Magic Hours & Booking your Dining

[ReturnToOz]

I was wondering does the Park Hours & Calendars (extra magic hours) come out 180 days from visit? If so how do people plan restaurant bookings that also can be booked 180 days out.

For example if a certain park opens early (magic hours) do you book a character breakfast for the magic hour morning or a regular morning opening? How about dinner? What is logistically better?

I understand that if you can get magic hours you should plan on going to that park that day.

Out of curiosity is there better magic hours for certain parks in the evening or morning?

 

[ReturnToOz]

No thoughts ......?

 

[Iloveeliot]

You should know the park hours before your 180 day window. We don't go to extra magic hours because the park with EMH tends to be the busies park. I have read that if you have a park hopper you might want to go to the morning EMHs and later in the afternoon when the park gets busy you should hop to a less busy park. I have also heard evening EMHs tend to be busier than morning EMHs. People tend to not want to get up early on their vacation so that will be the time when you can get the most rides done. I would definitely NOT eat during morning EMHs that would be a total waste of an empty park when lines are short. I would schedule your breakfasts for a day that there aren't morning EMHs and make them as early as possible. It is cool to walk into a park before it opens when no one is there. Eat your breakfast and get to the park as early as possible. On the days you go to morning EMHs do a late lunch or a dinner when the park will be the most crowded and the lines are the longest. Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[Svhadden]

Park hours are out before 180 days, and you should be able to see what parks have EMH. We'll be 180 days out on Sunday, but I've already planned out our ADR's based on park hours that have been posted for several days now.

And it really depends on when you go as to the crowd levels in parks that have EMH. We go the week of Labor Day, and we take advantage of EMH's every chance we get because crowd levels are so low during that time .

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I have to disagree with PP EMH in the evening can be great. The park is pretty much bare. We love MK hours that are till 1 or 2 in the morning because you can walk on to all the rides. We did this last fall and two weeks ago and it was kind of spokey because there was hardly a sole in the park. It was like having the park all to ourselves.

 

[ReturnToOz]

This will be my first trip in over ten years. So when or how do you figure out when the park is most crowded?

"On the days you go to morning EMHs do a late lunch or a dinner when the park will be the most crowded and the lines are the longest. Good luck and have a great trip"

You should know the park hours before your 180 day window. We don't go to extra magic hours because the park with EMH tends to be the busies park. I have read that if you have a park hopper you might want to go to the morning EMHs and later in the afternoon when the park gets busy you should hop to a less busy park. I have also heard evening EMHs tend to be busier than morning EMHs. People tend to not want to get up early on their vacation so that will be the time when you can get the most rides done. I would definitely NOT eat during morning EMHs that would be a total waste of an empty park when lines are short. I would schedule your breakfasts for a day that there aren't morning EMHs and make them as early as possible. It is cool to walk into a park before it opens when no one is there. Eat your breakfast and get to the park as early as possible. On the days you go to morning EMHs do a late lunch or a dinner when the park will be the most crowded and the lines are the longest. Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[krichie]

I have to disagree with PP EMH in the evening can be great. The park is pretty much bare. We love MK hours that are till 1 or 2 in the morning because you can walk on to all the rides. We did this last fall and two weeks ago and it was kind of spokey because there was hardly a sole in the park. It was like having the park all to ourselves.

I'm wondering if EMH park crowds also have to do with time of year? I hear so many different opinions, my only guess is that when EMH crowd levels are high, it is peak season and when EMH crowd levels are low, it is "slow" season.

I am taking my first DW Vacation Sept. 9th-14th ("slow" season) and I am trying to decide whether to do EMH (morning or evening). I'm not getting park hopper tix since it is my first trip.

 

[bkmommy12]

New here!! We are going the last week in March for first time. Crazy, I know, but it's the only date that worked for us. Is magic kingdom really open until 1am? If so, I will have my kids take a later nap and get up and go back about 8 or 9.

 

[BeccaDoingDisney]

I was wondering does the Park Hours & Calendars (extra magic hours) come out 180 days from visit? If so how do people plan restaurant bookings that also can be booked 180 days out.

For example if a certain park opens early (magic hours) do you book a character breakfast for the magic hour morning or a regular morning opening? How about dinner? What is logistically better?

I understand that if you can get magic hours you should plan on going to that park that day.

Out of curiosity is there better magic hours for certain parks in the evening or morning?

As a former Cast Member that has worked Extra Magic Hours in the evening, it is completely dead. My family and I would always go during the evening EMH because you literally could walk onto one of the most popular rides at Disney World and ride it 6 times in a row. However, one down side to the evening EMH is that not as many characters are out.

 

[BeccaDoingDisney]

New here!! We are going the last week in March for first time. Crazy, I know, but it's the only date that worked for us. Is magic kingdom really open until 1am? If so, I will have my kids take a later nap and get up and go back about 8 or 9.

If you're staying at a Disney hotel then you're able to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours! Magic Kingdom is usually open to 1 AM on the Extra Magic Hours, sometimes a little earlier.

