Ging to the parks on an EMH night without staying on property

[~Kik-Kik~]

I do not want this to become a righteous argumentative thread. If you have such comments please don't bother posting. This includes the ever so sarcastic "" post and the like. Please take Thumper's mom's advice, "If you don't have nothing nice to say, don't say nothing at all." I want real answers, which is why I'm making this thread in the first place​

Now that that's out of the way ...

How long can you linger in the parks? When do they start checking the cards? Is it right at 10:00? The big reason I'm asking is because I hate being in the big crowd when it's closing time. I hate it so much that I normally just leave early. This time though I'm paying for a single day pass and it's $71 dollars. That's A LOT for 1 day and I really would like to get the most out of the day. Would it be possibly to hang out in the parks till 10:30 or so? Not doing the rides or anything, but like hang out in the parks (particularly Main Street), or is it like MNSSHP where they shuffle people out of the park?

I'm mainly asking people who know from experience. What was it like?

 

[Robo]

1- How long can you linger in the parks?
2- When do they start checking the cards?
3- Is it right at 10:00?
4- The big reason I'm asking is because I hate being in the big crowd when it's closing time.
I hate it so much that I normally just leave early.
This time though I'm paying for a single day pass and it's $71 dollars. That's A LOT for 1 day and I really would like to get the most out of the day.
5- Would it be possibly to hang out in the parks till 10:30 or so?
6- Not doing the rides or anything, but like hang out in the parks (particularly Main Street), or 7- is it like MNSSHP where they shuffle people out of the park?

1- As long as you like.
2- They don't. They only check if you want to RIDE an attraction.
3- EMH does not necessarily start at 10. It starts at the time the park closes for regular hours, whenever that happens to be.
4- Me, too.
5- Yes.
6- As long as you'd like. On Main Street, or anywhere else.
4- No.

 

[~Kik-Kik~]

1- As long as you like.
2- They don't.

Are they strict on checking cards at rides at the start of EMH?

 

[Robo]

Are they strict on checking cards at rides at the start of EMH?

Especially at the start of EMH, yes.

 

[~Kik-Kik~]

Especially at the start of EMH, yes.

Thank you so much for your info. I think we'll hang out for a while before heading out. The mob and crowded monorails are not for me, lol!

 

[ShannonMB]

HOW DARE YOU TRY TO SIT ON A BENCH AND WAIT OUT THE CROWDED EXIT IF YOU'RE STAYING OFFSITE -- THAT IS RESERVED FOR ONSITE GUESTS!

Sorry, I couldn't resist! hahaha The mass exodus is to be avoided at all costs! As Robo says, you'll have no trouble at all unless you're trying to get on a ride. As far as I know, if you are in the queue when EHM starts, you're still good to go as long as you were in the line before the cut-off time.

Have fun!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Please take Thumper's mom's advice, "If you don't have nothing nice to say, don't say nothing at all."

1) Ummm . . .
2) Well . . .
3) Let's see . . .
4) Come to think of it . . .
5) Later.

 

[~Kik-Kik~]

HOW DARE YOU TRY TO SIT ON A BENCH AND WAIT OUT THE CROWDED EXIT IF YOU'RE STAYING OFFSITE -- THAT IS RESERVED FOR ONSITE GUESTS!

Sorry, I couldn't resist! hahaha The mass exodus is to be avoided at all costs! As Robo says, you'll have no trouble at all unless you're trying to get on a ride. As far as I know, if you are in the queue when EHM starts, you're still good to go as long as you were in the line before the cut-off time.

Have fun!

I HATE HATE HATE the mob! Usually there are two, one after the fire works, the second is in the last 10 mins of park opening. I will aviod it at all costs, I just didn't want to cut my trip by 30mins, you know?

 

[luvthemouse71]

Are they strict on checking cards at rides at the start of EMH?

Yup, at least when I was there. Didn't just glance at them either-they really looked. They did this the whole night too.

 

[ShannonMB]

Sorry OP, totally OT, but I've always wondered what that video in your sig is?

 

[momimouse27]

We've been to MNSSHP once and MVMCP twice. They check your bands when you go on rides but if not you are pretty much left alone. In fact,(and I'm not advocating this just stating a fact) you could likely wander around shopping and people watching all evening if you never rode anything.

I don't like crowds either, so a good suggestion might be to look around in the large shop on Main Street or eat a snack while all the hordes of people are leaving and then go.

Another suggestion might be to schedule dining somewhere in the park close to closing time so while everyone else is filing out, you'll be eating dinner!

