[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: I put a poll in my Instagram broadcast channel on the topic that I should cover on today’s episode, the one that won, and I’m so happy that it did is mornings in the parks

[00:00:11] Dana Stanley: I’m excited to chat about this because I really do. Love and appreciate mornings at Disney World. I feel like they are really important, but just as like a mom being at home, just mornings in general, I do feel like it kind of sets the tone for the whole day. while you can thankfully reset the day after lunch or nap time or headed back to the resort, whatever the situation is.

[00:00:34] Dana Stanley: When the mornings do get off on the right foot, it’s just a really good feeling when everything’s going great. And the first question that popped up specifically about mornings in the parks and Disney World was how to spend early entry hour so it feels laid back, but worth the early wake up. Now, first I just wanna go over this early entry.

[00:00:54] Dana Stanley: So it is only 30 minutes now. It used to be back in the day you got an extra hour. But what this is, is anyone staying at a Disney hotel gets the benefit or perk of being allowed to get into the parks 30 minutes earlier than everyone else. So if the official park opening is at 9:00 AM. On-site guests will have access to early entry from eight 30 to nine, and depending on the park rides, some rides can start running even before that eight 30 mark.

[00:01:25] Dana Stanley: So it is like a huge benefit, but I understand that it’s hard to make it feel laid back because you sometimes have to be waking up really early. So I want to take just a minute to separate. The difference between early entry, which is say like that eight 30 to nine window and rope dropping, and we’re gonna cover rope drop from another question in a little bit, but I just wanted to clarify the difference in my mind of how I see them.

[00:01:53] Dana Stanley: Rope dropping is just the definition of when someone wants to be like first in line when the quote rope drops, meaning they are allowed to start. Walking into the park or getting in line for a ride,

[00:02:07] Dana Stanley: And it can be a really early wake-up if you want to be one of those first people in line before early entry even starts.

[00:02:16] Dana Stanley: And I have made it known that I am not a fan of rope chopping in particular because it is not laid back to me at all. I don’t like to wake up my kids on vacation. I have friends who just have really early risers rope dropping. Just makes sense. Or their kids are older, it’s not like that big of a deal.

[00:02:35] Dana Stanley: They’re not cranky early in the morning like toddlers or something like that. for us, we usually get to the park right at early entry, we’re scanning in like at 8:29. We are using truly just that 30 minutes. That’s what I’m gonna talk about right now of making that 30 minutes feel as laid back as possible.

[00:02:54] Dana Stanley: And then in a different question, I’ll go over true rope drop. So the number one thing to not do in this situation is to get in line for something that is going to get a really long wait later, like the really popular ones. in Magic Kingdom, most people are going to head to seven Dobs, mind Train and Peter Pan’s flight, especially if you have little kids.

[00:03:17] Dana Stanley: if you are not ahead. Of those early entry people, IE rope droppers, do not go there because you are going to be kind of in the worst spot. You’re gonna be behind the rope droppers, you’re going to be ahead of the people that can’t use early entry. It’s still going to suck up your whole early entry time.

[00:03:38] Dana Stanley: So like you could head to Peter Pan and maybe only have like a 20, 25 minute wait, which sounds. Good. Like that is like a good wait time because it’s pretty much steady, 60 to 90 minutes all day long depending on the time of year. that’s great. We saved so much time in line. But it is such a huge bummer to make sure you’re there for early entry and get on one ride.

[00:04:00] Dana Stanley: So what I like to do, unfortunately, is to spend extra money to avoid that, especially because of the age of my kids and I have a double stroller, which I’d have to park, all of these things that I know eat up a lot of time. I will get a lightning lane for Peter Pan and I will get a lightning lane for seven dwarfs if we wanna ride that.

[00:04:21] Dana Stanley: That way, the 30 minutes of early entry. I can be super laid back and go to Winnie the Poo with like a five minute wait. I can ride the teacups, which we’re gonna just like walk right on. I can go to the Barnstormer or Dumbo or it’s a small world, which maybe I wouldn’t do. ’cause that’s just like a long ride.

[00:04:41] Dana Stanley: It just, not the weight, but like the actual ride is very long. But you get the idea. We can very calmly enjoyably get on three, maybe four rides during early entry versus one. And then once the early entry is over at nine, I will head over to Peter Pan or seven doors and scan into my lightning lane and we’re walking right on.

[00:05:02] Dana Stanley: it’s just a wonderful laid back morning when you do it that way.

