Animal Kingdom moves its Early Entry checkpoints onto Discovery Island and opens the Oasis to everyone
Disney's Animal Kingdom has changed how it opens each morning, the last of the four Walt Disney World parks to do so. Resort guests with Early Entry and off-site guests now walk through the Oasis together, and two Early Entry checkpoints sit on Discovery Island: one at Island Mercantile gating Pandora and Africa, one at Zootopia gating Asia and Expedition Everest. Off-site guests wait on Discovery Island instead of a corridor by the gate.
Disney's Animal Kingdom has changed the way it opens each morning. The Early Entry checkpoints that used to sit in the Oasis, just past the turnstiles, have moved onto Discovery Island, and off-site guests waiting for regular opening now spread out around the Tree of Life instead of being held in a corridor at the front of the park. Animal Kingdom was the last Walt Disney World park still running the old procedure; the switch arrived in mid-2026.
Key Details
- What changed: Early Entry checkpoints moved from the Oasis onto Discovery Island, and both Oasis paths are open to everyone
- Checkpoint 1: in front of Island Mercantile, just before Pizzafari, covering Pandora - The World of Avatar and Africa
- Checkpoint 2: in front of Zootopia: Better Zoogether, to the right of the Tree of Life, covering the bridge to Asia and Expedition Everest
- Early Entry attractions: Avatar Flight of Passage, Na'vi River Journey, Expedition Everest and Zootopia: Better Zoogether
- Timing: park opening is usually 8 a.m., so Early Entry starts at 7:30 a.m.; the turnstiles have been opening around 7:19 a.m.
- Off-site guests: wait on Discovery Island, where Discovery Trading Company and Island Mercantile stay closed until official opening
The old procedure, and why it packed the Oasis
Under the previous system, everyone tapped in at the turnstiles and then split. Guests with Early Entry took the left-hand path through the Oasis to a checkpoint where a line of cast members scanned MagicBands and room keys, and from there they had the run of the park. Almost all of them headed left again across the bridge to Discovery Island and on toward Pandora, where they were held a second time on the bridge into the land until cast members walked the group in, with Na'vi River Journey riders peeling off left and everyone else shuffled along the winding route to Avatar Flight of Passage.
Off-site guests without Early Entry got the other side of the Oasis path, a small holding area at the front of the park where they stood shoulder to shoulder until regular opening. On a busy morning it was the least oasis-like spot in the park.
How opening works now
Both groups now walk down either Oasis path after the turnstiles open, and the holding areas have moved onto Discovery Island itself. There are two of them, one beside each checkpoint. Off-site guests can wander Discovery Island while they wait, which is a lot more room than the old corridor, though nothing there is open before official park opening: Discovery Trading Company and Island Mercantile keep their doors shut through Early Entry.
Resort guests have their MagicBands or room keys checked at one of the two checkpoints and then continue to their first ride. Off-site guests wait nearby until cast members drop the rope at the posted opening time.
Where the two checkpoints sit
The checkpoint nearly everyone heads for is on the left, in front of Island Mercantile and just before Pizzafari. It gates not only the bridge to Pandora but the path into Africa as well, which in theory gives resort guests a head start toward Kilimanjaro Safaris at regular opening. In practice the safari rarely builds much of a wait in its first half hour, so the placement mostly means the Africa side of Discovery Island is off limits to off-site guests during Early Entry.
The second checkpoint is on the right, in front of Zootopia: Better Zoogether beside the Tree of Life. It covers the bridge to Asia and Expedition Everest, and Zootopia itself. Demand for that side of the park in the early minutes is thin. On a recent morning that checkpoint was already open to all guests by about 7:50 a.m., with only a small crowd gathered for the opening of the Adventurers Outpost character meet, while the Island Mercantile checkpoint stayed active until 8 a.m. with off-site guests still waiting beside it. Zootopia was down that morning, so the cast may have consolidated to the Expedition Everest side.
What a recent morning looked like, minute by minute
Timings observed on a recent off-season weekday, after Central Florida schools were back in session, give a sense of the rhythm:
- Before 7 a.m.: resort buses were already running and the bus loops were busy. Buses do run early enough for Early Entry, even for guests who miss the first one.
- About 7 a.m.: security and bag check opened, with a queue already formed.
- About 7:19 a.m.: the turnstiles opened. This varies day to day and was on the later side of normal.
- Just before 7:25 a.m.: the first guests reached the Island Mercantile checkpoint.
- About 7:50 a.m.: the Zootopia-side checkpoint was open access.
- 8 a.m.: the Island Mercantile checkpoint was still checking bands, with off-site guests in the adjacent holding zone.
Early Entry was well attended for a 7:30 a.m. start with only four attractions running, which suggests the earliest of the four Walt Disney World Early Entry windows still has a following.
Who gains and who loses a few minutes
For off-site guests the change is a clear improvement: more space, shade and something to look at while they wait, and since more of Animal Kingdom's visitors stay off property than on, that is most of the crowd. For resort guests using Early Entry, the new layout shaves a few minutes off their head start. The regular-opening crowd used to walk to Pandora from the Oasis and arrived around 8:10 a.m.; from Island Mercantile the walk is shorter, so the rush now lands closer to 8:05 a.m. A guest already in line for Avatar Flight of Passage, or stepping off it and walking to Na'vi River Journey, will not notice.
The bigger question the change raises is whether Early Entry at Animal Kingdom is worth the 7:30 a.m. alarm at all now that DinoLand U.S.A. is closed and only four attractions take part. For a guest who wants Flight of Passage, Everest and the safari done before hopping elsewhere, it still is. For everyone else, sleeping in and arriving for regular opening costs surprisingly little.
The Buzz
Animal Kingdom was the holdout. EPCOT, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios all reworked their morning procedures over the past year, either pushing Early Entry checkpoints deeper into the park or dropping secondary holds, and Animal Kingdom kept the old Oasis corral until this summer. Guests who plan their mornings around rope drop have been swapping notes on where the new checkpoints are and whether the 7:30 a.m. start still pays off.
The 7:30 a.m. start is unchanged; the checkpoints are what moved
Nothing about eligibility or the Early Entry window itself has changed. Guests of Disney resort hotels and other participating hotels still get 30 minutes before the posted opening time, and the park still typically opens at 8 a.m. What has moved is where the check happens: on Discovery Island, in front of Island Mercantile for Pandora and Africa, and in front of Zootopia for Asia and Expedition Everest. Head left off the Oasis bridge for Flight of Passage, right for Everest, and expect the regular-opening crowd to reach Pandora a few minutes sooner than it used to.
