Everything Early Theme Park Entry (ETPE) - Please Read Post 1

[scrappinginontario]

Did you notice if the epcot skyliner line was open at that time too?

The Skyliner starts running approx 1 hour before ETPE.

 

[fsjking]

The Skyliner starts running approx 1 hour before ETPE.

That was what I thought too until the PP said they were on it at 7:15. That would be at least 1:15 before ETPE

 

[scrappinginontario]

That was what I thought too until the PP said they were on it at 7:15. That would be at least 1:15 before ETPE

Yes, that’s why I said approx. Most days it’s 60 min before park opening but it can be earlier by a bit. Post 1 has a lot of helpful information people have shared, gathered into one location. It can help you decide what is best for your family.

 

[soniam]

Just FYI for the days that Magic Kingdom is opening at 8am(7:30 for early entry) monorail is not dropping off at MK until 7am. Boats are not running until 7am. We were held at turnstiles until 7:15/7:20ish. Pretty much not much point arriving much before 7am.

On Tuesday and this morning, the BW bus to MK dropped off at 6:30. We were held at security until about or just after 7am. We were held at the tapstiles until close to 7:30. However, we were at the front of a huge crowd, which pretty much allowed us to walk on to at least the first ride and have a short wait on others. By 6:45, the line behind us was very big.

 

[sam1985]

Beach club to HS... Skyliner or boat? Walking is out....went a bit too hard at Epcot now little legs are tired

 

[scrappinginontario]

Will be at EPCOT on Friday..posted opening is at 11:00....what time will they actually let you in the gates and what time will attractions start operating?

Your question has been merged with the 'Everything Early Theme Park Entry' thread. Post 1 contains help for your question and a lot of other helpful information gathered from other DISboard members.

 

[CarolynFH]

Beach club to HS... Skyliner or boat? Walking is out....went a bit too hard at Epcot now little legs are tired

The Skyliner might be a faster depending on how long you have to wait for the boat. If you walk out the main BC door to the lakefront and the boat is approaching from BW or at the YC/BC dock, I’d take the Skyliner for sure. If it’s just coming under the bridge from Epcot, heading for BW, that would be good timing to take the boat.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

Seeing some reports of onsite guests being let into the park a full hour before early entry begins (an hour and a half before official park opening). And then getting onto their first rides a half-hour before the official start of early entry (an hour before the official opening of the park).

Does anyone know which rides are being operated that early? I think I've seen reports of RotR, FOP, and SDMT. What about Test Track? SDD? The Sunset Boulevard rides? EE? BTMRR? I'm just trying to get a sense of what my options would be if we are able to get up and rolling that early on our trip.

For instance, I would love to be able to finish SDD at 8:10 on a morning with a 9:00 opening. Then maybe we could do TSMM and one or even both of RnRC and ToT before the offsite guests even arrive? That would be amazing!

But on the other hand, I would hate to get there way early and get in the line for Toy Story Land only to find out the hard way that people are let onto RotR at 8:00, but aren't let onto SDD (or any of the other rides) until closer to 8:30.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Seeing some reports of onsite guests being let into the park a full hour before early entry begins (an hour and a half before official park opening). And then getting onto their first rides a half-hour before the official start of early entry (an hour before the official opening of the park).

Does anyone know which rides are being operated that early? I think I've seen reports of RotR, FOP, and SDMT. What about Test Track? SDD? The Sunset Boulevard rides? EE? BTMRR? I'm just trying to get a sense of what my options would be if we are able to get up and rolling that early on our trip.

For instance, I would love to be able to finish SDD at 8:10 on a morning with a 9:00 opening. Then maybe we could do TSMM and one or even both of RnRC and ToT before the offsite guests even arrive? That would be amazing!

But on the other hand, I would hate to get there way early and get in the line for Toy Story Land only to find out the hard way that people are let onto RotR at 8:00, but aren't let onto SDD (or any of the other rides) until closer to 8:30.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

Was this recently or, possibly on Nov 12th when ETPE began 30 mins early? This is the first I've heard of guests being allowed to ride 1 hour early. May I ask where you've seen this?

 

[Grasshopper2016]

Was this recently or, possibly on Nov 12th when ETPE began 30 mins early? This is the first I've heard of guests being allowed to ride 1 hour early. May I ask where you've seen this?

Here is one example:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...egy-only-thread.3857056/page-95#post-63570501
I have seen several other similar reports in the last week. I would have to track them down.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Here is one example:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...egy-only-thread.3857056/page-95#post-63570501
I have seen several other similar reports in the last week. I would have to track them down.

