6 AM Park Opening my Entire Stay!?!

IMO, there is a reason that Disney is paying its CMs in MGM to be at the parks, I'm guessing, 5:00 am for a 6:00 am opening. Paying for bus drivers to begin earlier, etc. and that is because they are expecting massive crowds. Once the bulk of people move from SW, they will be going somewhere in the park, and I would expect that would be early/late morning just about the same time non-resort guests can arrive.

Exactly. I can guarantee they are not going to the expense of opening multiple parks that early and NOT expecting massive crowds. Having done the 7am FOP dash several times (even more recently after its been open for awhile) and with the Star Wars hysteria being significantly higher than Avatar......yeah, its going to be busy even at 6am. The other early entry parks might have a slightly more gradual build up of crowds through the morning, but DHS is going to be a zoo from 6am onward.
 
I listened to the DIS podcast last week where they discussed in detail how WDW crowds are never the same as DL bc overall the average WDW guest is not the same. I think what they were trying to get across without blatantly saying it was it’s gonna be crazy busy. There are going to be guests that have no clue that SWGE is even a big draw and not even realize what’s transpiring and just basically stumble upon it and since most of WDW’s guests are tourists and not locals, people won’t change their plans and press on. They went on to say that those guests that avoid SWGE will cause overflow in the other parks. I tend to agree, normally EMH are a great way to make the most of your time, I think EEMH will be too since many won’t be inclined to go to the park that early but by 10am I suspect it will be packed. At the end of the day you sit wait and watch to see how it all shakes out.

I’m excited to see what SWGE does for Disney. I’m not a SW fan but see the huge multi-generational draw and think about the fact that you have little kids that are fans and then 40 and 50 year olds that love it too. Pandora in AK (which has a much smaller fan base) was insane when it first opened and IMO Disney didn’t do that great of job managing crowds. We visited 3 months after Pandora opened and FOP still had a 4 hour wait at park opening. I imagine much the same if not worse for SWGE.
 
If you have FP+, then I don't see the need to wake up so early. We used to go every year for Christmas. Our only early morning would be Christmas Day—we'd get everything we can get done by noonish, grab a Dole Whip, and head back to the hotel/pool.

I mean, DHS and SW:GE is gonna be a whole new beast. Maybe make the sacrifice once or twice during your trip but... yeesh... I can't imagine doing it every day.
 


Will all rides, shops and shows be open for the EMH at all parks? I have no interest in SW, but if i show up at HS at 7am, will I be able to ride SDD, RNR, TSM, Frozen show all before 9am regular park opening?
 
I listened to the DIS podcast last week where they discussed in detail how WDW crowds are never the same as DL bc overall the average WDW guest is not the same. I think what they were trying to get across without blatantly saying it was it’s gonna be crazy busy. There are going to be guests that have no clue that SWGE is even a big draw and not even realize what’s transpiring and just basically stumble upon it and since most of WDW’s guests are tourists and not locals, people won’t change their plans and press on. They went on to say that those guests that avoid SWGE will cause overflow in the other parks. I tend to agree, normally EMH are a great way to make the most of your time, I think EEMH will be too since many won’t be inclined to go to the park that early but by 10am I suspect it will be packed. At the end of the day you sit wait and watch to see how it all shakes out.

I’m excited to see what SWGE does for Disney. I’m not a SW fan but see the huge multi-generational draw and think about the fact that you have little kids that are fans and then 40 and 50 year olds that love it too. Pandora in AK (which has a much smaller fan base) was insane when it first opened and IMO Disney didn’t do that great of job managing crowds. We visited 3 months after Pandora opened and FOP still had a 4 hour wait at park opening. I imagine much the same if not worse for SWGE.

You’re right about DL visitors vs DW. People plan their DW vacations sometimes a year in advance whereas DL is more comprised of locals just visiting for the day and sometimes just going on a whim. I’m still hoping that crowds may actually be light for the first month GE is open at DW like they were at DL. Probably not though cause like I said DL is mostly locals who were scared away from reports of there being massive crowds. With people at DW already being booked for a stay it won’t be the same. I know I’ll be utilizing the 6 am and 7 am park openings when I’m there everyday.
 
We are in a similar boat, we booked late September in to early October hoping to catch the switchover from Illuminations to Epcot Forever (and we will!) and then SWGE opening was announced. We are waiting to see what wait times through the days look like early September before making a decision. I'm hoping we don't need to do 6/7am rope drops!

Matt
 


I am another, Sept 29-Oct 4. But, I booked after I knew about SW opening. I will go at least once to Studios at 5 am. I do not care about F&W at Epcot, and we will skip MNSSHP this year too. So SWGE will be one priority, and also seeing Sugar Ray at Epcot, and also the new temporary replacement for Illuminations (we will see that on Oct. 2nd, not the first). We will skip Sept 30 last showing of Illuminations too.

I will be at SWGE in August, at DL, so I will visit Catina there and skip that at Studios.
 
Will all rides, shops and shows be open for the EMH at all parks? I have no interest in SW, but if i show up at HS at 7am, will I be able to ride SDD, RNR, TSM, Frozen show all before 9am regular park opening?
The DPB has said that SWGE and TSLand will be open and other "select attractions" I'm assuming ST, RnRC and ToT. There will probably not be additional Frozen shows during EEMH
 
Certainly worth a try for 1 day. I would be hard pressed to use the 6am opening every day, but for your DHS day, take advantage of your perks and go early.
 
