The Best Disney Advice I’ve Ever Received

Arrive at the park at least 30 minutes before rope drop.

Simple, right?

But I have to admit, I heard that advice a thousand times before I actually put it into practice.

Once I did, I never looked back.

Before the mid 1990’s, and because I had been to Walt Disney World so many times, I never saw the need to get to the parks early. We were a “fly by the seat of our pants” kind of family. We didn’t need a schedule. If an attraction had a long line, we just moved on to the next attraction.

But as Walt Disney World became more popular, queues became longer and longer and it became more difficult to do everything we wanted to do. Something had to give.

What gave? We finally had to abandon our desire to sleep late on vacation.

I always tell everyone, if you want to get the most out of your day, arrive at least, at the very least, 30 minutes before rope drop. Rope drop is the daily park opening. If Magic Kingdom opens at 9am that morning, plan to arrive absolutely no later than 8:30am. Yes, you will have to wait but each park has a special opening show to make the time go by quickly.

By arriving early you are among the first to enter the park. Timing your early entry allows you to experience the attractions with little to no wait times. Even at the most crowded times of the year, our family is able to most of what we want to do in a single park, all before lunch.

Strategies for each park (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom) are varied, depending on your party’s interests. But arriving early is the single best way to maximize your time at Disney World!

Stay tuned for more tips and tricks to make your visit to Walt Disney World the best trip ever!