Early Entry at Magic Kingdom starts at 7:30 am on most days when the park closes early for special events, which offers significantly lower crowds & wait times at a trio of Walt Disney World’s most popular rides. During this extra early opening time, I knocked out Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and TRON Lightcycle Run multiple times–and more! Here’s the step-by-step results, morning photos, and Party Season plan of attack.
There are a number of dates throughout the year when Magic Kingdom closes to day guests at 6 pm and moves forward official park opening to 8 am as a result. This primarily occurs during Party Season, which is when Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) are held on multiple dates per week from August through December.
As covered in the Best & Worst Dates at Magic Kingdom in 2025, we highly recommend doing MK on a day when the park is closing at 6 pm. Ideally, one of the 8 am to 6 pm days and then Park Hopping back on another evening for the final few hours to see Starlight Night Parade and the Happily Ever After fireworks. Party Season is a big deal at Walt Disney World because it disrupts attendance dynamics and creates a “porcupine pattern” of wait times and crowd levels.
The rationale for this is that many day guests avoid Magic Kingdom on days when MNSSHP or MVMCP is held at night because the park closes at 6 pm instead of 10 pm or 11 pm, and Disney Starlight Night Parade and Happily Ever After fireworks are not shown. This results in significantly lighter crowds on party days.
Intuitively, this makes sense–especially for guests who don’t have Park Hoppers. Counterintuitively, our zig when they zag advice is taking the shorter hours, during which you’ll be able to get as much or more done than a full day due to the massive crowd disparity. All without buying Lightning Lanes, which are totally unnecessary on days when Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm.
This is nothing new–we’ve been banging the Party Season drum the last decade, at least. Magic Kingdom crowd patterns during Party Season are a key discussion points of our August through December crowd calendars. In a nutshell, both Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party push attendance at Magic Kingdom much higher on the dates they’re not occurring and significantly lower on days of the events.
That was the case on this particular day, which had a 1/10 crowd level. Both in terms of ‘feels like’ congestion and wait times, this was the slowest day I’ve experienced in Magic Kingdom in 2025. (At least, up to that point.) The least busy day since, unsurprisingly, Party Season last year!
However, it was not an outlier–I’ve since been on slower days in 2025. Last year, it was rare for Magic Kingdom to have a crowd level higher than 1/10 on days when the park closed at 6 pm. There were a handful of 2/10 crowd levels, mostly from mid-October through December when overall attendance was higher. These were busier weeks, as a whole, and also windows with fewer non-party nights per week, making them more difficult to avoid.
Average wait times on party days are often under 20 minutes, and sometimes under 15 minutes. This doesn’t mean every ride was a walk-on, but even attractions like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and TRON Lightcycle Run have very manageable wait times. This has been a consistent and predictable pattern for the last decade-plus, and is once again playing out in Fall 2025.
This post isn’t about Party Season as a whole, though. It’s about days when Magic Kingdom moves forward its official opening time to 8 am, which means Early Entry at 7:30 am. This doesn’t happen every single day during Party Season; just the busier ones.
It’s also not the default that you’ll see in boilerplate park hours when they’re first published. The 8 am opening or 7:30 Early Entry occurs as extension to park hours, and these are typically published in one-week increments each Friday approximately 2-3 weeks in advance.
If your travel dates are a month or more into the future, do not fret over the lack of 8 am park openings. Just check back a couple of weeks ahead of your trip!
Moving from a 9 am opening time to 8 am might seem significant, but it’s huge. For those of you haven’t followed our posts about park hours and Early Entry at the other parks, each extra hour in the morning is a big deal since it shrinks the pool of potential guests who are willing and able to get up early on vacation.
When park opening is at 9 am, there are a ton of people taking advantage of 8:30 am Early Entry because it’s relatively easy to be out the door and to Magic Kingdom by that time. It’s a different story entirely when moving that forward by an hour–especially for the families with small children to whom Magic Kingdom and its Fantasyland headliners most appeal.
