Early Entry at Magic Kingdom is a good way for on-site guests of Walt Disney World hotels to get a head-start, accomplishing a few attractions with low waits. This photo report offers a run-through of my morning, including: 1) the park’s new-ish protocol for the bonus time; 2) dangers of the dreaded delayed opening and the difficult dilemma it creates for guests; 3) why you should skip MK’s most popular attraction during EE.
As always, Early Entry at Magic Kingdom is a mixed bag. We’re generally big fans of the on-site perk, which gives hotel guests a head-start to do headliner attractions with shorter lines and lower wait times to beat the crowds. Early Entry at Magic Kingdom has actually improved a lot lately, at least if you know what you’re doing and don’t make any mistakes (easier said than done).
Even though Early Entry is an underrated perk as a whole, it is arguably overrated at Magic Kingdom. I’ve done Early Entry at Magic Kingdom dozens of times in the last few years. It’s my least favorite park for Early Entry, but I keep returning for the sake of research. I also love mornings in the parks, so there’s that.
I strongly suspect others share my perspective of Early Entry at Magic Kingdom. Since it’s the most popular park at Walt Disney World and the one guests tend to do at the start of their trip on Mondays, many conclude Early Entry is “not worth it” on the first day of their vacations, call an audible, and skip Early Entry at every other park. This is my working theory, and it would explain a lot about Early Entry at Walt Disney World, from perceptions to crowds.
Before we even get started, I can tell you that the optimal approach is to zig when they zag in a few regards there. First, don’t do Magic Kingdom on a Monday. Second, start somewhere else where crowds are lower at the beginning of the week, do Early Entry there, and reap the rewards. By the time you get around to your Magic Kingdom day, Early Entry still won’t be as good at the castle park as the other 3, but at least it won’t sour you on the whole extra half-hour experience. But I digress.
This particular Early Entry runthrough at Magic Kingdom was done on a Monday (don’t laugh…most of my Early Entry at Magic Kingdom testing is done on Mondays for the sake of having the worst crowd experiences so I’m not constantly showcasing sunshine and rainbows). The park opened to the general public at 9 am, meaning Early Entry began at 8:30 am.
I was out the door of our room at the Polynesian by 7:15 am, which is necessary due to the long commute and unpredictability of transportation. The boat to Magic Kingdom arrived at 7:33 am and dropped me off at 7:47 am. After slight hiccups at bag check (the joys of carrying a camera), I was on Main Street by 7:54 am. This was a little later than I would’ve liked.
In terms of Early Entry basics, our normal recommendation is to be there roughly 30 minutes before the start of Early Theme Park Entry. If your plan is to do Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, you want to arrive 30+ minutes in advance. Less time is fine for Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain, or secondary options.
Arriving earlier also gives you time for fun photos on Main Street with empty backgrounds. Once done with that, head to the right of the East Plaza Garden for Early Theme Park Entry. There’s a row of Cast Members stationed to scan MagicBands or room keys to verify Early Entry eligibility.
Everyone is allowed to enter Magic Kingdom and hang out on Main Street, taking photos or waiting for rope drop over on the Frontierland and Adventureland side of the Central Plaza. But you can’t access Tomorrowland or Fantasyland without scanning here. Once you’ve done that, you’re good to go for the morning.
From there, you proceed on to either the Tomorrowland Bridge or Fantasyland Bridge.
It used to be the case that guests were held on this bridge until roughly the start of Early Entry (usually a few minutes early, but not always, and never a consistent amount of time). As a result, a large crowd would form that was basically a large, amorphous blob of humanity.
There was no line. It was a “fill in all available space” situation. Meaning you’d generally be better off by arriving earlier, but not definitely. People leaving extra space in the blob would mean that got filled-in by later arrivals–you get the idea, we’ve all been there. It also meant that there was a power-walking race to the first destination, as guests jockeyed for position even further.
That’s why we long ago coined the term the ‘Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Shuffle.’ Guests are revving up their double-wide strollers, preparing to do some serious damage to the ankles of anyone walking too gingerly. The slow-sprint-slash-shuffle to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a high stakes, eat-or-be-eaten game.
I’ve made no secret of my hatred for the SDMT Shuffle over the years. Not only is the experience itself unpleasant (and it really is!), but it offers little upside. On normal mornings, the only people breezing on and off Seven Dwarfs Mine Train stress-free were those at the front of the pack. And the only way to get at the front of the pack was to arrive really early…and wait.
Honestly, the term SDMT Shuffle really undersold it; I just like alliterations. SDMT Death March would be hyperbolic, and Excruciating and Unnecessarily Stressful SDMT Slow-Walk would be a bit too verbose. No sense in workshopping it now, several years too late, as the SDMT Shuffle is dead.
