We are heading down tomorrow and having to book a hotel for Saturday night until our (off-site) condo is ready on Sunday. Disney just announced that they are going to do a soft opening with the 30-min EE starting Sunday. So…how far behind the 8 ball do y’all think we will be with Slinky, TOT, RNRC if we don’t book an on-site hotel (we will *not be heading straight for RoTR)? We haven’t booked anything yet, so trying to decide what route to go…
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I think I would book on-site if you can find something reasonable and then go to HS if you are want to ride everything there. Maybe someone with more up-to-date info can chime in, but we went in June and being early for a rope drop was key. With the heat it was so nice to get those major rides done early morning then take a little break mid afternoon and go back to finish out rides at night. If you really want to get on rise then I would make it a priority to get there by at least 7:30? What do others think about timing?
If you get early entry, you might be able to complete 1 headliner and get in line for another. That might save you as much as an hour in line total vs. waiting later in the day. But you do have to get there early, so you’re losing sleep. And it’s not like you won’t get to ride the same ride later - you just have to wait a bit longer. So weigh the extra cost accordingly.
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I’m confused. Why are we assuming that off-siters cannot get in early like they have been? The official Early Entry start date is still October 1st and many other people have booked there trips accordingly. How can they lock out certain guests with no warning?
All I’ve read is that there will be a separate entry for resort guests, not seeing other details.
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@bebe80 I hope you’re right. We ended up booking our hotel for tomorrow off-site. Wondering if I should just show up for EE on Sunday??
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Here’s the wording from Disney’s email, which seems to indicate it will only be for onsite guests even before October 1st:
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Thanks! We always stay off-site and I purposefully planned our trip with the sole purpose to avoid EE. Bummed.
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I posted yesterday.
Early entry is starting a soft opening on Sunday. The email said to look for the resort guest entry lines.
This is the full wording (bolded part is mine):
“We are so excited to welcome you for your upcoming stay!
Soon, Guests who stay in the magic at a Disney Resort hotel can enjoy 30 minutes early entry to any Walt Disney World ® Theme Park every day as part of the dazzling Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary Celebration.
We’re excited to share that we will be offering a soft opening of this new benefit during your stay. Beginning September 26th, you will have the opportunity to enjoy 30 minutes early entry to any Walt Disney World Theme Park. That’s more time for enchantment at Magic Kingdom ® Park. More excitement at Disney’s Animal Kingdom ® Theme Park. More adventure at Disney’s Hollywood Studios ®. More possibilities at EPCOT®. It’s a great way to jump-start your Disney day, no matter the day!
Once you’ve arrived at the main entrance of your desired theme park, be sure to look for the “Early Entry for Participating Hotels” signage to enter the park.
A Park reservation and valid ticket or pass for the same Park on the same date and valid Resort ID are required.”
The most likely option is that they hold offsite guests until the official opening time, otherwise there will be a bottle neck and onsite guests arriving towards the end of the EE time won’t be able to get through.
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Thanks.
The whole email is comical to me because it’s portrayed as something new. Not really new, just different entry protocol. But I guess it is new for MK, as it was the only park not using the 30 minute early rope drop for the last few months.
So I guess it’s just tap and go, instead of tap and wait at the rope?
Sorry, I’m just venting because I’m bummed also since we are off-siters too.
In March, we tapped into HS at 8:20 and were on SDD by 8:30. 
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It’s new in that only on-site guests will get in early. And it’s official, unlike the last year or so when it was widely known but not reflected in the published park times.
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But it isn’t really new. Morning EMH and more recently EMM ran for years. I guess this is what puzzles me about the confusion. Granted they could do the equivalent of the MK Hub at each park rather than holding them at the gate. We’ll have to see.
And I totally understand why those people staying offsite will be p****d off by this starting earlier than announced.
I can also see why people used to the last year and more , where everyone was let in early and were allowed to ride early will be annoyed that they’ll no longer be able to do it.
But it does seem as if there are a lot of people on several forums who seem to think that this is a brand new thing.
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Do we expect a slightly early entry even above EE? Universal does that but I’m not sure if Disney did before with EMH.
I do not think 30 minutes is worth the cost of an eligible hotel if you’re not already there.
I think the 30 min EE is laughable in terms of advantage. I hope I am proven wrong. But I would absolutely never pay just for that.
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Interesting. So you’re not buying the modelling that the TP team did for MK? Is that because of the changes coming, Genie+ etc or were you uncertain from the start?
So here’s why I’m interested. I’ve never been a rope dropper, it just isn’t our style. But then I liked planning my days around FP+ which I was always able to get what I wanted. So although I would rather plan ahead and used very loose plans in the past, I realised I was going to have to change with the paid FP replacement. I had too much credible info that it would be moving to on the day booking.
And therefore for our next trip I’m planning at least a few days of early entry. DH is on board with it too. And I’m clinging to Len’s theory that it’ll be worthwhile. So I might finally be able to call myself a Liner. 
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It’s not dissimilar, to me, to paying to ride rides via LL$$. Think of the exponential cost increase to stay onsite. If a person is already doing it, by all means partake. But paying that much more to stay onsite for ONE SINGLE 30 minute advantage is a silly way to spend money to me. Just as I won’t be paying for LL$$, I would not do this.
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Yeah, I wouldn’t advocate moving onsite just to do the early entry.
But I probably will be buying one or two LL+ rides. I can see us paying for Rise, possibly Tron if it’s still using BGs and Ll+ by next Christmas and maybe FoP.
Even if the waits stay as they have been the last few days with standby only?
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I do and I’m sure others do. I’m thinking 45 minutes early. But we’ll see what happens.
We’ll be there over Christmas. Enough said, me thinks.
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