Planning on being at the parks about 30-45 min before actual opening, but don’t most parks let you in before the actual official opening time? How do you account for that in the TP? It won’t let me change the hours. Seems like those 15 min, or however long it is, could really throw things off.
Also, how much earlier do each of the parks usually open?
Thanks!
Most of the times now the parks open at the posted time. Getting there 45- 60 minutes before scheduled open puts you in front of hundreds of later arriving guests. Hollywood Studios used to consistently open 30 minutes or so early but rarely does so now.
We’ve been let in early on 2 occasions, both of which we had to wait until the official opening time to actually ride anything l. So just because I’m let in at 8:50 doesn’t mean that’s when I’m riding Dinosaur, that’s when I’m standing in a line, waiting for it to open right at 9. Which saves a few minutes on the TP still, but nothing dramatic.
Thanks for the info! I thought they let you in early 15 min or so at most parks, especially on the more crowded days. At least let you in to a 2nd RD further in the park. Then the TP would start a little sooner b/c you’d be closer to the 1st attraction. But I haven’t been in many years so things have changed I guess.
MK will be just after the welcome show. DAK sometimes lets people in early but holds them at the tree. I’ve gotten into DHS 15 min early quite often. And, EP has let me in 15 min early too occasionally.
Just go to your first 2-3 attractions on your plan, mark them complete, reoptomize and continue. No worries.
Thanks for your input and experiences!
Is there not a way to make the 1st attraction start time earlier, more realistic to when it would be if they do let you in early? Was just trying to get a better idea of the actual timing before hand since certain things depend on times like fpp, adrs and shows.
Will try the reoptomize in the parks, although a few of my plans I had to evaluate for different reasons so that might throw things off, which I’m sure would set me in panic mode, lol! I do much better planning ahead of time then on the fly!
If there was a way to do this, I would probably make 2 plans, 1 in case we were let in early, 1 in case we weren’t. I’m crazy, I know!
I don’t believe there is a way to do so, and it’s not a guarantee that you’ll get in early, or that the attraction that you arrive at first will even be operating yet. A few minutes change on a TP won’t make THAT much of a difference. It’ll all work out and you’ll have a great trip!
Thanks for calming me down! Trying to be precise w/ the tp since it seems to be so precise!!
Chiming in here too from our experience a few weeks back.
MK - opened early to front area for welcome show and straight in after the welcome show
EP - opened early in and then to rope either side of the ball
AK - opened early in and then to rope drop in front of the tree
HS - didn’t open early
Like everyone has said it get’s in at the front of the crowd, and front of the ropes, so you’ll be the first ones walking on the the ride and riding whilst others still making their way behind the crowds.
Thanks for your sharing your experience!
For anyone else interested this is what I got from someone in the parks very regularly. Times are when they’ve been letting you in to start the day, of course some days may be different, but for most days.
AK: 8:45 from the main entrance or the Tree of Life
EP: 8:50
HS: usually varies the most, expect 8:40am-8:50
MK: opening show is scheduled to start at 8:40am for 9am around 8:45am
So, me being the crazy TP planner, not being able to adjust this is driving me nuts. I know it may be only 15 min or so but that’s a lot of time in the a.m. that I’d rather plan for instead of figuring it out on the fly. Thought there may be a work around??
We were let in early every single day for our trip last week. Average about 15 minutes. There are only two times this didn’t equal getting on a ride before 9AM (we were usually off our first ride before 9AM). The first was MK but that was because BTMR was down and they held us hoping they could get it back up. The second was AK and they held us until 9:00. However, I think that was only because they were also working on getting the ride going because all reports I’ve heard had people on EE and off before 9:00.
Remember also that if you’re there for rope drop, it really doesn’t matter too much if the crowd is let in at, say 9:00 or at 8:45 - the first hour or so of your plan is going to remain the same order (if slightly time-shifted) because it’s based really not on actual time, but more like time relative to park opening.
Do the first part of your plan as-is, then re-optimize the remainder if you’re still ahead of schedule.
The only quirk might be if the plan uses FP+ and has you using it on the very edge of its time window - then you may want to re-optimize earlier.
Thanks for the feedback! If I reoptimize things may get put of order since I had to evaluate on some plans for different reasons. That’s why I was trying to figure it out ahead of time since so much is time oriented.
I’ll try putting a fp there but watch me forget and try to use it!
TP really isn’t precise. Not in my experience. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a useful tool that can provide reliable forecasts but precise it isn’t. I’ve seen it quite wrong several times actually. Just mark the attractions you’ve done as complete and evaluate or optimize as you wish. Or, when (not if) something unexpected happens, you can evaluate/optimize again.