We went to Magic Kingdom today, and parked at TTC and it took us more than 45 minutes to get in the park. We were late for early morning magic, (which turned out still okay) but security took forever, and the monorail was backed up and no one seemed to know if they should get on or not. The cast member up at the top left for a bit, and the only one running was labeled “resorts” and ran to the resorts.
We are headed back tomorrow, and today makes me nervous for when we are trying to go in with more people. Anyone have tips, or suggestions for what may have happened?
So is it really faster to walk to the Poly for bag check and then board the monorail? We have had issues getting to MK from the TTC on early mornings too.
We have found the ferry often faster than the resort monorail in the mornings! I do love the monorail but now I have a lot of love for the ferry too. Something about approaching the castle by water!
I have to say, on President’s Day I left POR around 7:10am. We drove to the TTC (parked real close) and walked to security. There was only one security checkpoint open. We started walking to the express monorail but it was not open yet so we went to the resort line. At 7:45 we were standing in the preRD line, waiting to go to BOG. It was the quickest and easiest experience getting into MK.
Similar to @PrincipalTinker, we did EMM President’s Day week and parked at the TTC. We arrived at the parking lot at around 7:00 from offsite and walked from the lot to bag check. I think there was maybe one family ahead of us at bag check at that time?
The ferry wasn’t running, so we took the resort monorail. Luckily there was one waiting when we got to the platform. It stopped at the Poly and GF before MK. I think we arrived at the gates to MK by about 7:30 so had tons of time to get our wristbands etc. before the start of EMM.
It isn’t likely faster. If you walk to the Poly, you will be getting on the same resort monorail that essentially just left the TTC. And, due to the time to talk to the Poly, you might miss a monorail, actually. The only time saved might be the security check, so it would depend on how backed up that is. The other potential issue is if the resort monorail leaving the TTC is full, then when it gets to the Poly, there might not be room to get on!
I don’t think Disney does a good enough job of making this clear. We’ve on multiple occasions not realized that the MK monorail wasn’t running until we got over there.
You do, but today, we breezed through security at TTC (right at 8am.). When the ferry got to MK, there was a decent wait at the security tables for those who got off the buses. I think we hit TTC at a fluke time with several issues.
Exactly. It was really unclear and no one was directing people when we got there. There are no ferries at that time, and only a monorail that says to the resorts.
For whatever reason they didn’t really advertise (or at least make it clear) that the resort monorail stops at Magic Kingdom & TTC. Maybe it is to keep the line in check for resort guests?
Thanks for the advice and perspective everyone!
TTC today was a completely different story. I was nervous about rope drop, since yesterday took so long at a much earlier time.
We arrived at TTC security today at 8am, and decided that since we’d gotten so much done yesterday, we wouldn’t stress if it took forever to get through, and we’d just do an easy first few rides.
Completely the opposite of yesterday!
Walked up to security right at 8am. Zero wait, only the time it took me to unzip the sides of my bag. Walked up toward the monorail, and a CM directed us to the ferry, saying it would be faster then. Walked on, quick ride, and in the park with plenty of time for our own pics, photopass and magic shots, and time to be in the front of the space mountain rope drop. Probably 25 minutes total, car door to Main Street.
The big differences I noticed-
1)Yesterday, huge backup at security. HUGE. Maybe I hit at a fluke time, but it seemed like they weren’t ready for many people that early. And I don’t remember seeing a no bag line that early. No one really directing people, just a big blob of people with few security searching.
No one directing people to monorail. Just get through security and figure it out, even though the only monorail line open said to resorts.
3)Today, several CMs directing people as we boarded the monorail. Yesterday, I saw the CM leave and, and it left a bunch of people standing and blocking, not boarding the monorail even though we could have. It was the perfect example of why it takes a village to make WDW run smoothly. Because I won’t say it was chaos without, but it was a cluster of wasted time for sure.
You are right…resort buses avoid the TTC.
No one was telling anyone anything unless we searched for someone. Crazy.