Should You Go To Magic Kingdom For Early Entry ... Even If You're Not Eligible?

 

Recently, I wrote a post about the unique rope drop situation at Epcot.  I made a mention in there about how Magic Kingdom has its own quirks when it comes to rope drop.  I thought I would expand upon that here, and discuss the early entry and rope drop situation from a different perspective.  

As a quick refresher, Early Theme Park Entry is available to any guests staying on Disney property.  This allows guests to enter any park on any day thirty minutes earlier than non-resort guests.  We have debated on vs. off property on this blog before, and I generally fall into the category of "it's worth it" to stay on property.  There are fewer perks than before, but any "extra" park time (early entry, extra hours, etc) is often the best time to visit and those perks are available only to resort guests.  

WDW News: Park Reservation Changes, Enchantment Enhancement, Soap

 

We haven't had a lot of updates lately, but there have been a few Disney news items we've been keeping our eye on, and figured this was a good opportunity to talk about some of them.  None of these are particularly earth shattering by themselves (particularly the last one here!) but there are some useful nuggets of information here.

Park Reservation System Changes:

Beginning this week, Disney made some tweaks to its park reservation system.  You might think that these tweaks will make for a smoother, easier experience, right?  Not really.  In fact, most of these changes probably wouldn't impact the overwhelming majority of guests. This mostly deals with different ticket types that a guest can hold at once, including an Annual Pass and a regular day ticket.  I won't get too into the weeds on these, since like I said, it affects very few people from a practical perspective.

The Uniqueness of Epcot at Rope Drop

 

One of the best ways to beat crowds when going to Disney parks is the proverbial "rope drop."  This is so named because there used to be a physical rope that blocked off the park, and the people who arrived before that time were lined up until the rope was, um, dropped, and they were allowed to run (or "walk quickly") to their desired destination.  That term has stuck since then and has become part of the Disney goer vernacular.

With the advent of Early Theme Park Entry, rope drop has changed slightly.  Now traditional rope drop (at official park opening time) is largely useless, since the on property guests have already been in the parks for a half hour, thus eliminating much of that advantage.  There are circumstances where traditional rope drop can still work - if you're planning to hit an attraction that isn't the busiest (or even second busiest) attraction at a given park.  Magic Kingdom has its own unique feature here, in that only half the park is open for early entry; you can still arrive as early as you want and await the regular rope drop for Frontierland and Adventureland (or you can double up by hitting something on the other side during early entry and then lining up for a "second" rope drop).

Which Park is Best For Adults?

 

Walt Disney World has a reputation of being a family friendly place to visit, following Walt's philosophy of having a place where kids and adults can enjoy everything together.  This is one of the things that makes Disney such a unique place to visit.  But to many people (outsiders?), Disney World is considered a destination for kids - a place that adults tolerate simply to take their kids for a "once in a lifetime" trip so that they can say they did it.

Whether that status is justified is beyond the scope of this post, as is the stigma surrounding "Disney adults" (a topic I've considered discussing in more detail at some point).  But on the surface, this is how Disney is seen to many people, and a place like Universal is there to appeal to people who "outgrow" Disney.  

Attractions to Move From Genie+ to Individual Lightning Lanes?

Back in February, Disney announced that through August 7, certain rides that were formerly under the Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) umbrella would instead be included in the regular Genie+ service.  I wrote about this at the time, but the basic story is that demand was high, and that Genie+ was frustrating to guests given its relative limited selection of rides at all non-Magic Kingdom parks.  This change helped greatly during the busy Spring Break/early summer season, and helped spread out crowds over more attractions.

Disney's announcement at the time said that these rides would be moved until "at least" August 7.  But that date is rapidly approaching, and so far, there doesn't appear to be any change to their plans.  I put the question mark in this post title because things certainly could change (and in this case, there wouldn't be some grand announcement, but rather a quiet change to the wording on their website) but I'm writing this under the assumption that they stick to this plan.

August 3 edit: Disney seems to have quietly removed the asterisk on their website stating that these rides would revert to ILL on August 7.  This would indicate that these changes are indeed permanent (or as permanent as it gets until they decide to change something again).  What follows here in this post is now obsolete, but I'm leaving it for historical purposes and because I spent a lot of time waxing poetic here and don't want to blow it up. Enjoy!

Magic Kingdom Strategy During Party Season

 

It's almost August and you know what that means - Halloween!  Is that not the first thing you thought of?  Well, I don't blame you.  But in Disney terms, August begins "fall" (even with temperatures in the mid-90's) and Halloween season.  Once that ends, Disney transitions immediately into Christmas season in early November.  That time frame probably falls more in line with your expectations (even though I'm a "don't put up the Christmas lights until after Thanksgiving guy").

The point here is that we are about to enter "holiday season" at Walt Disney World, and for Magic Kingdom, that means party season.  For the first time since 2019, both of Magic Kingdom's real holiday parties are back - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.  The decorations may change, but the general idea is the same - they are hard ticket events (meaning not included with your regular admission) that run from 7:00 p.m. to midnight for each party.

Is a Shorter Trip Worth The Effort?

 

Everyone tours Walt Disney World differently.  My perspective in writing this blog is as people who can't go as often as we would like, but when we do go, we go big.  Usually it's a week long, mostly park-centric trip that runs us all to the brink of exhaustion.  By the time we get back, we've wrung every drop of fun out of a vacation and are happy to be home.

At least, for a little while.  And that got me thinking today - if I could go more often, but the trips would have to be shorter, would that be worth it?  Would it be a better plan than the one we currently use?  I know some people who go every year, but it's as part of a larger road trip, where they stop into Disney for a day or two.  That's not exactly what I was thinking of in this case, but it did spur me on to think about this topic.