International Gateway with pre-park opening reservation?

[JennaDeeDooDah]

My family and I are looking to try and book Garden Grill for a pre-park opening breakfast one of the days of our stay this December. We are staying at Boardwalk so we will be using International Gateway. I assume that they will let us in just like the main gate lets people in, but you know what they say when people assume. I worried that with it being a smaller entrance with fewer staff, maybe they couldn't accommodate that and would expect us to use the main gate. Anyone know for sure?

 

[WEDWDW]

Guests with early ADRs/Tours will be let in early through the IG.

If you have any problems(you shouldn't),ask for a Manager.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You'll be fine. They never expect EP resort guests to use the main EP gate as they do not offer transport there from the EP resorts.

 

[PSUGuy]

In 2007 we had the later of 2 Segway Tours, I forget the exact time, 9:30 I think. We did get through the IG from our Board Walk room but barely in time for our tour, if we had the earlier one we'd have been out of luck. A year later we bought a tour for our daughter and SIL as an anniversary gift and we encouraged then to take a cab to the main Epcot entrance which they did. Maybe things have changed, maybe we caught a bad day.

Bill From PA

 

[LisaCM614]

My family and I are looking to try and book Garden Grill for a pre-park opening breakfast one of the days of our stay this December. We are staying at Boardwalk so we will be using International Gateway. I assume that they will let us in just like the main gate lets people in, but you know what they say when people assume. I worried that with it being a smaller entrance with fewer staff, maybe they couldn't accommodate that and would expect us to use the main gate. Anyone know for sure?

I know that there are not many cast members working the gate that early in the AM but don't panic if you walk up and don't see anyone there. Give it a few minutes and flag someone down and they will get you in. While the walk from the Boardwalk to the International Gateway is short, the walk from the International Gateway to Garden Grill is a bit longer. Give yourself plenty of time for that lovely early AM stroll through Epcot!

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Thank you all so much! Just what I wanted to hear. And thank you for the good tips, as well.

 

[vicb]

We did the Epcot Segway tour that started prior to park opening in 2012, stayed at Dolphin. No trouble at all getting in gate, I seem to remember there was one CM at a ticket/office window to the side of security and she called for someone to admit us, it was very easy. My avatar photo was taken that morning! That walk in through an empty UK, Canada and Future World rates right up there with our best Disney experiences!

Disneywishes14 is correct, Disney does not expect Epcot area guests to go to the front of Epcot.

 

[vicb]

I haven't posted photos in a while, I hope this works. But these were a few photos we took that morning. Ok finally I remembered..... sorry so big though[GALLERY=] [GALLERY=]

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I'm excited to get to see the park that empty!

 

[pmaurer74]

I had the same question! We have an ADR at Akershus tomorrow morning at 8:15am and staying at Boardwalk. What time should we plan to get to the International Gateway by? Will the section in World showcase be closed so we will have to walk toe direction of UK and Canadian to get to Norway?

 

[WEDWDW]

I had the same question! We have an ADR at Akershus tomorrow morning at 8:15am and staying at Boardwalk. What time should we plan to get to the International Gateway by? Will the section in World showcase be closed so we will have to walk toe direction of UK and Canadian to get to Norway?

I would be at the IG by 8:00 AM.

Yes,you will walk past UK,Canada and Mexico.

Until 11:00 AM there are ropes between France and Morocco and between Norway and China.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

As long as I have your attention... can anyone tell me about how long breakfast takes? I was hoping that with an early breakfast at Garden Grill (hopefully 8 or 8:15), we could hop on Soarin' around 9:00ish with little wait and save that Tier 1 FP+ for the new Frozen ride (yay for traveling with two 6 year old girls). Does this sound like it will work? Obviously, if we can't get reservations until 8:30 or later, that won't work.

 

[tessiesevin]

Just a heads up....... we always stay at the Boardwalk and always have 8.00 ADR to Akershus. Our last trip in Feb they did not let us through Italy to Norway. We had to go all the way around to Canada trough Mexico to get to Norway.The crowd from the front of the park beat us there.

 

[WEDWDW]

Just a heads up....... we always stay at the Boardwalk and always have 8.00 ADR to Akershus. Our last trip in Feb they did not let us through Italy to Norway. We had to go all the way around to Canada trough Mexico to get to Norway.The crowd from the front of the park beat us there.

Until 11:00 AM there are ropes between France and Morocco and between Norway and China.

 

[tessiesevin]

We were always let through for 8.00 before ? This was the first we had to walk around.

 

[WEDWDW]

We were always let through for 8.00 before ? This was the first we had to walk around.

They let you walk past Morocco,Japan,etc.to get to Norway?Interesting.

Maybe they hadn't put the ropes up yet?

 

[snayak]

Just a heads up....... we always stay at the Boardwalk and always have 8.00 ADR to Akershus. Our last trip in Feb they did not let us through Italy to Norway. We had to go all the way around to Canada trough Mexico to get to Norway.The crowd from the front of the park beat us there.

Its shorter to walk from the IG through Canada to Norway than around the back - 0.2 miles shorter per Google Maps. Now, there might be less people going the long way around, but even given the choice, I'd go through Canada, unless you want empty pavilion pictures or something...

 

[LisaCM614]

As long as I have your attention... can anyone tell me about how long breakfast takes? I was hoping that with an early breakfast at Garden Grill (hopefully 8 or 8:15), we could hop on Soarin' around 9:00ish with little wait and save that Tier 1 FP+ for the new Frozen ride (yay for traveling with two 6 year old girls). Does this sound like it will work? Obviously, if we can't get reservations until 8:30 or later, that won't work.

I had friends who ate were done at Garden Grill by 8:45AM and over to Soarin' before the crowds this past weekend. Make sure your cast member server knows of your plans and maybe even pay your bill before you are done eating (or at least before your girls are done eating if your kids are anything like mine - my twins are 12 now though )
You'll be fine. Have any awesome trip! We'll be at the Boardwalk at the end of the month.

 

[MyrddinEmrys]

Ok, I'm a total WDW newbie here so forgive me if what I'm about to ask is 100% ridiculous. Does it work in reverse? We're staying off site, but have a 7:45am ADR for Cape May Cafe. How would we get there? Will they let us walk through the park to the gateway?

 

[bethbuchall]

Guests with early ADRs/Tours will be let in early through the IG.

If you have any problems(you shouldn't),ask for a Manager.

That's good to hear. In 2009, we were specifically told that we couldn't use the IG to get to a pre-park opening for the Segway tour and would have to find our own transportation to the front entrance from Beach Club. I ended up scheduling it on an EMH morning so that we didn't have to worry about it. We have early tour scheduled this September and I was hoping that IG would be open for us to use.