On an environment friendly morning at EPCOT, you possibly can journey a number of E-Ticket sights in World Showcase or the entrance of the park, paving the way in which for a laid again day with out Lightning Lanes. This Early Entry report enters by way of Worldwide Gateway and mainly addresses whether or not Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is value doing when coming from the again entrance.
This covers a busy day at EPCOT, when the park had a 9/10 crowd stage and the height wait time for Cosmic Rewind was 135 minutes. The park opened at 9 am to most people and Early Entry started at 8:30 am. That’s about par for the course proper now, even on dates with increased attendance forecasts. This has been true for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, and so forth. Even when Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios transfer ahead their opening occasions (as occurred on this date), EPCOT doesn’t budge.
As famous above, this Early Entry report begins from Worldwide Gateway, as I used to be staying at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn. Skyliner and Crescent Lake Resorts arrive by way of this again entrance, which is superior to the entrance entrance for Remy’s Ratatouille Journey and Frozen Ever After, the headliners in World Showcase. Nonetheless, Cosmic Rewind is way nearer to the entrance entrance, so we puzzled if the identical can be true in reverse–that Worldwide Gateway friends can be at a serious drawback for doing Cosmic Rewind throughout Early Entry.
My morning started when my flight from California landed in Orlando. I’m a giant fan of redeye flights for his or her effectivity and comfort, as they permit me to hit the bottom operating, scale back my variety of lodge nights, and drive my physique to regulate to the time change. Sarah thinks that I’m, in a phrase, “loopy” for this.
Anyway, simply wished to throw in my endorsement for redeye flights (and Sarah’s repudiation of them, for steadiness) since many Walt Disney World followers now discover themselves contemplating new approaches to air journey within the aftermath of Southwest’s controversial modifications. If you happen to like saving cash and are a loopy commando vacationer, redeye flights are for you! If you’re a so-called “sane individual,” maybe not a lot.
After a surprisingly environment friendly Mears Join journey, dropping my bag off at BoardWalk, and one gigantic cup of espresso, I walked over to EPCOT. I arrived at Worldwide Gateway at roughly 7:35 am. That’s nearly a full hour earlier than Early Entry formally began, which you will or might not wish to issue into the entire wait time for Cosmic Rewind.
My impression was that the Worldwide Gateway turnstiles had simply opened throughout the final 5 minutes (in all probability proper at 7:30 am), as a result of there weren’t that many individuals in entrance of me.
From there, I proceeded up the hill in the direction of the bridge and was greeted by two strains. That is the place Solid Members confirm Early Entry eligibility by scanning MagicBands, resort room keys, or no matter applicable identification you might need if staying at one of many taking part third occasion inns. You get held again by the reward store and might’t entry the remainder of the park with out scanning right here.
In a new-to-me transfer, there have been now two strains holding friends right here. It was once the case that this checkpoint opened instantly together with the turnstiles, or maybe shortly thereafter, and eligible friends might proceed to the subsequent checkpoint. Now, it is a holding level, with Solid Members pre-verifying Early Entry standing (which means they go up and down the road to scan MagicBands, room keys, and so forth.), however holding friends right here.
From what I might collect, how lengthy friends are held right here in all probability relies on how far the road backs up. Which means that it can not get all the way in which to the turnstiles, or else extra friends couldn’t enter the park. I might see Solid Members radioing forwards and backwards, and we had been lastly launched at 7:56 am. That’s a random time, which additional reinforces the speculation that that is topic to vary based mostly on congestion.
Upon being launched from this holding level, friends can both head in the direction of Canada or France.
The one attraction within the route of France is Remy’s Ratatouille Journey. If you happen to’re doing Frozen Ever After first, you’ll have to go in the direction of Canada, as there’s one other maintain level earlier than the Morocco pavilion. That additionally opens at random, however the backside line is that for those who’re doing Frozen Ever After first, you shouldn’t even trouble with it–head in the direction of Canada.
Additionally, you shouldn’t trouble with doing Frozen Ever After first until you wish to loop it. Getting there this early for one journey on Frozen Ever After is a waste. The one worthwhile beginning factors throughout Early Entry at EPCOT are Remy’s Ratatouille Journey or Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. If you happen to’re prioritizing anything, you don’t should be within the park this early–you possibly can present up round 8:45 am and be nice!
The larger new-to-me change, which additionally explains why friends had been being held earlier than the France bridge, is that there’s now not a secondary checkpoint between the UK and Canada. That is large.
