I’ve done my research and, thanks to you guys, know that I need to allow at least an hour for travel time. I’ve also been planning to get to the park 1 hour before opening each day. Is that a good plan or does it vary by park and Early morning Hours? How early would you get to the park each day if you had this schedule:
Epcot: opens at 8 am (EMH)
MK: opens at 8 am (EMH)
AK: open at 8 am (EMH)
MK: I have early breakfast reservation at 8:25 at BOG (get there at 7:45??)
Hollywood Studios: opens at 9 am
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I’ve never done EMH, but we’ve often been the first vehicle in the lot. Pre-attendant. We leave the off-site rental house about 90-105 mins before park open.
We usually have Crystal Palace at MK PPO so that’s different.
For the record (and if it hasn’t changed), they will accept you at BOG before 8:25.
Taken from another Disney Blog:
“Also keep in mind that on a day with a regular 9am open, anyone with a Be Our Guest Restaurant reservation before 9am will be allowed to head back immediately after being released from the main entrance at 7:45am. If your reservation is for 8:30am or 8:45am then you don’t have to wait until then to head back to breakfast. Your reservation is just as good as an 8am reservation as far as Disney and the restaurant are concerned”.
So it could be better off arriving at 8:00 to have time for breakfast and be in front of the crowd at 8:45. Also note that pre-ordering your food will also speed things up.
For EMH at MK: If you want to RD 7DMT, I would arrive between 7:15 and 7:30. If not, 7:45 should be good.
For EMH at Epcot, you should be ahead of the crowd for TT, Soarin’ or FEA arriving at 7:30.
For EMH at AK, I would arrive at 7:00 to RD FOP. If not, 7:45 should be good.
For HS, I would arrive at 6:45 to RD SDD. If not, 7:45 should be good.
Hope it helps !
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I don’t think you specify when you are going crowd-size wise, but I can tell you that when we were there a week ago, 30 minutes before an opening time would not be enough to get through the bag check line, metal detector line, and the line of people just waiting to get through the gates. We went earlier each day and never got to our first attraction line less than 45 minutes LATER than what was on our plan. Since you can’t figure that into your touring plan calculations, only option is to go way earlier that you think you need to.
It’s a level 7 crowd day pretty much every day we’re there. Sounds like I should stick to my plan of aiming for an hour before opening. Id rather be early than late.
Follow up question for those who are dining plan experts: If we want to use a snack credit as breakfast, are there places to grab a snack breakfast while waiting for the park to open (once inside I assume) that way we could eat while we wait? I think I read that Starbucks inside MK is open before park opening. Any other suggestions?