The next morning the Magic Kingdom had morning Extra Magic Hours. This means the park opens an hour early for guests of Disney resorts. You have to show your room keys in addition to your tickets to get in. We have been to the Magic Kingdom when the park opened at 8 am for everyone and it always makes for the best time. There aren't a lot of people who want to get up that early so you get the park to yourself for a little bit. We didn't use morning EMH last time we stayed on property because the boys liked to sleep late but they wake up at the crack of dawn these days, so off we went.
We drove to the park and when you drive to the Magic Kingdom you actually arrive at the Ticket and Transportation Center and then take either a monorail or ferryboat to the park. We were out of the car and in line for transportation by 7:30 am. I was so proud of us. Now, here is where we encountered our first ever problem in Disney World. Unlike on a regular day with an early opening, for the Extra Magic Hours they were not running the ferryboat and they were only running the non-direct Resort Monorail. We were still going to get the second train that arrived, so no big deal.
Soon it became apparent that the monorail was not actually running. It was broken down, and the line to ride it was growing longer and longer. I figured "it's Disney, they'll come up with something." I assumed they would start running the direct monorail or start ferryboat rides earlier than scheduled. I was wrong. We just stood and stood. They got our monorail fixed around the same time they started the direct train so the hundreds of people behind us in line got to take that train first. When we finally got in the park it was 15 minutes AFTER opening. It was not a good way to start the day.
We did learn a valuable lesson, though. From here on out if we stay on property, we will take the bus when we are using morning Extra Magic Hours. Buses get to go directly to the park.
The crowds were still pretty light so we got to ride all our favorites without waiting. We did the carousel, It's a Small World and Peter Pan in about 20 minutes. We wanted to get in the Haunted Mansion and Buzz Lightyear before more people arrived. Here was problem number two. The other "lands" in the Magic Kingdom were not open during Extra Magic Hours. You could only get into Main St. USA and Fantasyland. I don't remember reading this little tidbit anywhere so I don't know if this is typical or not. (Zandria, is this normal?) I can imagine that folks who arrived early thinking they could get in some of the big mountain attractions without waiting were probably a little ticked off.
We just did another ride and were waiting for them to drop the rope and let us in to ride the Haunted Mansion. We took the new "scenic" queue. It has a lot of interactive elements, like haunted pianos and bookshelves you can play with and it has misters which is nice on a hot day. By 10 am, we were done riding rides and ready to go to lunch. We left pretty unimpressed with morning Extra Magic Hours.
5 comments:
I had no idea the other lands were closed early. We followed touring plans that took us to Fantasyland and then straight to Toon Town, so I don't know if the other lands were closed. That doesn't seem right, but according to Disney's website, "Please note that not all Disney Theme Park Attractions are available during Extra Magic Hours."
Here's a list of open attractions"
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/extended-theme-park-hours/
I'm so glad you mentioned this. I never thought about it. Lesson learned.
I have 3 guide books on my shelf and not a one mentions that only some of the park is open. Buzz Lightyear is on the list but you couldn't get into Tomorrowland so I guess that's not always the case. They didn't drop the ropes to the other lands until exactly 9 am.
I'm constantly learning lessons for the next trip. Jonathan gets a little perturbed with the guidebooks sometimes. He wants to write a guidebook that is based more on reality.
You should email Len Testa (Unofficial Guide) he will respond and send your comments forward to the editors and hopefully add some of your ideas. Or Jonathan could just write a book and get paid for research trips.
Touring Plans mentions it very briefly. If it's any of the guide books, I swept past it. We were so disappointed to find that World Showcase didn't stay open during Evening Extra Magic Hours.
Didn't know that about World Showcase until you posted that link. It's not just missing the info about what was open or closed. It also would have been nice to know that only one monorail was running in the mornings and it's the one that takes twice as long. We would have adjusted our arrival time to be sure to be there for the big morning welcome.
We're just tucking it all away for later trips.
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