As a general rule, the earlier Early Entry is, the better it is. Especially on less desirable days or at less desirable parks. (Also looking at you, 7:30 am Early Entry at Animal Kingdom!)
This particular Early Entry runthrough at Magic Kingdom was done on a Friday because, right now, Fridays and Sundays are the only two days of the week when Magic Kingdom park hours are consistently being extended with the 8 am opening times. That should change from October through December.
I was out the door of our room at the Polynesian’s Island Tower by 6:43 am, which was necessary due to the commute and unpredictability of transportation. As opposed to heading over to the boat dock, I opted for the long walk. It was a nice morning, and I favor the predictability of my own two feet.
The boat beat me, but I still arrived at Magic Kingdom shortly after 7 am, breezed through bag check, and encountered only a modest line at the turnstiles. After all of that, I was on Main Street by 7:08 am. This was a little later than I would’ve liked, but not because of Early Entry. I wanted dawn photos of Cinderella Castle in the fog. These images don’t look nearly as cool as they could’ve.
In terms of Early Entry basics, our normal recommendation is to be there roughly 30 minutes before the start of Early Theme Park Entry if your plan is to do Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Less time is fine for Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain, or secondary options.
Arriving earlier also gives you time for fun photos on Main Street with empty backgrounds. Once done with that, head to the right of the East Plaza Garden for Early Theme Park Entry. There’s a row of Cast Members stationed to scan MagicBands or room keys to verify Early Entry eligibility.
Everyone is allowed to enter Magic Kingdom and hang out on Main Street, taking photos or waiting for rope drop over on the Frontierland and Adventureland side of the Central Plaza. But you can’t access Tomorrowland or Fantasyland without scanning here. Once you’ve done that, you’re good to go for the morning.
There’s a row of Cast Members stationed by the East Plaza Gardens to scan MagicBands, MagicMobile, resort room keys, or whatever identification you might have if staying at one of the participating third party hotels.
You can’t access Tomorrowland or Fantasyland until you’ve entered through here. Once you’ve done that, you’re good to go for the morning–unlike Extended Evening Hours, MagicBands or room keys are not scanned at each individual attraction. From there, you proceed on to either the Tomorrowland Bridge or Fantasyland Bridge.
It used to be the case that guests were held on this bridge until roughly the start of Early Entry (usually a few minutes early, but not always, and never a consistent amount of time). As a result, a large crowd would form that was basically a large, amorphous blob of humanity. As of 2025, this is no longer how it works.
The new procedure for Early Entry still involves the bridges to Fantasyland and Tomorrowland as access points, but they don’t serve as holding pens unless you arrive absurdly early. I do not, as I like to take photos on Main Street and in the Central Plaza upon arrival.
Once the bridges open and guests are allowed to proceed to their first destination, that means they can line up for an attraction.
Of course, you could just wander around Tomorrowland or Fantasyland enjoying the atmosphere or waiting for characters to appear, but if you’re getting up at the crack of dawn, you’re probably going to be motivated to head to your first ride of the day.
Note that everything else about Early Entry is unchanged, including when the turnstiles open and when attractions start operating. The key difference is that you’re pre-loading into a physical attraction queue as opposed to standing on a bridge.
In our view, this new approach to Early Entry is much better than the alternative. It does have potential pitfalls, but on balance, we’re strong proponents of pre-loading the lines.
If you’re in a queue, you are not in an amorphous blob. You aren’t standing in a sea of humanity, anxiously watching as later arrivals squeeze to fill in all “available” space around you. Arrivals are pulsed organically, meaning there is no jockeying for position on the walk from the bridges to the attractions. It’s smoother, more laid back and less stressful.
This morning, I was beginning with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, convinced it was the best way to start the day.
This is consistent with our Magic Kingdom Rope Drop & Early Entry Strategy. It used to be the case that our zig when they zag or unconventional advice was skipping Seven Dwarfs Mine Train during Early Entry since it was the most popular ride in the park. But now that TRON Lightcycle Run has dethroned it, starting at SDMT makes sense most days.