[00:05:06] Dana Stanley: And I wanna tie this question into a comment that my friend wrote, who her kids are older, so they prefer to kind of sleep in, have a slow morning, hit the pool even, and then they’ll go into the parks later in the day and stay late. And she made a joke of like, Hey, what’s it like? What are the mornings like?

[00:05:23] Dana Stanley: Because I’ve never been, and I do want to. Just make a case for mornings being great, not necessarily like five, 6:00 AM I do love the mornings in Disney World for three main reasons. The first one is just statistically wait times for everything are going to be their lowest in the morning from like eight to 10:00 AM Then second, again, just stats wise, you’re gonna have less chance of rain in the morning.

[00:05:49] Dana Stanley: Versus the afternoon. Outdoor rides can shut down. Things can just close for rain and you’re just gonna have less, a little bit less chance of that happening in the morning versus the afternoon. And then the third reason is just like I really love the vibes of the mornings is just like totally personal to me, our favorite resort is the boardwalk and just being on the boardwalk in the morning, walking to Epcot with.

[00:06:10] Dana Stanley: The kids and we have our coffees. That is just something I will remember until I’m 90 years old. No one even around you, like the people around you aren’t like crashing out yet. There’s no like kids screaming. Your kids are in a good mood, and I do just really love the mornings in Disney World.

[00:06:26] Dana Stanley: Now, if you’re going to be trying to keep this early entry as laid back as possible.

[00:06:31] Dana Stanley: It can go kind of either way maybe you have lightning lanes waiting for you and you’re in zero rush to head anywhere. So you get to the park and you go grab coffee, and you grab breakfast. That’s usually not the best use of your time. I have done it, but if you really wanna get. As much magic out of the morning.

[00:06:50] Dana Stanley: I hate to use the word magic, but if you do wanna get the most quote magic out of the morning, it’s best that you’ve eaten breakfast before early entry. Which leads me into the next question of quick breakfast ideas because they’re hard to find Like it is so dependent on where you’re staying, how easy it is to just get a quick breakfast even on the go.

[00:07:10] Dana Stanley: really the easiest breakfast, in my opinion, is something that you’re going to eat in the room get like your nutrition and like fullness while you’re still at your resort and you haven’t left yet. And then anything in the park is almost like a treat, like a second breakfast snack situation.

[00:07:26] Dana Stanley: I’ve really, become. Such a stickler for this on our last two trips of like we have to eat before we get to the park. And it’s honestly mostly because of me because if I am scrambling in the morning and maybe just like have a little bit of coffee, by the time we get to the park, I am unwell.

[00:07:42] Dana Stanley: I am looking around like I need to eat something right this second. again, that’s a me issue. I’ve noticed with the kids it is just so much easier. To get something in their tummies before we leave because they’re not as distracted. Like maybe they’ll actually eat because they’re just like in the four walls of the room versus in a theme park when they don’t wanna sit, they don’t want to eat, and they’re just excited to be there, which I get.

[00:08:05] Dana Stanley: I the easiest if you can, is going to be hopefully a mobile order situation while you’re at resort. You can hop on your phone. Order something quick. Your husband goes and picks it up like while you start getting the kids ready, or you have stuff already in your room that you can eat on the go that you had like delivered to your resort.

[00:08:24] Dana Stanley: So stuff like, protein bars, bananas, muffins. You could even eat those, like literally on the way to the bus. I get little chicken sausage situations that I can microwave. And if your room doesn’t have a microwave, remember that you can request one. I’ve requested microwaves in studios that didn’t have them already there, and I’ve always gotten one.

[00:08:44] Dana Stanley: I know that’s very dependent on. The resort and the availability of them, but I personally have always gotten one, so just something to keep in mind.

[00:08:52] Dana Stanley: Then once you’re in the park, and again with little kids, I wouldn’t suggest waiting until you get to the parks to truly eat because you wanna get on rides and take advantage of the low waits and all of that stuff. But for that quick. Fun breakfast treat. Usually the places I go to are in Magic Kingdom.

[00:09:11] Dana Stanley: We actually usually end up going to Friar’s Nook a lot because the way that the morning goes, we’re usually in fantasy land, and I don’t really wanna backtrack to Sleepy Hollow. They’re known for their waffles. They’re good. We’ve gotten them. If it works out in our plans, great. But I really like Friar’s Nook.

