Beginning January 9, the park will start letting visitors onto Main Street USA before the park's official opening time, where some shops (including Starbucks) will be open for guests. The "opening moment" show will move from the Main Street train station to the Castle Forecourt stage, and visitors will be able to disperse into the lands from the hub following a rope drop at the official opening time.
That makes the Magic Kingdom's opening more like Disneyland's, with the addition of the opening moment show at the MK.
The change actually should allow fans to show up a bit closer to the park's scheduled opening time and still be able to make it into relatively empty queues throughout the park right after opening. However, the change also means those queues should fill up even faster, too. And the change minimizes or eliminates the advantage that people who booked character breakfasts in the park had in getting on rides first in the morning.
Here's why: Under the current opening, fans crammed into much less space in front of the train station at opening before filing through the passageways under the train station to get into the park. That created a premium for fans who arrived first, encouraging people to show up well before the official opening time. Under the new system, there's quite a bit more space in the hub for visitors awaiting the start of the day, and fans can position themselves directly in front of the land they wish to visit. The Starbucks and other Main Street shops also should distract some people, too, meaning that visitors should be able to show up later and still make their way up to a "front row" position to enter the part of the park they want to experience first.
But with all those people waiting at the hub now, any advantage that breakfast diners had at the Crystal Palace in the morning is gone. And people eating breakfast in Fantasyland won't be any closer to many attractions that people on the hub will be.
The additional volume of people entering the park at opening also should fill queues throughout the park faster than they do now, with fans entering from the train station. Think of the difference between how much water you can pour out of a bucket than from a bottle. The new system is like a bucket of fans pouring into the park.
From Disney's perspective, that's a much more efficient way to "load" the park in the mornings, though it requires spending more money on labor to staff the Main Street locations earlier in the day. But with so many people coming to the Magic Kingdom, spending a more on labor surely seems worth leveraging what should be more sales revenue in the morning and might be better guest satisfaction, as well.
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And of course there's the extra money they'll spend at the Emporium and Starbucks, haha.
For those who have character breakfast reservations, I could see how this change would be frustrating not getting the advantage of being 1st on a ride. I have not had the opportunity to experience a character breakfast at Magic Kingdom only Chef Mickey, but Disney should consider giving 1 extra fastpass ticket for a specific ride. The prices of these breakfasts are costly so for those who have character reservations at a park restaurant should consider doing something small that can go a long way for those individuals.
The Train Show was always short but touching! It adds to the whole Experience! I can not i marine without it!
Why not - If official opening is 9 am do at 8:30 the Train Opening after that allowing Passengers to board the Train at 8:45 and at 9 the opening Show at the Hub. In that way you can decide to be first in a Land or see the 2 nd Opening Show and getting in in the Official Way?
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