Early entry question

[jordanyosh]

Right now my cousin and I are in the midst of planning our trip to WDW. We are staying at the Boardwalk Villas Sept 14-21st and then going on the 4-day cruise. There are 12-13 of us going so we are trying to do as much prior planning as possible.

My question is this. Are the early entry mornings at the parks worth it? I've seen people on this site say the parks are too busy on those days. We have several people in our group who have never been to WDW; so we want to make sure that we maximize our time there. Currently, the way we have things scheduled, we are hitting the early entry park most days and then park-hopping in the afternoon.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[AdLibSean]

I would say definately! I personally just love being in the park for an extra hour even if I'm not riding anything. Epcot only has three attractions opened for the first hour- but at least you can get them out of the way. I think Test Track, SSE, and UoE are the only attractions opened. Either way- have fun!

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

I always advise my clients against this. The parks are usually very crowded on the early entry days. If you HAVE to go to the early entry parks, my suggestion is to leave and go to another park when the park officialy opens for the day and the crowds start.

Pam

 

[MFLetou]

What????

With all due respect, it is insane to advise people not to do Early Entry!!! I mean, sure, if you can't get your butt up and get to the park DURING The Early Entry hour, than I can understand not wanting to go to that park. But every time we've been to Disney, Early Entry has absolutely MADE our trip. There is NOTHING like walking down Main Street USA with NOBODY in front of you. Its an incredible feeling, and it makes the whole trip so much more relaxing since you are able to do the 'big' rides as often as you like in the morning, so when its crowded there isn't the need or the pressure to wait in line for them and you can relax.

For instance, at MK, when Tommorowland and Fantasyland are open, you can do Space Mountain, Buzz, etc., and then toward the end of your hour end over to the rope line at for Frontier/Adventureland and be among the first to do Splash and Big Thunder Mountains. After you've done that and the park is getting crowded, you can have a nice sit down meal, go to another park, or even go back to the hotel for a rest. Its a perfect Disney day.

I'm sorry, I just feel really strong that anyone telling you not to do Suprise Morning (early entry, whatever they want to call it) is giving you TERRIBLE advice!

 

[jordanyosh]

WOW

Varying opinions. At this point I still don't know what we are going to do. But since there are only a few responses i guess i will wait for more to see which way the scale tips. Thanks for answering.

 

[TURKEY]

I too think it is bad judgement to recommend NOT using Early Entry.

There's nothing like getting Buzz, Space Mountain, Alien Encounter, and Fantasyland done in 1-1.5 hour. Going to Tomorrowland and getting it done for the most part, then getting Fantasyland worked on before the biggest crowds get there is great. During Christmas/New Year's week, I was done with Tomorrowland and Fantasyland with 1.5 hours with a 10 minute wait on most Fantasyland attractions.

Epcot is great to get Test Track done quickly, often two or three times before the hour is up. Plus you can get a fastpass for a quick return. Test Track is the main reason to go, but it is worth it rather than spend long amounts of time in line (especially in the busy season).

At MGM, I did Coaster 3 times and ToT 3 times. I was finished with Star Tours, and Muppets within the next hour.

At AK, Dinosaur was open early when I went during Christmas as was the Safari. Seeing most of the animals out and moving about on 3 safaris quickly before lines got over 15 minutes long was GREAT.


I'm hooked on it and I definitely recommend doing the early entry.

 

[Bagheera]

This is slightly off-topic, but the best early entry day we ever had was at Disneyland in 1995, shortly after Indy opened, when lines were over 2.5 hours for Indy.

We got into the park either an hour or an hour and a half early, and rode Indy three times with no wait, rode Splash, Big Thunder, the Matterhorn, I think Pirates once, and a couple of other rides before the park opened. By the time the park let everyone in and did rope drop, we were heading back up Main Street for a nice quiet breakfast at the Carnation Cafe while everyone else was fighting for spots on line at the major attractions that we had already ridden! It's going to be pretty hard to top that morning.

 

[Woody13]

Originally posted by Kingdom Konsultant
I always advise my clients against this. The parks are usually very crowded on the early entry days. If you HAVE to go to the early entry parks, my suggestion is to leave and go to another park when the park officialy opens for the day and the crowds start.

Pam

Do travel agents get some kind of book that makes this and other travel suggestions? I booked with a travel agency several years ago that said the same thing. As it turned out, they were wrong. My experience has been that if you can get up for early entry, then do it! The early bird catches the worm...uhm...mouse...uhm...well you know what I mean. :lol:

 

[RandeB]

I think it also depends on the time of year. I think mid Sept should be relatively low attendance time so you may find avoiding the early entry park and hitting the other parks early may be just as productive if you need the extra hour AM time.

The early entry crowd can be small, but it's never been "no one on Main Street"-but it's quite uncrowded. We've never had to follow the "leave an hour later" travel agent advice. Sometimes (MK usually) got so crowded we left between 1100 and Noon. But also had done many of the rides we wanted to already by that point.

