design theme parks.
A reminder that if you have a stroller and are headed to SDMT, you need to drop the stroller off either well before or after the line entrance. Maybe it is less of an issue now that you can get into the queue without the “shuffle” but I’ve had many mornings where I get a bit tripped up for early entry and then walking past the line to park my stroller, doubling back to the line, and mumbling my apologies to some angry folks that I was here already pleasedontmakemeshuffletothebackofthisdeathmarch
Also – just go to Space Mountain.
Definitely not as much of an issue now! The more organic, slow-trickle approach lowers the stakes and reduces the pure chaos of dads scrambling to park strollers as moms raced to get the kids in line.
Thank you for the details of the current procedure; while it does add more risk, it does seem like it would make many mornings go smoother.
Just one week until party season “treats” us with 8 am openings, taking the MK from the worst to one of the best for EE with the 7:30 am start time. (That reminds me, what’s morning on the PeopleMover like this time of year? While I can recommend an inefficient sunrise ride during the winter, I’ve been trying to avoid summers at WDW before it was cool.)
Tom, I am going for the singles and doubles every single time
I wonder with Buzz closed whether they’ll open Tron for early entry.
That’s a good question! It seems obvious, but it seems like it already would’ve happened. Maybe once Party Season starts and crowds pick up?
Have you ever reported on EE with Megatron in tow? Would love to hear how you approach to rider switch. Balancing entertaining a little one while still experiencing some thrill rides is interesting.
No, I have not and probably won’t until she ages into those attractions.
With her, we basically just do Fantasyland dark rides. We rarely use Rider Switch—I couldn’t even tell you the last time we did. We’re obviously atypical, but we’ve gotten our fill on the stuff we both like, so the focus is on her when we’re in the parks.
Longtime reader, first time commentor. I am surprised to hear that Magic Kingdom is considered a bad park for Early Entry. My only experience doing it was during Spring Break ’24 (on a Monday!). We did Peter Pan’s Flight (10-15 min wait), waited a few minutes for Liberty Square rope to drop and walked on Haunted Mansion, then walked on Big Thunder Mountain and finally hit Pirates with under a 5 minute wait before slowing down. To us, that felt like success!
Visiting again on September 7th. Do you think SDMNT –> Peter Pan’s Flight –> Tiana’s is viable? Or likely too late for a short line at TBA by then?
Love all the work you do here. Your blog and Ear Scouts really unlocked the fun of Disney planning for me and my family. Cheers.
It’s a “bad” park for Early Entry for those who either approach it “incorrectly” or want to run the table with several headliners all in quick succession.
It can be good if you take a more laid back approach, knocking out 2-3 lower profile rides, Peter Pan’s Flight or Space Mountain before moving along to regular rope drop. That’s what it seems you did, so kudos on the winning strategy!
I was planning to rope drop MK on a party day in August and try to jump in the Tron queue at 7:59 am before the regular rope drop crowd, in the hopes of a 30 min or less wait. Is this a good plan, or should I just buy LL? We have little kids and would need to rider swap, so I really don’t want to be stuck in a 60+ min line at any time of day.
I think that’s a good plan during Party Season with the earlier start time coupled with lower crowds. I’ve had success with that approach on a normal day–it just wouldn’t have worked on this particular one.
I experienced the frustration of delayed openings myself when I was there a few months ago. There were 3 separated rides that were delayed. I actually had the same issue in Epcot two days later. I get that things happen but it’s hard not to be frustrated when early entry is one of the main perks of being on site.
Awesome article! I’m really happy to hear that rope dropping Magic Kingdom has gotten even a little bit easier. I did it back in 2023 and told myself never again. But your post gave me a bit of hope that things have improved since then.
When I went, I got in a little later than I planned, and the crowd was already packed around Cosmic Ray’s. When everyone started heading left toward SDMT, I tried to outsmart the crowd and went right—but Cast Members were there redirecting us all back toward Fantasyland. By the time I got near SDMT, it was already a 45-minute wait and the line was wrapped around the rocks.
So I decided to pivot, and honestly, it worked out. I managed to hit Barnstormer, Pirates, Big Thunder, Small World, and Jungle Cruise—all in the time I would’ve been standing in that one line. Definitely curious to try again now with these new changes in place!
Our family was at Early Entry Magic Kingdom during a pretty busy week in late July. We decided to Zag a little bit (using your vernacular) by being one of the first people in line for Peter Pan. We were off Peter Pan so quickly we decided to hop over to Space Mountain, which was essentially a walk-on also at that time. Even after riding those two attractions, we still beat the regular rope drop crowd to the Tron line. We ended up having a relatively short wait for Tron (less than 30 mins), which started running a little before 9:00. Knocking out Tron, Pan, and Space Mountain before 9:30 was a great start to our day. I highly recommend this approach.
That’s an awesome run before 9:30 am–I’m impressed!
