Early Entry at Magic Kingdom provides on-site visitors of Walt Disney World lodges a head-start to do rides with shorter traces and decrease wait occasions. Nicely, no less than that’s the thought. This photograph report shares my expertise on a comparatively gradual day (crowd degree 3/10) that felt far busier very first thing within the morning and asks whether or not it’s time to skip Early Entry at MK.
We’re huge followers of Early Entry, and have enthusiastically really helpful it in dozens of planning posts. It’s an underrated perk, with many visitors dismissing it as “solely” half-hour and inferior to the now-defunct, hour-long morning Additional Magic Hours. Whereas I’d clearly quite have 60 minutes versus half-hour, Early Entry is lots much less busy than EMH was. Having the perk in any respect 4 parks each single day makes an enormous distinction, to the purpose I’d argue EE is healthier than EMH at 3 of the 4 parks.
As defined in numerous Additional Hours Discipline Reviews, Early Entry may be a good way to knock out Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Canine Sprint, Remy’s Ratatouille Journey, Frozen Ever After, Avatar Flight of Passage, and different headliners with minimal waits by way of the standby traces earlier than Lightning Lanes clog up queues. You may discover one conspicuous omission from our reward for Early Entry: Magic Kingdom.
I’ve accomplished Early Entry at Magic Kingdom over a dozen occasions in the previous few years. It’s far and away my least favourite park for Early Entry, however I preserve returning for the sake of analysis. Nicely, and images. I nonetheless do Early Entry on the different three parks “for enjoyable,” whereas Magic Kingdom is strictly for the sake of bloggability. If I have been a median vacationer, my reply to the titular query can be sure–and would’ve been for some time now.
With that stated, Early Entry at Magic Kingdom throughout Celebration Season is nice. I might do–and have accomplished–that for enjoyable with out writing something in regards to the expertise or testing technique. Early Entry is nice throughout Celebration Season from August by December (plus just a few different dates) as a result of Magic Kingdom opens to most people at 8 am and is usually much less busy.
With Celebration Season proper across the nook, lots of you planning Walt Disney World journeys can have exactly this chance. See this submit about why 7:30 am Early Entry at Magic Kingdom is a recreation changer. We extremely advocate it on Halloween or Christmas Celebration dates.
Only a few visitors have the will and dedication to be out their resort room door by ~6:30 am, which is just about what’s essential to arrive at Magic Kingdom in time for the beginning of Early Entry. Against this, tons of individuals could make it for 8:30 am Early Entry, which is the primary motive why Magic Kingdom is the worst park for Early Entry.
For this Early Entry at Magic Kingdom trial run, we stayed the Modern. Far and away the best resort for Early Entry–or simply Magic Kingdom typically–due to the brief stroll to the park.
I didn’t take note of after I left the room, obtained by safety, or the turnstiles. It was all a clean and seamless course of, taking nonetheless lengthy it will take you to stroll from wherever your room is on the resort to the park. I stroll pretty quick, so it was probably below quarter-hour room door-to-Most important Avenue for me. YMMV.
There’s the clock displaying after I arrived…ish. I had spent a few minutes monkeying round taking images by the Sharing the Magic statue, ready for a transparent shot of Most important Avenue till it turned abundantly clear that wasn’t going to occur. Can’t win ’em all.
By this time, Magic Kingdom’s turnstiles had been open for most likely no less than half-hour. Our regular advice is to be there roughly half-hour earlier than the beginning of Early Theme Park Entry. In case your plan is to do Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, you need to arrive 30+ minutes prematurely. Much less time is ok for Peter Pan’s Flight, House Mountain, or the opposite choices.
After snapping some images across the Central Plaza and Cinderella Fort, I headed to the fitting of the East Plaza Backyard for Early Theme Park Entry. There’s a row of Forged Members stationed to scan MagicBands or room keys to confirm Early Entry eligibility.
