Hi Maria!
Welcome back to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! I can imagine the excitement in your household as you plan your trip to the Walt Disney World Resort!
Each theme park has its own opening procedures and those can vary from day to day depending on the day's events. At Magic Kingdom, guests can typically enter one hour prior to official park opening and enjoy the shops on Main Street, U.S.A. up to Cinderella Castle. You can stay in that general area until the
Let the Magic Begin Welcome Show. Once the show ends, guests can enter the rest of the park. We typically do an 8:00 a.m. pre-park opening breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom when the official park opening is 9:00 a.m. We have finished eating by 8:45 a.m. and then have gone through the standby line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train before the crowds are released into the rest of the park.
At Disney's Hollywood Studios on our most recent visit, with the
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Boarding group process, they were letting guests in about 30 minutes prior to park opening (sometimes earlier). My advice is always to check the
park hours, making note of the
Extra Magic Hours for the dates of your visit and then arrive early. If there are popular attractions that you want to do standby, then plan accordingly and arrive as early as possible so that you can be near the front of the line at the park entrance.
Maria, at Epcot, we love to do an 8:00 a.m. breakfast reservation at
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. We enjoy walking through World Showcase to the restaurant when the park is not crowded. As long as we finish breakfast by 9:00 a.m., we get in the standby line for Frozen Ever After.
Say hi to Olaf for us!
Magic and memories,
Donyell