There are certain times when skipping SDMT still is the best–or easiest–course of action. This is especially true if you’re visiting on a busier day or want to knock out several ‘singles & doubles’ as opposed to one of the headliner attractions. But this wasn’t going to be a busy day, and I had the 7:30 am start time working to my advantage. So SMDT was the logical #1 priority.
As you can see, the line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is spilling out into the walkway when I arrive.
However, that’s because the front entrance to the attraction had just opened, so guests were only just starting to filter into the queue.
I lined up at 7:21 am and was on the ride by 7:33 am, for an actual wait time of 12 minutes. In digging through the data in the DTB Archives (e.g. the Notes app on my phone) for past 7:30 am Early Entry run-throughs, 8-14 minutes is my typical range for actual waits on SDMT as the first stop. Not bad!
My wait easily could’ve been lower–probably under 10 minutes–had I made a beeline to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and not taken so many photos on Main Street. But then what would you look at while skimming over the words in this post? Can’t imagine many of you are here for my razor sharp wit.
No matter how you slice things, a wait time of under 15 minutes is great for SDMT. It also helps that the sun was still low in the sky, so the outdoor queue was bearable. All in all, highly endorse starting at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train on these 7:30 am Early Entry mornings. Also keep in mind that at no one was I waiting around for Early Entry to start. That 12 minute wait was my ‘all-in’ time on SDMT, which I view as fantastic.
When I exited, the line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train still seemed manageable. It was no longer outside the marquee, or even filling up the outdoor queue.
Next up was Peter Pan’s Flight, where I entered the line at 7:42 am.
In between the two attractions, I stopped for photos with free roaming characters that were out for spontaneous encounters. This has technically ended, but my bet is that these appearances continue as a ‘surprise & delight’ offering. (See Walt Disney World Is Finally Starting to Get Character Experiences Right.)
The actual wait time for Peter Pan’s Flight was 5 minutes, precisely as posed. I was on by 7:47 am and off at 7:50 am.
Here’s where I thought things might get dicey.
Exiting Peter Pan’s Flight at 7:50 am is enough time for just about anyone to make it over to TRON Lightcycle Run before the regular rope drop rush. It’s actually more than 10 minutes, because rope drop occurs at 8 am, and those guests are starting from the hub and also have to walk to the attraction.
Nevertheless, the dilemma I had was whether I should knock out more of Fantasyland first, then hit Frontierland and Adventureland, and save TRON Lightcycle Run for a mid-morning lull.
On a busier day, this is what I would’ve done, concerned that I’d be behind the backlog of Early Entry guests at TRON.
I was also very tempted by the 15 minute posted wait time for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The line didn’t appear long, suggesting this wait time was accurate. It’s possible I could’ve done SDMT three times during Early Entry.
Instead, I decided to gamble on low crowds and head to Tomorrowland. Worst case scenario, I could bail on TRON and knock out Space Mountain. But I doubted it’d come to that.
This strategy was fully vindicated. It wasn’t just a good choice, it was a great one–to the point that it would’ve been a mistake to waste this valuable time on tier two attractions in Fantasyland.
As I approached Tomorrowland, I could already see TRON Lightcycle Run cycling. This alone was a big win. Sometimes it opens ahead of the published rope drop time; sometimes it doesn’t. There’s not much consistency or predictability to it.
I made it into the line for TRON Lightcycle Run at 7:55 am and it was a walk-on. The door to the brief pre-show effect was open because the line was so short.
I picked up my bag from the locker at 8:07 am (didn’t keep my phone to note when I was on the attraction).
My biggest blunder here was picking up my bag in the first place. I had assumed since it was after 8 am that I was going to exit into the rope drop rush. But there was no rush.
I got into line a second time at 8:08 am, and the ride was even more of a walk-on (and by that, I mean that I was able to walk faster through the mostly empty queue due to fewer people in front of me shuffling slowly along) than my first ride-through.
