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Early Theme Park Entry is supposed to be a great benefit for Guests staying onsite. Here is why it may actually be disappointing instead.
Early Entry
Early Theme Park Entry is a new(ish) benefit for all guests staying at Disney resort hotel. It began in the fall of 2021 and replaced morning Extra Magic Hours. All guests utilizing this benefit can take advantage of entering the parks 30 minutes before the parks officially open.
What can be done in 30 minutes? A lot more than you think! It can save you hours of waiting later in the day and will free up time for you to knock out other attractions or head back for an afternoon rest.
Maggie has 5 really good reasons why you should use it. Be sure to read her post HERE. But, what happens when things don’t go as planned?
So many ride closures
Utilizing Early Entry to complete many popular attractions is a great use of time. This will allow you to ride other ones later in the day when these popular ones have the highest wait.
This morning, Early Entry started at 8:30 am at all four theme parks. To the disappointment of many Guests, several attractions at Disney World were closed for this 30-minute time period.
At Magic Kingdom, Space Mountain and PeopleMover were closed. That means the only remaining attractions to do in Tomorrowland would be the Speedway, Buzz Lightyear, and Astro Orbiter. Those people would have been better off starting in Fantasyland.
At Epcot, Frozen Ever After and The Seas with Nemo were both closed. Imagine all the people walking around the World Showcase to get to Frozen Ever After just to discover it’s closed. Walking to another attraction is basically a waste of your free 30 minutes.
In Hollywood Studios, both Tower of Terror and Slinky Dog Dash were not operating. These are very popular rides that would have been great to do during Early Entry. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible and now Guests will need to face higher wait times in order to ride.
DINOSAUR is closed at Animal Kingdom. Most people head to Pandora during Early Entry, so this isn’t as big of a blow.
Park Opening
Now that is is 9:00 am and all parks are officially open for the day, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has been added to the list of closed rides. It does appear Slinky Dog Dash is open which is good news, so hopefully onsite Guests can ride before the wave of offsite Guests enter the park.
Are you at Disney World for Early Entry today? What was your experience like? Let us know in the comments below and share this post with a friend.
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