

These ropes drop right as the park opens. Once inside the park, there are six different rope drop locations that allow access to the rides. This also guarantees that you’ll be there for the welcome parade. If you plan to be there for the rope drop, an insider tip is that the initial rope drop actually happens an hour before the park opens. Once you get to the gates, you’ll need to wait in line to scan your tickets again to get into the park.

We took the monorail and it’s a 7-minute ride from the parking lot to the gates. Then you’ll need to wait in line to take the monorail, ferry boat, or bus. Then you’ll wait in line to scan your tickets and get your passes. Once you arrive, you’ll need to find parking. The check-in process takes much longer at Magic Kingdom so you’ll need to arrive at the park at least an hour before it opens. What they don’t realize, is that you’ll need to take a monorail, ferry boat, or bus to the actual park entrance. Many people arrive at Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park expecting to park and walk in. Arrive at the park earlier than you think A few of the more popular rides, including the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, require an individual lightning lane purchase for an additional $10 per person. However, the Genie+ isn’t available for every ride. It’s not clear if there is a limit on how many times you can use lightning lane passes, but we were able to use them for seven different rides throughout the day before we maxed out. The MagicBands are complimentary if you are staying at a resort hotel. The passes are put onto a card, but if you don’t like the hassle of pulling out a card for every ride, you can also purchase a MagicBand that links your account to a wristband. This YouTube video is super helpful in explaining just how the Genie+ Lightning Lane passes work. If the first available time is more than 2 hours after the park opens, then you can make an additional selection 120 minutes after the park opens. These 5-minute windows add up and will save you time throughout the day. There is a 5-minute window, so if you arrive at the ride 5 minutes before your assigned time they will still let you on.
