Beat the Crowds and Skip the Line at Disney World’s Frozen Ever After Ride
I’m excited to share with you one of my favorite hacks from our last trip to Disney World. On days when EPCOT does not offer early extra magic hours, this tip will get you into the park early so you can be first in line for the Frozen Ever After ride. And did I mention there’s bacon?
Frozen Fever
The Frozen Ever After ride debuted in Summer 2016 to huge fanfare and even huger lines. Located in the Norway pavilion at EPCOT theme park, wait times at this popular attraction are often more than 60 minutes, sometimes approaching two hours and beyond.
In my opinion, the Frozen ride is very well done and is worth the ride but I wouldn’t wait more than 30 minutes for it. If you have a hardcore Frozen fan in your group or you just want to check out the new ride, there is a way to skip the lines altogether.
The Dining Reservation That Brings You An Empty Frozen Queue
First, be aware: this hack really only works on a day that EPCOT opens at 9:00am or later and does NOT have early morning extra magic hours. (I will explain more below).
The key to the kingdom lies in an early breakfast reservation at Akershus Dining Hall in the Norway Pavilion at EPCOT . I mean early, like 8:00am if you can get it.
Yes, You Can Get Into the Disney World Parks Before Official Opening If You Have a Breakfast Reservation
A lot of people don’t realize it, but every Disney World park has at least one restaurant that serves breakfast before park opening. The restaurants start reservations at 8:00am regardless of park hours. So if the park doesn’t open until 9:00am, you could get in, eat breakfast, and be ready to rock before the rest of the crowd gets there.
An early morning breakfast reservation is a fabulous way to beat the crowds. You get to walk through the empty park – and you can queue up at your favorite ride way before anyone else.Click To TweetThe day we used this hack was a pretty typical EPCOT schedule. The park opened at 9:00am with no early extra magic hours, which means they probably let everyone into the park around 8:45am. We were able to score a reservation at Akershus at 8:20am. By 9:00 we had already eaten a delicious breakfast, taken selfies with Cinderella and Snow White, met Belle, and rode the Frozen ride.
Get There Early
Guests who have early breakfast reservations have a special line at the park gates. These guests are allowed into the park at least a few minutes before the first reservation. Even though our reservation wasn’t until 8:20am, we were allowed to go into the park when the gate was opened at about 7:50am. We could’ve wandered around until 8:20 – this is a wonderful time to get pictures – but we went straight to Akershus and checked in. Sure enough, we only waited about two minutes before our name was called. By just a few minutes after 8:00am we were seated and ready to eat.
At breakfast Akershus is a combination buffet/family-style restaurant. There is a buffet with pastries, fruit, and Norwegian smorgasbord, plus servers bring out a family-style platter of eggs, bacon, sausage, and a delicious potato dish. I let our server know that we wouldn’t be lingering, so she brought the check for me to settle right away.
Akershus is also a princess breakfast, where many of the Disney princesses come around to the tables for meet and greet. The price of breakfast is about $50 per adult, $30 for kids under 9 – so this is certainly throwing money at the Frozen problem. But we thought the food was really good, it was nice having a real breakfast before a day of touring, and there’s the added benefit of meeting the princesses. In my mind the ability to be the only ones in the park plus the nice breakfast made the cost of the meal worthwhile.
By arriving early for our reservation, we were able to enjoy our meal without feeling rushed and leave the restaurant by 8:40. Literally right next door is the line for the Frozen ride. Cast members were standing outside the doors to the attraction and there were a handful of guests in the line already. At about 8:45 the doors opened and we walked straight in through an empty queue, right on to the ride with no wait.
As we got off the ride the crowds from the front of the park arrived and started filling up the queue. So if you do this trick, be sure to be outside in the Frozen queue no later than 8:45. Once the park gates are open the line will quickly stretch to 60 minutes or more. And please read my warning below!
Watch the Parks Schedule for Opening Hours Changes
This is super-important! This hack really only works if you can get into the park way before everyone else. It is very common for Disney to change park hours, sometimes announcing just days in advance if a park is going to open earlier or stay open later.
If you have an 8:00am breakfast reservation and Disney changes the park hours to open at 8:00am or before (8:00am extra magic hours count too), you will have no advantage over the rest of the crowd. In fact, you will now be at a disadvantage because you’ll be having breakfast while everyone else is on the rides.