Thanks. I think you're best to also ask your questions in the threads where people are reporting they started running attractions 30 mins before ETPE. So far it has not been reported on this thread (that I'm aware of) so not sure you would get answers here - until people start to report their experiences in this thread.

This thread is updated as people share their experiences here and so far, nobody has done that so not sure which rides may be running early and, how long this might happen. Crowds are still high due to Thanksgiving week so not sure how long this may happen. Is it just a temporary thing due to heavier crowds or, is this going to continue? Nobody really knows.

 

[soniam]

DHS last week was letting people ride Rise and Smugglers as early as 1 hour before regular park opening (8am on a 9am day). Toy Story Land waited until 30 minutes before.

 

[BrotherCraig]

We just got back and we never used early admission into the parks. We tried everyday but just could not make it happen. It all worked out. So if you don't make it, it's okay. As long as you are on Genie+ at 7 AM to book your rides - if using Genie+ - it will be okay.

 

[Casey LC]

Was this recently or, possibly on Nov 12th when ETPE began 30 mins early? This is the first I've heard of guests being allowed to ride 1 hour early. May I ask where you've seen this?

I rode ROR this morning at 8:00am. Early entry didn’t start until 8:30. I had Smugglers Run done by 8:40 as well. I asked the cast member at the attraction if they usually do this, and he said for a couple rides they do and that this morning they were having a “really good morning”. I’m guess that means there was no mechanical issues with the ride.

 

[Casey LC]

For those that care, you can take an Uber/Lyft into Hollywood Studios seemingly as early as you want. Rideshare uses the bus entrance, not the car entrance. I arrived via Uber at 7:15 for a park open of 9am. I beat every resort bus and the sky liner. There was maybe 30 people there before me, I guess either walk ins from nearby resorts or other Uber users. It made for a super easy day, if one doesn’t mind getting up that early.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thanks to those who have shared their recent experiences.

I have updated DHS to include that RotR and MFSR may begin running up to an hour before ETPE.

Has anyone experienced any other attractions at DHS or anything at other parks that is running earlier than the 30 min ETPE time?

For those that care, you can take an Uber/Lyft into Hollywood Studios seemingly as early as you want. Rideshare uses the bus entrance, not the car entrance. I arrived via Uber at 7:15 for a park open of 9am. I beat every resort bus and the sky liner. There was maybe 30 people there before me, I guess either walk ins from nearby resorts or other Uber users. It made for a super easy day, if one doesn’t mind getting up that early.

Thank you. Post 1 was updated with this information also.

 

[Casey LC]

Thanks to those who have shared their recent experiences.

I have updated DHS to include that RotR and MFSR may begin running up to an hour before ETPE.

Has anyone experienced any other attractions at DHS or anything at other parks that is running earlier than the 30 min ETPE time?

I rope dropped Flight of Passage on Saturday and it did NOT start extra early. They didn’t even let us into AK until almost the start of Early Entry.

same for space mountain. I rope dropped that on Friday and it started running right at the normal time. I can’t speak for Mine Train though.

 

[soniam]

I rope dropped Flight of Passage on Saturday and it did NOT start extra early. They didn’t even let us into AK until almost the start of Early Entry.

same for space mountain. I rope dropped that on Friday and it started running right at the normal time. I can’t speak for Mine Train though.

We saw the same thing with Space and at AK. Everest did not start until EE also.

The other note is that they sometimes have you go through security or the tapstiles near 7am. At MK on Sunday, I was still doing my Genie+ and ILL selections at 7am when they had us walk through security. I was the 3rd person behind the scanner. Most days, they seemed to not have people move until a decent time after the 7am Genie+/ILL selection time, like 10 minutes or so.

 

[ChanaC]

For anyone who has rope dropped HS lately, where does it seem the mass of crowds tend to go? I assume it's a combination of RotR, MFSR, SDD, and MMRR. I'm planning on rope dropping MMRR but am interested to know where everyone else seems to be heading.

 

[BrotherCraig]

For anyone who has rope dropped HS lately, where does it seem the mass of crowds tend to go? I assume it's a combination of RotR, MFSR, SDD, and MMRR. I'm planning on rope dropping MMRR but am interested to know where everyone else seems to be heading.

You assume correctly. MMRR is your best bet if not purchasing ILL$. We purchased it and also had SDD booked via LL. So we hit ToT first and it was about a 7 minute wait. Rocking Rollercoaster was about the same. Both posted as 20 minutes but it was 7 minutes actual.