Disney World, Disneyland, Go Informed Podcast, Theme Park Touring, Universal Orlando

How to Master Your Theme Park Morning

February 19, 2018
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Simple theme park morning tips

In this episode I share some of my favorite tips to help you get your family up and running for an early theme park morning. Whether you’re visiting Disneyland, Disney World, or Universal, these simple steps will get you ready for rope drop.

These are the show notes for Go Informed Podcast episode 19. Listen to the episode for lots more detail about this topic.

Table of Contents for this post

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Getting Up Early Gives You a Huge Advantage

The best way to beat the crowds at any theme park is to get there first.

Being there early also means you get to experience the parks at a quieter pace, the weather is cooler, and you can get some awesome pictures when there aren’t a million people around.

Here’s what it’s like to be first in the park

First steps for planning your theme park morning

There are a few considerations when you start planning what time to get up for your theme park morning.

Know what time the park opens. Plan to arrive at the park gate at least 30 minutes before posted park opening time.
Figure out how long it will take you to get to the park, including parking, waiting for a bus, etc. If you’re visiting Disney World, the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World has detailed stats about travel times between the resorts and the parks.
Learn how to get from your room to the bus stop, walking path, or whatever conveyance you’re using to get to the park.
Decide how long it’s going to take you and the rest of your gang to get ready in the morning. Be realistic.
The night before, organize all your clothes and whatever else you need for the morning. Make sure your park tickets or magic bands are in a place where you won’t forget them.

An efficient theme park morning starts the night before

1. Lay everything out before you go to bed

No matter how tired you are before you crawl into bed, take the time to get everything ready for the next morning. Pretend you’re a firefighter. Lay out all your clothes, pack your bag for the park, even put your toothbrush where you can grab it easily. The less time you have to spend in the morning getting ready, the sooner you will be out the door.

Don’t forget your park tickets – and make sure your phone’s charged too.

This goes for everyone in your party. And decide who’s taking a shower when. Maybe it makes more sense to do this the night before so the morning goes more smoothly. Get your entire group on the same page before you turn out the light.

2. Don’t stay up too late

It’s hard to go to bed early when you’ve had an exciting day at the parks, but give yourself the best shot by hitting the hay before it gets too late.

3. Use a wake-up call

The on-site hotels at the Disney parks and at Universal have character wake-up calls. You can set them up on the hotel phone system – or make your own special wake-up call by using park music for your phone’s alarm.

Here’s what the wake-up call options were the last time we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando.

4. Start your theme park morning with a room service continental breakfast

A continental-style breakfast is not too heavy or expensive. Usually it’ll include a pot of coffee – that’s much better than what you can make in your room – juice, and a few small pastries. Add a side of bacon and you’ve got a solid snack to power you to the parks. It’s easy to share a breakfast like this and you can eat it while you get ready.

Here’s the continental breakfast at Universal’s Portofino Bay. We added a side of bacon and it cost us about $20, even after tip.

Place your order the night before so you know it’s arriving at a set time. If you know that room service guy will be knocking on the door you’ll have even more incentive to get up on time!

If you have a ziploc bag on hand you can pop any extra pastries right into your park bag and enjoy them later while you wait for the rope to drop.

5. Bring a wake-up light

A wake up light is an excellent travel tool. Click the photo to view on Amazon.

A wake-up light is an alarm clock which has a light that comes on at a set time. This can help you get over jet lag, brightens up a dark hotel room, and it really will help you wake up more naturally than with just a wake-up call or an alarm.

I also use a wake-up light at home. It turns on gradually to simulate a sunrise, and when it’s time to get up it plays the sound of happy birds chirping. Like how Cinderella wakes up!

What to Do After You Arrive at the Theme Park

Make sure you’ve got a plan for how you’ll be starting your day, so you don’t waste valuable early time trying to figure it out. My tips for how to rope drop include step-by-step advice for what to expect at Disney and Universal theme park openings.

Also check out my Universal Orlando and Disney World audio park tours to find out what you need to know before you go. And reviewing a good guidebook before your trip is well worth your time. My top picks are: