MK Welcome Show

[Mista C]

So we are leaving for WDW on Sunday and will be at the MK on Monday and Tuesday. In the gazillion times that I've been to the park, I have never seen the Welcome Show, but we plan on seeing it both mornings. A few questions...

What actually happens in the Welcome Show?

I'm guessing that it takes place in front of the train station? Do you actually enter the turnstiles and then just wait in front of the station until it starts at 8:45? Is it super crowded and should you be there much earlier than 8:45?

Is the rest of main street open by 8:45 or does it not open until after the Welcome Show? How long is the Welcome Show? We want to be at the end of main street at rope drop, but I'm wondering if watching the entire welcome show will keep you from getting there in time. Will rope drop have already happened by the time the Welcome Show ends? Worried that if we watch the whole Welcome Show, by the time we walk to the end of Main Street, rope drop will have already occurred.

Thanks for your help!

 

[stevehousse]

You enter the turnstiles and watch the show in front of the train station. You won't get into the park until after the show ends, and Main st doesn't open until after that!

Now with that said, MK just changed their opening procedure because of all the Anna and Elsa crazies...they will now walk with a rope all the way down the hub and to the MnG...

 

[Betsyboo]

It's totally worth seeing. Makes me misty eyed thinking about it. I cry every single time.

 

[Mista C]

You enter the turnstiles and watch the show in front of the train station. You won't get into the park until after the show ends, and Main st doesn't open until after that!

Oh, I see. I thought that main street opened around 8:30ish and that you could walk down to the hub for rope drop. At least that's how it was years ago... I can remember when I was young, walking all the way to the end of main street and the rope was at the very end. Is the rope now closer to the beginning of main street? Good to know that I can watch the entire show and not miss rope drop.

 

[Weather_Lady]

We were there last week and saw the Welcome Show twice. It started around 8:45-8:50am, ended a few minutes later, and only after it ended was the rope "dropped." However, rope drop is really just the first of a series of rope drops! There's another rope that is walked down Main Street (to corral those headed to PFTH for Anna/Elsa), ropes waiting at the entrance to every land, and even ropes inside each land!

DS and I were headed to Big Thunder Mountain, and after the initial rope drop, we were stopped again at the entrance to Liberty Square (until precisely 9:00am -- from the looks of the other ropes we could see around the hub, no one was allowed into any "land" until then), a third time in front of Country Bear Jamboree (until about 9:05am -- CMs holding the rope said they were deliberately waiting to move until "a big enough crowd gathered"), and after being slowly walked behind that rope, we were stopped a fourth time in front of Splash Mountain (for 3-4 more minutes, as we were joined by another crowd being slowly walked behind a rope from the direction of Adventureland). Due to this series of rope drops, nobody was able to reach/board Big Thunder Mountain or Splash Mountain until 9:10-9:15am.

 

[Mista C]

Thanks for the info Weather_Lady... that is exactly our plan as well... straight to Splash Mountain. So not sure if I should take the Liberty Square route (by Sleepy Hollow) or the Adventureland route (by the Treehouse). Was thinking the Adventureland route, then cutting over to Frontierland at the cut-thru by Bear Country. Earth shattering decisions here!!!

 

[Arty Cordova]

Thanks for the info Weather_Lady... that is exactly our plan as well... straight to Splash Mountain. So not sure if I should take the Liberty Square route (by Sleepy Hollow) or the Adventureland route (by the Treehouse). Was thinking the Adventureland route, then cutting over to Frontierland at the cut-thru by Bear Country. Earth shattering decisions here!!!

I will be there on Saturday. My plan was to take advantage of Anna and Elsa and hit the Tinkerbell m&g first then head over to thunder mountain for my 9:20 fast pass.

 

[Communicore]

I think it would be marvy and dandy if Anna and Elsa are part of the welcome show!

 

[DfromATX]

On our last trip we did rope drop at MK. (I didn't even know what rope drop was until I joined this website.) It was very exciting for me, not so much for the rest of my family since it was so early, but they were good sports about it. It was something I had to do at least once and now I can say I've done it. Maybe next time we will do rope drop by the turnstiles (instead of front, center for the show) to get in first! It would be pretty cool to be the very first person in that day. Have any of you been able to do that?

 

[Weather_Lady]

On our last trip we did rope drop at MK. (I didn't even know what rope drop was until I joined this website.) It was very exciting for me, not so much for the rest of my family since it was so early, but they were good sports about it. It was something I had to do at least once and now I can say I've done it. Maybe next time we will do rope drop by the turnstiles (instead of front, center for the show) to get in first! It would be pretty cool to be the very first person in that day. Have any of you been able to do that?

When we were there last week, they let in as many people as possible through the turnstiles, as soon as they arrived, so the area between the turnstiles and the railroad underpasses was completely filled long before the Welcome Show, with latecomers standing behind the turnstiles simply because there was no room for them to pass through -- meaning that the first people through the turnstiles once the crowd surged forward after rope drop (the "ropes" were located at each of the 2 underpasses) had several hundred people ahead of them already. I wouldn't recommend it. Being at the turnstiles for rope drop won't make you the "first person in" anywhere.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Thanks for the info Weather_Lady... that is exactly our plan as well... straight to Splash Mountain. So not sure if I should take the Liberty Square route (by Sleepy Hollow) or the Adventureland route (by the Treehouse). Was thinking the Adventureland route, then cutting over to Frontierland at the cut-thru by Bear Country. Earth shattering decisions here!!!

