Hey Howdy Hey Jonathan and welcome to planDisney!
There are so many benefits to staying onsite in Walt Disney World Resort for your Magical vacation and
Early Theme Park Entry is one of the big ones! Thank you for stopping by with your question about access to the parks with this benefit. I will be happy to help walk you through this process!
The first thing you will need to do is to link your reservations to your
My Disney Experience account. As long as you have your reservation linked, you are in good shape. Since Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel is a qualifying hotel for the Early Theme Park benefit, you are another step closer! The final thing to do is to plan what method you are going to use to enter the parks. The most common and easily accessible would be a
MagicBand, MagicBand+ or
MagicMobile pass.
When you get to the parks on the day of your first visit, you will have access to a special line for all Guests staying at a qualifying Disney resort hotel to access the parks early. The Cast Members will then scan either your MagicBand or MagicMobile pass and see that you will be checking into the Dolphin Hotel later that day, so you should be all set. You do not have to necessarily be checked into your hotel to get the benefit on the day of your arrival as many Guests arrive anxious to hit the parks before official check-in time.
One tip I have for you on the day of your Early Theme Park Entry is to start in the front and work your way to the back of the parks! Those are usually the ways that the parks will fill up once open to the general public, so starting there will put you ahead of the game. If you are starting in Magic Kingdom, one rule of thumb is to go right when you get to the hub at the end of Main Street U.S.A. as most people will do this first. So starting the day with Space Mountain and then Seven Dwarfs Mine Train will be your best bet and then make your way over to Frontierland for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which most often fill up after the first two!
Best of luck moving forward with your planning and please feel free to reach back out with any questions, we would be happy to help!
Have a Magical Day,
Nick