First Reports of Epcot’s New Opening Show/Process
Our intrepid staff on the ground is reporting that Epcot opened this morning by holding guests at the entrance turnstiles until the official 9 a.m. opening as part of the Epcot Park Opening Procedure Changes we first reported yesterday.
@TouringPlans Epcot opening: “Good Morning” in the languages of all World Showcase countries. Plus an “Are you ready”? And a streamer blast over the crowd
Anyone else out there this morning? We’d love to hear your thoughts on the new opening.
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I wonder why they did that. I was actually going to cancel my 8am Akershus…sounds like maybe I should hang on to it!
So…. did Akershus breakfast reservations around 8:00am just become the hottest ADR in the world?
We’ve never been there at opening, can you tell me what they did before? What they are doing differently?
Previously, guests were allowed to pass through the turnstiles and venture past Spaceship Earth to wait at ropes between certain planters in the plaza between the Innoventions buildings. At opening time, guests would follow cast members who walked from this point to their first attractions (typically Soarin’ or Test Track).
As of today, guests are a lot farther from the attractions at opening time than they were yesterday. There also may be more of a bottleneck at the entrance since before guests were spread out across many different ropes.
So, are they letting you go through the turnstiles before opening time, or are they making everyone cue on the “outside” of the turnstiles until opening time? Thanks.
People queue up at the turnstiles until about 15 minutes prior to opening. After the brief streamer shots that Fred observed, folks enter the parks gradually as they figure out how get their tickets to work in the turnstiles, but afterwards they can go where they want, unimpeded by ropes. I suspect that the rides normally don’t start working until the official opening time, so it’s possible that you’ll encounter a rope at the attraction entrance.
As Len wrote when this was announced, being among the first few at a turnstile line matters more now, so while this process is in place, choose a turnstile with the shortest line and arrive early enough to get a good spot in line!
David – thanks very much for the information. Most helpful and it will definitely guide our plan for when we return to WDW in October!
I’m curious if they have the Soarin’ team there to prevent people from running.