Early entry is arguably one of the greatest benefits of staying at a Walt Disney World resort. It allows you to get a major head start on what you accomplish during your park days while simultaneously taking advantage of lower crowds and less heat. Who doesn’t want that?
So what exactly is it? Early entry is a perk given to guests of Disney resorts (and select Good Neighbor resorts) that allows entrance into the park 30 minutes prior to the official park opening. So that means if Hollywood Studios is opening at 9am, guests may enter the park at 8:30am for early entry.
Now I know what you might be thinking – 30 minutes doesn’t seem like a lot. But trust me when I say you can accomplish a lot in that timeframe. Perhaps you knock out one headliner attraction without having to wait in a 60 minute standby line. Maybe you tackle several “less popular” attractions back to back. Or if you’re like my family, you could use that time to take photos, eat snacks, and enjoy Starbucks in front of a nearly empty Cinderella’s Castle.
Taking advantage of early entry is especially practical if you are a family of early risers. If you have little ones who like to wake up at the crack of dawn anyway, why not get yourselves out the door and into the parks to start making magic?
There are a few nuances to early entry in each of the parks that you’ll want to be aware of:
Magic Kingdom
In Magic Kingdom not all lands are open during early entry. You’ll only be able to access Main Street U.S.A., Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland, and even then not every ride within these lands is open (i.e. Winnie The Pooh).
Magic Kingdom has two Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) attractions – TRON Lightcycle Run and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Since TRON has no standby line option (aside from ILL it operates with a Virtual Queue), it is unavailable during early entry. Virtual Queues don’t start getting called back to the ride until the official park opening. However, since Seven Dwarfs Mine Train operates as an ILL as well as standby, guests can get in the standby line starting at early entry.
That being said, the majority of guests who are at Magic Kingdom for early entry will be headed straight towards Seven Dwarfs in order to take advantage of the shorter standby line. The other popular attraction in this park that is open during this time is Space Mountain. If neither of these rides are a priority for your family, there’s no need to wait in the congested holding areas near Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. Rather, spend some time enjoying the quiet on Main Street U.S.A. before heading to your first attraction(s) of the day.
EPCOT
There are two entrances to this park – the main entrance in front of Spaceship Earth (the big ball) and the International Gateway near the France Pavilion of the World Showcase. Most guests entering via the front entrance tend to head to Frozen or Test Track, whereas most guests entering via the International Gateway may go toward Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
In this park, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is the Virtual Queue / Individual Lightning Lane attraction, so that means this ride is unavailable during early entry. Virtual Queues will begin being called back to the ride once the park officially opens for the day.
Many restaurants in the World Showcase, including festival booths, do not open until 11am. If you’re in the park early and looking for some breakfast right away, try Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie or La Creperie de Paris (both in the France pavilion) or Connections Cafe (in the World Celebration area of the park).
Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safari is not open during early entry in this park, so don’t waste your time walking to that attraction early. Rather, hop on something else as your first ride and then head back there when the park officially opens to take advantage of a really low wait time and very active animals.
Flight of Passage is the Individual Lightning Lane attraction in this park, however it also operates with a standby line which means that it will be open during early entry. If your plan is to avoid paying extra to ride this one, just know that the majority of early entry guests in this park are going to be headed there, as well, so the standby line can get long pretty quickly.
If you want to take advantage of a nearly empty section of this park during early entry, head to the right at the Tree of Life when everyone else goes to the left. This will bring you to Dinoland U.S.A. and further into Asia where you can likely walk onto attractions like Dinosaur and Expedition Everest (and likely even ride them multiple times in a row).
Hollywood Studios
Guests arriving for early entry in this park are likely headed to one of two main areas – Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or Toy Story Land. If you want the best chance for walk on rides during this time, head down Sunset Blvd to Tower of Terror or Rockin’ Roller Coaster.
Rise of the Resistance is the Individual Lightning Lane attraction in this park, but since it also uses a standby line, it will be open during early entry. If you don’t want to pay extra to ride this attraction or stand in a lengthy standby line, your best bet is to head here first during early entry.
There are no rides or areas of this park that are closed during early entry, so you have full access to anything you want to do. This extra half hour is a really great opportunity for you to knock out some of your family’s top priorities here as this park has several major headliner attractions that are known to have high wait times throughout the day.
So there you have it. Early entry is a great strategy if you’re looking to get a jump start on your park days and take advantage of lower crowds/wait times to knock out some attractions first thing in the morning. As long as you keep these nuances and tips in mind when planning what you’ll do in that first half hour, you are sure to have a successful start to your day!
If you want extra help mapping out your park days and how to take advantage of early entry, your Smart Moms Travel agent will help you put your plan into place.
Not working with a Smart Moms Travel agent yet, but looking for help to plan your family’s upcoming Disney trip? I would be happy to work with you to develop a strategy that combines your family’s priorities with the most efficient way to accomplish them. Park strategy is totally my jam, and I’m here to help you feel confident in yours! You can click here to enlist my help for free!