Everyone seems to be allowed to enter Magic Kingdom and hang around on Most important Avenue, taking images or ready for rope drop over on the Frontierland and Adventureland facet of the Central Plaza. However you may’t entry Tomorrowland or Fantasyland with out scanning right here. When you’ve accomplished that, you’re good to go for the morning.
From there, you proceed on to both the Tomorrowland Bridge or Fantasyland Bridge.
As at all times, the group is considerably smaller for Tomorrowland. That is the whole lot of it as of 8:05:06 am–the rope is between the rocks and the archway, and there’s respectable respiration room amongst events.
Had I joined this crowd, I may’ve accomplished House Mountain as a close to walk-on, assuming I walked briskly to it and didn’t get distracted alongside the way in which taking images…which I might’ve!
Against this, right here’s the group for Fantasyland as of 8:06:58 am.
There have been most likely 10-15 occasions as many visitors ready right here. Roughly 90% of these persons are planning on doing Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice.
Truthfully, this isn’t that dangerous. The individuals on the very entrance had most likely been ready for some time, however even when I joined the mass at 8:06:58 am, I most likely would’ve had a 25 minute or much less await Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice. All relies upon upon how nicely I navigated the SDMT Shuffle in getting from right here to the precise line. However I didn’t be part of the herd.
Every time doable, we each attempt to do Early Entry and take a divide and conquer strategy with Sarah getting caught doing the SDMT Shuffle whereas I run round taking photos and assessing traces all through Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. I used to be alone for this subject take a look at, so I needed to determine which path to take: sensible plan testing or analysis. I selected the latter.
The concept of doing the SDMT Shuffle is at all times unappealing to me, however doubly so after I’m behind the pack and elbow-to-elbow with a bunch of drained and fellow under-caffeinated visitors. Plus, I wished to take extra images within the Hub. The flowers are wanting beautiful and it was a beautiful morning.
With out even doing it, I can inform you that the SDMT Shuffle would’ve been anxious, as everybody shuffled (therefore the identify) from the bridge to the attraction entrance and a line fashioned in essentially the most awkward manner doable. Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice alone would’ve been the whole lot of my Early Entry time at Magic Kingdom. With luck, I might’ve been accomplished by 8:30 am, simply in time for normal rope drop.
After taking images of the flowers within the Hub, I checked again on the group as of 8:19:11 am.
All of those individuals selected poorly. They both ought to’ve arrived ~quarter-hour earlier or gone to the Tomorrowland Bridge. You can’t each arrive late and do the Fantasyland Bridge. That’s not how this works.
Anybody past the bridge itself is taking the perk and turning it right into a worse consequence–a median (or worse) wait time for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice at a time when different sights have beneath common waits. Horrible alternative value!
Right here’s the group on the Tomorrowland Bridge as of 8:20:31 am.
This may look dangerous, nevertheless it’s actually not. I might say it’s about common, and the group is way more chill. Maybe just a little too chill, as there’s lots of respiration room between events, and folks from the again stored chopping forward and filling that house. (I wasn’t about to do this because it looks as if poor type, however I additionally wouldn’t have left a lot accessible house for precisely that motive.) However no matter. I used to be simply alongside for the experience.
One factor I’ll add right here is that the again of the pack right here is objectively higher for attending to Fantasyland than the Fantasyland Bridge. It’s an extended stroll, however if you happen to’re speedy, you may truly transfer freely right here–no shuffle. I’ve “beat” the again of the pack from this location on a number of events. (I’ve accomplished it to get to Peter Pan’s Flight, since SDMT is a misplaced trigger from again right here–simply because it’s a misplaced trigger from the again of the opposite pack.)
As is at all times the case, the expertise moving into Tomorrowland is downright blissful as in comparison with Fantasyland. Simply have a look at all that accessible house between the events strolling into the land. Nobody is shuffling!
A line fashioned instantly at House Mountain ready to enter the attraction.
Visitors have been stacked outdoors the queue, and funnel down from a little bit of an amorphous blob into an precise line nearer to the doorway. This may look dangerous, however remember that there’s nobody contained in the constructing but and is solely standby at this hour.