[00:09:27] Dana Stanley: They have mobile order, so usually when we’re like hopping off Peter Pan or one of those fantasy land rides, I’ll make a quick order for a breakfast sandwich. I’m a big fan of the breakfast sandwich I’ve come to realize with the kids because I can kind of deconstruct it for. What each kid wants. Like one kid can have some of the egg, the other kid can have a little bit of sausage.

[00:09:48] Dana Stanley: all of you know how it is. Every kid likes something different and everything comes with like tots on the side, which are always a hit. I can get a second coffee or a cold brew if I need to get it. I’m pretty sure they have a shaken Jamaican, which I’m a fan of because it’s espresso, that’s another episode for another day, just about coffee.

[00:10:04] Dana Stanley: But yeah, I like a Friar’s, nook mobile order situation.

[00:10:07] Dana Stanley: And then Epcot kind of just depends on where we’re coming from the front entrance or the back entrance. Usually coming from the back entrance, we will go to the bakery in France. It is a madhouse, but the line does actually move quick. And then if we’re coming from the front, we’ll usually end up starting off with Soren.

[00:10:28] Dana Stanley: So I will go to Sunshine Seasons. They actually have a really good breakfast sandwich and last time we got there too late and we were bummed about it. Hollywood Studios is definitely a little harder. the Mickey Waffles are an easy go-to over at Fairfax by tar of Terror in the front. They used to have the most amazing blueberry Mickey waffles.

[00:10:49] Dana Stanley: It was like the only place you could get them next door at Hollywood Scoops, RIP if you’ve had them, I mean, nobody’s listening to this, but if Disney was listening, man, those waffles were so dang good, and I wish they were still there.

[00:11:01] Dana Stanley: On the flip side, if you’re starting off back in Galaxy’s edge, the Ron wrap is good. I just don’t get the cold brew from there. I don’t know, it’s like kind of trendy or viral and I don’t think it’s a good, a good coffee at all. But I do like the Ron Wrap.

[00:11:16] Dana Stanley: Animal Kingdom is always like easy peasy for us because nine times out of 10 we go to Safari. I’m probably not saying that right. Bakery, before hitting the safari again, I’m going to be getting a breakfast sandwich, and unlike the coffee in Galaxy’s edge, if they have the coconut iced coffee at Safari, when you’re there, you can ask for it a little less sweet, and I actually really do like the iced coffee. The next question was geared towards Magic Kingdom, so she asked. How to enter Magic Kingdom when you arrive very shortly before real opening and how to get past the big crowds and get in.

[00:11:54] Dana Stanley: So she’s talking about, let’s say the park opens at nine. What happens if you get there at like eight 50? I don’t know. It’s not a ton of crowds necessarily in this situation, specifically because people aren’t being held at the security, so you’re not going to walk up and see a long line of people waiting to get in at nine o’clock.

[00:12:15] Dana Stanley: Magic Kingdom has, at that point, already let all of the guests onto Main Street. Like an hour before that. So there’s no like human beings being blocked at the gate because the park isn’t open. Everyone has already gone through, so the lines are moving, which is a really good thing. Even if there’s maybe like a surge of people because it’s park opening, it’s still going to be like flowing really quickly.

[00:12:40] Dana Stanley: So the most important thing is how efficiently you can get through security and scan into the park. Now, I don’t know where she’s coming from in this situation, there is a chance that maybe she has already gone through security. nine times out of 10, most people are going through security. Once you arrive at Magic Kingdom, in that case, the most important thing is to be keeping your metal out of your bag.

[00:13:05] Dana Stanley: if you have a stroller, you’re going to want everything metal, which is, you know, your umbrella. Any like heavy duty cameras. if you have sunglass cases, I would honestly just not even bring them and just use those like soft ones or in like a safe pocket in your bag. Anything metal Stanley Cups, things like that.

[00:13:24] Dana Stanley: They should go in the stroller ideally, and then someone will take a bag through the metal detector and it won’t be flagged because there’s no metal in it. This keeps you out of a second security line where they will physically search your bag. Now if you don’t have a stroller, there’s other things that you can do, like literally just hold the metal things.

[00:13:46] Dana Stanley: I think most of my listeners have a stroller, so remember that because that line can get really annoyingly long and I’ve been with people in like two scenarios where. I go through seriously within like five seconds and they get stuck getting their bag checked and it just stinks when there’s a lot of people.

[00:14:03] Dana Stanley: Now, once you go through the bag security, that kind of security, you’re going to go to the ticket gate where everyone has to show their ticket through their magic band or their phone Or their physical key to the world cards. the thing about Disney and Magic Kingdom is you are going to need to scan your finger, which is another conversation for another day.

