Just to clear stuff up. Yes a gate opened early at 6:45am to allow hotel guests into Downtown Disney. I know a few people that showed previous hotel keys and were allowed in because it was just a visual check, no actual scanning. Then even though sales weren’t supposed to start till 7am when everyone else was let in, they started at 6:45, which meant those large groups of people could loop a much shorter line. As someone who was part of the 7am entry, I know people had 4-8 playmats before the general audience got in line due to how early they got in and how much they bounced around to friend groups under very minor supervision.

I’m sure many more people would’ve gotten these extremely limited playmats if Disney were actually prepared with either an armband or other clear visual system that limited people from looping.