 

[Traveliz]

We've been to MNSSHP once and MVMCP twice. They check your bands when you go on rides but if not you are pretty much left alone. In fact,(and I'm not advocating this just stating a fact) you could likely wander around shopping and people watching all evening if you never rode anything.

I don't like crowds either, so a good suggestion might be to look around in the large shop on Main Street or eat a snack while all the hordes of people are leaving and then go.

Another suggestion might be to schedule dining somewhere in the park close to closing time so while everyone else is filing out, you'll be eating dinner!

The parties are really a different situation than the EMH evening hours...for the parties they may (and are within their rights) to ask you to show wristbands as you travel from land to land, sit for the parade, fireworks, whatever as you are not suppose to be in the park unless you have paid for the hard ticket event.

For the evening hours they are allowing guests to do everything but ride so you can easily (and its allowed) walk around, shop, sit, etc but not get on the actual attractions.

Liz

 

[Mississippianna]

You can enjoy everything but the rides. Shop, eat, and linger as long as you like! The only time cast members check for room keys is in the queue to board the attractions.

 

[Robo]

The parties are really a different situation than the EMH evening hours...for the parties they may (and are within their rights) to ask you to show wristbands

That's because the Parties have special parades and fireworks, and often other unique treats, meet & greets, and shows.

For PM EMH, generally none of that is offered.

The principal draw of EMH would be the attractions, and since without a
WDW Resort key-card guests can't enter the attractions, most just wander
around awhile and, after a bit, leave on their own.

 

[Jacklynn]

We've been to MNSSHP once and MVMCP twice. They check your bands when you go on rides but if not you are pretty much left alone. In fact,(and I'm not advocating this just stating a fact) you could likely wander around shopping and people watching all evening if you never rode anything.

When we went on Monday they were making us show our wristbands to walk from land to land for the first part of the party. I didn't see anyone without wristbands after about 7:30. They did a really good job with it. They may not be consistent party to party but Monday they were really on top of it (at least from what we saw).

Sorry I don't mean to take the thread in another direction.

 

[Rainkiss]

On a non-party night, I see nothing wrong with grabbing a bag of popcorn (or your other favorite snackie), grabbing a seat, and resting your tired feet while you people-watch as the crowd thins.

 

[Colleen27]

In our experience, it works pretty much like a non-EMH park closing - you're free to walk around, shop a little, and watch the castle change colors for a while after the official park closing. The only difference is that instead of the rides being closed for the night, they're open only for those who have a KTTW.

 

[Running_Bell]

These cases are not like the ones we've witnessed. At Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom a few years back we clearly heard Castmembers telling guests adamantly they would have to exit at closing time and only those wearing a wristband were allowed to stay.... I remember one couple atleast an hour or so into EMH being showed the exit. I suppose I agree... I mean one of big selling points of staying onsite is EMH.... if you can take advantage of it without that... then why pay the outrageous Disney prices? IDK... maybe it's less strict now.

 

[princessmom29]

These cases are not like the ones we've witnessed. At Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom a few years back we clearly heard Castmembers telling guests adamantly they would have to exit at closing time and only those wearing a wristband were allowed to stay.... I remember one couple atleast an hour or so into EMH being showed the exit. I suppose I agree... I mean one of big selling points of staying onsite is EMH.... if you can take advantage of it without that... then why pay the outrageous Disney prices? IDK... maybe it's less strict now.

There are no longer wristbands for EMH, only for the ticketed parties. Mabye that is why they are not doing this anymore?? It would be more work to have everyone pull out their room key.

 

[Colleen27]

These cases are not like the ones we've witnessed. At Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom a few years back we clearly heard Castmembers telling guests adamantly they would have to exit at closing time and only those wearing a wristband were allowed to stay.... I remember one couple atleast an hour or so into EMH being showed the exit. I suppose I agree... I mean one of big selling points of staying onsite is EMH.... if you can take advantage of it without that... then why pay the outrageous Disney prices? IDK... maybe it's less strict now.

There aren't wristbands any more, which is probably part of the difference. But since they check for room keys at the rides, it isn't like offsite guests can do anything in that time that they wouldn't be able to do after closing on a regular, non-EMH night. The shops on Main Street always stay open for a little while after closing so you can shop/browse and linger a bit to let the mad rush clear out a bit.

I'm not a big fan of the non-wristband system for EMH because it is open to abuse in a number of ways, but I don't see why offsite guests should be treated any differently on an EMH night than they would at closing on a non-EMH night - that is, allowed to take their time leaving, but not experience any attractions.