It signifies that when you’re previous the preliminary holding space by the entrance of Worldwide Gateway, you possibly can proceed all the way in which to the entrance of the park. This didn’t was once the case, which was why friends who wished to do Check Monitor throughout Early Entry had been at a definite drawback if arriving by way of Worldwide Gateway.
I hadn’t examined Early Entry in a couple of months previous to this, however I’m going to imagine the change coincided with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind switching to standby and becoming a member of the Early Entry lineup.
The dearth of secondary holding factors inside World Showcase additionally means there’s an extended and large path permitting friends to jockey for place with out “reducing” anybody round them. That is very clearly not a line, neither is it led by a Solid Member setting the tempo. It’s a free for all.
If you happen to’re a quick walker, you possibly can acquire some floor–to the purpose that it in all probability doesn’t matter that a lot whether or not you begin out on the entrance or again of this pack. Nonetheless, it’s additionally value stating that over 75% of friends heading in the direction of the previous Future World are going to be energy walkers. The underside line is that for those who’re sluggish, it is best to stick to Remy’s Ratatouille Journey. There’s nonetheless no “race” to that–it’s an orderly line.
Usually, after I check Early Entry or rope drop technique, I throttle my tempo and cease for pictures so as to simulate what a median visitor may expertise. I did no such factor on this explicit morning as a result of, once more, everybody else was energy strolling and since I don’t advocate this method to slower events. Since I’m excellent at strolling, I had made it to almost the entrance of the pack (even with a couple of photograph stops) by the top of this stretch.
At 8:03 am, I arrived on the Innoventions Breezeway.
It had been clean crusing up till this level, however right here’s the place issues get dicey. There was not a big crowd right here, however there have been in all probability ~100 folks. What was instantly clear is that even the primary friends coming from Worldwide Gateway are behind these from the entrance entrance. Not an enormous shock, as that’s a ton of floor to make up.
Equally important was that, though Solid Members had been doing their finest to maintain this orderly, it was nonetheless a big and amorphous crowd and so they had been encouraging friends to fill in all obtainable house. Which means that Solid Members set outer boundaries for the sides of this holding pen, however inspired folks to pack the middle.
In observe, this meant that about half the individuals who arrived within the 5-10 minutes after me really ended up in entrance of me. I had strategically (or so I assumed) chosen a spot alongside the perimeter, but it surely didn’t make a lot of a distinction.
Company nonetheless continued to fill in all obtainable house, with many events clearly having despatched “runners” to save lots of spots and have the remainder of their occasion be part of them. There may’ve been ~100 folks in entrance of me when this began, however there have been simply 200+ earlier than all was stated and carried out. Maybe I have to observe sharpening my elbows a bit higher.
Admittedly, this made for a little bit of a disturbing expertise. A part of that’s on me for being intense and missing chill. However a part of it’s inherent to the Early Entry mentality. Nobody is getting up on the morning time and being on the park lengthy earlier than opening to see their aggressive benefit slip by their fingers.
It additionally didn’t assist that the group was held on this breezeway till 8:27 am.
A lot of this might’ve been mitigated by merely preloading the overflow queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. By placing friends in an precise queue as an alternative of a blob-like holding pen, there can be much less chaos and extra order. And possibly that’ll occur over time–Cosmic Rewind’s standby line continues to be pretty new.
In any case, we began transferring at 8:27 am, with Solid Members slowly guiding the blob in the direction of the road, taking a winding route in the direction of Mission Area and into the bodily line. There was a bit extra jockeying for place by this, and I used to be at a slight benefit in being on the far proper aspect.
Listed here are a couple of extra pictures of this course of:
Ultimately, I made it into the road for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind by 8:32 am.
The road was continuously transferring outside and for a lot of the indoor queue. It solely slowed in the direction of the top, which I’m going to imagine is a byproduct of the pre-shows filling up with the friends in entrance of me.
However, I made it into the primary pre-show holding space (so not the precise first pre-show, however the clean room earlier than that) by 8:42 am. The a number of pre-shows are one of many the reason why preloading the queue–and even beginning the pre-shows prior to eight:30 am may make sense.
Not like Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster, there is no such thing as a bypassing any of those, which suggests each that the minimal time requirement for Cosmic Rewind is increased and that the curler coaster is working inefficiently very first thing within the morning. To the latter level, I noticed it dispatching empty journey autos on this explicit morning because of the gaps between the pre-shows.
