Early Entry at Magic Kingdom is a blended bag. In concept, the on-site perk provides resort visitors a head-start to do headliner points of interest with shorter strains and decrease wait instances to beat the crowds. As we’ve lined repeatedly, it doesn’t all the time work this manner. However the factor is, Early Entry at Magic Kingdom has really improved loads recently, at the very least if you understand what you’re doing and don’t make a straightforward mistake.
We’re large followers of Early Entry, and enthusiastically suggest it in dozens of planning posts. It’s an underrated perk, with many visitors dismissing it as “solely” Half-hour and inferior to the hour-long Further Magic Hours. Whereas I’d clearly reasonably have double the time, Early Entry is loads much less busy than EMH was.
Having the perk in any respect 4 parks each single day makes an enormous distinction, to the purpose I’d argue EE is best than EMH at 3 of the 4 parks. The exception, as common readers are little doubt conscious, has been Magic Kingdom for a handful of causes we’ll contact upon right here. Truthfully, after current experiences doing Early Entry at Magic Kingdom, I’m now able to say that it’s additionally superior to Further Magic Hours at MK.
I’ve performed Early Entry at Magic Kingdom effectively over a dozen instances in the previous few years. It’s far and away my least favourite park for Early Entry, however I preserve returning for the sake of analysis. Satirically, I’ve in all probability come near doing Early Entry at Magic Kingdom greater than the opposite 3 parks mixed, because it appears to be essentially the most “fascinating” to readers. (I additionally do EE typically at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for comparable causes, however that one can be quite a lot of enjoyable for me, personally.)
There are a few causes for my change of coronary heart this vacation season. For one factor, it’s the time of the 12 months. As we’ve stated numerous instances, Early Entry at Magic Kingdom throughout Celebration Season is nice. That is the one time of 12 months once I actually take pleasure in Early Entry and have performed it for enjoyable.
Early Entry is nice throughout Celebration Season from August by means of December (plus just a few different dates) as a result of Magic Kingdom opens to most people at 8 am and is often much less busy. See this publish about why 7:30 am Early Entry at Magic Kingdom is a recreation changer. We extremely suggest it on Halloween or Christmas Celebration dates.
All of it comes right down to timing. Few visitors have the required need and dedication to be out their resort room door by ~6:30 am, which is just about what’s essential to arrive at Magic Kingdom in time for the beginning of seven:30 am Early Entry. Against this, tons of individuals could make it for 8:30 am Early Entry, which is the principle purpose why Magic Kingdom is generally the worst park for Early Entry.
Whereas I’ve lamented the shortage of midnight closings at Magic Kingdom, the flip aspect is that the park has been excellent about 8 am openings–together with on many days that aren’t occasion shortened. The truth is, since September, I’ve not performed a 9 am opening at Magic Kingdom–it’s all been 8 am openings. A part of that is luck and timing of my visits, as they undoubtedly have occurred.
In any case, this isn’t a brand new factor. It’s additionally not a everlasting factor. As quickly because the calendar rolls over into 2025, it’s secure to anticipate extra frequent 9 am opening instances, which means 8:30 am Early Entry at Magic Kingdom. So this isn’t the rationale for my change of coronary heart this vacation season on the subject of Early Entry at Magic Kingdom.
The true purpose, as you may’ve guessed, is TRON Lightcycle Run.
In case you missed it, Walt Disney World launched a standby queue at TRON Lightcycle Run, retiring the digital queue in the course of the early fall low season. It’s now been over just a few months because the standby line debuted and we’ve got been in a position to conduct intensive on-the-ground subject testing. Early Entry has been a giant a part of this.
I plan on doing a full publish on the when to do and keep away from TRON Lightcycle Run, however needed to begin with Early Entry as a standalone entry due to the way it defied expectations in just a few ways in which struck me as price overlaying on their very own. And since it’s price overlaying the impression on the alternate options throughout Early Entry and twine drop, which isn’t fairly as relevant to different instances of day.
Additionally as a result of I’ve spent dozens of hours “working” on this (and actually, I don’t even like TRON that a lot), so I needed to get multiple publish out of it. For now, it’s price consulting How TRON Lightcycle Run’s Standby Line is a Gamechanger for Magic Kingdom Touring Technique. Simply be suggested that isn’t 100% correct–and even 85% correct.
When it comes to Early Entry fundamentals, our regular advice is to be there roughly Half-hour earlier than the beginning of Early Theme Park Entry. In case your plan is to do Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, you need to arrive 30+ minutes upfront. Much less time is okay for Peter Pan’s Flight, House Mountain, or the opposite choices.