New Early Entry Protocol at Magic Kingdom
The new procedure for Early Entry still involves a rope drop at the bridges to Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, but it occurs far earlier.
My experience is fairly limited so far, but at around 7:45 to 7:50 am, these bridges open and guests are allowed to proceed to their first destination. There isn’t really a crowd to speak of at that time, as Early Entry is still 45 minutes away.
Part of the reason my experience is limited is because I’ve done this 5 days since the new protocol started and have missed the rope drop on 3 of them. Meaning it’s happened before 7:55 am every single day I’ve done Early Entry.
This new Early Entry procedure started back during the peak of spring break, and I was told at the time that it was a test. I’ve asked again more recently, and multiple Cast Members on the ground have confirmed that it’s the new normal. I’d stop short of calling it “permanent” (a word more than one used) because few things are truly permanent when it comes to Walt Disney World protocol.
I could see the Early Entry approach changing again once Party Season starts, sometime in 2026, or 5 years from now. In any case, it’s been the process for the last few months and the intention is to continue indefinitely. It’s no longer a test or temporary measure to better absorb spring break crowds.
Once the bridges open and guests are allowed to proceed to their first destination, that means they can line up for an attraction. Of course, you could just wander around Tomorrowland or Fantasyland enjoying the atmosphere, but on this particular day, that meant 90-degree temperatures. Most people would probably prefer a shaded or indoor queue.
From what I’ve seen, nothing else has changed with regard to Early Entry.
Bag check, turnstiles and Main Street still open at approximately the same time. My anecdotal observations are that guests still arrive at roughly the same time, so this hasn’t really pulled forward demand.
Most importantly, the start time of Early Entry is also unchanged. Attractions still begin operating at 8:30 am, meaning guests are allowed to “pre-load” into queues for 35-45 minutes. Hurry up and wait, as they say.
This new approach to Early Entry is much better than the alternative!
If you’re in a queue, you are not in an amorphous blob. You aren’t standing in a sea of humanity, anxiously watching as later arrivals squeeze into space around you. Arrivals are pulsed organically, meaning there is no jockeying for position on the walk from the bridges to the attractions.
It also saves a bit of time, both because the walk to the first destination began before Early Entry and because sometimes an attraction or two might start operating before the rest. In just about every conceivable way, this is the more guest-friendly approach to Early Entry. Take it from someone who has done this dozens of times: this is by far the best approach to Early Entry, on balance.
New Pitfalls of Dreaded Delayed Openings During Early Entry
However, it’s not perfect. And that’s because there is no such thing as perfect when it comes to Walt Disney World touring. It’s all a series of tradeoffs and balancing of interests. Some guests might favor waiting at the bridge for whatever reason and doing the SDMT Shuffle. Maybe it’s nostalgia talking, or perhaps they’re simply psychotic. Who knows.
One objective drawback of this approach is the dreaded delayed opening.
Previously, if there was an attraction that wouldn’t open on time for Early Entry, you’d find out as you arrived at the attraction or shortly after getting into line. The dust hadn’t settled, so to speak, and you could quickly pivot to a different attraction. There would still be short lines elsewhere, since everyone would be scrambling around the same time. We have a lot of firsthand experience here, bouncing from Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to Peter Pan’s Flight on more occasions than I can count.
The problem now is that lines build slowly over the course of 30+ minutes, and delayed openings typically are not known in advance. Meaning that Cast Members aren’t conveying the possibility or likelihood of a delayed opening at ~8 am, because they’re not yet aware of it. Or they do, but they’re hoping maintenance can get everything up and running on time. Regardless, it’s not communicated to guests.
Meanwhile, lines start ‘locking’ themselves into place. Later arriving guests see a long overflow queue for TRON Lightcycle Run or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Instead of panicking and jumping into it during the chaos of that rope drop rush, they now have more time to deliberate and make a rational decision. That decision is often pivoting to Space Mountain or Peter Pan’s Flight.
The result of this is that, by the time 8:30 am rolls around and it becomes obvious that a delayed opening is going to occur, lines are long everywhere as guests have distributed themselves in a logical manner. Once a delayed opening is communicated to guests, they are presented with a difficult dilemma: bail on their attraction, sunk costs and all, and pivot to the back of the pack at a different ride or wait it out.
As I’ve shared elsewhere, I always immediately pivot when a delayed opening is announced. Sometimes before it’s even announced if it becomes clear to me that one is on the horizon (easy to tell with outdoor coasters if trains aren’t cycling).
