Buses and Bag Check

So, if I take a 7:45 bus from POR to a park for rope drop, will I be able to get through bag check in time to really experience rope drop?

How early should we plan to be on a bus to take advantage of opening times?

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Depends on the time of opening and the park? I’m guessing this is the standard 9AM opening and MK? Myself, I would actually want to show at MK AT 7:45 for that (because they let you into Main Street just shy of 8AM and allow you to meander about for the hour). Having that extra hour to get the lay of the land as well as grab some semi-empty Main Street photos is a great way to spend the morning.

But if you’re not interested in that, I think if you show by 8:30, you should be relatively ok and able to be get to most, if not all, of what you’re after. So a 7:45 bus from POR should be fine, I think.

Can’t comment on the rest of the parks, I’ve never done rope drop at them.

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Depends what time the park opens, and which park.

Assuming normal park opening @ 9am, no EMH:

MK - everyone can enter at 8am and go as far as the Hub. If you want to be near the front, I would be at the park entrance by 7:30am.

AK - they will lead the line in groups as far as the entrance to Pandora / Discovery Island starting 45-60 minutes before opening. If ripe dropping Pandora, many people will get there 60-90 minutes before opening, otherwise you can pretty much turn up at opening, maybe 15 minutes before.

DHS - ditto. If you’re heading to TSL at rope drop, then be there an hour before opening. Otherwise 15 minutes before.

Epcot - the least problematic. They tend to let people in a little early (15 minutes?) but not far, just enough to allow security to keep checking bags.

And the advice is usually, be at the bus stop around 45 minutes before you want to be at the park.

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This.

Also, depending how important it is for you to be at park by a certain time, be prepared to flex your plans. First morning buses can be a little wonky at times. We have been known, for AK in particular, to bail on waiting for the bus and call a Lyft instead. Wouldn’t be that important to us at other locations, however.

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You all are amazing, thanks for all the advice, again!