We pick things up on the morning of September 12, 2019, on what may be my most successful day of morning of touring of all time (of all time), due in large part to the Extra Extra Magic Hour from 7am to 8am. Part One, which covers the rope drop experience to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, is located here, with Part Two, covering Tomorrowland and Frontierland, here.

Up until now, I’ve accomplished:

1. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 7:02am – 7:14am
2. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 7:15am – 7:28am
3. Peter Pan’s Flight: 7:30am – 7:38am
4. Peter Pan’s Flight: 7:39am – 7:47am
5. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 7:49am – 7:58am
6. Space Mountain: 8:06am – 8:20am
7. Tomorrowland Speedway: 8:22am – 8:38am
8. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin: 8:39am – 8:48am
9. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: 9:08am – 9:22am
10. Splash Mountain: 9:33am – 9:48am

My longest wait so far was at Tomorrowland Speedway, thanks to Disney loading and unloading just four cars at a time. I haven’t waited longer than ten minutes anywhere else, with the majority of my waits under three minutes each.

We continue to enjoy what may be record-low September crowds.

Continue reading “Late Morning Touring at Disney’s Magic Kingdom After Extra Extra Magic Hour”

We pick things up on the morning of Thursday, September 12th, 2019, at 8:02am. In Part One, we started our day in Fantasyland for Extra Extra Magic Hour, which ran from 7am to 8am. During that time, I was able to do:

1. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 7:02am – 7:14am
2. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 7:15am – 7:28am
3. Peter Pan’s Flight: 7:30am – 7:38am
4. Peter Pan’s Flight: 7:39am – 7:47am
5. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 7:49am – 7:58am

With the early open, and virtually nobody willing or able to arrive at the most popular theme park in the world this early, I was able to accomplish quite a bit. Mine Train’s peak wait still exceeds 90 minutes most days, with Peter Pan’s Flight still averaging about an hour. Winnie the Pooh’s average wait is around a half hour. So in just the first hour of touring, I’ve saved about 4.5 hours in line compared to waiting for those same attractions later in the day.

Only Main Street, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland are open during (Extra) Extra Magic Hour at Magic Kingdom. Come 8am, we could elect to stay in Fantasyland and experience some of the low- or moderate-priority attractions like The Barnstormer, Dumbo, and the like. Meeting the Princesses at Fairytale Hall or at Ariel’s Grotto would also make sense. I could also head to Frontierland for Big Thunder and Splash Mountains or over to Adventureland for Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean. From a touring efficiency perspective, visiting Fantasyland during the whole Extra Extra Magic Hour makes the most sense. I’ve elected to go to Tomorrowland next, hitting Space Mountain first, followed by Tomorrowland Speedway and Buzz Lightyear.

Continue reading “Touring Disney’s Magic Kingdom After Extra Extra Magic Hours in Fantasyland”

We venture out to Magic Kingdom Park to check out their version of Extra Extra Magic Hours (EEMH), each of which begins at 7am for eligible guests every day through November 2nd. Previously, we had a tremendous amount of success at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, when we visited Avatar Flight of Passage first thing after the EEMH there began at 7am. You can read all about that experience here. We also saw what it takes to rope drop Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at 6am at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for EEMH in this post. We then returned last week for an alternative touring plan, beginning the day with Toy Story Land with plans to ride Smugglers Run right before the Park opened to everyone, which I cover in this post.

Continue reading “Extra Extra Magic Hours at Disney’s Magic Kingdom with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train First”

Our visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios continues after spending the first 60ish minutes of Extra Extra Magic Hours in Toy Story Land. My time didn’t go as well as I would have liked – we got going more than ten minutes late and Slinky Dog Dash was initially down, throwing a wrench into our plans.

I ended up doing:

1. Toy Story Mania: 6:19am – 6:41am
2. Alien Swirling Saucers: 6:44am – 6:50am
3. Slinky Dog Dash: 6:51am – 7:13am

That’s not too bad in the grand scheme of things – all three Toy Story Land rides in less than an hour. If we had started our walk over to Toy Story Land at 6am, as should ordinarily be the case, and if Slinky Dog Dash was running first thing, then we would have been able to add a second or third ride on Slinky and another ride on either Swirling Saucers or Toy Story Mania and still be done around the same time. We started our day in Toy Story Land to avoid the initial, uncomfortable “rush” to Galaxy’s Edge for Smugglers Run. To see what that process looks like, check out this post. Today, our plan is to get in line for the space simulator just before the Park opens to all at 9am.

We’ll see how it goes.

Continue reading “Extra Extra Magic Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios After Toy Story Land”

We return bright dark and early to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to check out what we can expect during Extra Extra Magic Hours, which begin at 6am daily for eligible guests through November 2nd.

Last week, I covered how to go about rope dropping Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. While it wasn’t the worst rope drop experience, it takes about 15 minutes to uncomfortably walk back to the ride from the holding area on Hollywood Boulevard. My expectation was that with nearly everyone heading to Galaxy’s Edge first thing, that it would open up Toy Story Land for the rest of us. We’ll put that hypothesis to the test by heading in that direction first thing. I’ll get in line for Smugglers Run just before the Extra Extra Magic Hours period ends, around 8:50am, to see how long the wait will be then.

Continue reading “Rope Dropping Slinky Dog Dash at Disney’s Hollywood Studios During Extra Extra Magic Hours”