I’ve gotten burned before with a ride opening a few minutes later, but I’ve come out ahead with this approach over a longer time horizon. I also don’t have the patience for it. I’d be nervously watching the clock, stressed out about getting on an attraction I’ve done dozens of times before. I just don’t have it in me.
At least, that’s what I’ve always done before. I’m honestly not sure what I’d do with this new system if I’d already been in line for 45 minutes and knew the line was already long at the next-best alternative. I probably would not bail immediately, and with each passing minute, it’d be more difficult to justify leaving. It’s a difficult dilemma!
As you’re probably guessing by this point, the dreaded delayed opening is precisely what happened with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train on this particular morning.
Thankfully, I wasn’t part of this line so the difficult dilemma was not mine. But I checked in throughout the morning and very few guests were making the decision to bail. That, or as guests did decide to pivot, they were replaced by new arrivals, as the line did not get materially shorter over the course of Early Entry.
Sometimes, the decision to wait it out would be vindicated. This was not one of those days. Above are screenshots from throughout the day, showing just how long Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was down. I’m not sure when it finally did open for the day, as I stopped checking.
By the time these guests would’ve been able to make an informed decision to pivot, the lines pretty much everywhere would’ve been discouragingly long. I can’t imagine getting up at 6 am, arriving to Magic Kingdom at 7:30 am, being at the front of every holding point, then in line at SDMT for ~45 minutes…only to end up waiting in a ~20 minute line at the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Something they could’ve just as easily done by arriving at 8:45 am!
As you can see from the screenshots above, Peter Pan’s Flight opened with a 40 minute wait.
That was before guests knew that SDMT had a delayed opening, so the line would only get worse over the course of Early Entry. Had guests pivoted right away, I’m guessing their actual wait would’ve been less than 40 minutes, but the queue spilling out this far is seldom a good sign.
By 8:45 am, a surprising number of guests had simply thrown in the towel on Early Entry in Fantasyland and were ready for regular rope drop.
There’s always a small crowd that gathers here, but it got larger, faster on this particular day. Presumably due to the SDMT downtime. At least they’re in the shade! And on another positive note, there actually are more free roaming characters out during Early Entry, which is fun!
Despite the day as a whole only having moderate crowds at Magic Kingdom, Early Entry was busy. Wait times only tell part of the story as they’re somewhat arbitrary at this hour. I’ve seen enough Early Entry lines to know this is a busy start.
This is the typical summer dynamic when heat is high. More guests arrive early, leave for a midday break, and return later in order to beat the heat. All else being equal, you’re going to encounter worse Early Entry crowds this time of year than a comparable day in December or January.
As I shared in our last Early Entry report, my go-to move for morning at Magic Kingdom has been starting at Space Mountain, looping that, and then bouncing over to TRON Lightcycle Run.
The 45 minute posted wait time (although my wait for ride #1 would’ve been more like 10 minutes had I actually got in line first thing) discouraged me from doing that. Space Mountain would go on to have a 20 minute wait later in the afternoon.
Why You Should Still Skip Magic Kingdom’s #1 Ride
Speaking of TRON Lightcycle Run, here’s a look at the line for that ride, starting at 8:10 am.
Note the sign indicating that TRON Lightcycle Run opens at 9:00 am. Meaning that there’s already a long line for TRON Lightcycle Run, which makes some degree of sense given that it’s the #1 worst wait time in Magic Kingdom, on average.
TRON’s status during Early Entry has been a source of confusion, and Walt Disney World is partially to blame for that. For one thing, it’s still not officially open during Early Entry despite being in Tomorrowland. That is counterintuitive, as Magic Kingdom is the lone park to only open two of its lands–but then ‘withhold’ the biggest headliners in those.
For another thing, there have been scattered reports that, actually, TRON Lightcycle Run does open during Early Entry.
It’s not always right at 8:30 am, but it’s often (usually?) before 9 am.
I’ve done Early Entry several times since TRON switched to standby and I don’t recall ever seeing it cycle with guests before 8:45 am. That’s the operative part–cycling with guests. I’ve seen it cycle. I’ve seen the queue open. So the line is moving and it sounds like the ride is running…but no one is on it. Maybe this is a source of confusion? Guests feel like they’re making progress and hear the coaster roaring overhead, even if no one is on it?
In any case, I’ve also seen this sign up more recently and Cast Members repeatedly making announcements to guests in line that TRON Lightcycle Run isn’t part of Early Entry and will begin operating at 9 am.
I take that as a pretty strong sign that, actually, TRON Lightcycle Run is not part of Early Entry.
Here are a few more looks at TRON Lightcycle Run from throughout the morning:
This last one was taken at 9:02 am, and was the first train I saw cycle with guests on this particular morning.