Arriving earlier additionally provides you time for enjoyable photographs on Essential Avenue with empty backgrounds. As soon as performed with that, head to the fitting of the East Plaza Backyard for Early Theme Park Entry. There’s a row of Forged Members stationed to scan MagicBands or room keys to confirm Early Entry eligibility.
Everyone seems to be allowed to enter Magic Kingdom and hang around on Essential Avenue, taking photographs or ready for rope drop over on the Frontierland and Adventureland aspect of the Central Plaza. However you possibly can’t entry Tomorrowland or Fantasyland with out scanning right here. When you’ve performed that, you’re good to go for the morning.
From there, you proceed on to both the Tomorrowland Bridge or Fantasyland Bridge.
My first “prediction” that was mistaken within the aforementioned ‘TRON Gamechanger’ publish is that Early Entry could be a few 50/50 break up between these two bridges. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s extra like 60/40 in favor of Tomorrowland. Possibly even two-thirds to 75% of visitors on the Tomorrowland Bridge.
It’s actually powerful to eyeball these things, however the backside line is that there’s a enormous distinction as contrasted with earlier than, when most visitors went to the Fantasyland aspect. One factor to bear in mind right here, although, is that I’ve solely performed Early Entry within the final couple of months on 8 am park opening days. I strongly suspect events with youthful youngsters who skew in direction of Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice are much less probably than TRON-skewing visitors to make it to the park in time for 7:30 am Early Entry. Issues might look very totally different on 8:30 am days.
Previously, the group on the Fantasyland aspect has been exponentially bigger, with about ten instances as many individuals.
Of that a lot bigger quantity, roughly 90% of these visitors are planning on doing Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice. That’s why we way back coined the time period the Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice Shuffle. Company are revving up their double-wide strollers, making ready to do some severe harm to the ankles of anybody strolling too gingerly. The slow-sprint-slash-shuffle to Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice is a excessive stakes, eat-or-be-eaten recreation.
I’ve made no secret of my hatred for the SDMT Shuffle through the years. Not solely is the expertise itself disagreeable (and it truly is!), however it presents little upside. On regular mornings, the one folks breezing on and off Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice stress-free have been these on the entrance of the pack. And the one strategy to get on the entrance of the pack was to reach actually early…and wait.
A technique or one other, visitors have been ready for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice.
In the event that they rolled up in mid-afternoon and located a 60-90 minut wait time, their time dedication was extra easy: it was no matter they really waited in line. Early Entry is deceiving, although, as a result of it’s not simply the posted wait (or extra precisely, precise wait as soon as in line). It’s on a regular basis earlier than that, standing round ready for Early Entry to start, too. Consequently, the “all-in” complete for visitors on the entrance of the pack may’ve been ~75 minutes.
Not solely that, however there’s the chance value. As an alternative of an disagreeable shuffle to an above-average look forward to Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, they may’ve pleasantly breezed by means of Tomorrowland and knocked out 2-3 rides with below-average waits. Or they may’ve slept in and easily performed SDMT on the finish of the night time (when it’s extra nice). You get the concept.
Nicely, I hope you get the concept. As a result of I’ve been harping on this for some time, and the title of this was nonetheless nearly “Magic Kingdom Early Entry Report: It’s All About Alternative Prices.” However Google has prompt I begin making extra “catchy” titles, and I suppose folks don’t know what ‘alternative value’ means, so right here we’re.
Anyway, as you’ve in all probability additionally guessed by now, the titular attraction shouldn’t be Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice. There wouldn’t be a lot of a degree if it have been, as we’ve performed that matter to loss of life over the previous few years.
Additionally, there’s a purpose why the above is usually previous tense–that Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice was a poor choice throughout Early Entry and the SDMT Shuffle was disagreeable. As a result of a brand new journey has taken its place. Spoiler alert: it’s not the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover.
It’s TRON Lightcycle Run. A journey that isn’t even open throughout Early Entry!
My expectation earlier than doing any field-testing was that Tomorrowland’s Early Entry crowd would improve, and together with that, so too would the road for House Mountain. It’s because it’s attainable to be out and in of House Mountain in below Half-hour throughout Early Entry (our common is about quarter-hour–it takes a bit to stroll the queue), which places you on the entrance to TRON forward of the rope drop crowd.
We additionally anticipated that “loads” of visitors wouldn’t do something throughout Early Entry. Paradoxically, they’d race to Tomorrowland to do nothing however rope drop TRON Lightcycle Run. (“Hurry up and wait” as my military-man father likes to say.) I’m quoting my very own “loads” there as a result of I didn’t provide a exact prediction, however I’ll admit this now: the variety of visitors doing that is method larger than I ever anticipated.
