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.