Even from the again of this line, it probably would’ve been a few 10-15 minute wait, with most of that being a matter of strolling by the inside queue. That will’ve made House Mountain a robust beginning possibility for Early Entry, identical to most mornings in Magic Kingdom.
You can’ve most likely hit that after which Buzz Lightyear’s House Ranger Spin and Astro Orbiter earlier than crowds began to construct. Nonetheless, I used to be right here for analysis–not enjoyable–so I stored on going with out blasting off into house.
I used to be shocked to see a little bit of a line at Buzz, because it’s typically a walk-on throughout Early Entry.
This nonetheless wouldn’t have been remotely dangerous–most likely a 5 minute precise wait as the road can be stacked outdoors right here and always transferring as soon as contained in the constructing.
Shocked that extra individuals didn’t need to begin their break day with the candy, candy scent of auto exhaust.
It boggles my thoughts that that is how anybody desires to spend Early Entry. I might actually quite sit outdoors the Tangled Bogs™️ and benefit from the serene sounds of the venue. Significantly better ambiance. I even have a voice inside my head saying, “shut up you idiot, that is going to come back again to chew you in just a few years when Tomorrowland Speedway is Megatron’s favourite experience.”
Arriving in Fantasyland, the road for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice already wrapped across the mountain and was again by the Little Mermaid darkish experience.
This isn’t in any respect irregular for Early Entry. It may be barely higher or worse, however I’d say that is about common.
The tough factor about moving into this line is that it’s a always transferring goal. So many visitors race in the direction of the doorway of Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, and discover themselves chasing the road backwards, seeing their wait time balloon because of that one, not-so-little misstep.
That is additionally why the Tomorrowland Bridge place to begin may be superior. Take the ‘good distance’ across the teacups and you’ve got a better time assembly the again of the road because it types. (This additionally works from the Fantasyland Bridge, however the herd mentality makes individuals reticent to do it.)
The posted wait time for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice was 75 minutes. That may’ve been inflated a bit, however it will’ve been lengthy regardless. Definitely worse than I had seen it throughout different Early Entry mornings, together with many that will find yourself having increased crowd ranges.
The important factor this specific day, although, was that 75 minutes was the height wait time for SDMT. It by no means obtained any worse than this! You can’ve actually rolled up in mid-afternoon and located a 60 minute posted wait time. However for lots of people, 75 minutes was not the entire dedication…additionally they waited round for Early Entry to begin, so their “all in” whole may’ve been ~85 minutes. (Certainly nobody who arrived earlier than 8:15 am waited 75 minutes, no less than.)
Not solely that, however there’s the aforementioned alternative value. As an alternative of an disagreeable shuffle to an above-average await Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, they might’ve pleasantly breezed by Tomorrowland and knocked out 2-3 rides with below-average waits. Actually makes you assume.
Seeing that lengthy line, a good variety of visitors had the great sense to balk and bounce to Peter Pan’s Flight. This occurs each morning as a number of the again half of the SDMT Shuffle contributors notice they’re in for an extended wait.
That will usually be the sensible play and so they’d encounter a wait time of 20 minutes or much less. However on this specific day, the wait time was already 45 minutes and the queue stretched again to the Tangled Bogs™️. Oof.
That is roughly 10 minutes earlier than common rope drop.
A few of these visitors most likely have been entrance of the pack at Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice or Peter Pan’s Flight, however my guess is that about half didn’t do something main throughout Early Entry. They balked twice, reduce their losses, hit the bogs, and obtained prepared for rope drop. That is my “guess” as a result of I overheard a pair totally different events counsel that’s what occurred–that they ‘obtained up early for no motive’ or ‘didn’t do something.’
I moved rapidly to make my manner over to Jungle Cruise, however pace didn’t matter. The space is longer from this level than it’s from the hub, and I used to be behind the rope drop crowd.
The road was already 45 minutes lengthy. Granted, it will largely be always transferring as Lightning Lane returns can be sporadic at first, but when the precise wait was something over half-hour at this level, it may balloon on the finish as extra Genie+ customers started returning in the direction of the top of their window.