Against this, the variety of visitors doing House Mountain–or actually anything in Tomorrowland–is method, method decrease than I anticipated. (Above is the complete crowd for House Mountain at first of EE earlier than the road had opened. That is nothing in comparison with what it was once.)
If I had to return and elaborate on my prior prediction, it might’ve been that TRON Lightcycle Run would’ve made Tomorrowland an even bigger draw for the sake of proximity to the attraction. Certain, many visitors would ‘hurry up and wait,’ however simply as many others–if no more–would reap the benefits of Early Entry in Tomorrowland by doing one other attraction or two, after which lining up for TRON Lightcycle Run.
This was my expectation based mostly on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland, Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Journey, and to a a lot lesser extent, Huge Thunder Mountain Railroad and Jungle Cruise at Magic Kingdom. For essentially the most half, visitors do issues after which attempt to be entrance of the pack and beat the rope drop crowd to these points of interest.
Not so with TRON Lightcycle Run.
I’d estimate that on the a number of mornings I’ve performed Early Entry at Magic Kingdom, 95% of the visitors beginning on the Tomorrowland aspect are instantly racing to TRON Lightcycle Run. Possibly I shouldn’t have been, however I used to be shocked by this.
Bear in mind, this makes their complete time dedication their precise wait time as soon as the park formally opens + Half-hour + nevertheless lengthy they stood round earlier than Early Entry even started. Given the wait instances we’ve been seeing for TRON Lightcycle Run, it is a very questionable use of time (to place it charitably).
The massive winner right here is individuals who wish to loop House Mountain.
Opposite to my expectations, the actual end result is that strains for House Mountain have turn into non-existent. On each single morning of my testing so far, House Mountain has been a digital walk-on. It begins with a little bit of a backup, however that’s much less about excessive demand and extra it taking a little bit of time for visitors to make their method by means of the lengthy queue.
Even with that prolonged queue (and exit), I’ve been in a position to do House Mountain roughly 3 instances throughout Early Entry this Celebration Season. To be sincere, I by no means tried looping House Mountain earlier than, so I can’t communicate to what was attainable previously, however I’m fairly assured that this was not. As a giant fan of House Mountain, I view this as an enormous win. It’s additionally nice for anybody attempting to maximise their effectivity.
Had I needed, I might’ve performed House Mountain 2-3x on these mornings and nonetheless crushed the rope drop crowd to TRON Lightcycle Run.
I didn’t need this, because it nonetheless would’ve put me behind all the Early Entry pack that had simply been standing there, rising barely in measurement (albeit extra slowly) since 7:30 am. That occurred, I’d remind you, because the attraction didn’t course of a single visitor…because it was not operational.
Listed here are some photographs exhibiting the rising line at TRON Lightcycle Run throughout this half-hour:
The second two photographs have been taken because the rope drop crowd arrived at TRON Lightcycle Run.
At this level, we’ve been seeing TRON Lightcycle Run publish a wait time of fifty to 75 minutes instantly upon opening for the day. Not less than, on the mornings we’ve performed testing, all of which have been 8 am park openings. I’d anticipate that to be larger on 9 am mornings, assuming at the very least average crowd ranges.
Suffice to say, TRON Lightcycle Run can be a nasty choice at rope drop. It’s barely much less dangerous, although, as a result of at the very least the journey turns into operational. However there’s nonetheless that line in entrance of you and, equally as essential, the chance value of not having the ability to rope drop Adventureland or Frontierland.
So what is a very good choice throughout Early Entry at Magic Kingdom–apart from House Mountain?
I’m cautiously optimistic about Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice.
This was a incredible various on the mornings I did Early Entry, however once more, these have been all 7:30 am dates. Even previously, I’ve had good luck with SDMT on these mornings as long as I used to be close to the entrance of the pack.
As a result of I used to be trying to simulate outcomes for future Early Entry dates when the schedule would shift to eight:30 am (and in addition as a result of I wanted to race round getting photographs), I made a degree of doing Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice after the preliminary rush.
Though the posted wait time was 35 minutes once I did it, my precise wait was below 20 minutes.
The road moved easily all the time, and a very good chunk of the wait was simply strolling by means of the prolonged queue.
One other extra apparent choice is Peter Pan’s Flight.
I used to be ready to do that after Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice when the posted wait was Half-hour. My precise wait was lower than 10 minutes. I wasn’t performed by common rope drop, however that didn’t actually matter. Huge Thunder, Jungle Cruise, and so on., all nonetheless have quick strains at 8:10 or 8:20 am. Arguably shorter ones, because the preliminary rush is over. (This solely applies to eight am park opening–not 9 am.)
