Parks opening before posted time!!

[ranty]

Hey everyone! I have read in a few books now that on most days the parks actually open before the posted rope drop time.(Not including early EMH of course) I.E. Magic kingdom supposed to open at 9 am and people are allowed in and around main street at 8:00. Is this true? If anyone knows it should be all you great intercot people!!

[Melanie]

I remember the days when you could roam Main St. before park opening and the rope drop would be at the end of Main St. right at the start of the hub. Unfortunately, not true anymore. Now they will let you through the turnstiles at all the parks, but you are held directly inside for the opening ceremony which occurs on the train platform.

[VWL Mom]

I think the only exception would be if you had ADRs prior to park opening.

[MOJoe]

In certain situations, as in very busy periods, or if there is a special event which is expected to bring in a hoard of guests, you may see the parks open early. But this is not normal, and only happens on rare occasions.

[SBETigg]

On Extra Magic Hours mornings, for WDW resort guests. The park with Extra Magic Hours in the morning will open an hour early for resort guests, select attractions only. Otherwise no, not usually, with the exception of allowing in guests with ADRs prior to opening, as previous poster observed.

[DisneyFr33k]

I think the only exception would be if you had ADRs prior to park opening.

We did that one year. We were the only ones walking down main street. Not anyone else except one security guard. He was nice enough to take our picture in front of the castle with no one around. It felt really special!

[Renfairwedding]

I was let in early with the group taking Steam Train Tour. I have a great photo of Main Street with nothing but white pickup truck.

Sort of like an early morning in a small town but with a castle.

[Victor Kelly]

If you have reservations, they will let you in. But otherwise they contain you just inside the turnstiles.

Ah, the memories of being allowed onto Main Street USA before park opening. The penny arcade.........I miss being on mainstreet now. But things changed after Sept 11th.

We did get let in by accident one morning. We thought is was an EMH day. And when we walked to the areas that were supposed to be open they were roped off. When we talked to a photopass person she said that no it was not EMH. Then she suggested getting our pictures taken with NO PEOPLE in front of the castle and on main street. We have pictures that are near impossible to get.

And we got to watch the crowd come in at rope drop. She said watch this, they will slow down halfway down mainstreet since you walk up a slight hill. Sure enough the crowd slowed down. Coolest thing we ever saw.

[Aurora]

Check the schedule when you're there. On one of the mornings when we were there in June this year, the MK was OPEN at 8 a.m. (not EMH), but that was not widely known, and the park was nearly empty. The 8 a.m. opening was listed on the weekly Park Operating Hours sheet you can get at the resorts and parks, but online, there was hardly any mention of it anywhere.

[K8screen]

Some years back we arrived at MK very early on July 4th, as I am an obssessive early riser and I wanted to beat what we expected to be huge lines. To our surprise and delight the WHOLE PARK was open 1 hour before stated opening, not an EMH day, and for everyone! We were almost the only people in the park, and rode SM and Astro orbiters pretty much by ourselves before I asked a CM if Frontierland was open too. She said it was, so we went straight onto SpM and BTM.
One of my favourite Disney memories is standing alone in Tomorrowland, unable to believe we had MK to ourselves on the 4th of July!! (Even if only for an hour) I dont think this still happens though.

[spoiledraf]

We were at AK just last week on a 9am opening. We walked up around 8:50 and everyone was already in the park. I asked a CM if I had the wrong time but he said 9am.? Oh well. We got an early start on the safari and it was the best ever. Animals within a few feet of our bus. Then the skys opened up and we got drowned the rest of the day! But still had a great time.