POLL: EMHs plan to go or avoid like the plague?

[TenThousandVolts]

Bump- I am trying to map out a plan and would love to hear more opinions on this.

 

[Harambe]

We always do morning EMH. But we go in the slower times. For peak times (Say Christmas week), the EMH is too crazy. We get TONS done that first hour - even if it means just gettign deeper into the park before the rest of the "world".

We did a few evening EMH's and didn't like them. Just too many people. Although non-resort guests cannot go on rides, Disney doesn't throw them out of the park. They can stay and shop, or eat, whatever. So the park stays full. We have never lasted long enough (or late enough) so maybe toward the end of the three hours it is worth it.

 

[NemoPrincess]

We head down in 16 days and are planning on using the EMHs. We have two preschoolers who like to wake early. We plan on using the ams and the pms with swimming and napping somewhere in the middle. We don't plan on hitting each one, but use them where they fit best.

 

[Fitswimmer]

We used to follow them religiously and plan our entire trip around them, until I tried Tour Guide Mike and he advised avoiding them. That tip alone might have been worth the whole $20. We did use some of his other suggestions as well, but avoiding EMH really made a difference.
Of course, now if everyone else starts avoiding them, we'll have to go back to using them.

 

[Skroops]

There are a couple factors to consider before going to EMH. Crowd levels and stamina. Do you have park hoppers? Then, I'd say go to the EMH after another park closes. Expect the EMH to be busy, but who cares since there isn't another park open at the time. Sometimes on the late EMH, the rides are pretty much walk on at the last hour.
The EMH draws the resort guests to that park. If you want fewer crowds, go where the resort folks aren't going. If you are going during value season, the crowds are less anyway.
We have fun at EMH, but we expect it to be busy.

 

[mking624]

We used to follow them religiously and plan our entire trip around them, until I tried Tour Guide Mike and he advised avoiding them. That tip alone might have been worth the whole $20. We did use some of his other suggestions as well, but avoiding EMH really made a difference.
Of course, now if everyone else starts avoiding them, we'll have to go back to using them.

His "tip" to avoid them may sometimes work and may smoetimes just be a waste of money. No one, not even TGM, can predict how crowds will be at EMH. We did evening EMH at the beginning of last August and with the exception of the very beginning of it (because non-resorts guests were shuffling their way out), the parks were pretty empty and just about everything was walk on. Only the mountains at MK had a wait of maybe 5-10 minutes. However, other people found evening EMH to be busy. That said, it's pretty much true all around that the later it gets, the less people are there. Also, from what I've heard from everyone who does morning EMH, there's hardly a crowd at all. Anyway, just sharing some free tips about EMH.

 

[bearette]

Thank you all for the tips! I have been to Disneyworld twice (once we stayed on property and one time we didn't), but this time I am taking my parents and we are only staying for 3 days. We are doing the Disney Wonder cruise so we are staying one day before and two days after. Since we don't have a lotof time I am trying to plan the most efficeint way to see the highlights of each park.

We live in California and my husband is a CM (I knew what that abbreviation was!) at Disneyland so we get park hopper tickets as part of his CM benefits here and at WDW (I am picking up the lingo!) So it seems the EMH are a good and bad thing and unpredictible. We are going to be there 9/6-9/7 and then 9/17-9/19. With all the kids in school I thoguht it would be less crowded. The MK EMH seems to be almost worthless since a lot of people go there, but what about at AK and MGM? I am not an early riser so we would only take advantage of the evening hours. These boards are so useful!

 

[Robo]

At this point in the POLL (5:00pm EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME.)


Those who DO attend EMH's are, by FAR, in the majority, here.


Why do I say that when it LOOKS like the "we never do EMH" on the graph is way ahead?

You must ADD all of the responses of the "we do morning", "we do evening", and "we do both".

Together they DOUBLE the response of "we never do EMH".

Statistics and polls always need careful interpretation to yield the correct results.

 

[peachgirl]

We used to follow them religiously and plan our entire trip around them, until I tried Tour Guide Mike and he advised avoiding them. That tip alone might have been worth the whole $20. We did use some of his other suggestions as well, but avoiding EMH really made a difference.
Of course, now if everyone else starts avoiding them, we'll have to go back to using them.

I agree. After 2 days of following our "plan" to use emh we tossed the plan and started over avoiding emh. We got much more done and in a more relaxing atmosphere. While others were battling the crowds at emh parks, we were enjoying the other parks that had relatively light crowds.

We didn't even have to have a pass to ride Expedition Everest mid morning. Just a 20 minute line that let us enjoy the que vs a 1+ hour wait the night before at emh.

I'm not at all surprised that the poll shows a majority take advantage of emh....That's why the parks are so crowded!! Most people can resist them!

 

[psar]

We always did morning EMH at MK when the boys were younger, now we avoid them. They do like to do EMH evening at MK. There is nothing like walking around MK after midnight. (They still whine BRING BACK E-NIGHTS)

 

[Cookie Princess]

DS and I are VERY early risers and we always do the morning EMH parks. DH gets moving after his 3rd "cup of joe". The large crowds don't really arrive until about 11:00, and by then we have ridden all of the popular attractions multiple times and have a pocketful of fast passes. We avoid the evening EMH as they are just too crowded for us.

 

[TenThousandVolts]

...and by then we have ridden all of the popular attractions multiple times and have a pocketful of fast passes.

How do you get a pocketfull of fps? I thought you could only hold one at a time (well maybe 2). Can you hold multiple FPs now?

 

[pixiepower1971]

We usually hit the park with am EMH- especially MK and Epcot. When it gets busy we hop to another park. We usually spend the day at a non EMH park and then hop at closing to the pm EMH. Works well for us. AM EMH is usually not very crowded. PM EMH can be crowded certain times of the year. If it is too crowded, we sit down and relax a bit. As is gets later, it seems to thin out some...especially when it is cold out!

 

[MinnieM21]

In the summer we went to the Magic Kingdom EMHs and I was so glad we did. We walked on all of the Fantasyland rides. (we're not into thrill rides, so I didn't go over to Tomorrowland)
On the days when there wasn't a EMH in the morning, we didn't go on very many rides. I did follow suggestions for the least crowded park and got there before the park opened but we still didn't go on as many rides (as the early EMH).

 

[MickeyMonstersMom]

I did not vote because it's a mix for us. We try to hit MK's morning EMH and then hop to another park, but I scheduled the rest of our time away from morning EMH parks. We've never done evening EMH, but hope to try it this trip at MK at least, and maybe also at MGM.

 

[CindyT]

We have found that not as many people are willing to get up early, so we try to do a few early mornings, do the rides and things we want and then head for another park. We also tend to tire out evenings. When we stay for fireworks or Fantasmic, we try to choose a day that we can sleep in, then go to the parks a few hours before showtime. I should also mention that we can only go in summer due to our jobs, so mornings are cooler.