All the aforementioned ‘jockeying’ for place usually wouldn’t matter.
Nonetheless, it does with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. That’s partially because of the aforementioned pre-shows, as simply making or lacking a cut-off can save or value you an additional a number of minutes. It’s additionally due to the entire expertise length. Then there’s the truth that Cosmic Rewind is at the moment far and away the very best precedence attraction on the entrance of the park, and that 95% of rope drop friends arriving by way of the entrance entrance are heading in the direction of Cosmic Rewind.
Which means that far and away the most effective technique for Early Entry is just doing Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind twice. However that is solely doable for those who’re close to the entrance of the pack and don’t get unfortunate with timing the pre-shows.
On this explicit morning, I used to be unfortunate.
Though I used to be off Cosmic Rewind with minutes to spare earlier than official rope drop, I nonetheless missed having the ability to loop the journey and re-enter the standby line earlier than the rope drop crowd by lower than one minute. Within the photograph above, you possibly can see the entrance of the rope drop crowd simply beating me into the standby line as I exited Cosmic Rewind.
I in all probability might’ve looped into this crowd, however I’m unsure how well-received that might’ve been with rope drop friends. Whether or not that’s reducing or just merging is a gray space, certainly one of Walt Disney World’s nice moral dilemmas–a query for smarter folks than me. Regardless, I didn’t have the temerity to check it.
One other different, which is what I ended up doing as soon as Cosmic Rewind was taken off the desk, was heading to World Showcase for Frozen Ever After.
On morning, I’d’ve been ready to do that attraction with little or no wait (<quarter-hour). This wasn’t morning. Not solely was it a 9/10 crowd stage day, however Remy’s Ratatouille Journey had damaged down throughout Early Entry, so everybody who in any other case would’ve prioritized the Rat Journey was heading in the direction of Norway.
After I arrived at Frozen Ever After, the prolonged queue was already in use and the posted wait time was 40 minutes. Extremely skeptical that the wait was solely 40 minutes–particularly with extra friends arriving and beginning to use Lightning Lanes–I balked at this. That was my first bit of excellent luck, as Frozen Ever After went down throughout the subsequent 10 minutes.
As a substitute, I raced over to the Land and did Soarin’ Across the World as a close to walk-on.
By the point I used to be carried out with that, it had a 60 minute posted wait time. Even with this being a busy day, I strongly suspect that was an outlier. Each Remy’s Ratatouille Journey and Frozen Ever After had damaged down, whereas Cosmic Rewind was already posting a triple-digit wait. In fact the crowds can be diverted to Soarin’ at that time.
Within the coming months, this technique will change once more as soon as Check Monitor 3.0 debuts. My hope is that this results in a situation the place positioning for Cosmic Rewind issues much less (it’ll nonetheless be the clear #1 precedence) as a result of the most effective play will turn into Cosmic Rewind -> Check Monitor -> Frozen Ever After. That might be an awesome run. For now, although, that isn’t doable.
The underside line is that I waited both ~10 minutes or ~60 minutes for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, relying upon whether or not you begin the clock after I entered EPCOT or from the time Early Entry began. Both of these occasions can be nicely below-average for a 9/10 crowd stage day, when Cosmic Rewind seldom dropped under triple-digit wait occasions. So if the query is just whether or not it’s doable to beat the group and save time at Cosmic Rewind from Worldwide Gateway, the reply is a particular sure.
Nonetheless, it’s equally worthwhile to contemplate the chance value and the time that I might’ve saved with another method. One which didn’t require power-walking from the again of the park to the entrance, sharp elbows, or the opposite stresses of beginning at Cosmic Rewind from Worldwide Gateway.
On condition that it’s extremely unbelievable that friends arriving from Worldwide Gateway will be capable to constantly double-up on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (will probably be doable once in a while, particularly in low to average crowds), I query whether or not that is the most effective use of Early Entry. Or quite, I did query that on this explicit day. This was the primary of 4 straight days of Early Entry testing at EPCOT, so I already know the reply: it’s not.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you ever carried out Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind by way of Early Entry or all through the day now that it’s switched to standby? Ideas on Early Entry at EPCOT? Have you ever skilled this on-site lodge perk? What’s your most well-liked method to mornings at EPCOT–beginning in World Showcase or the entrance of the park? How would you could have carried out issues in another way? Every other suggestions on arriving early to the Walt Disney World theme parks? Agree or disagree with our recommendation or method? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
