Easy WDW - opinions?

CdnCarrie said:

Have you thought about posting this on the EasyWDW forums?

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notfrostyjosh said:

Caveat: I operate easywdw.com.

If you want to do the morning EMHs and actually arrive in time to take advantage of the full hour (which is rare because everything is going to take longer than you expect from getting ready with one sink and one shower to transportation issues that early etc) then you can do very well, particularly at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. It works at Magic Kingdom because there are enough attractions open that the crowds are adequately dispersed. Animal Kingdom works because very few people bother. Epcot is less advisable as it basically just moves the morning rope drop crowd up an hour. Everybody is still going straight to Soarin' or Test Track and at Studios, everybody is going to Toy Story or Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. So you basically see similar morning wait times from 8am-9am than you would see on a regular day without EMH from 9am-10am. And on the EMH days, you reliably see longer average and peak waits as the day progresses and by the time 11am rolls around, you're now in a Park that's busier with higher waits than recommended days.

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Disneychick75 said:

Where do I find Josh's touring plans? I saw generic park plans and cheat sheets but nothing about a plan for each day nor anything about avoiding EMH. I would be happy to pay for touring plans if there is a cost.

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Disneychick75 said:

Where do I find Josh's touring plans? I saw generic park plans and cheat sheets but nothing about a plan for each day nor anything about avoiding EMH. I would be happy to pay for touring plans if there is a cost.

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notfrostyjosh said:

Caveat: I operate easywdw.com.

If you want to do the morning EMHs and actually arrive in time to take advantage of the full hour (which is rare because everything is going to take longer than you expect from getting ready with one sink and one shower to transportation issues that early etc) then you can do very well, particularly at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. It works at Magic Kingdom because there are enough attractions open that the crowds are adequately dispersed. Animal Kingdom works because very few people bother. Epcot is less advisable as it basically just moves the morning rope drop crowd up an hour. Everybody is still going straight to Soarin' or Test Track and at Studios, everybody is going to Toy Story or Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. So you basically see similar morning wait times from 8am-9am than you would see on a regular day without EMH from 9am-10am. And on the EMH days, you reliably see longer average and peak waits as the day progresses and by the time 11am rolls around, you're now in a Park that's busier with higher waits than recommended days.

The recommended Parks are more important in my opinion during Mickey's Party season from mid-September through mid-December. People avoid Magic Kingdom when it closes at 7pm and flock to it when it's open until 10pm or later and offers the Electrical Parade/Wishes. You see some huge fluctuations in daily crowds and because Disney runs free dining promos and other popular events, resort occupancy is usually higher than the summer, which means more people with access to EMH. And the people who are staying during those times are also usually some of the more intelligent park visitors that will have similar ideas to yours.

Overall crowds are driven by the number of people visiting from off-property. I'd have to look for an updated figure, but there are something like 30,000 rooms on property with access to EMH. So in September, when you see the lowest crowds of the year, you still have 97% occupancy at Disney resorts. But overall crowds are significantly lower because far fewer people are visiting from off-site.

Here in the summer, when the parks are open the same number of hours and nighttime entertainment is much more common, you don't see the crowd fluctuations that you see during the "off season." Monday at Magic Kingdom might see a peak of 72,000 people while the most-recommended days is 61,000. Lower crowds sure, but there isn't a big difference between a 60 minute wait for Jungle Cruise at 1pm on Monday and a 55 minute wait at the same time on Wednesday.

On the evening EMH front, Magic Kingdom is very good if it's late and you can stay through the end. So if your EMH is 11pm-1am or later and you can stay until 1am, you're golden, particularly in Fantasyland in that last hour. But if it's 9pm-11pm or you try to stay until 1am but only make it to 11:30pm because you forgot that the weather in September is still brutal then you haven't really gotten anywhere. At Epcot, you've still got long lines for Soarin' and Test Track through the first hour. It can be delightful to walk through World Showcase late at night with few people around, but you can do that any other night too with dinner reservations going late into the night. At Studios, the priorities are still going to see long waits for at least the first hour. But that can be mitigated if EMH is from 10pm-12am instead of 7pm-9pm.

Avoiding EMH is more foolproof and for a lot of people, more doable. The mornings aren't as early. The evenings aren't as late. And because you're not out so late in the evening, you're better able to make the 9am openings.

But you could certainly devise intelligent plans that take advantage of the EMH. You just need to be certain that you actually take advantage of them. And if you're visiting during Mickey's Party season, be wary of the non-recommended parks. They will be much more crowded, relatively speaking, than when crowds are heavier and park hours/entertainment are more consistent.

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Baklava said:

We won't have hoppers, so that's out. I guess I'm trying to figure out if the extra hours are better than the lower crowds on days that are 2s and 3s.

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NavyDad said:

We just returned from WDW during one of the busiest times of the year.

We followed Josh's recommendations each day and followed his cheat sheet (mostly) for the first couple of hours.

Even being crowd level 9 most days the parks "felt" less crowded than when went in September a few years ago on crowd level 2-3 days. His recommendations were spot on. Also with following the cheat sheet we were 1 step ahead of the crowd the whole time. We were basically able to get everything done we wanted to by Noon each day.

Worked flawlessly.

Another great thing about Josh's site is that he explains both his methodology and his reasoning. This way you get an understanding of WHY and in some cases you can go against it depending on your own circumstances.

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Cuchman said:

We switched to Josh's methods a couple trips back and it made a SUBSTANTIAL difference skipping the EMH. It is even more important at times of low attendance.
I wish I had learned about it years ago....the parks seem so much less crowded just skipping emh.
We are a rope drop family for sure, so we skate by without lines most mornings. Hoping it will hold up for our next trip.

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