EMH impact on crowds?

[Nancyg56]

Yes, again sorry for coming off as hateful or overly critical.

I guess it just brings out a bit of fire in me whenever someone posts about how they only like to spend a little bit of time in the parks each day when the tickets are so expensive that many cannot afford to even purchase one day at the park for the entire family. Now if the poster of a "sleep-in/leave early" post prefaced that with they have an AP and they go several weeks a year or they live in Orlando then that is a different story. But I guess I look at it from the perspective of a middle class family week long vacation standpoint if the poster does not preface their comments otherwise.

I know that it's hard to look at a post and take your own circumstances out of the picture. For my family, once I know the total of each component of the trip, I stop looking at individual segments and just take the whole thing as a whole. One trip, our very first back since my own were kids, our first day in the MK would have been classified as a total waste by many. My DGD went onto ONE attraction...the Carousel. We had the BEST DAY EVER!!!! That one day, 10 years later, is still my favorite memory.

We are those people who save all year for a WDW trip, eat in when we may want to eat out, and do not have new cars or furniture. When we go to Disney we but the package that seems like the one that works for us, but once we arrive, if we leave a park after a few hours, and never make it back, I refuse to get all worked up, and that is because I stopped looking at the separate tix cost once DH and I agreed the cost of the trip was within our budget. The resort is a major of portion of our stay, as is dining. For many, a resort is just the place they park their clothes, sleep and shower. And a restaurant is a refueling station. Their food budgets and resort choices will be different from mine. Others can book CL every trip and may or may not stop in more than a few times a week. If I scrape up enough extra to book that level of stay, I know that even more time will be spent at my resort. I think that if we want to be productive in terms of assisting folks in the planning stages of their trips, we need to back away from personalizing anyone's choice because we then tend to seem negative, and any feedback offered tends to be ignored.

 

[Donald - my hero]

WOW, thanks ever-so-much to all of you who had my back last night! It's hard to express completely on social media the full extent of what's in my mind and even though it looks like things have settled down and I don't need to say anything else i really want to explain my thoughts (perhaps clearer?)

A park that has EMH will *usually* be much busier than the ones that don't because a lot of people DO like to get what they see as the best value for the tickets they purchased and to them that means rope-drop till the cows come home. I agree that many see it a waste of money if they don't tour in this manner.For them that's the perfect holiday but for us it's not. SO if you want to get the biggest bang for your ticket (especially when park hours are shorter) utilize EMH if you are staying on site. IF you want smaller crowds OR are staying off-site, your best best is to go to parks the day AFTER they had EMH.

If you look at my ticker you'll see that this is called "A Sanity Break" for us, we're like others who have said that the resorts and eating are more our focus than the parks. We LOVE being in the Disney bubble and take great pleasure in wandering the resorts and Disney Springs. We got our tickets thru Airmiles -- which means no out-of-pocket expense for that part of our trip but even when we do a package that includes our tickets we stay for 2 weeks so can *afford* to be in the parks for a shorter day.

I agree with Nancyg56 who says that we should use our knowledge to offer our observations to help others plan. If you don't agree with what has been said because you have more up-to-date knowledge or want to offer a different opinion, GREAT! However, we serve no purpose to each other if we attack the reasoning behind someone else, just make it difficult for the OP to get the information they are searching for. A ground rule for a chat forum i was part on on AOL (gag I'm dating myself with that one!) "Keep it Mickey Friendly" is one I try to follow here.

 

[HatboxHaint]

WOW, thanks ever-so-much to all of you who had my back last night! It's hard to express completely on social media the full extent of what's in my mind and even though it looks like things have settled down and I don't need to say anything else i really want to explain my thoughts (perhaps clearer?)

A park that has EMH will *usually* be much busier than the ones that don't because a lot of people DO like to get what they see as the best value for the tickets they purchased and to them that means rope-drop till the cows come home. I agree that many see it a waste of money if they don't tour in this manner.For them that's the perfect holiday but for us it's not. SO if you want to get the biggest bang for your ticket (especially when park hours are shorter) utilize EMH if you are staying on site. IF you want smaller crowds OR are staying off-site, your best best is to go to parks the day AFTER they had EMH.

