In an effort to show a little bit of appreciation to Annual Passholders, Disney now has dedicated entry lines into its 4 theme parks.
At the Magic Kingdom, the turnstiles are in the left grouping of touchpoints, near the special event entrance.
At Hollywood Studios, the furthest right touchpoints are reserved for Annual Passholders
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In Animal Kingdom, the entrance is off to the right as well. This was at 9am.
At Epcot, you’ll be walking all the way to the left to find the Annual Passholders entrance.
Overall, unless you’re coming at peak times or find that lines are more than a few families deep, these might not even have an impact on your visit. If you’re coming at park open however, these will definitely save you some time and headache. The nice thing is that the turnstiles in use for the AP lines are normally closed, so there will be no impact on the average guest.
The hope from Cast Members that I spoke with is that an Annual Passholders line will cut down on guests who aren’t familiar with the MagicBand entrance process, thus speeding up entry with fewer issues. It’s worth noting that Cast Members will not turn away non-Annual Passholders that may be traveling in your group.
It is nice that Disney is looking for ways, however small, to cater to Annual Passholders and address pain points. We hope that this is the start of additional perks for Annual Passholders.
This special access is expected to run through at least January. Annual Passholders still have to go through the normal bag check and security lines.