It’s additionally value noting that I did Jungle Cruise later within the day with a 30 minute posted wait time and ~20 minute precise wait.
Large Thunder Mountain Railroad nonetheless had a 5 minute wait after I obtained again there, however with the queue spilling out the doorway, this most likely was not correct. 5 minutes is about how lengthy it takes to stroll the queue at a average pace.
With Tiana’s Bayou Journey nonetheless over a month away from opening, Large Thunder Mountain is absorbing all the rope drop crowds again in Frontierland. We truly haven’t observed these worsen–it looks as if fewer visitors are heading again right here on account of having the opposite mountain (can we nonetheless name it that?) down.
In the end, the large “problem” for me that prompted the title to this submit is that Early Entry and cord drop have been nonetheless quite busy regardless of it being a comparatively gradual day at Magic Kingdom. Each of the Fantasyland headliners had longer waits throughout Early Entry than later within the day, which was additionally true of Jungle Cruise at rope drop. All of this regardless of no rides having downtime, which is often what causes inflated wait occasions elsewhere. On high of that, you’re sometimes arriving previous to the beginning of Early Entry and ready for that to start.
This isn’t to say I couldn’t have completed sights with shorter waits throughout Early Entry and cord drop. Zigging after they zag and becoming a member of the smaller, extra carefree crowd ready on the Tomorrowland Bridge would’ve been the objectively finest technique. It might’ve allowed later arrival–rolling up as late as 8:25 am and nonetheless having a comparatively affordable wait time for House Mountain.
Beginning in Tomorrowland additionally would’ve saved extra time as in comparison with Fantasyland. Bouncing from there to Large Thunder for rope drop–or sticking with second-tier Fantasyland rides to attenuate strolling–nonetheless would’ve yielded favorable outcomes.
However for a lot of visitors, there’s the sensible query of arriving early or staying late–it’s not doable to do each. On this specific day, Peter Pan’s Flight had a ~10 minute precise wait within the final half-hour of the night time and Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice was 18 minutes when lining up with 1 minute left earlier than park closing. The latter was additionally not within the solar, because it was at 9:59 pm. I can’t be in two locations without delay, however the rides in Tomorrowland most likely had precise wait occasions equal to Early Entry. So for these visitors compelled to decide on between Early Entry and late nights, the reply to the titular query is sure.
After all, many visitors can arrive early and keep late…particularly when Magic Kingdom park hours are a paltry 9 am to 10 pm, which most likely helps clarify why Early Entry was so busy on this 3/10 crowd degree day. When you’re a theme park commando who can go from open to shut with out problem, it clearly is sensible to do Early Entry (however you most likely already knew that). It additionally is sensible to tempo your self and go the relaxed route, knocking out Tomorrowland first versus preventing Fantasyland crowds. The reply for these visitors is no…however you most likely already knew that with out studying if you happen to’re at all times going opening to closing, anyway!
Even on a great day, Early Entry at Magic Kingdom requires a comparatively respectable time dedication, bigger crowds, and much much less payoff than the opposite parks at Walt Disney World. As we’ve cautioned earlier than, don’t let Magic Kingdom be your first Early Entry expertise, because it’ll unduly prejudice you towards the opposite parks, regardless of Early Entry being far superior in EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. Talking of which, if you’d like technique for the opposite three parks, take a look at our Information to Early Theme Park Entry at Walt Disney World.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study lodges on our Walt Disney World Accommodations Opinions web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Opinions. To save cash on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Ideas for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a singular have a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Experience Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the most effective place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for every part it’s essential to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you skip Early Entry at Magic Kingdom or benefit from the perk? Partake within the SDMT Shuffle or go for the extra tranquil Tomorrowland begin? How would you do issues in a different way to begin the day at MK? Some other suggestions on arriving early to the Walt Disney World theme parks? Agree or disagree with our recommendation or strategy? Any questions we may help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