If you look at my ticker you'll see that this is called "A Sanity Break" for us, we're like others who have said that the resorts and eating are more our focus than the parks. We LOVE being in the Disney bubble and take great pleasure in wandering the resorts and Disney Springs. We got our tickets thru Airmiles -- which means no out-of-pocket expense for that part of our trip but even when we do a package that includes our tickets we stay for 2 weeks so can *afford* to be in the parks for a shorter day.

I agree with Nancyg56 who says that we should use our knowledge to offer our observations to help others plan. If you don't agree with what has been said because you have more up-to-date knowledge or want to offer a different opinion, GREAT! However, we serve no purpose to each other if we attack the reasoning behind someone else, just make it difficult for the OP to get the information they are searching for. A ground rule for a chat forum i was part on on AOL (gag I'm dating myself with that one!) "Keep it Mickey Friendly" is one I try to follow here.

If those extra details were in your original post (AND if I had interpreted your original post correctly) then I probably would not have broken out my jump to conclusions map and just left it in the closet.

 

[Donald - my hero]

If those extra details were in your original post (AND if I had interpreted your original post correctly) then I probably would not have broken our my jump to conclusions map and just left it in the closet.

Hey, i get accused by the hubby for not fleshing out my thoughts in person, so no worries! I like how we've managed to keep this conversation civil and been able to see both ways of touring as valid.

NOW if I could only manage to get all of my kids on the same page I'd be golden --planning a trip with 4 adult kids who have either never been or don't remember is like herding cats!

 

[Nancyg56]

Hey, i get accused by the hubby for not fleshing out my thoughts in person, so no worries! I like how we've managed to keep this conversation civil and been able to see both ways of touring as valid.

NOW if I could only manage to get all of my kids on the same page I'd be golden --planning a trip with 4 adult kids who have either never been or don't remember is like herding cats!

LOL! They will never be on the same page! LOL! I go with my adult children and they had more Dsiney experience than me but it was years old info.

Haul them all in and get a concensus on the resort. Ask them to give you some ideas abaout food and character experiences, if they want them. Then send them home! LOL! Make a plan and then ask if that sounds good, if they want time alone, away from the group and offer to book ADR's fo them if they do.

My family is easy now, I make the plans after we all make a list of must do restaurants and experiences. WE get together again at FP time. Once we are there we tend to stay together in the morning but split off and then back fo lunch if I booked a meal, but if not we see each other at FP times and dinner. It will be fun!!!

 

[DJFan88]

We go to EMH at some of the parks, and have learned there is no real benefit at others.
Example: MK is a wonderful use of EMH. There are alot of rides to disperse people to that are open. We get a lot done in that time. PS, Peter pan is one one you want to head to first.
AK was just not worth it to us, as basically everyone heads to the safari, and it is packed. IMO here you are better off getting a later FP for safari and heading over to Everest or Kali. Honestly you will waste the whole hour at safari during EMH, imo.
As a family who has gone many times, we do what we want and enjoy it. We are in and out of everywhere and while I make a general structure and make FP and ADR s I want, we are past the commando thing. Others, newer in their disney touring want to see everything, and it is harder for them to see the other side of the coin.
Epcot has some value for EMH, at least getting in one of the tier 1 rides, and either a shorter wait for the other, or quick lower tier. Get the FP for Frozen in that case for later.
DHS of course all mostly flock to TSM, but that is helpful there, and then we get a FP for a couple hours later, since you'll want to do it again.
Basically if you're a first timer or commando type Definetly do MK EMH. There are enough open rides that people like to keep lines moving and get things done. Epcot and DHS there is some value, but everyone only flocks to the biggies. Same with AK, thereby making one of the longest lines I have ever seen at safari during EMH. I swear every person for EMH went there.

 

[Fantasia79]

Thanks for the advice and help! Squaring away planning and making changes.

Glad the disagreement was settled with cool heads and respect.