Christmas time RD help please!

Ok it’s been a few years since we have been to Disney and from what have been reading the parks sometimes open before published times? And rides are running before official open time?? We plan on being at RD everyday to help a little with the Christmas crowds please ANY advise you can give me would be a wonderful Christmas present! :love:

I made all our FP today and did our touring plan as best as I could to help zig while others zag! We LOVE Disney and I know it will be a different trip then we are use to with the heavy Christmas crowds however trying to do what I can to help make it a great trip!

This is called Extra Magic Hours. (EMH) It is a one hour window ONLY for guests staying on-site at a WDW hotel. It is usually one of the four parks each day of the week. You can check Disney’s website to see their calendar. Also, Touring Plans will have the info / hours for each park as you start to make your plan. During this time select sections of the park are running - not all rides.

There are also select days you can pay $89 per adult to enter MK at 7:30am for an event called Early Morning Magic. (EMM) This price includes an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast & seven of the Fantasyland rides.

The best advice I can give is to get to the parks at least 1 hour before they open. This means you’ll have to wake up really early to allow yourself 45 minutes just to get to the gates and then wait the hour. You can do far more in the first two hours of park opening than any other time. So many people aren’t early risers and don’t want to wake up early on their vacation. I’d rather take a midday break / nap after having done 6+ attractions with little wait than stroll in late and spend my morning being lucky to complete 3 attractions each with a 40+ minute queue.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/early-morning-magic/

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Thanks! I do know what the EMH are what I am talking about is reading about them opening BEFORE published times. How do we plan for these? We always get a hour before however is this allowing enough time? Especially at Christmas time!

I’m guessing what you’ve heard about is the park being “open” and allowing guests to into the main thoroughfares before the published times.

For example - in MK you are allowed on Main Street and into those shops one hour before official / “published” times. You can wait at the entrances of the lands, but only going as far as a roped off barrier which will be lowered when the park is open - hence “Rope Drop”. No attractions are available until park open. (Unless you are doing EMM or are an on-site guest doing EMH.)

Another example - At Epcot you are allowed into FW, but have to wait at Spaceship Earth… and so forth.

I’m not aware of and feel pretty confident in saying there are not times when the park fully opens / operates outside of their published hours. (even during busy holiday times)

I know this probably isn’t the answer you were hoping for, but I hope it helps!

AK often opens half an hour before the posted opening, and you can ride FOP or Navi at this time. It has been like this for awhile now. That is the only park that does it though.

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