Learn the Difference Between Magic Morning and Extra Magic Hour at Disneyland

By Jennifer Stuart

Whether it is your first trip to Disneyland or if you are a Walt Disney World veteran, it pays to understand how these work at Disneyland. If you want to maximize your rides and minimize your waits, you will want to take advantage of these if you can.

Magic Morning is a one-time perk available to people holding 3 day or longer Disneyland tickets. It allows a holder early entry to Disneyland Park (not California Adventure) on select mornings.  These days are shown on the Entertainment Schedule on the Disneyland website.   Disney World veterans take note you definitely want to go to Magic Morning as it doesn't affect crowds in the same way as at Disney World.

Click here to link to Disneyland Entertainment Schedule

In the above example, you can see that there is a Magic Morning on the Tuesday and Thursday.  (Disneyland also offers Magic Morning  on Saturdays). Although you may plan on visiting the parks on both those days you will only be able to use Magic Morning for one of those days, so decide which is going to be better for you.  When you walk up to the turnstiles you will see that some say Magic Morning ...choose those lines.  We advise trying to hit bag check at least 20 mins to a half hour in advance of the start of Magic Morning to make the best use of your time. 
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You should know that only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland will be open to guests at this time.  Only an hour and only two lands open?  Is it really worth it?  You bet it is!  Even though it may seem crowded initially you will find that crowd disperse quickly and you can get MANY rides done in that hour.

​To show you what I mean, this is a picture taken in Tomorrowland during Magic Morning (while the rest of the family was having a blast on Space Mountain). If you look closely you can see 2 other people.


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Conventional wisdom will tell you that the ride you should hit first is Peter Pan's Flight in Fantasyland.  If this is a ride that interests you at all then that wisdom is absolutely correct.  I would speed -walk (running is not allowed in the park) here as fast as possible.  If you haven't ridden before don't expect a big thrill but rather a Disneyland classic that is a great ride for the whole family.  It is also a slow loader and within a few minutes can quickly have a line that averages 45 plus minutes for the rest of the day.

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Other Fantasyland Rides to hit first on a Magic Morning are Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland.   Both of these will have lines that build quickly and stay busy all day with no option of a fastpass.  (Note: It's a Small World, Casey Jr. Train and Storybook Canal Boats are also not open for Magic Morning.

Most other Fantasyland rides you would be able to do fairly quickly in that initial hour, especially if you take advantage of the single rider line for Matterhorn.

What not to ride in your Magic Morning? I wouldn't do Nemo's Submarines.  Although lines can get long and it is a slow loader, the longer ride time would eat up a large chunk of your hour.  Also Star Tours is another longer ride that could easily be fast passed when the machines start up at park opening.  

There is no Magic Morning for Disney California Adventure.  The only way to get in early to this park is to take advantage of Extra Magic Hour available to guests staying at one of the 3 official Disney Hotels: Paradise Pier, Disneyland Hotel or Grand Californian.  Extra Magic Hour for California Adventure is usually offered on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Always check the Entertainment Schedule to see what days Extra Magic Hour is offered.
Link to the entertainment Schedule here.

Cast members at the gate will ask to see your Key to the Magic (aka your room key card) for each person as well as your park ticket to be able to access either park for an Extra Magic Hour.  For those who are used to Disney World you should note that Extra Magic Hour at Disneyland and California Adventure are only in the mornings.

Insider tip:  It is generally faster to go through the main gates rather than the Grand Californian entrance during Extra Magic Hour.
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For Extra Magic Hours you can expect select rides throughout the park to be open, including the rides in Cars Land.  You can expect that most people taking advantage of this time will head straight for Radiator Springs Racers.  

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We previously suggested a different use of your time.  We used to suggest riding Toy Story Midway Mania.  Now that you are able to Fastpass Toy Story  I would ride Soarin Around the World first thing if possible then ride the smaller Cartland rides (Mater and Luigi) then grab a Fastpasses for Radiator Springs or Toy Story as they go online depending on your interests, instead of using your time waiting for Radiator Springs Racers.  See our posts on Fastpasses for Beginners ​and Fastpass vs Maxpass for more information.

As your Extra Magic Hour draws to a close go line up for Radiator Springs Racers  fast passes. (or hop on the app if you have Maxpass)  They will not start distributing theses until the park opens. (Note: these are handed out near Tough to be a Bug not beside the actual ride)  Once you have your passes for later in the day, you can check the stand-by or single rider times or ride the other Cars Land rides, which usually have much shorter waits.

For tips on using fastpasses at Disneyland read our post Disneyland Fastpass for Beginners.  Disneyland first -timers check out our post on What to do on your first trip to Disneyland.

All photos by Jennifer Stuart

Updated Feb 2018

Thoughts?  Questions?  Tips?  We would love to hear from you.