Be sure to watch those park hours and cancel or change your dining reservation if you need to. Be aware that Disney will charge a fee to you if you cancel advanced dining reservations less than 24 hours ahead – so be vigilant.
Here’s What To Do If You Want More Time to Meet the Princesses at Akershus and Also Want to Be First on the Frozen Ride
A twist on this hack, if you can’t get a reservation in the 8:00am hour, or if you’d like to have a more leisurely breakfast and spend time with the princesses – make your reservation for around 9:00am. The family next to us in the Frozen line did this exact thing. Their reservation was for 9:15am. As breakfast guests, they entered the park early through the breakfast reservation line, went to the restaurant, checked-in and told the hostess they would be ready for breakfast after riding Frozen. Since they were in the park early they were first on the ride, and back at the restaurant in minutes.
A Few Other Disney World Breakfast Reservation Tips
These tips are for any guest who has breakfast reservations in any of the Disney World parks before official park opening time. You can hear more of my tips for making dining reservations on episode 12 of the Go Informed podcast.
On episode 29 of the Go Informed podcast, I share a fabulous tool that can help you snag a hard-to-get Disney World dining reservation.
How to Get Your Family Ready for an Early Breakfast Reservation at Disney World
Episode 19 of the Go Informed podcast is all about how to get your family up and moving for an early theme park day. Get my advice for how to Master Your Theme Park Morning here.
Early Morning Transportation at Disney World
Disney buses from the resort hotels start running about one hour before each park’s opening time, or one hour before the earliest breakfast reservation, whichever is earliest. So if you have an 8:00am breakfast reservation in EPCOT there should be a bus at your hotel at about 7:00am.
I always recommend leaving your hotel room one hour before park opening or your reservation. This gives plenty of time in case you miss a bus and there is absolutely no down-side to arriving at the park gates earlier than planned.
If you’re wondering how to get your family moving that early in the morning, here’s a link to my travel tricks for getting up early at Disney World.
Also, the monorail does not always run this early, in spite of what a cast member may tell you. It’s best to rely on the buses if time is of the essence especially if you’re traveling well before park opening. If you miss the bus or need to get there more quickly, Uber is another highly efficient way to get around at Disney World.
Where To Go For Your Early Morning Disney World Breakfast Reservation When You Get To The Park
If you arrive well before park opening, odds are you will spot an obvious line of early birds waiting to get in for breakfast. (The regular early guests will be spread out at the turnstiles so they can be first in line). Look for a sign that says something like ‘guests with breakfast and tour reservations’, or just ask a cast member.
Be sure you have an idea of where to go once you’re in the park. The place will be empty and you’ll probably be on your own to find the restaurant. Akershus is far from EPCOT’s main gate, in the World Showcase area of the park. The last thing you want to do is get lost and lose your place in line. Grab a park map on the way in, or use the My Disney Experience app to navigate. A good guide book can also help you get oriented even before you leave home.
How to Get an Early Morning Reservation
Disney allows guests to make dining reservations up to 180 days before their trip. If you can plan this far ahead, I imagine you’ll have the best shot at scoring an 8:00am reservation. For the rest of us, try to book the reservation as soon as you know which day you’d like to be in that park.
You can book your dining reservation through the My Disney Experience app or website. When you’re looking for an early time like 8:00, I find it’s best to search for that time rather than just “breakfast”. It seems like the app gives more options when you put in a specific time.
If nothing is available when you first look, keep checking back. I was able to get our 8:20am time just a couple of weeks before our trip. And of course, keep an eye on that park schedule!
More Disney World Tips on the Go Informed Podcast
Listen to my in-depth conversation about this hack on the Go Informed podcast, episode 27.
Click here for all my Orlando Theme Park Advice, including:
55 Things To Know Before You Visit Disney World
Why you should wake up for early extra magic hours
My favorite books, websites, and podcasts for planning an Orlando theme park vacation
The 33 things you should know before you visit Universal Orlando
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Hi! I have an early res at Akersus but for only the girls in our party. Can our whole party get into the parks early or just us with the res?? Thanks!!
