To EMH or NOT to EMH - that is the question

[honicakes]

So our trip is Sept 13-16 will be in parks Mon & Tues after labor day - so hoping for lower crowds. Question is this, should we take advantage of EMH (we are staying at DLH)?
I have heard 2 theories...

1. Always take advantage of EMH because you can get much more done in that hour
2. Do opposite parks of EMH as the crowd volume at the EMH park will be higher that day than on the opposite park (I know this tends to work in WDW parks)

We aren't super early risers, but could press to do the EMH if it would make a large difference.

Help me DL experts!

 

[Angrose]

We have only stayed onsite once, at DLH last November, and we did not do EMH at all. I know, I feel like we lost out on one of the great benefits of staying onsite, but getting to the parks at 7am was WAY TOO EARLY for us! We just did the opposite park and it worked out great. Do what's right for your family. It's still great to stay onsite and DLH has that amazing pool, so if you can, take an afternoon break for swimming! I'm sure it will be super hot that time of year so you will probably welcome it. Have a wonderful time!

 

[planningjollyholiday]

1. Yes do EMH for sure. You do get a lot done in that hour.
2. This advice is for people who don't have EMH. It is recommended to do the opposite park only because the hotel guests are already in the parks at ropedrop meaning as an offsite guest you have a slight disadvantage. But if you are staying onsite than it is an advantage for sure.

 

[jeffg4]

1. If you have the EMH, and can do it, then do it. But don't stay on site (i.e. spend the extra money) for the sole purpose of getting the EMH. It is not worth it.
2. WDW crowds are more affected by EMH then by DLR, but it still makes sense that EMH parks will be more crowded over the course of the day because people without park hopper tickets feel like that's where they need to be that day. Experts on other sites have suggested that many people will visit the park with EMH - even if they don't get there in time to utilize the EMH - because they think it's Disney's way of telling them which park they should be in.

 

[ADLFAN]

I would use it if you'll be up anyway! And go to the opposite park if you accidentally sleep in!

The Magic Morning at DCA is pretty nice because it is totally exclusive to the guests of Disneyland's 3 hotels. The Extra Magic Hour at Disneyland is available to guests at the 3 resort hotels and when you purchase a 3-5 day park Hopper ticket, you get one early entry, only to Disneyland, only on the days it is offered, Tues. Thurs. And Saturdays I believe.

In Disneyland, only the attractions in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open for Early Entry. I know there is a list somewhere of the attractions open Early Entry in DCA and I think it was more extensive...

Morning is the best time to get on ride after ride because crowds build all day, so if you intend to go at rope drop anyway, it would be nice to get that extra hour at least once and see what you think.

 

[millie0312]

1- For sure do EMH!! We really enjoyed not having to wait for things at all (although you may have a slower season then when we went) like Cars character photos (I got 3 with NO waits and made for really fun photos), TSMM and RSR at CA and of course PP at DLR (we also did Anna and Elsa when it was at DLR but that won't work now lol)
2- I think this is true of WDW or if you do not have EMH as well. We didnt feel like EMH impacted the park other then if you didn't have EMH you wouldn't have a chance to get to some of the headliners with as short of a line since hotel guests (and at DLR those with 3 day + park hoppers so even more people) are already inside and in line.
We wake up early anyway with kids but getting there was a bit rough and honestly in the end SO worth it- the parks were VERY mellow and it was so fun to have such short lines. You can always try it the first day and if you feel its not worth it or you are too tired skip it the next? Either way have a great trip!

 

[HydroGuy]

So our trip is Sept 13-16 will be in parks Mon & Tues after labor day - so hoping for lower crowds. Question is this, should we take advantage of EMH (we are staying at DLH)?
I have heard 2 theories...

1. Always take advantage of EMH because you can get much more done in that hour
2. Do opposite parks of EMH as the crowd volume at the EMH park will be higher that day than on the opposite park (I know this tends to work in WDW parks)

We aren't super early risers, but could press to do the EMH if it would make a large difference.

Help me DL experts!

First, I am confused. The Monday and Tuesday after Labor Day will be Sept 8-9. But you said you are going Sept 13-16.

Sept 13 will be a Sunday and the parks will likely open at 8AM. The other days are weekdays in what is often considered off-season in Sept so my first guess is the parks will open at 10AM.

I would say any day the parks open at 10AM is absolutely a no brainer to use EMH at 9AM. When the parks open at 8AM with EMH at 7AM every day of the trip that is hard to do based on personal experience. If Sunday is your only 8AM day I think you could do EMH pretty easily that day and each of the other 10AM days.

 

[nicolispicoli]

I say if it works for you, do it! We never manage to get there right when the hour starts, but we still get a ton done once we do arrive, which is usually 20-25 minutes in. You can get 3x the amount of stuff done in that one hour than you can get done in a regular hour post EMH in my opinion.

When park hours are later, like 10:00, it's even better, but a little busier since it's easier for people to make 9:00.

 

[8lovesmickey]

I strongly recommend the EMH. My family always whines a little at getting up early, but when they see the lines later in the day for attractions we walked on in the morning, they always agree it was a good idea! This was especially true in Disneyland, where we did 12 attractions in the first hour in June (yes, we counted -- total Disney geek thing to do, I know). DCA was more of a crap shoot - a lot of things weren't open so it didn't seem to be as helpful.

As an aside, we rarely do the EMH at WDW for the reasons you stated - with 4 parks, the one with EMH always seems to be the most crowded and we avoid it. Not our experience at DLR.

 

[honicakes]

First, I am confused. The Monday and Tuesday after Labor Day will be Sept 8-9. But you said you are going Sept 13-16.

Sept 13 will be a Sunday and the parks will likely open at 8AM. The other days are weekdays in what is often considered off-season in Sept so my first guess is the parks will open at 10AM.

I would say any day the parks open at 10AM is absolutely a no brainer to use EMH at 9AM. When the parks open at 8AM with EMH at 7AM every day of the trip that is hard to do based on personal experience. If Sunday is your only 8AM day I think you could do EMH pretty easily that day and each of the other 10AM days.

Sorry - I worded that wrong. We will be in the actual parks the Monday and Tuesday the WEEK after labor day. Arrive on the 13, parks 14th and 15th, return home 16th. But your advice makes sense. Since they haven't yet actually released the park schedules, I am just assuming EMH is going to mean getting up at like 6 am or so to make rope drop. But if it will be more like getting there by 9 then it seems to make sense to take advantage of it.

 

[londonlovesdisney]

I strongly recommend the EMH. My family always whines a little at getting up early, but when they see the lines later in the day for attractions we walked on in the morning, they always agree it was a good idea! This was especially true in Disneyland, where we did 12 attractions in the first hour in June (yes, we counted -- total Disney geek thing to do, I know). DCA was more of a crap shoot - a lot of things weren't open so it didn't seem to be as helpful.

As an aside, we rarely do the EMH at WDW for the reasons you stated - with 4 parks, the one with EMH always seems to be the most crowded and we avoid it. Not our experience at DLR.

What 12 attractions did you do?!

 

[Angrose]

If the parks don't open until 9 or 10am on your days then definitely do EMH! We are usually able to get there by 8am, but 7am, not so much.

 

[luulu1999]

If you can get up that early then YES! I will say last summer we usually got there 30 mins after opening we didn't stay onsite and even on our MM day we didn't make it at opening and still was able to get a TON of stuff done, but of course that was early morning openings and usually around 1030/11 is when it would start getting busy