arriving at park only 15 min early??

[Kcags]

Will be traveling with a group of 12 the second week of May. There are 5 kids aged 3 to 9. I want to get to the parks and be ahead of the crowds, but I also don’t want to wait a long time for the parks to actually open. That sounds like a nightmare with a bunch of young kids. Is it ok to get there 15 minutes before the posted opening time? I am fastpassing most headliner rides and hitting the rides that build lines but aren’t headliners first thing in the am. Any info is appreciated.

 

[nkereina]

I think that would work ok for Epcot or MK, but would not be ideal at AK or DHS if you are trying for Flight of Passage or Slinky Dog first thing. We had FPs for those rides last trip, so we often showed up to the park 10-15 minutes prior to the scheduled opening time. We had brief waits, but we didn't try for any of the rides people run to first thing.

 

[SaintsManiac]

As long as you have FP for the big headliners that should be fine. What are wanting to accomplish in each park? Do you have an idea of where you want to go?

 

[Kcags]

We pretty much want to do it all. For MK on the first day we are doing tomorrowland first then fantasyland where our fastpasses will be. The second MK day we are doing adventureland followed by frontierland and liberty square where we have fastpasses. On our HS day, we are doing Toy story land first where Ill have Slinky FP. For AK, I'd like to do Kali river rapids and expedition everest first with a fastpass for safari, navi, and dinosaur later. Won;t be doing FOP I don't think because most of the kids aren't tall enough.

So it sounds like more than 15 minutes is needed for AK and HS?

 

[Sara_H]

I don't think more than 15 minutes is needed for AK or HS if you aren't trying to rope drop FoP or SDD. Since you aren't trying to get to those, let the masses go and leisurely walk to where you want without being trampled. At AK 95% of the crowd will head left to Pandora so you could easily head right towards Everest or Kali. For HS, again 95% will head towards Toy Storyland but if you have a FP for SDD then I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Robo]

I want to get to the parks and be ahead of the crowds, but I also don’t want to wait a long time for the parks to actually open... Any info is appreciated.

Arriving "15 before the park opens" at WDW is an impractical illusion.
If you DO get to a park gate 15 min. before the posted opening, you will not (not by a long shot) be "ahead of the crowds"

A. None of the parks wait to open until the posted time.
All of the park gates open before (many times LONG before) the posted opening time.

B. Gauging your arrival at a specific gate to a precise time is virtually beyond the ability of mortal humans.
(And, I'm not really kidding.)

C. The known variables are difficult and the unknown (luck of your choice of park, weather, transportation factors) are too numerous to clearly factor.
Don't forget the trip through "security."

These are the reasons that one of the truisms at WDW is,
It is better to arrive far too early than to arrive one minute too late.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We pretty much want to do it all. For MK on the first day we are doing tomorrowland first then fantasyland where our fastpasses will be. The second MK day we are doing adventureland followed by frontierland and liberty square where we have fastpasses. On our HS day, we are doing Toy story land first where Ill have Slinky FP. For AK, I'd like to do Kali river rapids and expedition everest first with a fastpass for safari, navi, and dinosaur later. Won;t be doing FOP I don't think because most of the kids aren't tall enough.

So it sounds like more than 15 minutes is needed for AK and HS?

MK opens Main St to all guests at 8am. You would want to be there at around 7:30 to get in that group and position yourselves at the ropes for wherever you want to go.

 

[gharter]

It really depends on what you are hoping to do.
MK, the gates open at 8 to Main Street. If you are not planning on PP or 7DMT, being in front of the castle at 8:45 should work.
EPCOT, you don't get in early, just have more people in front of you.
AK - they will let people into the Oasis by 8:30 and into Pandora by 8:45. If you are planning on Pandora, you should be ok for the ohter lands. They don't open the other lands early.
HS - they let you in at 8:30 and into TSL at 8:45 about. The other areas don't open till 9. Again, if you aren't planning on TSL at RD you should be OK as most of the crowd is in TSL.

 

[Peppeperoni]

It’s a long day. I always show up right around when the gate is scheduled to open

 

[DisneyWishes14]

If you aren't interested in RD'ing FoP, there is no reason to be at AK more than 15 minutes early IMHO. If you have FP+ for SDD, while I would still head to TSL first, I wouldn't want to be in that RD pack. From reports, RD to TSL has been pretty chaotic. As PP stated, you may arrive 15 minutes early, but then there will be a line at the tapstiles to get in, so don't expect to go right in at RD.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

In the case of HS you'd l ikely miss RD completely as they tend to walk everyone back to TSL at about 15 minutes prior to actual opening time.

You're also begging for a terrible experience at bag check as well if you only arrive 15 minutes prior to opening time.

