Lesson Learned: Don't try to be early on EMH morning

[skateshome]

How do they know you aren't on site at the TTC? You don't show anything to get on the monorail or boat. I'm confused.

 

[Rosebud123]

How do they know you aren't on site at the TTC? You don't show anything to get on the monorail or boat. I'm confused.

Yeah, that is weird. What if you were staying at the Poly in a building near the TTC so you walked there? Or what if you were staying onsite but drove to MK?

 

[ougrad86]

Pre magic bands, we were staying offsite and it was spring break, so MK had morning EMH each day, so we had no choice. We took a taxi to the TTC, and we're told we could not go to the monorail without our resort key (which we of course did not have, and I had not expected). We wanted to be ready to go when it was time for us to enter, so we just walked over to the Poly - we just climbed into the monorail, no questions asked. Once we arrived at the park, we went through bag check and I was just going to stand to the side since we weren't allowed in with resort cards. But since we had regular tickets, DH (who had not been told to wait), went through the turnstiles while I was finishing up my bag check. When I looked in he was on the other side waiting for us. So we just all went through, and was able to take advantage of EMH! I know this was kind of cheating, but I wasn't going to call DH back!
I don't think it would work now - even if you had a magic band with a ticket attached, it would also catch that you are not staying at a resort. So you could conceivably still get there from the Poly (unless we were just lucky), bi put wouldn't be able to get past the turnstiles.

 

[ougrad86]

How do they know you aren't on site at the TTC? You don't show anything to get on the monorail or boat. I'm confused.

They check at the entrance and don't let you go.

 

[kandb]

Maybe the OP doesn't know every in and out about Disney, like a lot of the people on here. No need to insult her ("I don't know why you would think that going to MK on an EMH would be a good idea"). Anyway OP, that stinks and sounds miserable, it doesn't sound fair to hold you at the TTC.

 

[Parker Clan]

I'm with other posters.. Even after reading through the boards there's bound to be something you miss. I learn new things about Disney every time I come on here and love the "veterans" who are helpful & polite. Get off your Disney pedestal people. Know it all's & rudeness- totally unnecessary!
Thanks for the post OP, hope you had a magical time regardless!

 

[ChimCher-ee]

Wow, some people need to cut her some slack. This is her first trip! I always stay onsite, but I'm not sure I would have realized this either. I definitely would not have known that they wouldn't let me on the boat or monorail.

Hope you had a good time once you got there OP. I am also glad that you posted so that other people who are new realize this.

I agree! Thank you, OP. I'm sorry you had a terrible time but I will definitely learn from you and from this discussion. We have always stayed onsite but that may change sometime - - and I would never have thought about any of this before!

 

[skateshome]

They check at the entrance and don't let you go.

What would they check? They scan everyone's Magic band with a hand held device? Seems like that would take forever.

 

[ZoZo]

I'm with other posters.. Even after reading through the boards there's bound to be something you miss. I learn new things about Disney every time I come on here and love the "veterans" who are helpful & polite. Get off your Disney pedestal people. Know it all's & rudeness- totally unnecessary!
Thanks for the post OP, hope you had a magical time regardless!

I totally agree. I've been on several WDW trips now, but made the mistake of responding to a post here on the DIS where the OP was disappointed to find out that often only a limited number of rides are open at the parks during morning EMH. I responded that on one of my early trips, we were quite disappointed during AM EMH at MK, since many of the rides we really wanted to ride were closed during the EMH.

You should have seen how many people basically said, "You should have known better" and made me feel dumb because I didn't know. Jeesh, how is a newbie supposed to know something like that? According to these posters, "This info is printed on the map/times guide." Wow, I was just basically saying, I wish I had realized ahead of time, and sympathsizing with someone who shared a similar experience.

So, OP, I'm sorry your day started off badly, and I hope it did get better. And thank you for sharing your story - it just might help someone hearing what you learned!

 

[mshanson3121]

You could have walked over to Poly. Checked out the sites. Walked the beach and such. I know it's not a perk to stay off site but you could have kept the DD busy for 45 minutes.

Yeah, thanks that's so helpful. And SOOOOO easy to just magically pull off when you have two children and strollers full of stuff and four other members of the party that maybe don't want to go walking around for 45 minutes.