Peter Pan’s Flight has all the time been a incredible choice throughout Early Entry–particularly as contrasted with later within the day when the road can transfer slowly–however it’s even higher now. My guess is that TRON is pulling folks from SDMT, which in flip is pulling folks from PPF. Trickle down wait instances, or one thing to that impact.
So what about TRON Lightcycle Run?
To not spoil my very own future article about finest & worst instances to journey TRON, however what I discovered constantly throughout my subject testing is that there’s a morning lull about an hour after common rope drop. This was true even on reasonably busy days (a few of my testing occurred over a vacation weekend).
Intuitively, this is sensible. TRON’s wait time would spike to round 60-90 minutes shortly after rope drop (~8:15 am) because the Early Entry crowd (none of which was ‘processed’ till common rope drop, bear in mind) plus the rope drop crowd all converged onto the attraction and created a backlog of visitors ready. Plus the paid Lightning Lane visitors who opted to indicate up straight away, for no matter purpose.
The results of that is that TRON Lightcycle Run’s wait time would typically be nearly double the subsequent highest wait time (Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice). It might be a lot, a lot larger than the opposite ‘grownup’ thrill rides, House Mountain and Huge Thunder Mountain Railroad.
This probably leads to late-arrivers pulling up the My Disney Expertise app (or a tip board), seeing how for much longer of a line TRON has than anything, and opting to go elsewhere. I used to be actually shocked that the ‘elsewhere’ seemingly doesn’t embody House Mountain. I believed certainly it might see a spike as visitors noticed a too-long line for TRON and did that as an alternative. Nope.
Principally, anybody who positioned a excessive precedence on TRON Lightcycle Run is doing it ASAP–both lining up at first of Early Entry or begin of normal rope drop. Everybody else is balking on the longer line, and choosing alternate options.
Zig once they zag.
In the event you’re going to do TRON Lightcycle Run within the morning, the most effective time to line up is in direction of the finish of Early Entry, after you’ve already performed 2-3 Tomorrowland points of interest however earlier than the common rope drop rush. I don’t love this feature (and even prefer it), however in case you’re dead-set on doing TRON early for no matter purpose, it certain beats the ‘hurry up and wait’ strategy of being on the entrance of the pack.
Higher but, give it an hour and let the preliminary two waves of individuals get processed by the attraction, and slip into line for TRON Lightcycle Run an hour after rope drop. This was my strategy, and my most wait was 27 minutes.
Early Entry visitors may boast that their wait was lower than that–that after the clock struck 8 am (or 7:55, since TRON does typically begin working barely earlier), they breezed by means of the road and walked onto the attraction.
Nevertheless, there is no such thing as a conceivable method they waited lower than 27 minutes…as a result of additionally they stood round for nevertheless lengthy earlier than Early Entry began, plus that 25-Half-hour of time throughout which they did nothing previous to common rope drop.
I don’t know what, precisely, their minimal ‘all-in’ time was since I didn’t put myself of their sneakers, however I’m guessing it’d be 60 minutes for a lot of of them. That isn’t all that spectacular–we’ve seen instances all through the day when TRON has an hour-long wait!
Extra importantly, it fails to account for the chance value! House Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, Peter Pan’s Flight–and actually each different attraction in Magic Kingdom (besides the Joffrey’s Revive espresso stand and doubtless the Essential Avenue Starbucks)–have far below-average wait instances throughout Early Entry.
Whereas standing in line for an attraction that was not open, visitors might’ve been doing any of these rides. That’s why we strongly suggest skipping TRON Lightcycle Run throughout Early Entry and at first of normal rope drop. You can actually decide a time at random to do it later within the day and obtain higher outcomes.
We’ll proceed this testing in 2025 as soon as Early Entry returns to its common 8:30 am begin time and (possibly, hopefully) TRON Lightcycle Run is definitely included within the journey roster for the on-site perk. No matter what adjustments, we’re rather more constructive about Early Entry at Magic Kingdom.
TRON Lightcycle Run has displaced Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice because the #1 attraction, and although it pains me to retire the oh-so-clever SDMT Shuffle moniker, I’m more than happy with how a lot of a game-changer this has been for morning technique. Talking of which, if you need technique for the opposite three parks, try our Information to Early Theme Park Entry at Walt Disney World.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you skip Early Entry at Magic Kingdom or reap the benefits of the perk? In the event you did skip it beforehand, will you are taking benefit now that TRON has shifted to standby and eradicated (or mitigated) the SDMT Shuffle? Would you go for the ‘hurry up and wait’ strategy of beginning at TRON Lightcycle Run, or is the chance value of ready for a journey that isn’t open too excessive for you? How would you do issues in a different way to begin the day at MK? Every other suggestions on arriving early to the Walt Disney World theme parks? Agree or disagree with our recommendation or strategy? Any questions we may also help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