One way or another, these guests were waiting for TRON Lightcycle Run. If they rolled up in mid-afternoon and found a 60-90 minute wait time, their time commitment was more straightforward: it was whatever they actually waited in line.
As is the case with all attractions, Early Entry is deceiving. It’s not just the posted wait. It’s all the time before that, standing around waiting for Early Entry to begin, too. The unique wrinkle with TRON is that there’s another 30 minutes since it’s not even running during Early Entry! Consequently, the “all-in” total for guests towards the front of the pack might’ve been ~120 minutes. That’s an above-average wait on this particular day.
There’s also the opportunity cost.
Instead of standing around waiting for TRON to open and having an above-average wait, they could’ve knocked out Peter Pan’s Flight or Space Mountain with below-average waits. SDMT would be on that list normally, but not today. They also could’ve gone for a ‘singles and doubles’ approach and done 2-3 secondary attractions in Tomorrowland or Fantasyland.
Since TRON isn’t officially opening at 9 am, there’s also the opportunity cost of rope dropping Adventureland or Frontierland after Early Entry. It’s not just the guests arriving at the start of Early Entry; this also applies to guests racing here at rope drop to be at the back of the pack.
That’s why we strongly recommend skipping TRON Lightcycle Run during Early Entry and at the start of regular rope drop. You could literally pick a time at random to do it later in the day and achieve better results.
Speaking of which, after taking those photos of TRON Lightcycle Run, I bounced to the other side of the park to check out the lines in Frontierland and Adventureland.
The above photo was taken at 9:13 am (I could’ve gotten here faster but got distracted by taking photos of the morning light on the Rivers of America promenade). Note the empty log on the left.
After all that racing around Magic Kingdom to document Early Entry, I was already a pool of sweat and finally ready for my first ride of the day. The posted wait time for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was 10 minutes, and my actual wait was however long it took me to walk through the empty queue.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure would go on to have the second longest wait time in Magic Kingdom on this day, behind only TRON Lightcycle Run. That’s one advantage of rope dropping it. The other is that, although it’s improved tremendously, the ride still does have an above-average number of breakdowns. Doing it when the line is short decreases the likelihood of downtime while you’re waiting.
The very first guests in line for TRON Lightcycle Run could’ve made it to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and knocked it out while the wait time was still low. The same would be true for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train + TBA on a normal morning.
For many guests, this will be viewed as a savvy strategy. They will argue that the time spent waiting before the park opens “doesn’t count,” or more accurately, isn’t as valuable as the operating day. And if you’re a commando tourist going hard from rope drop until park closing, that’s true!
For guests arriving at or after regular rope drop, or anyone who can’t do the full day, that isn’t true. It’s all about tradeoffs, and burning so much of the clock on hour(s) when the park isn’t even operating might end up being counterproductive.
As for my morning after Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, I subsequently bounced to Pirates of the Caribbean (also no wait). There was nothing strategic about this; I was just overheating and a dark air-conditioned queue really hit the spot.
By the time I got off that, the line for Jungle Cruise was prohibitively long. If I knew what the “angle” of this post would end up being, I would’ve raced to Jungle Cruise at 9 am, followed by TBA and PotC, instead of goofing around taking pictures.
From there, I bounced back over to Tomorrowland and knocked out the TTA PeopleMover. While on that, I saw that the line for Space Mountain was now nonexistent, and the ~15 minute posted wait time corroborated this. So I did that, and ended up waiting 16 minutes.
Ultimately, if we skip over all the running around to document Early Entry (without doing anything), pretend that I simply arrived for regular rope drop and picked up this morning at Magic Kingdom from there…it was actually pretty good! And the point of this isn’t that Early Entry is bad, because that’s not necessarily true, either. Had I started with Peter Pan’s Flight, I could’ve fairly easily done that and another Fantasyland classic before heading to Frontierland.
My issue with Early Entry is sinking too much time into one attraction and pretending that time doesn’t count because it’s before the park opens. It may be lower value time, but it’s certainly not no-value time. This run-through exaggerates the pitfalls of that approach with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train having a delayed opening until afternoon and TRON Lightcycle Run not cycling guests until ~9 am, but they exist regardless.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you skip Early Entry at Magic Kingdom or take advantage of the perk? What’s your strategy? Start with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or something else? Would you pivot in the case of the dreaded delayed opening, or be reluctant given the sunk cost and wait times everywhere else? Would you opt for the ‘hurry up and wait’ approach of starting at TRON Lightcycle Run, or is the opportunity cost of waiting for a ride that isn’t open too high for you? How would you do things differently to start the day at MK? Agree or disagree with our advice or approach? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