Hmmm, my guess is that only those of you who have the reservation will be able to get in early. When the cast members let us in for our breakfast they checked our name on a list and I’m pretty sure they checked the number in our party too. You could give it a try if you want – worst case is that those of you who can’t get in early will be able to line up first at the turnstiles for regular rope drop. Good luck!
Ok next question. Lol. The lady who had the 9:20 res, did she say if she was let into the park before rope drop? Thanks!
I think I can more definitively answer this one 🙂 We used this same trick on our most recent trip – at Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom. The cast members there said that anyone with a reservation of 9:15 or earlier could enter before rope drop. I assume this applies at any of the parks.
Thanks! I hope we can get in early so we aren’t rushed too much and I’d love to be able to go on Frozen before the reservation since no FP available!
Good luck, and have a great trip!
I can’t thank you enough. I read a lot of blog about Disney before going for the first time with my kids and you are the only one that talked about this hack. Well, after looking again and again, I finally got a breakfast a 8:20 at Arkhesus. We got to the park around 8AM, went into an EMPTY park and found the Norway section with this BEAUTIFUL restaurant. We met the 5 princesses, ate really good food and my kids were SO happy that one of the princess spoke French (we are french-canadian). And then,when the breakfast was over, we were just right next the Frozen Attraction, with an almost empty line (the breakfast was finished by 9:15). And right after the frozen attraction we went to meet Anna and Elsa, with almost no wait (about 10 minutes, just enough time to take picture of the beautiful waiting line). And just to note, we were there July 1st, one of the busiest day of Disney ! 🙂 So thank you !!! You helped us had a wonderful morning at Epcot 🙂
@baquardie:disqus this absolutely warms my heart. I am so glad you had such a magical experience. Your story is exactly why I love Disney parks so much and why I write these posts. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Do you mind if I repost this on my Facebook page?
Hello,
You can repost on facebook that is totally fine with me.
Thank you ! 🙂
Jacinthe
Envoyé de mon iPhone
Le 15 juil. 2017 à 12:39, Disqus <notifications@disqus.net> a écrit :
“@Baquardie this absolutely warms my heart. I am so glad you had such a magical experience. Your story is exactly why I love Disney parks so much and why I write these posts. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Do you mind if I repost this on my Facebook page?”
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Thanks for all the great tips! We are planning a trip for November 2017 and I would like us to have breakfast (before the park opens to the public) at the Garden Grill the day we go to Epcot. I just have one question;I am not sure if this applies to every day in Epcot, but I noticed that the World Showcase opens later than the park itself. So, because you had breakfast at Akershus, you were already in world showcase and were able to ride Frozen Ever After, but if we were to eat at Garden Grill, we would have to wait to enter World Showcase when it opens?
Great question Ellen. Although the rest of World Showcase doesn’t open until later, the Frozen ride starts running at park opening, so guests are allowed to walk past the rest of World Showcase to get there. My understanding is that guests who arrive at park opening are held at the entrance to Mexico until rope drop, usually at about 8:45. When we went for our breakfast at Akershus we were in the park way before rope drop, there was a cast member in Mexico who checked our reservation on a list and allowed us through. I’m not sure if they would let you pass if you had just eaten at Garden Grill, but I also don’t know why they would stop you.
More importantly though, if you’re planning to eat at Garden Grill, it is far away from the Frozen ride – even if you walk briskly it’ll take at least 10 minutes to get from that side of the park to Norway. If you want to beat the regular crowd you should plan to be done with breakfast and out of Garden Grill no later than 8:30. Even then I can’t say for sure that you would beat the line. BUT Garden Grill is literally 1 minute from the entrance to Soarin – another super-popular ride – so if I were having breakfast there that would be my go-to first attraction. You can have a more leisurely meal, finish up by 8:45, waltz over to Soarin and be first on for the day before anyone else even gets there.
If Frozen is your aim for early morning, then definitely go with an Akershus reservation if you can get it. And, as I’ve noted a few times in the post, keep an eye on those ever-changing park hours to be sure the park doesn’t end up opening at the same time as your breakfast. Good luck and have a wonderful, magical vacation!
PS: Disney Tourist Blog has an excellent post detailing the park-opening procedures for Frozen here: http://www.disneytouristblog.com/frozen-ever-review-tips/