Last time there were also characters lined up on Main Street right at Early Entry time-big thrill for the little ones.

We do it because A) we're up anyway B) tour fairly efficiently and C) get extra hour because we're usually offseason so hours are shorter

 

[GenerationX]

The benefits of Early Entry are there, but with a couple of caveats:
1. You have to be willing to get there on time
2. You have to be willing to leave the park mid-day or face larger than average crowds.

We have not taken advantage of Early Entry because of caveat #1. Our attitude is that we're on vacation - we're not going to set any alarms. I plan our trips around avoiding the Early Entry park each day. With 12 or 13 people in your group, jordanyosh, you would have to be extremely lucky to have everyone up and ready to take advantage of the Early Entry park (alternatively, a portion of your group could go).

The second caveat does not apply to most folks staying within WDW, because it is so easy to zip back to the resort mid-day. Off property guests or people with a limited time in WDW may not be as willing to cut out mid-day.

 

[Becky]

Originally posted by Kingdom Konsultant
I always advise my clients against this. The parks are usually very crowded on the early entry days. If you HAVE to go to the early entry parks, my suggestion is to leave and go to another park when the park officialy opens for the day and the crowds start.

Pam

Hi Pam:wave:

Let me take some of the heat off of you

The arguement that the early entry allows walk ons is right and wrong During peak season when all Disney hotels are at 100% the early entry park will be mobbed all day including the early entry hour.

During off peak (value season hotel wise) I have walked on Space Mountain, Buzz etc and waited less than 10 minutes for other attractions during the offical opening hour. Early entry was not necessary.

I have used early entry and sometimes ended up waiting longer than the same park and attractions on non-early entry days.

If your plan is simply to ride as many things as you can in the shortest possible time than ee might be for you.

I have gone to WDW, ridden nothing all day and had a great time.:sohappy:

I agree with those who suggest that if you go to an ee park you should park hop shortly after offical opening. I went to MGM on an ee day and by 9:45 the standby time for ToT was 90 minutes

Ok, I have my armor on have at it

 

[Becky]

Oh, by the by Letou. Calling Pam insane is not going to get you off to a good start on these boards.

One can disagree without being disagreeable

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Originally posted by Woody13
Do travel agents get some kind of book that makes this and other travel suggestions? I booked with a travel agency several years ago that said the same thing. As it turned out, they were wrong. My experience has been that if you can get up for early entry, then do it! The early bird catches the worm...uhm...mouse...uhm...well you know what I mean. :lol:

Actually they don't. I go by my own experiences since I go so often. It's just my opinion. I deal with a lot of people who do not want to get up early to catch the early opening and they want to get away form as much of the crowds as possible.
I know what you mean...:animwink:

Pam

 

[scottsalisbury]

<---- Loves EE

:sohappy: I love EE. I think that getting to any park 1 1/2 hours before official opening has to be a slam dunk. BUT, I get moving and am there at 7:30am to take advantage. If you aren't up to the challenge... go to any other park than the EE park. If you are up to the challenge... see you at the entry gates!!!!!

Scott

 

[mkt]

guys... civility please... civility... children are trying to sleep

 

[billybaruch1]

Gee, what d'you think, kids? Should we go to the park before the NON-DISNEY people, or should we stay in these nice beds and then wait in longer lines with everyone else?

Is this a no-brainer?

Is there ever a time when the Extra Magic Hour will be MORE CROWDED than at the regular park opening? :brick: :brick: :brick:

 

[mkt]

Listen Billy, MFLetou, and everyone else.

Pam made a SUGGESTION. She's a travel agent, and goes to WDW 3-4 time ANNUALLY. If she's making a suggestion, she probably has a good reason to. This is a discussion board... for people to make discussion- NOT TO JUMP ON OTHER PEOPLES THROATS.

Get it?

 

[billybaruch1]

Calm down...

No, I don't get it. I made an observation and asked a question. Butt out if you have nothing to say, please! :hammer:

 

[mkt]

I stood up for a friend of mine who felt she was being attacked. That's what I'm doing. Fine, if I have to provide a response about the thread, fine I will.

I do disagree with Pam, but unlike others here, I won't jump on her about it. She has her reasons, just like I have mine. Personally, I like parkhopping, and will usually do 3 parks each day. So I will start @ the EE park, and finish off usually at Epcot or MGM. The early entry lets me use my parkhopping time more efficiently, so I feel using it is wiser than not.


That's how you should word it... not by calling someone insane, or insinuating that they're stupid.

There.... I added something of importance to this conversation.

 

[jordanyosh]

Thanks again for all of your input

WOW. I didn't know a simple question would garner so much passionate response, but as i have been discovering WDW fans are a passionate bunch with many varying opinions. While it seems that most people like early entry, we have 4 older grandparents with us and I would like to avoid crowds if at all possible. We may split up and have the younger folks(30-41) go early and have the rest of our party meet up with us when the park opens. I had heard that the parks are busy on EE days;we may plan to park hop in that case as Pam had suggested.

Thanks again for all of your responses.