After this was done, I went a third go-round at 8:19 am. I was off the third time at 8:31 am. On average, that’s 12 minutes for TRON Lightcycle Run from start to finish–not just the wait, the whole process from entering the queue to walking through to putting my stuff in a locker to riding to exiting, rinse and repeat.
I didn’t even know this low of a total time commitment for TRON was possible.
That’s three rides in TRON Lightcycle Run in ~36 minutes, which I’ve never done before. Sadly, none of my PhotoPass on-ride shots synced, so you’re just going to have to take my word that I actually accomplished this.
Frankly, I didn’t even know this was possible and kind of wish I had kept looping TRON just to see how many times I could’ve knocked it out. I know a fourth time with a <20 minute wait would’ve been feasible, as there was still no line out the door at 8:31 am.
Doing the same ride repeatedly might not be a super interesting Early Entry report, so I headed to Space Mountain next with big plans to loop that.
Unfortunately, it was down (making the lack of line for TRON even more surprising; Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin was also closed for reimagining, so TRON was basically it for high-profile Tomorrowland attractions).
Following that, I cut through the hub and headed back to the Wild West, which was a veritable ghost town. Fitting.
It wasn’t really surprising that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was still cycling empty logs at 8:39 am. Posted wait time was 10 minutes; actual wait time was walk-on.
I would’ve had my own log for TBA, as there was no one else in the load area when I arrived. The people in mine had actually looped it without getting off.
Next up would’ve been Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but it’s down for refurbishment until 2026.
After that, I should’ve done Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion. I didn’t do any of these attractions, as I had to get back to the Island Tower to send out the DTB newsletter at a reasonable hour.
I can say with complete certainty that I could’ve accomplished all of them as walk-ons before 10 am. If I had more time and the inclination, I would’ve switched gears and done character meet & greets; those tend to have elevated wait times on 6 pm closing days during Party Season. Just mentioning all of this in case you’re trying to formulate strategy from this photo report.
This would’ve set me up for a very laid back day in Magic Kingdom. When I returned around noon, the park was noticeably busier, but still not even remotely busy in absolute terms.
All told, here’s what I accomplished between 7:30 am and ~9 am via Early Entry and rope drop at Magic Kingdom:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- TRON Lightcycle Run (x3)
- Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Going by average year-to-date wait time data, those attractions should’ve taken me 322 minutes in total. Once you account for posted wait time inflation, the number is probably actually more like 222 minutes. That’s a ton of time-savings, especially given that I had zero minutes of ‘sunk’ time waiting for Early Entry to start, as would normally be the case. To the contrary, my sunk time was lower than it would’ve been had I arrived later and had to deal with a backlog at security and the turnstiles.
There’s also the fact that I could’ve probably padded my stats further by not picking up my camera bag after my TRON Lightcycle Run ride-throughs, and realistically could’ve done it a fourth time as a walk-on. And if Space Mountain didn’t have a dreaded delayed opening, I could’ve conceivably looped that and still hit TBA as a walk-on.
Ultimately, we highly recommend taking advantage of Early Entry at Magic Kingdom on days when Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, or other events are being held. For one thing, this is going to be the only way to efficiently experience Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or TRON Lightcycle Run on those days, since jumping in line at the end of the night isn’t a possibility those dates.
For another thing, the 7:30 am start time coupled with the lower crowd levels at Magic Kingdom during the daytime hours of party nights makes Early Entry and rope drop even more advantageous than normal. If you use savvy strategy for Fantasyland and Tomorrowland during Early Entry and follow-up with a reasonably efficient run of Frontierland and Adventureland, you can have a solid start to your morning at Magic Kingdom. Even with the 6 pm closing, it is possible to accomplish a full day’s worth of Magic Kingdom attractions without buying Lightning Lanes.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on Early Entry at Magic Kingdom with the 7:30 am start time? Have you experienced this 30 minute jumpstart to the day prior to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party? What’s your preferred approach to Early Entry and traditional park opening/rope drop at Magic Kingdom? How would you have done things differently? Agree or disagree with our advice or approach? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
