It’s no secret that getting into Magic Kingdom can be a PAIN.

The Transportation & Ticket Center can be the bane of your existence if you’re in a hurry to get to the park for rope drop, and it gets even more complicated if you’re visiting on a day when things are particularly busy. But don’t worry — we’re here to help!

If you’re heading to Magic Kingdom, we’ve got two big tips for how to get there FASTER! Ready to hear them? Let’s dive in.

First up, if you’re new to visiting Disney World, you might not realize that the Magic Kingdom parking lot is actually more than a mile away from the entrance to the Magic Kingdom. That’s right — you’re actually parking at a location known at the Transportation and Ticket Center. After you park in the lot, you’ll walk or take a tram to the Transportation and Ticket Center, where you’ll go through security and then have a choice of taking a monorail or ferry boat to the Magic Kingdom.

Disney designed things this way so that the view of the vast parking lots needed for the park didn’t impact the sight lines and, well, magic of the Magic Kingdom. And that’s awesome, but it also means you have a bit more hassle arriving at the Magic Kingdom than you do at other Disney World parks.

The Monorail Hack

This first quick route is made for those particularly busy days, or the crowded times in the morning right before rope drop. If there’s a long line for the Express Monorail to the park that stretches out into an extended queue, you might be waiting through 3 or 4 rides before you get to board and make it to Magic Kingdom.

In that case, we often prefer to take the Resort Monorail instead! The ride isn’t as short as the Express line, but if you’re going to have to wait to board the Express anyway, you might actually make it to the park FASTER on the Resort line. On average, we find that the Resort ride (with stops at the Polynesian Village Resort and Grand Floridian Resort) takes about 14 minutes to get to Magic Kingdom.

This plan doesn’t always work, and we don’t recommend it if the line for the Express Monorail is short, but it can be a nice time saver on particularly busy days. Give it a try the next time you want to avoid the wait!

The Hidden Staircase

Our other trick for beating the crowds is one that you’ll use when the Monorail (either the Resort OR Express) arrives at the Magic Kingdom station. As you disembark, most people will be heading for the large ramp in the middle of the station to exit, but you can avoid those crowds by taking the “secret” stairs!

On either side of the ramp is a staircase that cuts off part of the pathway. It deposits you about halfway down the ramp, and if you’re a fast walker, you might be able to get out in front of the crowd and make it to the entrance before all the families with strollers do.

These staircases work best if you’re in the Monorail cars that unload closest to them, but they’re available for anyone to use. We’re big fans of a shortcut!

Those are two of our little tricks for getting to Magic Kingdom faster! Stay tuned to DFB for more tips on how to navigate the parks on your next vacation.

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Have you ever used these tips? Tell us in the comments!

The post Two Secret Ways To Get Into Magic Kingdom FASTER first appeared on the disney food blog.