How Early Entry Can Help You in Magic Kingdom
If you’re going to Disney World, you probably are curious about the best ways to maximize your time while in the parks. We’re sure you want to get the most out of your vacation!
There are a lot of different ways of doing this, and it will probably look different for everyone. You can use Genie+ to skip some lines, get up early to rope drop the parks, try your best to keep an eye on those wait times, and more.
Another great way to try and maximize your time is by taking advantage of Early Theme Park Entry. But, just how much can you get done? Let’s talk about it!
Early Theme Park Entry
Early Theme Park Entry is available to anyone staying at a Disney World hotel or one of the other nearby qualifying hotels. It allows you to get into the park 30 minutes before it officially opens.
Early Theme Park Entry
This is almost like advanced rope-dropping because you’re getting into the bark as early as possible before the regular rope-dropping crowd can even get in.
However, only certain parts of the park are open during this early entry period. But, this is a great time to get on some of those super popular rides that usually have long wait times later in the day.
So, how many rides can you actually get on? Well, we put it to the test in Magic Kingdom! Follow along to see if this perk is worth the hype.
Magic Kingdom
MickeyBlogger Kayla is putting Early Theme Park Entry to the test! Her goal is to see how many rides she can get done before noon by getting a jump start with the perk and without using Genie+.
Kayla arrived at Magic Kingdom for Early Theme Park Entry early this morning. The park officially opens to everyone at 9AM, so early entry began at 8:30AM.
Kayla was allowed inside the park before 8:30, so she headed over to the sections of the park that were about to open. Disney holds guests here until it’s time.
Only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open during the early entry period. You will see signs around directing you on where to go.
Kayla went toward Fantasyland to wait with the big crowds!
Disney let everyone into the land at 8:25AM, and Kayla went and got in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
This is awesome because Mine Train almost always has the longest wait time of any ride in the park.
She only had to wait about 10 minutes to get on the ride, boarding at 8:40AM.
After the ride, Kayla went to go get in line for Peter Pan at 8:50AM. She waited 23 minutes to get on the ride.
This is another ride that usually has a very long wait time in the park. So, that’s two major rides knocked out before the park is even open!
Next, Kayla went over to Space Mountain at 9:15AM and got in line. The posted wait time was 35 minutes (posted wait times usually don’t show up until the park is officially open).
She got off of space at 10:02AM and waited 36 minutes total, so the wait time was pretty accurate!
Kayla tried to go get on Haunted Mansion, but it was still closed even though the park was open. So, keep in mind that things like that can make you change your plans last minute.
Next, Kayla moved on to Jungle Cruise. The posted wait time was 40 minutes and she got in line at 10:10AM.
It turns out that the wait time was a bit exaggerated because she only waited in line for 9 minutes before getting on the boat at 10:19AM.
However, Kayla did get stuck on the boat for about 10 minutes after the ride was over, so a minor time setback.
Next, she moved over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and got in line at 10:50 with a 30-minute posted wait time.
She exited the ride at 11:28AM and waited a total of 38 minutes.
Finally, she went over to Pirates of the Caribbean and got in line at 11:32AM. The posted wait time was 50 minutes.
She ended up only waiting 41 minutes and got on the ride at 12:13PM.
So, Kayla was able to get on 6 major rides before noon (we’re counting Pirates since she got in line well before noon and got on the ride just a few minutes after).
The wait times were all decently accurate except for Jungle Cruise, so that’s good to keep in mind as well!
The only other big ride we didn’t get on was TRON, but that’s because you can only ride it by using the virtual queue or buying a Lightning Lane, and you have no control over when you will be called for the virtual queue. We also didn’t buy a Lightning Lane because we were trying to see how much we could accomplish just by taking advantage of early entry.
All of the remaining attractions that were open at the park this morning had wait times under 30 minutes, so they can totally be swapped out for some of the big ones we did if you wanted!
Overall, we found that Early Theme Park Entry is super helpful for getting a jump start on your day. We would definitely recommend it to anyone who is trying to get on a lot of big rides without waiting in super long lines!
Stay tuned for more Disney World news, tips, info, and updates!
