Want a special experience before the Magic Kingdom opens? Arrive early for the Opening Ceremony! It’s the perfect start to a Disney day (and doesn’t cost a penny extra)! If you can plan to get up early and head to the Magic Kingdom before it opens, I promise you will not be sorry.
You must be at the gate to the Magic Kingdom 15 minutes before the park opens — 30 minutes on high occupancy days. Standing anywhere near the entrance will afford you an excellent view. About 12 minutes before the park is scheduled to open, the show will start from the top of the train station.
A Main Street citizen will appear and perform a short skit to welcome everyone to the most magical place on earth. Then the Main Street Singers show up and treat you to a great rendition of “Good Morning,” the song that Debbie Reynolds, Gene Kelley and Donald O’Connor sang in “Singin’ in the Rain.” After that you will begin to hear a train whistle and the MK steam train will pull into the train station carrying who else but Mickey & Minnie Mouse. They also bring some special friends with them: other popular characters, more Main Street Citizens, and the randomly chosen family of the day. Everyone joins in for the welcome while “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” plays in the background.
The family of the day then starts the countdown from ten to zero. Once at zero, they throw pixie dust in the air and canons shoot out confetti over the crowd. All the little princes and princesses clap and laugh and cheer (that is the real magic). Now, the Magic Kingdom is officially open and welcoming guests from all around the globe to spend a wonderful day with Mickey.
Don’t miss out on your opportunity to start at least one day of your vacation this way. You will be very glad you did and, don’t forget, you can always go back to your hotel later for an afternoon nap.
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Brenda is a native Texan born and raised on the Gulf Coast. She visited Disney World twice as a teenager and always dreamed of growing her family Disney. She took her first-timer husband and their three children to Disney World in 2000 and they now spend every Thanksgiving there. Brenda writes with a comedic twist on various Disney topics. She will be sharing tips she has learned during her travels and also hopes to enlighten people on little-known freebies that Disney has to offer. She wishes she could have met Walt Disney and considers herself to be a student of Walt. In parallel to his dream it is her wish that everyone would take at least one trip to Disney World in order to share in its magic with their families.