 

[amandajune]

Another question to add to this- I just called reservations and the CM told me that on April 30,2013 when we will be at MK that it will be open at 8 with EMH at 7am- so I booked my character breakfast for 10:00am - now I'm looking more and I don't see anywhere about EMH for that day- do they sometimes change EMH or add some and not update their site? My reservations/plans for that morning may have just been ruined!!!

 

[Clan Oz]

I have to disagree with PP EMH in the evening can be great. The park is pretty much bare. We love MK hours that are till 1 or 2 in the morning because you can walk on to all the rides. We did this last fall and two weeks ago and it was kind of spokey because there was hardly a sole in the park. It was like having the park all to ourselves.

1 or 2 am, in the morning - that could work for my family.
Rides all still operate etc?

 

[LoveToTravel2001]

New here!! We are going the last week in March for first time. Crazy, I know, but it's the only date that worked for us. Is magic kingdom really open until 1am? If so, I will have my kids take a later nap and get up and go back about 8 or 9.

We just got back and on Sunday night MK was open until 1:00, add on EMH and it was open until 3:00am. This was the weekend of March 9th.

 

[LoveToTravel2001]

1 or 2 am, in the morning - that could work for my family.
Rides all still operate etc?

Many rides operate but not necessarily ALL. There is a list of which rides a open during morning and evening EMH.

 

[LoveToTravel2001]

New here!! We are going the last week in March for first time. Crazy, I know, but it's the only date that worked for us. Is magic kingdom really open until 1am? If so, I will have my kids take a later nap and get up and go back about 8 or 9.

Oh, and welcome!

 

[LoveToTravel2001]

I was wondering does the Park Hours & Calendars (extra magic hours) come out 180 days from visit? If so how do people plan restaurant bookings that also can be booked 180 days out.

For example if a certain park opens early (magic hours) do you book a character breakfast for the magic hour morning or a regular morning opening? How about dinner? What is logistically better?

I understand that if you can get magic hours you should plan on going to that park that day.

Out of curiosity is there better magic hours for certain parks in the evening or morning?

You should have no problem with knowing park hours by your 180 mark.

We never schedule a meal during morning EMH. Those are days we do a quick snack en route to the bus. We may schedule a dinner at the end of park hours leading into EMH. Then we stay for a little bit of evening EMH.

EMH - we love mornings and maximize morning EMH. But, we are all early risers normally. We grab a snack and get to the rope drop, blast through the 'big' rides. Then we do a few other rides. After that - it depends on our mood.
We don't tend to do a lot of evening EMH. DD 11, is NOT a night owl. Generally by 9:30, she's done. If she has some energy on evening EMH days, we will do it for a bit but that's generally HS or Epcot, both of which close 'early' to begin with.

We Always have Hoppers which affords us the flexibility.
Good luck and have fun.

 

[siskaren]

Another question to add to this- I just called reservations and the CM told me that on April 30,2013 when we will be at MK that it will be open at 8 with EMH at 7am- so I booked my character breakfast for 10:00am - now I'm looking more and I don't see anywhere about EMH for that day- do they sometimes change EMH or add some and not update their site? My reservations/plans for that morning may have just been ruined!!!

The CM must have looked at March 30 rather than April 30 because on March 30 MK does open at 8am with EMH at 7am, but on April 30 MK opens at 9am with no EMH. It doesn't make sense for MK to open at 8am when it's not a peak crowd time (and late April is definitely not peak crowds), and it definitely wouldn't have a 7am EMH when it's not a peak crowd time. You better check your ADR to make sure it's for April 30 and not March 30.

 

[LoveToTravel2001]

Another question to add to this- I just called reservations and the CM told me that on April 30,2013 when we will be at MK that it will be open at 8 with EMH at 7am- so I booked my character breakfast for 10:00am - now I'm looking more and I don't see anywhere about EMH for that day- do they sometimes change EMH or add some and not update their site? My reservations/plans for that morning may have just been ruined!!!

I do know that the weekend of April 27-29 will be busy. That is the weekend of Cheerleading Worlds. We were there two weeks ago for All Star Cheer Nationals and they did change park hours at the last minute because of crowds. That being said, I wouldn't count on the hours changing.

 

[amandajune]

I do know that the weekend of April 27-29 will be busy. That is the weekend of Cheerleading Worlds. We were there two weeks ago for All Star Cheer Nationals and they did change park hours at the last minute because of crowds. That being said, I wouldn't count on the hours changing.

Thanks!!

 

[amandajune]

The CM must have looked at March 30 rather than April 30 because on March 30 MK does open at 8am with EMH at 7am, but on April 30 MK opens at 9am with no EMH. It doesn't make sense for MK to open at 8am when it's not a peak crowd time (and late April is definitely not peak crowds), and it definitely wouldn't have a 7am EMH when it's not a peak crowd time. You better check your ADR to make sure it's for April 30 and not March 30.

Thank you!!