I'd get there about 30 minutes early if you want to get through bag check swiftly and not have to wait too long for opening.

 

[Delirium]

I would absolutely be in MK well before 15 minutes in advance. I would recommend being through the gates 45 minutes ahead of time, which means getting to Security one hour ahead of time. Since Main Street is open, it's not like you have to stand in an immovable crowd of people. You can do fun things like ride the Main Street vehicles to occupy the time. And, since you are doing Tomorrowland first, you can then be in position at the rope drop there 10-15 minutes ahead of time, and it should be smooth sailing.

By contrast, if you are planning not to arrive at Security until 15 minutes ahead of time, you're replacing a leisurely 30-45 minutes on Main Street with no-fun ride lines of that length or more by the time you make it back to Tomorrowland.

 

[Alison S]

Depends on the park, crowd level and what you want to do. And what time the park actually opens vs the posted time. For example, we arrived at AK about 5 minutes early, walked right in and over to everest where there was no line yet.

 

[elaine amj]

We have strolled in to MK at 9am with no problems. I think the sweet spot is either arriving very early or arriving just after open. I do agree that arriving 15 mins early just won't be pleasant. Especially at Epcot which has awful bag check lines.

But arriving just after open means you bypass all the rope drop crowds who have poured into the park. If u aren't trying to go to the major rides that develop super long lines instantaneously, you will have a very nice time.

 

[shocker]

I'm always very leery of the use of the term 'arrive.' You'll have to be way more specific as to where this 'arrival' is.

If its 15 min before park opening & you're driving under the 'Welcome to WDW' sign & getting very exciting because you saw Mickey, you are about 1 hour away from tapping your ticket to enter the park & you are quite late & waits will already be long.

If you're putting a car in park at a lot (or stepping off a disney boat/bus/monorail/gondola) 15 min before opening time, you'll hit gridlock at security & ticket taps & as PP said NOT ahead of any crowd.

If you're through security & ticket taps, visited a bathroom & are standing at a rope drop crowd 15 min before opening ready to head to your first ride of the day, then your timing is pretty good.

Happy planning.

 

[ars0525]

Don't forget about bag & security check. That adds on time just getting to the entrance to get inside the park.

 

[kniquy]

Is it ok to get there 15 minutes before the posted opening time? I am fastpassing most headliner rides and hitting the rides that build lines but aren’t headliners first thing in the am. Any info is appreciated.

If you are there (getting through security) 15 minutes ahead you should be ok. We typically arrived and were at MK walking up to the castle about 10 minutes prior to opening. As long as your RD plans are not trying to get to SDD or FOP you should be fine. Those rides require being there real early and in the front of the pack. The best way to plan your FP would be to start them at about 10-10:30 - this gives you the first hour or so to tackle many rides with shorter waits and then you can plan the FP for the more popular rides.

 

[YawningDodo]

We pretty much want to do it all. For MK on the first day we are doing tomorrowland first then fantasyland where our fastpasses will be. The second MK day we are doing adventureland followed by frontierland and liberty square where we have fastpasses. On our HS day, we are doing Toy story land first where Ill have Slinky FP. For AK, I'd like to do Kali river rapids and expedition everest first with a fastpass for safari, navi, and dinosaur later. Won;t be doing FOP I don't think because most of the kids aren't tall enough.

So it sounds like more than 15 minutes is needed for AK and HS?

Given this info, I think you're fine to follow your plan if the only goal is to get on non-headliners before the lines form. The question then is whether or not you care about welcome shows--though I think MK might be the only park that has one anymore (they moved it up to the castle stage, so they let people into Main Street before the rest of the park opens and hold them there until opening). If you want to see the welcome show, I'd give it more like 30 minutes to be sure you're through bag check in time, but if that's not a big deal for you I think 15 minutes would have you strolling through the front gate at the back end of the RD crowd, which is not a bad thing since you're not going to the same rides as most of them (much less madness back there).

Your plan is fine the way it is--and tbqh, if you don't like the way it goes on the first day, you can always adjust and do things differently on the second day.

 

[Kcags]

Thanks everyone. While I don't particularly care about welcome shows, I do care about waiting at security. My arrival of 15 minutes early would be when we get off the bus, so it sounds like that isn't going to give me an advantage. If most parks let you through the gates a bit early anyway, getting to the parks 30 minutes early may be better if we can swing it. Thanks again.

 

[dawnnikol]

I just wanted to chime in as someone who went to MK with a group of 15, including 6 kids. The age range was one 12 year old and the rest were between 3-7. We arrived well before RD and didn't have issues with the kids. Organizing the adults was the biggest issue.