 

[mshanson3121]

How do they know you aren't on site at the TTC? You don't show anything to get on the monorail or boat. I'm confused.

They ask. And when you scan to get in at the gate, it won't let you through.

 

[mshanson3121]

And yeah wow...Must be nice to know it all! I'm curious, does it EVER cross some of your minds that sometimes people don't have other options? Or maybe they didn't know?

But hey, at least it's nice to know that I helped a few people, which was my goal Since while some may not believe this, there are actually other people that for various reasons do have to, or choose to, go on EMH, but may not be aware of that bit of info.

Oh, and for all those who know soooo much and are enjoying mentioning what a dumb plan we had, because y'know, being an hour late and all we basically wasted our morning - after we actually got into the park, the touring was perfect. In fact, we had lower waits today on the EMH day than our other day when we hit RD. We walked on rides that Josh's touring plans said would have 15-20 minute waits.

 

[mshanson3121]

I totally agree. I've been on several WDW trips now, but made the mistake of responding to a post here on the DIS where the OP was disappointed to find out that often only a limited number of rides are open at the parks during morning EMH. I responded that on one of my early trips, we were quite disappointed during AM EMH at MK, since many of the rides we really wanted to ride were closed during the EMH.

You should have seen how many people basically said, "You should have known better" and made me feel dumb because I didn't know. Jeesh, how is a newbie supposed to know something like that? According to these posters, "This info is printed on the map/times guide." Wow, I was just basically saying, I wish I had realized ahead of time, and sympathsizing with someone who shared a similar experience.

So, OP, I'm sorry your day started off badly, and I hope it did get better. And thank you for sharing your story - it just might help someone hearing what you learned!

Thank you. Yes, we did. In fact the touring was far better this morning than the morning we did RD. We walked on pretty well everything we wanted to do, and the longest wait was 10 minutes. Got 13 characters done today

 

[cakebaker]

Oh, and for all those who know soooo much and are enjoying mentioning what a dumb plan we had, because y'know, being an hour late and all we basically wasted our morning - after we actually got into the park, the touring was perfect. In fact, we had lower waits today on the EMH day than our other day when we hit RD. We walked on rides that Josh's touring plans said would have 15-20 minute waits.

While the general consensus is you should avoid Emh parks If you're off site, we found on those days we used emh's the lines didn't start backing up until just about the same time they would have on a day that didn't have emh.

At a 9am opening, standby times started building around 10-11 am. On an emh morning, lines started forming around 10-11.

We were on site so a morning emh gave us that extra hour, but offsite guests got the same amount of time enjoying short lines as they would have with a 9am opening.

I'm sure it's true that later in the day the park was more crowded on an emh morning, but the first few hours we saw little difference.

I understand why they don't allow off site guests to get to the parks early,
but I'm sure that didn't make it any less frustrating and hopefully your experience will help inform others. Having never stayed off site, I certainly never knew it.

 

[Aurora0427]

Sorry you had such a rough start to your morning, OP, and sorry so many posters have been so rude! Glad to see you had a great day anyway.

 

[tstottle]

Hi OP, that's good info, thanks for sharing. I wouldn't have known that either. Glad you had a good day despite the rough start. And I think it has been already said, but there are people out here who realize that you can't always move parks and days around for various reason. There are even people who go for just one day! And try to make the best of it, like you were trying to do by getting there early.

 

[SaintsManiac]

OP not everyone is rude! Sorry you had such a rough start that day, but it sounds like you had a good time in the end

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

OP, I'm really sorry about some of the responses you have been getting. Yes, EMH days are a bad idea for non-resort guest. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with making a mistake, and it is very nice of you to be passing along your advice to others

As a resort guest, I still avoid early morning EMH. It just is insane all day, boo. I track the schedules and plan my itinerary to stay the heck away from them.

 

[itchin2go]

FWIW, I am not a newbie and I didn't know they would hold you at the TTC ... which was the point of your post, not for people to chastise you for your choices.

 

[Aurora0427]

FWIW, I am not a newbie and I didn't know they would hold you at the TTC ... which was the point of your post, not for people to chastise you for your choices.

Exactly. I'm not a newbie either and I had no idea they'd hold you at the TTC. I'll be passing this info onto our friends who are going in March. They stay off site.