I’ve managed to do something similar (looping Space Mountain and then bouncing to TRON pre-rope drop), but it wouldn’t have worked this particular morning–just too busy. Definitely a viable approach many other days, though.
I was in DW last week and I need you to write this article but for Hollywood Studios. Firstly, totally agree with all your main points here. We always rope drop Space Mountain, then head to Buzz and then People mover. Then we head over to Adventureland for Jungle Cruise. after that the lightening lanes usually kick in. I can’t wait for Big Thunder to Open again. That ride was always a super short wait 9-10am. But yes, when a ride is down it’s a heartbreaker to think you woke up before 7:00am to ride…Winnie the Pooh. Ugh. This happened to us in Hollywood Studios, and is even more frustrated due to capacity issues.
We decided to rope drop and wanted to do Rock n roller then Mickey Minnie runaway railway. We arrived front of the pack and were told before we can get onto Sunset Blvd that RnRC is down. OK, so we head for Mickey Minnie. Get in line and out in the front of the pack. And then we wait….and wait….and wait….and finally get to ride at…9:03am. Rise was also down during this time. So 3 rides in a park with 7 rides are down for EE which FLOODS the remaining rides with people. Our line was never cleared or told anything about the delay. We decided to stick with it because Rise and RnRC were still down. When a rope drop at Hollywood Studios goes well, it is the best thing ever. There are times when we’ve done 4 headliners by 10:00am, but when it goes bad I’m wondering why was I leaving my hotel room at 7:15am when I could have grabbed an extra 45 mins of sleep? It’s maddening and happens multiple times per week. Why essentially lie to everyone about this park? Why host EE there if the park LITERALLY can’t handle it? 1000’s of people experience this every single week, and I’m assuming for some of them it’s their one and only visit. No wonder the park has had diminished attendance this summer. I didn’t get to ride my first ride until AFTER EE was complete. I feel like EE at Hollywood Studios is currently a scam, and will not be doing it until the rides become more reliable (so never).
It’s also not helpful when Disney influencers make reel’s and YouTube about how to do HS early entry…and they always use best case scenarios as if all 7 rides will be up and functioning, when reality is you’ll be lucky to be on a ride by 9:15 unless you choose the right one to sink your time into. What a joke. I did chat into guest services and let them know my feelings in a polite way and then they politely told me to be patient.
Ok, rant over. The rest of my trip was great! I’m just tired of this specific issue.
Here are some of our recent reports from EE at DHS: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/early-entry-at-disneys-hollywood-studios-report-what-worked-went-wrong/
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/every-ride-hollywood-studios-morning-no-genie-lightning-lanes/
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/early-entry-disneys-hollywood-studios-ride-breakdowns-delayed-openings/
I share that trio of reports because there’s one negative, one positive, and one mixed bag.
FWIW – I don’t think what you’re describing happens multiple times per week. There are definitely days that are exactly like you’re describing–with multiple breakdowns and a cascading effect on other rides, but that’s the exception as opposed to the rule. I can understand why that morning would’ve been frustrating (because I’ve been there!), but I still love EE at DHS. When it goes well, it’s the best park for Early Entry.
This is good advice and, in my experience, hold for 3 of the 4 WDW parks. It is far more enjoyable to show up around the time of EE and enjoy your morning knocking out a few secondary attractions. The alternative is always just too stressful, exhausting, and time-consuming to be worth it, from having to worry about how fast you get through the turnstiles when they open, to waiting in the sun, to the masses of humanity jockeying for position, to (most important of all) gambling that a specific attraction will open on time and using the full EE time on it. For MK, as Tom says, do Space Mountain/ Peter Pan instead. For Epcot, do Frozen or Soarin. For Animal Kingdom, do Everest. The one exception to this rule is Hollywood Studios for Rise of the Resistance particularly. It has become reliable, and it always starts cycling guests before 8:30. Show up to the turnstiles before 8, and make a brisk walk over there (not much jockeying because of the length of the walk). It’s easy and nice. For the other three parks, either buy the individual LL (instead of or in addition to MP) or do the headliners later in the day and face an approximately equivalent wait as all the time you spend on the EE strategy.
At Animal Kingdom, I would *absolutely* recommend starting in Pandora. Even if one of the rides is broken down (a rarity), the earlier start time works to your advantage.
Not only that, but you can clear Pandora and still make it to Everest while it’s still a walk-on. It’s so easy to run the table at DAK that I don’t even regularly do run-throughs there. It just isn’t necessary. (Although I probably should now that construction has started.)
EPCOT is more debatable. I see your perspective on that, but think Cosmic Rewind switching to standby and Test Track reopening has removed a lot of the pressure.