If they continue to do the same procedure, you'll get there at the same time regardless of which route you take. Have fun! We did Big Thunder first and then went to Splash, which was still a walk-on at 9:30am and for a little while thereafter...

 

[Weather_Lady]

I will be there on Saturday. My plan was to take advantage of Anna and Elsa...

Good luck -- but they're just not that type of girl!

 

[lebeau]

Good luck -- but they're just not that type of girl!

Well, all you have to do is propose to Anna and you're in like Flynn.

 

[Spikerdink]

We were there last week and saw the Welcome Show twice. It started around 8:45-8:50am, ended a few minutes later, and only after it ended was the rope "dropped." However, rope drop is really just the first of a series of rope drops! There's another rope that is walked down Main Street (to corral those headed to PFTH for Anna/Elsa), ropes waiting at the entrance to every land, and even ropes inside each land!

DS and I were headed to Big Thunder Mountain, and after the initial rope drop, we were stopped again at the entrance to Liberty Square (until precisely 9:00am -- from the looks of the other ropes we could see around the hub, no one was allowed into any "land" until then), a third time in front of Country Bear Jamboree (until about 9:05am -- CMs holding the rope said they were deliberately waiting to move until "a big enough crowd gathered"), and after being slowly walked behind that rope, we were stopped a fourth time in front of Splash Mountain (for 3-4 more minutes, as we were joined by another crowd being slowly walked behind a rope from the direction of Adventureland). Due to this series of rope drops, nobody was able to reach/board Big Thunder Mountain or Splash Mountain until 9:10-9:15am.

Ugh - shoot me now. Seriously, if this is the 'future' of MK, I doubt that I will go for rope drop again. I am one of those impatient New Yorkers, and I want to get where I want to go without being stopped every 20 feet so that they can corral a crowd. After the first rope drop, the park should be open and not making it a system of locks where you go to the next section and wait only to go to the next section and wait. I get the whole control the masses for Frozen mania, but if I want to go right to Splash and the park is open, please don't stop me three more times. Either the park is open or it is not. Yes or no. Up or down. As my Great-gram used to say, crap or get off the pot. If I get to the park at open, the last thing I want to do is be told I have to wait and then wait some more....I want to start my adventure!

 

[Weather_Lady]

Ugh - shoot me now. Seriously, if this is the 'future' of MK, I doubt that I will go for rope drop again. I am one of those impatient New Yorkers, and I want to get where I want to go without being stopped every 20 feet so that they can corral a crowd. After the first rope drop, the park should be open and not making it a system of locks where you go to the next section and wait only to go to the next section and wait. I get the whole control the masses for Frozen mania, but if I want to go right to Splash and the park is open, please don't stop me three more times. Either the park is open or it is not. Yes or no. Up or down. As my Great-gram used to say, crap or get off the pot. If I get to the park at open, the last thing I want to do is be told I have to wait and then wait some more....I want to start my adventure!

As a fellow New Yorker (Upstate, but we like to hurry, too), I feel your pain, and appreciate your reference to locks. I tried to look on the bright side: (1) nobody was getting anywhere any faster than I was -- we were all being subjected to the same roadblocks; and (2) I still got to be one of the first people on the attractions of my choice, and ride them as many times as I wanted while they were walk-ons. Time was still saved and lines avoided.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Well, all you have to do is propose to Anna and you're in like Flynn.

...as long as Rapunzel isn't there to claim Flynn.

 

[DizneyPryncess]

The morning show is, in my opinion, the best way to start a magical Disney morning! It just sets the tone for the day! Cast members will choose a "Family of the Day" to help open the park, and the townspeople & some characters will sing & dance. We usually get there around 8:30 and have no problem seeing the whole show in the front, middle area, around 15 minutes before the park officially opens.

 

[PhotoDave219]

So we are leaving for WDW on Sunday and will be at the MK on Monday and Tuesday. In the gazillion times that I've been to the park, I have never seen the Welcome Show, but we plan on seeing it both mornings. A few questions...

What actually happens in the Welcome Show?

I'm guessing that it takes place in front of the train station? Do you actually enter the turnstiles and then just wait in front of the station until it starts at 8:45? Is it super crowded and should you be there much earlier than 8:45?

Is the rest of main street open by 8:45 or does it not open until after the Welcome Show? How long is the Welcome Show? We want to be at the end of main street at rope drop, but I'm wondering if watching the entire welcome show will keep you from getting there in time. Will rope drop have already happened by the time the Welcome Show ends? Worried that if we watch the whole Welcome Show, by the time we walk to the end of Main Street, rope drop will have already occurred.

Thanks for your help!

Martin has a video of it on his site.

 

[Weather_Lady]

The morning show is, in my opinion, the best way to start a magical Disney morning! It just sets the tone for the day! Cast members will choose a "Family of the Day" to help open the park, and the townspeople & some characters will sing & dance. We usually get there around 8:30 and have no problem seeing the whole show in the front, middle area, around 15 minutes before the park officially opens.

It really is a great way to start your day! When I asked my kids their very favorite things about the trip from which we just returned, my 6-year-old daughter listed "the good morning song" (her way of describing the Welcome Show at the Magic Kingdom) as her favorite thing, ahead of her birthday dinner in Cinderella Castle! (Sigh. If I'd only known this ahead of time, I could have saved the $360 bucks...)

 

[Mista C]

We will also be there for my daughter's 6th birthday next week, and although there will be no dinner at the Castle, i did manage to score (no idea how) FP's for Anna and Elsa on her actual birthday. This happened last week while I was randomly checking the fast passes... the gods were smiling down on me that day!