Disney World Early Entry: Tips, Tricks, and Strategy For Your Trip

Early Entry at Walt Disney World can be a great time to take advantage of little to no wait times for some of the most popular rides!

Here’s we’re going to cover the basics of what Early Entry is, plus give you some strategies to maximize your Early Entry time in each park so you know which rides to prioritize.

Disney World Early Entry Basics

Before we get to the specific strategies you can use for Early Entry at Disney World, let’s cover the basics of what Early Entry is and who is eligible.

What is Early Entry?

Early Entry is the half hour in which the four Disney World theme parks open for specific guests before regular opening time. And it’s a great time to take advantage of lower wait times for rides.

Who is Eligible for Early Entry?

Guests staying at Walt Disney World resorts are able to get into the parks during Early Entry. This includes all Value, Moderate, and Deluxe resort guests as well as guests at Shades of Green and at the Swan and Dolphin.

Guests staying at select Good Neighbor hotels are also able to access the parks during Early Entry. Here’s the full list:

• DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Orlando
• Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando Lake Buena Vista
• Four Seasons Resort Orlando
• Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vita
• Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace
• Holiday Inn Orlando
• Renaissance Orlando Resort and Spa
• Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek
• Waldorf Astoria Orlando
• Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista
• Wyndham Lake Buena Vista

You can always check the complete list from Disney for updates.

What Time Does Early Entry Start?

Early Entry starts 30 minutes before official park opening time. So if the park opens at 8:00 a.m., Early Entry guests will be able to get into the park at 7:30 a.m.

What Parks Have Early Entry on Which Days?

Every park has Early Entry every day!

Is Early Entry Free?

Yes, it is free! But of course you must have a ticket to the park (and a reservation if necessary, but date-tickets do not need reservations).

What Rides are Included in Early Entry?

Here’s a full list of what rides are included. Because while Early Entry gives you access to a lot of rides, not every section of every park will be open. For instance, in Magic Kingdom, Early Entry is limited to Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, while Adventureland and Frontierland don’t open until the park officially opens.

Magic Kingdom Early Entry Rides

• Astro Orbiter
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Dumbo
• It’s a Small World
• Mad Tea Party
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Space Mountain
• The Barnstormer
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid
• Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress

Epcot Early Entry Rides

• Frozen Ever After
• Mission: SPACE
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
• Soarin’ Around the World
• Spaceship Earth
• Test Track (closed until sometime in 2025)
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends

Hollywood Studios Early Entry Rides

• Alien Swirling Saucers
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Rise of the Resistance
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
• Slinky Dog Dash
• Star Tours
• Tower of Terror
• Toy Story Mania

Animal Kingdom Early Entry Rides

• Avatar Flight of Passage
• DINOSAUR
• Expedition Everst
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug
• Na’vi River Journey
• TriceraTop Spin (closing permanently January 2025)

Disney World Early Entry Strategy

Now that we know the basics of how Early Entry works, let’s talk specific strategy so you can make the most of your time!

How Early Should I Arrive for Early Entry?

Even though this early access to the parks is limited to specific resort guests, you will still find large lines of people waiting to get in for it. So you should still plan to arrive at least an hour before Early Entry begins!

You want to be as close to the front of the crowd as possible, especially if you want to get on one of the more popular rides.

How to Access Early Entry

There will be signs pointing guests where to go for Early Entry. At some parks there may be specific ticket gates open for guests with Early Entry access. At other parks (like Magic Kingdom) they may let everyone into the park early but have a specific checkpoint inside the park for Early Entry guests to access rides.

Magic Kingdom Early Entry Strategy

Your strategy for Magic Kingdom is going to depend on your Lightning Lanes too.

Did you decide to buy an Lightning Lane Single Pass for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train? Then don’t worry about getting on it during Early Entry. Do you have a Lightning Lane Multi Pass Reservation for Peter Pan? Again, don’t worry about getting on it during Early Entry.

