Im wondering what the earliest buses and boats are to the parks from Boardwalk? Is it still about 1 hour before early entry? Or are they sometimes earlier? I want to be at the front of the pack for rope drop.
Secondarily, I am wondering how feasible it is to watch the first showing of Fantasmic and still make it to the other night time show at HS?
Thanks to anyone who can advise on those! So excited for my trip this week!
I believe walking to both HS and EP will beat any boat to the park. I leave BW about 75-90 minutes before EE. At HS if you start walking 90 minutes before EE you should be at the very front of the line.
What is the Skyliner situation in the mornings these days? Do they run the Skyliner from BC to HS in time for EE? When I was there in 2021, at least officially, they did not.
Also the walk is more uphill to EP and not much shorter than just cutting through the pool area and walking the straight, flat path to HS.
They do. We had an 8am EE open and we were able to get on the Skyliner in time. I know we got through security, ordered Starbucks and were in TSL at 7:55. We must’ve been on the Skyliner around 7:10-7:15.
Thanks! That’s good to know. We’ll be at Beach Club so it’s much easier to take Skyliner than walking.
Last time we went (May 2022) 3 of us (adults) walked from the Dolphin to HS (10-15mins) We arrived about 1 hour (6:30AM) before EE which started at 7:30AM. We were not the first in line but watched for an empty TS and had our son stand there (just in case). They did end up opening up the TS and they let us all in at around 7:20AM I believe. I remember everyone around us trying to book their 1st LL at the gate at 7:00AM. We were surprised how many were there when we got there.
Jeff - to be clear - we took the SL from CBR not Beach or Yacht club. I believe both lines were running though, so it shouldn’t be much different.
Oh that actually could be a different schedule. In 2021 they would run the HS line in the morning but not the Epcot line. But I think I have heard reports they started running both at some point since then. Just hoping to get confirmation first hand.
Have you asked on chat? I bet you could get an answer from a recent experience pretty quickly.
In December the Friendship boats started one hour before earliest park open (e.g. at 7am for 8am DHS opening, Epcot opened at 8.30 at the time). If you have a moment the night before, you could just ask one of the boat captains at the dock to confirm the starting time.
That said, I agree with others that if walking is an option for you, and you want a guaranteed spot in the front of the pack, walking will beat any other form of transport to DHS and Epcot IG. Epcot IG is very close to Boardwalk in any case, and while DHS is a bit longer, that also means the boat is particularly slow because it was two stops (BC/YC and Swan/Dolphin) before it docks at DHS.
Have a great trip!