8:20am ADR Crystal Palace

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

We have a 8:20am ADR at the Crystal Palace. The park opens at 9am.
1)What's the earliest we can get into the MK? We're staying at POP, do the busses correspond with the earliest you can in the Park?
2)Does anyone have any advice or thoughts or experiences of what to do/done getting into MK this early?

Thanks

 

[JDUCKY]

There are character dining buses that run well before the regular park opening.

Be sure to have your ADR confirmation # handy to give to a CM so that you can get into the MK early.

 

[cruisekat]

We have an 8:20 at CP also...yours isn't on March 23 is it?? lol We have done this before...buses run very early, and there is a special gate entrance
on the left for entrance into MK for those with early ADR's...nothing beats walking down an almost empty Main St in the early a.m.!

 

[cbg1027]

The buses start running at 6:30am. I would be at the bus stop by 7:20 for an 8:20 CP ADR.

They generally will let you in 10-15 minutes before your ADR time.

At the ticket turnstiles, one will have a sign over it that says something like "Breakfast Gate".....have your confirmation number on you as they sometime will ask for it before letting you in.

Go in as soon as they let you and get photos of the castle and an empty Main Street before you eat!

 

[AmandaJayne]

Dont' worry!..it's true the buses run early because of all the early morning ressies..and yes, to the far right, when i was there, there is a "special" entrance to the park for early ressies, We had 8:20 ressies and they didn't open for the early ressies until like 8 but we still had time to walk down the empty main street, and take lots of pictures..it only takes less than 5 minutes..if you don't gawk at everything..to get to the crystal palace.
It is the BEST time to get pictures of the castle without a TON of ppl in the background.

 

[Jack&Ryan'smom]

Get to the bus stop at 7:2o the latest...but earlier if you can. We stayed at POP in Sept. and had 8:2o CP ressies. We got to the bus stop at 7:20 and the line was huge!! The Magic Kingdom buses were not running as often as buses to the other parks. In our line were lots of people in wheelchairs/scooters which took very long for them to load. We were running into MK for our ressies. I wish we could have enjoyed more time & taken more pictures on an empty Main Street!!

 

[shawnh199]

You won't have any problem catching a bus early enough to get to MK. Buses for MK begin running about 6:30am, but don't run as often as they do during regular times so keep that in mind.

You can go through security check-in when you get to MK and there will be a line or two to the far right for early morning breakfast ADR's. They did not check our ADR when we were there in December. You won't get through the gates until they open it up @ 7:45am. We got there fairly early and waited a good 15-20 minutes (with light rain falling, but we had ponchos) before the gates were opened at 7:45am.

Check in as early as possible at the restaurant. We ate at Crystal Palace and had 8:15am ressies but we were the 5th family seated around it's opening @ 8:05!

Hope you get some great pictures before everyone else gets in the park. It was beautiful, quiet and peaceful walking up Mainstreet towards the castle with hardly anyone there.

 

[Reto]

You won't have any problem catching a bus early enough to get to MK. Buses for MK begin running about 6:30am, but don't run as often as they do during regular times so keep that in mind.

You can go through security check-in when you get to MK and there will be a line or two to the far right for early morning breakfast ADR's. They did not check our ADR when we were there in December. You won't get through the gates until they open it up @ 7:45am. We got there fairly early and waited a good 15-20 minutes (with light rain falling, but we had ponchos) before the gates were opened at 7:45am.

Check in as early as possible at the restaurant. We ate at Crystal Palace and had 8:15am ressies but we were the 5th family seated around it's opening @ 8:05!

Hope you get some great pictures before everyone else gets in the park. It was beautiful, quiet and peaceful walking up Mainstreet towards the castle with hardly anyone there.

shawnh199's descriptions are true. I also had an ADR for 8:20 AM at the CP on November 10, 2009 and also stayed at the Pop. I was at the bus stop at around 7:10 AM and I remember from the sign inside the bus that we pulled away at exactly 7:18 AM. So don't worry, there will be buses running, just make sure you're at the bus stop by absolutely no later than 7:15.

Had to wait a little bit until they let the breakfast people into the MK, and thanks to a short but fast sprint, I was able to pass all other folks and for one or two minutes, I was the very first to walk down Main Street. Can't beat that peaceful sight of my beloved castle, it was a very great feeling being able to do this. A very magical start into another great Disney day.

This is one of the pics I was able to shoot until the other guests catched up from behind me:

 

[Tourmgt]

What if you are staying offsite and drive to park? We have ress at CP on 2/23 @ 8:15.

 

[candielips]

IF they let you in at 7:45 and you have an 8:20am reservation, are you free to roam the park and snap pics until 8:20 or just the Main Street area?

 

[starrysky]

IF they let you in at 7:45 and you have an 8:20am reservation, are you free to roam the park and snap pics until 8:20 or just the Main Street area?

The only area that is open is the main street area and the hub although you can get right into the castle but it is roped off at the entrance to fantasy land.
All of the other areas are roped off too.

 

[JDUCKY]

What if you are staying offsite and drive to park? We have ress at CP on 2/23 @ 8:15.

Park at the TTC and monorail it in. If, for some reason, the monorails aren't running (happened to my DD and I once), then you'd have to take a ferry in.

I'd be sure I was at the TTC by 7:30...7:45 at the latest.

 

[Googilycub]

From our experience, they start letting people in about 0800, but you have to have your reservation number ready. They start running the busses about 2 hours before park opening. Have your camera ready...it's the only time you will be able to get a pic of the castle without people standing in front of it! Have fun!

 

[candielips]

Thanks for all the info in this thread. We are planning a breakfast at CP purely based on the fact of being able to see MK empty. We cannot wait for all of the great photos we will be able to get.

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

Thanks everyone for the help and advice!

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

We have an 8:20 at CP also...yours isn't on March 23 is it?? lol We have done this before...buses run very early, and there is a special gate entrance
on the left for entrance into MK for those with early ADR's...nothing beats walking down an almost empty Main St in the early a.m.!

Our ADRs are on the 26th. I can't wait to see Main Street and the Castle with very few people in the way!