Hoping I did not mess up...

[Delphinidae]

So my trip is next week and of course I'm now second guessing all my plans. On this trip we are doing morning EMH in AK and MK and evening EMH in Epcot. Usually not an issue but seems like lately people are reporting EMH have been crazy packed.

Our AK day also happens to have an AH event that night. I had been considering getting tickets although I also really don't want to contribute anymore money to Disney for these events as I am pretty disappointed that they have chosen to limit EMH and are closing parks earlier for these paid events. However someone pointed out that it would also basically be a waste of money since we will already be in the park all day and won't be able to get additional fastpasses. I also know that once we are in the park I won't want to leave at closing time once I know the event has started lol.

Should I try to rearrange my days this late in the game? We do have hoppers so I suppose if things get too bad at one park we will try going to a different one, which will also mean having to rearrange or drop fastpasses and ADRs.

 

[No.1000]

In my opinion, you are over thinking it. Go with your plan and if you decide to change it up, go with it. Have fun!

We are going to be there this next week, too. See you in the World!

 

[sharonabe]

Usually not an issue but seems like lately people are reporting EMH have been crazy packed.

This is pretty much all relative. What seems packed to anyone else may seem empty to you. Don't let others sway you.

For your morning EMH at AK, you still want to be there about an hour early if you are planning on doing FoP. BUT if you are going to the rest of the park, you can get there just a little before the EMH and be fine.
The trick to ALL early EMH is you need to be ready to go as soon as they let you in. You want to maximize that hour and you want to be ahead of the curve of people coming in behind you. So be AT THE PARK at least 30 min before the EMH starts, so you know you can get through security and be near the front of the lines at the turnstiles.

Your late EMH at EP. This is one park we don't do late EMH because it just doesn't go late enough and there isn't enough open to spread out the EMH crowd. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Plan to stay til the very last minute and enjoy yourself.

 

[Delphinidae]

In my opinion, you are over thinking it. Go with your plan and if you decide to change it up, go with it. Have fun!

We are going to be there this next week, too. See you in the World!

In my experience, I am the queen of overthinking I can't help it! It's just my husband and I for this trip so it will be a little more laid back. Actually for our last park day we really don't have many solid plans because we were going to wait and see what we wanted to do again. I do have a BOG lunch on our last park day so we will probably go to MK's EMH again and spend the first half of the day there, and initially I couldn't get a FOP FP for our AK day but I did get one for that last day, however it is for 7pm and I haven't been able to move it up. I do now have one for our AK day so depending on how that day goes and how badly we want to ride it again, I may drop that late FP. Especially because it's preventing me from making any in the MK for the morning.

 

[Delphinidae]

This is pretty much all relative. What seems packed to anyone else may seem empty to you. Don't let others sway you.

For your morning EMH at AK, you still want to be there about an hour early if you are planning on doing FoP. BUT if you are going to the rest of the park, you can get there just a little before the EMH and be fine.
The trick to ALL early EMH is you need to be ready to go as soon as they let you in. You want to maximize that hour and you want to be ahead of the curve of people coming in behind you. So be AT THE PARK at least 30 min before the EMH starts, so you know you can get through security and be near the front of the lines at the turnstiles.

Your late EMH at EP. This is one park we don't do late EMH because it just doesn't go late enough and there isn't enough open to spread out the EMH crowd. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Plan to stay til the very last minute and enjoy yourself.

Thanks! We do plan to get there early every day (hopefully the busses will cooperate). I was wondering about Epcot EMH. I think when i looked it's mostly FW that has open attractions? Is there anything in WS that stays open late? I really want to walk around the countries at night.

 

[sharonabe]

Thanks! We do plan to get there early every day (hopefully the busses will cooperate). I was wondering about Epcot EMH. I think when i looked it's mostly FW that has open attractions? Is there anything in WS that stays open late? I really want to walk around the countries at night.

Some things are. Here's the list:
Epcot — Evenings
The following attractions are open during evening Extra Magic Hours at Epcot:

• Advanced Training Lab
• The American Adventure
• American Heritage Gallery
• Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival
• Epcot Character Spot
• Frozen Ever After
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
• Journey Into Imagination With Figment
• Living with the Land
• Mission: SPACE
• O Canada!
• Project Tomorrow: Inventing the World of Tomorrow
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends
• Soarin' Around the World
• Spaceship Earth
• Test Track Presented by Chevrolet®
• Turtle Talk With Crush

 

[MomOTwins]

We did EMH twice on our last trip (Epcot and HS) in February (normal week, NOT president's day) and both were the WORST. There was a massive stampede of people when the rope dropped, and we ended up waiting over and hour at each park for one attraction so we only got one thing done before regular park open. Plus the park was extra crowded the rest of the day from all the EMH people, making subsequent fastpasses harder to nab.

