4 Attractions Before 9:45am: Early Entry Testing in the Magic Kingdom

We’ve been testing Touring Plans using Early Entry in the Magic Kingdom for a few years now. We completed a test this week and thought we’d share the results.

Early Entry in the Magic Kingdom was at 8:30am on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. This was also a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party day which typically affords lower crowds during the daytime hours. The goal was to get through 4 major attractions before 10:00am without buying Lightning Lane Multi or Single Pass by utilizing a Touring Plan and Early Theme Park Entry. Here are the testing details:

• Lightning Lane Multi Pass was $32.00 + tax (=$34.08) per person on the 18th / not purchased
• Lightning Lane Single Pass for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was $13.00 + tax ($13.85) per person on the 18th / not purchased
• Lightning Lane Single Pass for TRON Lightcycle Run was $21.00 + tax ($22.37) per person on the 18th / not purchased

7:26 – tester was on the ferry from the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) to the Magic Kingdom

7:49am – Magic Kingdom main gate opened to all guests. Reminder that you don’t need Early Entry to tap in when the gates open. Folks without EE will be restricted to Main Street U.S.A. and the Castle area until regular park opening.

7:54am – after tapping in for Early Entry to the right of Cinderella Castle, tester arrived at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Gone are the days of the literal rope drop on the Fantasyland and Tomorrowland bridges. Now, all EE guests head to their chosen attraction to wait for EE to start.

8:15am – Seven Dwarfs Mine Train queue opened and the line began to move. No posted wait since EE had not officially started.

8:18am – Tester boarded their train with a 35 second actual wait. Reminder, start the timer on your TouringPlans Lines app when the ride is open and you stop walking in the queue.

8:25am – entered the queue for Peter Pan. There was no posted wait because Early Entry had not officially started.

8:46am – boarded flying ship at Peter Pan with a 21 minute wait entered into the Lines app. Posted wait was 40 minutes as our tester exited the ride.

8:54am – joined the queue to rope drop the opening of Liberty Square and all of the other lands of the Magic Kingdom.

8:56am – the Castle welcome show ended, fireworks exploded, and all of the Magic Kingdom was open to all guests. Tester walked through Liberty Square, into Frontierland, and cut through to Adventureland.

8:59am – tester arrived at Jingle Cruise, the holiday overlay of Jungle Cruise. There was no posted wait since our tester arrived prior to 9:00am.

9:09am – tester boarded Jingle Cruise. Dad jokes began.

9:27am – arrived at Pirates of the Caribbean with a posted wait of 5 minutes.

9:31am – boarded boat to see Jack and Carlos. Remember kids, snitches get stitches.

The image above shows historical “what we predicted vs. what we saw” data that can be accessed on our website or the Lines app. On the day of our test, our Crowd Calendar predicted a crowd level 2 and the actual numbers show that prediction was correct. The home page of the Lines app always has a 10-day crowd calendar by overview and park but subscribers can see a full 12-month view.

Our tester used the Magic Kingdom One-Day TouringPlan for Tweens and Their Parents, one of 63 Premium Magic Kingdom plans offered to our subscribers. The plan was optimized once at 9:00am.

Four major attractions before 10:00am is a testing win for us. What park and plan would you like tested next? Let us know in the comments, please.