What time should I be at Magic Kingdom for early entry?
Arriving at the Magic Kingdom 30–60 minutes before official opening ensures the shortest possible waits for rides.
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Unlike the old Extra Magic Hours perk (which was only at 1-2 parks per day), Early Entry happens every day, at every park, including at Magic Kingdom. Because of the sheer number of extremely popular attractions, we highly recommend you plan to use Early Entry at Magic Kingdom if you are eligible.
The first two to three hours of every day are the time of the lowest crowds of the day. It's almost Magical. The wait time for Space Mountain at 10:00 am is usually around 20-30 minutes. At noon, it's 60-90 minutes.
The typical hours for Magic Kingdom's are 8AM or 9AM to 10PM or 11PM, but hours vary even beyond that. On nights where Magic Kingdom hosts an After Hours or holiday party event, the park may close earlier than other days.
Even though Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party doesn't officially start until 7 pm, you can enter the park as early as 4 pm with your event ticket. You will not need a park reservation since it is a special event. Just a heads up–this event sells out pretty quickly and last year, we saw a huge demand.
Early Entry at the Disneyland ResortGuests who are checked in and staying at one of the Disneyland Resort hotels can enter Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park 30 minutes before regular park opening to enjoy select attractions, dining and shopping locations.
Starting over in Magic Kingdom, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train had the longest average wait time with 66 minutes. Last week the average wait time was 68 minutes, so the time stayed pretty steady since then.
Guests are allowed to bring outside food and nonalcoholic beverage items into the park for self-consumption, provided they are not in glass containers and do not require heating, reheating, processing, refrigeration or temperature control and do not have pungent odors.
As you can guess if Monday is the busiest, Tuesday tends to be the best day of the week to go to Magic Kingdom. We also find Thursday to be one of the least busy days of the week at Magic Kingdom, with Sunday being a great weekend option.
Overnight bags, camping-style backpacks, suitcases, and the like are best left back at your hotel, in your car, or in a park locker. (Disney World prohibits guests from bringing bags larger than 24? x 18? x 15? with them into the parks.)
A surge of early birds arrive before or around opening time but are quickly dispersed throughout the empty park. After the initial wave is absorbed, there's a lull lasting about an hour after opening. Then the park is inundated for about 2 hours, peaking between 10 a.m. and noon.
Go EarlyIf you want to avoid long lines there's no simpler way than to wake up early and get to the park before it opens. Whether you have access to early entry or not, being at the park entrance before it opens will save you lots of time. Usually, you can get in 2-3 rides during the first hour of park operation.
Genie Plus is definitely worth it for Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, and if you don't like early starts, you might consider it for Epcot and Animal Kingdom. If you are park hopping, Genie+ is even better value as it maximises the number of rides you have access to.
With every park participating in Early Theme Park Entry, expect the first bus of the day to arrive to your resort between 45 minutes to 1 hour before Early Theme Park Entry starts.
Early Theme Park Entry begins 30 minutes before the park is scheduled to open. Guests may be allowed into the park sooner, and some rides may begin to queue before that time. In rare cases, rides may operate before that time.