[00:14:27] Dana Stanley: I’m not getting into fingerprints and all of the things about how this works, but just something to keep in mind. If you have little kids with you that are over three, they also are going to need. Some type of finger that is connected to their ticket.

[00:14:43] Dana Stanley: pretty much every cast member I’ve ever come across will tell you that you should use your finger. Either you or another adult that is with you should be tied to their ticket because their little fingers are really small and the scanners don’t necessarily pick up on them, and the kid forgets what finger they used.

[00:14:59] Dana Stanley: So something to remember. it’s your first day scanning into your ticket, it’s going to prompt you, and the cast member will help you assign a fingerprint to their ticket, it only takes a second. But when you don’t know that you have to do that, it can really hold up the line. So just be ready for that.

[00:15:16] Dana Stanley: it can be very quick. Everyone’s going to be meandering down main street. Most people are going to head to the right towards fantasy land. So if you’re trying to avoid the, park open crowd, so to speak, I would start the opposite way.

[00:15:32] Dana Stanley: I’m not saying that you have to do it that way, like no matter what, but just specifically if you’re trying to avoid as many people as possible, more people are definitely going to be going right.

[00:15:43] Dana Stanley: Next question is back to the rope drop subject. We’re gonna get a little bit more into this of how to really master a rope drop morning. What time to catch transportation. So if you’re really trying to, again, do a true rope drop, meaning you wanna be one of the first people in line for a ride when they start running.

[00:16:03] Dana Stanley: the most common ones that people want to rope drop are like Slinky Dog Dash and Hollywood Studios, Epcot is kind of a mixed bag between like Remys frozen test track in Magic Kingdom. We talked about Peter Pan and seven Dwarves Animal Kingdom, and in Animal Kingdom, most people are going to avatar flight of passage. So you have to right off the bat, we’re talking early, if you’re speaking in terms of.

[00:16:30] Dana Stanley: Mastering a rope drop morning. There is truly like no hack or tip or anything that I have for you except getting there really early. Like the people that get there, the earliest are the people that are going to be in the front slash first in.

[00:16:46] Dana Stanley: Now my definition of mastering a rope drop means that I am chill not racing against other people. I’m enjoying as many rides as possible without being in like a herd. all of those rides that I just mentioned, where everyone else is going. I am booking a lightning lane for that. So even if I want to be like the first in line, I am still not headed to those rides.

[00:17:10] Dana Stanley: I know that that is me being a brat and saying that I am just gonna pay for lightning liens. I don’t wanna do that. So if you’re doing rope drop to avoid buying lightning liens or spending extra money, which I truly understand, it really is just about getting there as early as possible.

[00:17:25] Dana Stanley: If you really wanna take the guesswork out of that. Where you stay can be really important too. something to keep in mind of getting there really early for this rope drop is that. Most of the time you’re going to be relying on something. You’re gonna be relying on the buses being on time, the monorail, the skyliner, boat.

[00:17:44] Dana Stanley: I just wanna remind you that things can happen. I have been on a bus that got lost. I have stayed at a monorail resort, and the monorail went down and I have missed rope dropping or early entry altogether. So to avoid that, I would consider where you’re staying. Can I walk? Like is there a resort where I can walk to Magic Kingdom or walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios?

[00:18:07] Dana Stanley: And also, am I willing to maybe spend a little bit of extra money on booking an Uber or a minivan? I mean, again, there’s traffic, but it is a little bit more dependable. To get there super early for rope drop, but now we’re kind of back to, you could save that money and get lightning lanes instead.

[00:18:24] Dana Stanley: So it’s kind of a wash Now for Disney’s transportation specifically, usually everything starts running an hour, maybe sometimes even like 90 minutes before early entry. Like if you’re trying to be. In the front of the pack, you wanna be one of the first people in line for seven doors or something like that.

[00:18:42] Dana Stanley: You wanna be like in line at the gate an hour before early entry even starts. So if you want to leave 30 minutes to an hour to get somewhere, depending again on the transportation, if you’re walking somewhere, it’s going to be a lot faster. Then if you have to take a bus, maybe that bus has multiple stops.

[00:19:02] Dana Stanley: So it really depends. If you have to go to the Ticket and Transportation Center at Magic Kingdom, you have to allow more time for that. again, just get up really early. that is really the only way to do like a quote, true rope drop. And then someone asked me.