I feel your pain :) I planned and booked 9/7-9/14 and about a month and a half later they announced SWGE. Not much time to watch how it unfolds. It should be interesting to see how it goes. I like to be out early but not that early 😬 My daughters will be with me who are not early risers. I might be able to convince them to come out early one day and I'll probably venture out on my own a couple of mornings. I'm really curious to see how the other parks are going to be affected, this trip will definitely be an experience. If I can't get FP for DHS at a time that works for us, we're skipping this park. I'll miss TOT and RNR but have no desire to deal with the crowds. Food and Wine is a favorite so there's a plus! We booked DAHAK, some nice restaurants and have a split stay at CSR/SSR. This may become more of a relaxing resort vacation for us. Good luck and enjoy your trip :goodvibes
 
We moved our October cruise/parks vacation to November in a large part due to the EEMH announcement. 7am I can live with, but 6am is a dealbreaker for me.
 
so until we figure out what is going on with the reservation system I really have no idea.

Except there is no reservation system and until Disney announces otherwise don't plan on one. Especially since Disneyland and Disney World are different animals.

Exactly. I can guarantee they are not going to the expense of opening multiple parks that early and NOT expecting massive crowds.

This is a HUGE flaw in reasoning because you are telling me that from August 29th until November 2nd there are going to be larger crowds then WDW has ever had in its history? They know there is massive crowds every Christmas and 4th and they don't add these hours then?

We will see but Disney has not discounted fall rooms yet and I think they are going to be testing to see if they can get rooms filled, pocket more money (without discounts), and keep guests happy by throwing a portion in to labor costs to add 10% additional park hours (of which not everything is open in the park so its not a 10% additional labor cost). Remember September and October are typically the guests who shy away from extra busy times of the year so proactively announcing EEMH is possibly an attempt to avoid mass cancellation of rooms for those trying to avoid Star Wars crowd bumps.

It will be busier but not so much so that it calls for an unprecedented park opening schedule. I am not even sure if a park has had EMH even 7 straight times let alone like 10 weeks in a row.
 
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You’re right about DL visitors vs DW. People plan their DW vacations sometimes a year in advance whereas DL is more comprised of locals just visiting for the day and sometimes just going on a whim. I’m still hoping that crowds may actually be light for the first month GE is open at DW like they were at DL. Probably not though cause like I said DL is mostly locals who were scared away from reports of there being massive crowds. With people at DW already being booked for a stay it won’t be the same. I know I’ll be utilizing the 6 am and 7 am park openings when I’m there everyday.
Also, many locals at DL were blocked out for the opening days (lower tier AP's), and since you can't get into SWL without a reservation until the 24th there is no point in going unless you were willing to spend $600/night to stay at a resort hotel.
 
We booked for the free dining and are going the first week of September. What’s more is we made 8am breakfast reservations at MK, AK and HS that was made before the park time changes. So at MK and AK we have moved those back to 9’ish and haven't really decided what to do about HS. Our current plan is early to the parks, long siesta/nap over lunch and back to the parks in the evening for the shows. We’ll see how it goes.
 
We booked before the SWGE announcement too, hoping to get there ahead of it since we are a family with young kids (almost 5 and not quite 2 when we're there) and not more than a passing interest in SW. Our oldest is way into TS though and is tall enough for SDD, so we don't want to skip HS.

The oldest is an early bird and our younger two are not, so I'm considering splitting up and making an early start with him and DH will bring the littles over after they wake up so they aren't crabby the rest of the day. And hopefully the people willing to be there at 5am will all be heading for SWGE and spending a few hours there and then tired by 10am and ready to head out of the park. A girl can dream right?
 
This is how we do Disney as well. Getting up early won't be a big deal as it will be just like getting up for work. I already go into a Disney trip knowing that I'm not going to relax in AM hours. That's what the afternoon is for and/or a beach trip.

Definitely get that this isn't for everyone but that's actually why I prefer it. Once we saw the revised hours it actually made us more excited because we knew we'd likely get to maximize the park experience more than we ever had in the past.
I dont know... I don't like comparing work to vacation....lol
 
IMO, there is a reason that Disney is paying its CMs in MGM to be at the parks, I'm guessing, 5:00 am for a 6:00 am opening. Paying for bus drivers to begin earlier, etc. and that is because they are expecting massive crowds. Once the bulk of people move from SW, they will be going somewhere in the park, and I would expect that would be early/late morning just about the same time non-resort guests can arrive.
You think? hotels are still wide open. Im thinking its to alleviate the HS crowd. If the other parks aren't open, everyone will head to HS first. Who know what their thinking its. All I know is there are plenty of rooms available for the first week of September
 
We booked a September trip thinking we'd have a nice relaxed vacation. We can still do that, but we'd get much less done now. I know I'll have a great time once I'm there but the uncertainty is making me very anxious. I don't care if it's jam packed or relativity empty, I just want to know what I'm getting myself info beforehand! I'll be looking at MDE all day starting August 29th and will probably need to change my plans and go with the flow.

I wasn't planning on doing the HS 6am opening but we might have to now. I don't even care much about TSL, I just want to make sure we get on TOT and RnR. I'm trying to set my expectations that everything after that would just be bonus fun.
 

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