In contrast, the other parks we did without EMH were relatively quiet at opening time and we knocked out at least five attractions in the first hour alone.

I'm in the "never again" camp for EMH.

 

[bryanb]

EMH might be best when paired with park hopper tickets. That way you have the flexibility to enjoy the extra park time, use up your first three Fastpasses, and then if you don't like the crowd levels, ditch the park for something else. I think the My Disney Experience app has been very helpful, if you're willing to let part of your vacation be spur-of-the-moment.

 

[Delphinidae]

Some things are. Here's the list:
Epcot — Evenings
The following attractions are open during evening Extra Magic Hours at Epcot:

• Advanced Training Lab
• The American Adventure
• American Heritage Gallery
• Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival
• Epcot Character Spot
• Frozen Ever After
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
• Journey Into Imagination With Figment
• Living with the Land
• Mission: SPACE
• O Canada!
• Project Tomorrow: Inventing the World of Tomorrow
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends
• Soarin' Around the World
• Spaceship Earth
• Test Track Presented by Chevrolet®
• Turtle Talk With Crush

Thank you for the list! At least I know there are things that we will be interested in trying to do.

We did EMH twice on our last trip (Epcot and HS) in February (normal week, NOT president's day) and both were the WORST. There was a massive stampede of people when the rope dropped, and we ended up waiting over and hour at each park for one attraction so we only got one thing done before regular park open. Plus the park was extra crowded the rest of the day from all the EMH people, making subsequent fastpasses harder to nab.

In contrast, the other parks we did without EMH were relatively quiet at opening time and we knocked out at least five attractions in the first hour alone.

I'm in the "never again" camp for EMH.

Yep, these are the posts that make me worried. That hasn't been our previous experience for EMH, but on our most recent trip I don't think we did any. I don't want every day to be hours wasted.

EMH might be best when paired with park hopper tickets. That way you have the flexibility to enjoy the extra park time, use up your first three Fastpasses, and then if you don't like the crowd levels, ditch the park for something else. I think the My Disney Experience app has been very helpful, if you're willing to let part of your vacation be spur-of-the-moment.

We do have hoppers so that is definitely an option, but I might lose some ADRs and possibly fastpasses in the process (some FP I have not been able to move up earlier). It is just my husband and I this time so we are more willing to be flexible but I also don't want to waste too much time travelling back and forth.

 

[bryanb]

We do have hoppers so that is definitely an option, but I might lose some ADRs and possibly fastpasses in the process (some FP I have not been able to move up earlier). It is just my husband and I this time so we are more willing to be flexible but I also don't want to waste too much time travelling back and forth.

Oh this is really good news that it's just a party of 2. Have you read about the "refresh method" on these boards for obtaining more fastpasses and optimizing your existing ones? If you're willing to spend a few minutes at a time on your phone searching for same-day Fastpasses, you can save yourself hours of waiting in line and give yourself the ultimate flexibility (even on big ticket rides like FOP. It's really easy with a party of 2 and has the potential to erase all your worries about EMH crowds and also if you didn't get the exact FPs you wanted. Total game changer that most guests don't know about!

Because of the "refresh method" I don't even worry about which parks are the most crowded anymore. Every second of the day, people are cancelling their FPs even on the most popular rides, so all you have to do is keep reloading the FP page in your browser. Chances are that a FP that you want will show up, sometimes with a great entry time that's earlier than the standby wait time! The downside is you have to spend time looking down at your phone.

 

[SG131]

So my trip is next week and of course I'm now second guessing all my plans. On this trip we are doing morning EMH in AK and MK and evening EMH in Epcot. Usually not an issue but seems like lately people are reporting EMH have been crazy packed.

Our AK day also happens to have an AH event that night. I had been considering getting tickets although I also really don't want to contribute anymore money to Disney for these events as I am pretty disappointed that they have chosen to limit EMH and are closing parks earlier for these paid events. However someone pointed out that it would also basically be a waste of money since we will already be in the park all day and won't be able to get additional fastpasses. I also know that once we are in the park I won't want to leave at closing time once I know the event has started lol.

Should I try to rearrange my days this late in the game? We do have hoppers so I suppose if things get too bad at one park we will try going to a different one, which will also mean having to rearrange or drop fastpasses and ADRs.

As far as after hours, if you can swing the cost do it. As far as animal kingdom, it has never been open later than it is now, so they certainly didn't cut back hours for the after hours event. And even at Magic Kingdom, they shortened those hours prior to after hours becoming a thing. I think people were complaining about the park not being open late and this was their response, well we will open it later again but you have to pay part of the cost. Now Halloween and Christmas parties are a different story. Those severely limit operating hours and are hard to plan around. I haven't done the after hours at AK but I did at MK and it was 100% worth it. I got so much done I was able to have a much more relaxing trip during my other MK days.