I am sure we were in MK the same day for EE (July 21). You will be interested to know that the CMs at SDMT announced at 8:10 AM (I have my fanatically notetaking husband to thank for this info) that SDMT would have a delayed opening and they did not know how long it would be down. Being experienced park-goers, we pivoted and by 8:12 were in line for Peter Pan. That line was already to Columbia Harbour House and climbing. The line started moving I think around 8:15 (husband didn’t document this) which, given the nature and length of the queue, means the ride started operating about that time – definitely before 8:30. Not sure when we got off the ride, but we were in line for Winnie The Pooh at 8:40. I commented when we walked by the SDMT line enroute that the family that had been first in line for EE had stuck it out and was still there. I wonder when they finally bailed. 🙁
Were you off Winnie the Pooh before park opening at 9? My EE plan with my niece is Peter Pan then Winnie the Pooh and then heading to Adventureland for Jungle Cruise and Pirates at regular park opening. And then hopefully hitting up Haunted Mansion after Pirates, depending on wait times.
Yeah, that’s the date of this run-through!
I am shocked that they gave you notice at 8:10 am. One because it’s rare to have the heads up that early (especially at SDMT), but also because so many people were still in line as of 8:30, 9 am, etc. I took photos at several different times, and can spot the same brightly colored shirts in each of them. Why would they not pivot with that much notice?!?! Talk about the sunk-cost fallacy in action! 🙁
Also great to hear that PPF opened early! This is one of the benefits of actually doing rides instead of just running around taking photos of lines. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Erin, I finally had a chance to look up my husband’s notes on our day and I don’t think we were off Winnie the Pooh by 9 AM, as his next entry was the Speedway (yeah, I know, but little kids want to ride that) at 9:10. But SDMT being down may have affected the WtP line that day.
Kids have made early entry funny for us. Last year we got up early to…loop the Barnstormer. This year we ended up on Small World one day and then Buzz and Space another. We enjoy getting there early to get the day started and hop on things, and focus less on the headliners. It’s worked out well, though I do wish Adventureland opened early!
Yes this is our family! Last year, my son and I rode the Barnstormer 10 times in a row without getting off because there was no line. We only got off once I started getting dizzy. Then we generally ride Dumbo until the kids are ready for something else.
Yes! Our family too. If I can persuade my four year old to rope drop something other than the Speedway, I consider it a successful early entry. Buzz and Dumbo are popular with us. Peoplemover through an empty Tomorrowland is fun too. On our next trip my goal is Winnie the Pooh, followed by Barnstormer. Hopefully we can get a spot where the kids can play with the giant wall of honey in the queue while we wait for early entry to start!
Looking forward to 2 Magic Kingdom mornings on a trip this Dec. Planning for one to be the typical Early Entry scramble and the other an Early Morning Main Street Meander- take pics, have coffee, wait for the Main Street vehicles to start running (maybe catch a ride on the horse trolley?), and just generally taking in the atmosphere.
“Morning Main Street Meander”
A+ alliteration. Might have to borrow that one!
You’re welcome to it!
I dunno – we are dedicated “shufflers” at this point lol. Once the ride opens the line moves fast and its nice knowing we knocked it out early. Also my wife usually takes them on goody fast while I stay on line
Goofy not goody
The barnstormer
Tom, as a new subscriber to your posts I find your commentary is great and I appreciate your common sense approach to a wide variety of DW offerings. I even bought my first ever AP thanks to your notice of the $100 gift certificate!
Regarding this post, I tend to agree with James in that I’d focus on Adventure Land and the big ticket rides on the other side of the park as available, or desired. One other thought is would buying Lighting Lane or pay per ride help make the day more efficient? I find LL’s necessary no matter when I visit. It seems there’s never a real ‘slow’ day at DW.
If your plan is to start in Adventureland or Frontierland, you aren’t really doing Early Entry–which is perfectly fine, as is illustrated here by my ~9:13 am start time for actually riding rides, and still managing to get (IMO) a decent amount done this morning.
Lightning Lanes will always make the day more efficient, but whether they’re truly “necessary” is a different matter entirely. I haven’t used LLMP at Magic Kingdom at all since Easter (which may not seem like long, but I’ve done a lot of field tests since then) and I didn’t miss it at all. Between shorter standby lines and worsening same-day availability, I just don’t see as much value in it anymore. Obviously, YMMV for first-timers and infrequent visitors (but you’re an AP!).
Further reading on that topic: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/lightning-lane-multi-pass-worth-money-disney-world-lower-crowds/
Given that I cannot ride SDMT, I don’t have to worry too much unless someone in our group decides it must be done first. We stay long enough to have multiple days at MK and do the MNSSHP, so I’m sure we’d find time in there to ride. “Maybe it’s nostalgia talking, or perhaps they’re simply psychotic. Who knows.” – this got me though. I prefer not to have my ankles taken out so I’ll remain clear of this stampede.
We enjoy the early mornings here, like you, to take in the scenery and snag photos. Remind ourselves of the intricate work that went into Main Street. Show others in our group the hidden eggs in windows, like our own Keys to the Kingdom. Snag a coffee and bite and leisurely begin our day.
This is the way.
The only time we ever made it to Magic Kingdom in time for Early Entry…we just waited at the front of the Adventureland rope drop crowd. We did Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion before the lines got too long. I stand by that decision.