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

Like everyone else, we love doing SDMT first, but ONLY because we are committed rope droppers. We get up early pretty much every day... just our habit. So we are always in the front of the group waiting to get into Fantasy Land (ie: not backed up onto the bridge) and we are on and off of SDMT in 10 to 15 minutes after the rope drops, and head straight to SM. After that we make our way across the park to to Frontier Land and Adventure Land for Pirates, Thunder, Haunted. Amazing what you can get done in the morning! Then we "slow our roll" a bit and enjoy lots of less popular attractions. And we snack. And we snack some more!
 
What time would you arrive at AK for EE to rope drop FOP? (with an 8:30 opening time for EE)

Anyone done this here lately with great success? If so, did you arrive by Disney bus, Minnie Van or other?

Or would an ILL be worth the cost here?
 
The standard answer is to arrive at your resort transportation 90 mins before ETPE begins to arrive at transportation at 7AM. If you wish to take Minnie Van I would possibly aim for 7:15 but no later than that or buses will begin to get ahead of you if they arrive earlier than you.

We did this the last week of August and it worked well. Given that parks are busier now than when we were there I think it's still a solid plan.
 
Last edited:
SL6827 said:
What time would you arrive at AK for EE to rope drop FOP? (with an 8:30 opening time for EE)

Anyone done this here lately with great success? If so, did you arrive by Disney bus, Minnie Van or other?

Or would an ILL be worth the cost here?
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When you get to AK stay to the right side at the entrance - they usually end up opening more lanes to the right before they let everyone in. I showed up at 7:00 for 7:30 early entry (I drove there) and was able to anticipate another tap opening and be first in line for it.

After they let us in I hustled to the early entry checkpoint and was the leader of the pack going to FoP at one point. Others did pass me as I’m not the most in shape person but I was on the very first load of the day for my section of the ride.
 


We will be at Disney World in November. There are 4 of us and we are staying on Disney property. We have another individual joining us who is not staying with us. We will be doing rope drop every day we enter the parks. The person joining us obviously won't be able to do rope drop. Can this individual enter the parks the same time as us but not do rope drop or will she have to stay outside of the parks and enter 1/2 hour later? Thanks for any information you can provide to us.
 
BigDis said:
We will be at Disney World in November. There are 4 of us and we are staying on Disney property. We have another individual joining us who is not staying with us. We will be doing rope drop every day we enter the parks. The person joining us obviously won't be able to do rope drop. Can this individual enter the parks the same time as us but not do rope drop or will she have to stay outside of the parks and enter 1/2 hour later? Thanks for any information you can provide to us.
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They usually only scan one band per party so you shouldn’t have a problem getting them in for early entry.
 
musicguy856 said:
They usually only scan one band per party so you shouldn’t have a problem getting them in for early entry.
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But they do ask how many are in your party... They will be able to enter, but will be stopped on Main Street. You will scan your band, and they ask how many... Unless someone from your party is not with you.
 


cindianne320 said:
But they do ask how many are in your party... They will be able to enter, but will be stopped on Main Street. You will scan your band, and they ask how many... Unless someone from your party is not with you.
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In that case split up into two groups with at least one onsite guest in each group. The onsite guest scans their MB and as long as the number in the party is the same or fewer than listed for the room, you should be able to get in.
 
Thanks for the responses. The fifth person in our party will be happy that she can enter the park with us and then spend time on Main Street while the rest of us ride for the first 1/2 hour.
 
What's the current best practice for using skyliner from pop century for a HS and/or Epcot rope drop? What time should we get to the skyliner?
 
What is the current status on Tower being open for early entry.... last few times it didn't open till official park opening.
 
ToT is listed as an attraction that should be open for ETPE but, no attraction is guaranteed. There are many reports of guests riding this attraction during ETPE.
 
So it’s 8:44 and SDMT is 70 min wait but the app is listing wait times for all the rides in MK right now…kot just Fantasyland and Tomorrow Land. Does that mean they just opened the park early to everyone today?
 
LandonDunes said:
So it’s 8:44 and SDMT is 70 min wait but the app is listing wait times for all the rides in MK right now…kot just Fantasyland and Tomorrow Land. Does that mean they just opened the park early to everyone today?
Click to expand...
No, they show wait times during early entry.
 
I know there is no right way to do early entry, but I wonder if any has forgone the big tickets (SDMT, space, PP) and just used that time to hit fantasy land small rides..

My plan might be to do that- and book ILL for SDMT and genie + for space.. Peter Pan isn't a must do.. but I'm thinking using early entry and the first but after park open might be a good way to get in the smaller stuff while starting to use genie+...

I'll have my 7 year old...
 
katyringo said:
I know there is no right way to do early entry, but I wonder if any has forgone the big tickets (SDMT, space, PP) and just used that time to hit fantasy land small rides..

My plan might be to do that- and book ILL for SDMT and genie + for space.. Peter Pan isn't a must do.. but I'm thinking using early entry and the first but after park open might be a good way to get in the smaller stuff while starting to use genie+...

I'll have my 7 year old...
Click to expand...
Yes, we’ve done this too and it works well. ETPE is a great way to enjoy any attraction that is open until the parks open to all guests.
 
What time do you like to arrive at AK for EE and to get in the front of the line for FOP?
 
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