Welcome to part 7 of our Disney World 50th Anniversary Trip Report. Today’s short post focuses on a morning at Magic Kingdom with a leisurely afternoon split between our hotel and Hollywood Studios

Early Entry at Magic Kingdom

By this point in our trip we were starting to slow down. Today was mostly just about taking care of business (in the literal sense of getting the information for the content for this website), the focus being Early Entry at Magic Kingdom.

I was up early thanks to Zoe and caught the first bus from Gran Destino to Magic Kingdom at 6:45AM. I was the only one on this bus, which isn’t surprising since the park opening was 9AM, so Early Entry wouldn’t even start until 8:30AM.

The bus idled a bit once we arrived, probably because he wasn’t supposed to drop off guests until 7AM, and I wound up at the front of a handful of other guests, in line for security at 7:04AM. Security opened at 7:28AM and I was one of the first people in the park when it opened at 7:56AM.

A few quick notes about this opening. First, it was delayed a little for some sort of Cast Member photoshoot on Main Street. While guests with 8AM breakfast reservations in the park wouldn’t be too late, you’ll usually see Main Street open earlier than this. Second, because of the overall delay they did let guests who needed to get to Magic Kingdom resorts for breakfast reservations through security early.

My photo above is off center because there were two gentlemen with real cameras trying to get their own shots. If it were you, I’d say stick your kid on the middle of Main Street and get your photo and they can deal with it. But I’m happy to let them get their shots.

As always, Early Entry guests go right at the hub and get their Magic Bands scanned. Then they get held outside Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.

The walk to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train began right at 8:30AM, and I boarded the first train at 8:36AM. While today went well, there have been lots of issues with Mine Train not operating on time during Early Entry. It’s probably worth starting there regardless, and probably worth waiting until its running pretty much any time, but we’ll keep an eye on things.

I headed to Peter Pan’s Flight next. The posted wait was 15 minutes, I waited 17 and exited the ride at 9:03AM, after the park had opened to other guests.

On the one hand, only being able to get two rides done during Early Entry and being three minutes behind the opening of the park is a bummer. On the other, at least those are two major rides, and the three minutes shouldn’t be an awful delay except on the busiest of days (and even then, probably not a real problem).

I took my usual approach to the western side of the park—walk on Big Thunder at 9:12AM, Splash Mountain at 9:22AM, Pirates of the Caribbean at 9:47AM. Then I basically called it a day, and we took Zoe on Magic Carpets at 10AM.

This approach is “on notice.” I’m worried about what’s been going on with Jungle Cruise. Typically I’d head there instead of Magic Carpets, but the wait was already at 45 minutes—the highest in the park on this slow day—by then. This early Jungle Cruise spike has been common, and as I write this a few weeks later I’m still sorting through the best approach.

Zoe still loves Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room (as do we, but we do it for Zoe), so we visited that before a stop at the Baby Care Center and then nap time, during which we wandered around, including catching the new cavalcade.

I continued my trend of booking same-day table service meals, with today’s lunch being at Tony’s. Tony’s has a reputation, and the honest truth is that it’s exactly as good as every chain Italian restaurant you’ll find back home. No better, no worse. Portions no bigger, no smaller. It is what it is.

After another 20-minute wait for a bus back to the hotel, we finally got some pool time. I’m a little bummed it took this long, my goal of a “relaxing” vacation was pretty much centered around this idea of sitting by the pool.

Of course, the pool with a toddler is a whole thing. It’s time consuming enough, and you also have the squeeze it between meals / naps / everything else you’re doing (some of you know this already, but it’s news to us!). Zoe had enough fun in the kiddie pool, but was more interested in watching the big kids play their games (led by the Disney recreation Cast Member) in the main pool, and was devastated when it was time to leave.

Around 4PM we were trying to sort out what to do about dinner, and we settled on a familiar plan—go to Hollywood Studios.

Staying at Coronado Springs, which is a short bus ride to Hollywood Studios, had us at that park a lot after 2PM (when park hopping begins). During this trip it at least had short afternoon waits for a high-quality ride lineup. Zoe hadn’t gotten on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway this trip, so we decided to ride that (posted 25, actual 20) and have dinner at Woody’s Lunchbox.

Dinner didn’t go too well, as Zoe wasn’t particularly into anything. Woody’s also suffers from a lack of seating. Toy Story Land, for all its marvels, has no proper gift shop and still only this small quick service restaurant. These things just can’t serve the high crowds passing through the land.

Eventually a couple that was leaving came over and offered us their table (we had just been using a high chair and regular chairs with no table to feed Zoe). Heading out, we lucked into a bus right as we arrived at the stop, getting back to the resort at 7:08PM.

That was pretty much the end of our day. I worked briefly in the old Coronado Springs lobby, which is now just a large sitting space. We were able to watch Sunday Night Football without waking Zoe, something made me again so grateful for the quality and design of the Gran Destino rooms.

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Early Entry at Magic Kingdom

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