[00:19:18] Dana Stanley: Do you or your family rope drop? We do and love it, but love our relaxed days too. I know I kind of already covered this and the short answer is no. I have done it and I will do it sometimes if I need to test something for my itineraries because I am self-aware enough to know that. People like to do a little bit more at Disney than we do in our family honestly just like, I think a lot faster as like human beings.

[00:19:43] Dana Stanley: I am just a slow-paced person, I think, but no, if I have lightning leans, I don’t personally see the point again, just for my family in rope dropping in the true sense of like if early entry starts at eight 30. I’m not going to show up at seven 30 and like wait in a line to get in to avoid a line that I already paid money to avoid.

[00:20:07] Dana Stanley: Not waiting in a line like that defeats the point of me spending that money. It would be a different conversation if I was on a mission to avoid lightning lanes, which like obviously I am not there yet.

[00:20:17] Dana Stanley: I do love the mornings, so like for Magic Kingdom in particular, I do try to get there as early as possible if I can. That’s like the one park where I will not book like a late night the night before because I’m like, okay, we have Match King tomorrow. I would like to get a good night’s sleep so we can wake up as early as possible and get out the door.

[00:20:36] Dana Stanley: There are lots of other things that I want to do, like maybe I want to get a picture in front of the castle or get a coffee and just kind of enjoy the vibes. I will get there for early entry, but I’m not quote rope dropping like we talked about.

[00:20:50] Dana Stanley: And the final question is perfect if you’ve got little kids, and that’s the best use of early entry with littles. So she has a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old. Would love thoughts on this for each park, this might sound like a total cop out, but really the best use of early entry is to be efficient of all the things that we’ve talked about, like breakfast and security.

[00:21:12] Dana Stanley: But then also to know your priorities as a family. I’m gonna be a little bit of a brat again and say that I don’t think you need to cater necessarily to the kids or a toddler’s favorite ride, but it could happen that way. Let’s say your part day’s Magic Kingdom, and you decided that for your family as a whole, that your three priority rides.

[00:21:34] Dana Stanley: Are Space Mountain Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan’s flight for like whatever different reasons now. Space Mountain, your kids might not be able to ride like maybe unless the 4-year-old is super tall. So that doesn’t sound like the best use of early entry with little kids, but there are things. That are so good in the morning that you have to think about as a family as a whole to take advantage of because you only have like that one morning and once that morning’s done, it’s gone.

[00:22:04] Dana Stanley: the thing about the morning is that there is just less chance of things going wrong. if your husband’s only thing that he wants to ride. Is Space Mountain. please try to work that into your early entry somehow. Because rides can close, they can go down and yes, rides can go down in the morning, but just between, kids getting sick emergencies and weather and anything that you can think of, just try to get the most important things out of the way in the morning.

[00:22:33] Dana Stanley: If you can imagine a Venn diagram type situation with like two bubbles and it meets in the middle, I want you to think of the things that are the biggest priority for you as a family. And then the other bubble are rides or things or shows that you can’t get a lightning lane for, or maybe you can’t do in the morning.

[00:22:51] Dana Stanley: So let’s say for Epcot, for example, you get a lightning lane for let’s say Remy’s Sorin and Spaceship Birth. Okay? Those are the ones that you were able to get lightning liens for, and that’s how you decided to work your plans.

[00:23:07] Dana Stanley: You don’t have to worry about those because you have a lightning lane for it. You do not have to ride during early entry. You can’t ride during early entry. And if they go down. Your lightning lien is saved and you can go back. So those are like locked in. You don’t have to worry about those. So think about the other rides that you don’t have a lightning lien for which ones are the most priority for you as a family, those are the ones that you want to hit during early entry, first thing, and get them out of the way in case anything goes wrong.

[00:23:33] Dana Stanley: Something to keep in mind when you have kids these ages. During early entry is that it is always going to be more ride focus, which I think is a good thing because some characters won’t be meeting during early entry shows aren’t going to be running during early entry, it makes things a lot easier of just getting those really important rides out of the way.

[00:23:54] Dana Stanley: So that is your quick guide to mornings in the parks. I feel like that was a lot, just what rope dropping looks like to early entry to breakfast options.

[00:24:04] Dana Stanley: And if you liked this question and answer format, come into the broadcast channel on Instagram. I do little updates there and ask questions ’cause I like hearing from you guys so. I’ll keep pulling, from these like real life park situation questions like these, I feel like they’re really good to get into, like, they get into like the nuance of planning because there are just so many different scenarios. Thanks for listening to today’s episode, and I will see you next 

[00:24:30] week.