Thirty minutes isn’t a ton of time, but with the right strategy you can get on a few rides before Magic Kingdom opens which really can be a game changer when it comes to the rest of your day.

But remember it’s all about maximizing time! And if you’re at the back of the Early Entry crowd and try to get on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train then it’s still going to be a long wait. But guess what! It’s also going to be a long wait later in the day too! So save your wait for later and try to get on rides with little to no line now.

In general, here’s my favorite strategy for Early Entry at Magic Kingdom:

• If you are at the front of the Early Entry crowd, go for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Peter Pan. Then use the rest of the time to do a mid-tier ride like Winnie the Pooh or It’s a Small World.
• If you are at the middle or back of the Early Entry crowd, go for a ride like Winnie the Pooh or Space Mountain. Then use the rest of your time to jump on rides like Dumbo, Barnstormer, and the Tea Cups.

Epcot Early Entry Strategy

The two best rides to get on during Early Entry at Epcot at Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. And unlike at Magic Kingdom, you won’t be able to maximize your ride count as much with Early Entry in Epcot just because the rides are so much more spread out.

So after your Early Entry ride at Epcot, you can possibly get in line for something else. But you won’t find yourself with as much time here.

Which ride you want to get on during Early Entry also depends on what entrance you are coming in from!

• If you are coming in at the International Gateway (this is you if you are riding the Skyliner or staying in the Boardwalk area), then go to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure for Early Entry.
• If you are coming in at the Front Entrance, then head toward Frozen Ever After.

This can also inform your Lightning Lane Multi Pass strategy. If you know you’re going to be coming in the International Gateway, then get your Lightning Lane for Frozen since you’ll want to head to Remy for Early Entry (and vice versa).

Hollywood Studios Early Entry Strategy

The two best rides for Early Entry at Hollywood Studios are Rise of the Resistance and Slinky Dog Dash. These are consistently the two most popular rides! However, if you have a Lightning Lane for one or both of them, you might choose to do something else.

Pro Tip: They sometimes start running Rise of the Resistance even earlier, so if you are at the very front of the line you could be on and off and still have tons of Early Entry time left.

Here’s the strategy I would use:

• If you are at the front of the Early Entry crowd, go for Rise of the Resistance or Slinky Dog Dash. Then head to Toy Story Mania followed by Alien Swirling Saucers.
• If you are later in the Early Entry crowd, go for Toy Story Mania or Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
• Alternatively, you could head down Sunset Boulevard and knock out both Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

Animal Kingdom Early Entry Strategy

The most popular ride to rope drop for Early Entry at Animal Kingdom is Avatar Flight of Passage! And if you’re at the front of the crowd and don’t have a Lightning Lane Single Pass for this, you may want to do this!

Here’s my Animal Kingdom strategy:

• If you’re at the front of the Early Entry crowd, head to Flight of Passage. Then go to Na’vi River Journey.
• If you’re later in the crowd, go to Na’vi River Journey. Then head to Expedition Everest. With this strategy you can usually ride Expedition Everest a couple times before the park even opens! (This is my favorite thing to do!)

What NOT To Do During Early Entry

So there are lots of options of what you can do during Early Entry at Disney World, but there are definitely some things you DON’T want to do!

• Don’t waste it on a show. Please don’t use your Early Entry time for a longer show. Besides the fact that these would take up pretty much all of your Early Entry time, they also generally don’t have very long waits during the day so you aren’t really saving time.
• Don’t waste time in line. If you get to ride and it already has a super long wait time, move on to something else that doesn’t. The waits will still be there later in the day, but the rides with no waits won’t!
• Don’t stay in line for a ride that is broken down. If you get in line for something and it’s closed because of technical difficulties, don’t stay in line! You could spend your whole time in line and that ride may not even open during Early Entry. Move on to something else!

More Disney Rides Resources

• Disney World Rides by Age
• Water Rides at Disney World
• Scariest Rides at Disney World

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