Hi all,
We will be at WDW next week. I’m looking for advice on how early to get to AK, Epcot and DHS for rope drops. Getting up early doesn’t annoy anyone in my group! We are staying at AKL.
12/15: AK opens at 7:30 and we will head straight to FoP. What time should we arrive at the front gate?
12/16: DHS opens at 8:30. We want to head directly to Slinky (SDD). If SDD isn’t running early, we will continue to MFalcon. We already have LLMP for ToyStory and LLSP for Rise. Any advice? What time should we arrive at the gate?
12/18: Epcot day, opens at 8:30. We want rope drop Remi. Can we enter through International Gateway? How early?
Thanks in advance. I did search for answers in the existing forum and most of the posts were dated.
Rod
Hi! Welcome back!!
I was just there last week. I did a RD at AK as an off-site guest. I got to the park about 45 minutes before park opening - 7:45am
This was about 10 - 15 minutes before the start of early entry. There was a crowd of on-site guests already there. They let those on-site guests in a couple minutes before “official” Early Entry start time - about 7:55am
Almost everyone went to Pandora. However, the posted wait when we got in was only 30 minutes. We did that and Navi soon after. The park did pick up by 10am. However, the first 90 minutes or so was pretty sparse.
So get there as early as you can! At least 45 minutes before Early Entry. Especially, if you want to do FoP / Pandora first
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I typically try to arrive about an hour before EE begins. So, leave the resort room about 90 before to get there by then.
This strategy almost always puts me in the first 1 or 2 groups before tapping into the park. Should work wonderfully for AK.
You have a good backup strategy for HS. A couple Novembers ago DS and I RD’d slinky on a chilly morning and it was down and we adjusted and went to MF.
I’ve never RD’d Remy but IG is your best bet for sure over the main gate. Not sure what time they normally open those up.
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This has always been our plan
Nearly every time we’ve opened HS they’ve opened earlier than indicated. We don’t go to WDW often so maybe we were just coincidentally lucky. So if they say 7:30 - being at HS at 7 could maybe perhaps show active tap styles.
Last week at the parks, after the tap styles guests were directed to folks waiting to scan our admission media to confirm our eligibility to enter early.
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With the 7:30 AK opening I’ve been there around 6:50-7:00 and been pretty close to the front.
DO NOT choose the lines to the right near the bathrooms. Chose a line in the middle. We got stuck on the right as people in front of us wouldn’t merge with other lines and we couldn’t get around.
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