AM EMH - Take advantage of them or avoid them?

[Travel Mum]

I'm having lots of fun but also a bit of stress, trying to work out a schedule for our WDW touring based on the October 2010 schedule. I know it will probably be a different schedule next October when we are there, but I figure it's good experience for when I need to do the actual one.

So, I've come up to deciding whether to take advantage of morning EMH's at the parks (evening EMH will be too late for our youngest daughter) This seems to be one of the eternal WDW questions (like whether to rent a car or use Disney buses) and I keep reading that it's better to avoid a park with EMH as the ones without it will be less busy. Alternatively, I read that, if you do go to EMH, leave mid morning when it gets really busy and park hop to another park. I don't get that because wouldn't you be arriving at the other park when it was getting busy too and having missed the rope drop advantage there?

Anyway, I've keen to know Aussie/Kiwi opinions from those that have been. What did you do?

 

[austraveler]

We loved EMH. THe parks were empty for thefirst hour and we walked right on to all the rides. I did consider following the remommendatios of "touring plans.com" not to go to the EMH park but I'm glad we gave it go.

 

[Travel Mum]

Thanks Austraveler, that's very interesting to know. What time of the year were you there? On the EMH days, did you park hop to another park when the EMH park got busy or did you stay there?

 

[Jade+3]

We stayed off-site so could not take advantage of the EMH, but we made sure we avoided those parks as we did not have park hoppers. I used Touring Plans as a guide and it worked a treat! I have already renewed my subscription and am planning for next year.

But, next year we will be on-site, so can take advantage of EMH. I am going to wait until we get there, then add the Park Hopper option to our ticket if we think it is necessary.

 

[austraveler]

Thanks Austraveler, that's very interesting to know. What time of the year were you there? On the EMH days, did you park hop to another park when the EMH park got busy or did you stay there?

We went inApril and we had park hoppers. The touring plans site rated the crwds a 7/10 during the time we were there. We did the rides till about 11.30 and then stoped for lunch (no crowds that early) and then moved to another park, or a water park for the afternoon.

 

[DizOz]

We did EMH a few weeks ago and found it was great for the first hour. We did notice the parks on those days filled a lot faster than non EMH days. This was especially evident at MK.

Saying all that the lines were not all that bad except for DHS and TSM which was insane.

 

[Travel Mum]

DisOZ, did you then hop to another park when the crowds got busy at the EMH park? Also, on the EMH morning at MK, did they still do their opening show at the entrance?

 

[DizOz]

DisOZ, did you then hop to another park when the crowds got busy at the EMH park? Also, on the EMH morning at MK, did they still do their opening show at the entrance?

Travel Mum

Yes we did park hop on a few days but more due to the fact trying to do our favourites at the end rather than the crowds. We were lucky the crowds were so low for just about the whole trip.

 

[5ofus]

I love EMH mornings! I've managed to knock off an entire land in a little over an hour in EMH. We would usually go back to the resort or hop to another park just before lunch as the parks really started to fill up and it was great.

Even the limited EMH at Disneyland was great when we did that and the Early Entry at Japan helped too, even though NO rides were open and it was basically just a front of the line pass for one ride - it helped avoid the stampede at opening.

 

[DVCAustralia]

If you will not be doing the evening EMH then you MUST do morning EMH, that EMH time is much more valuable than any other time at the parks.
This is a simplistic description of how the opening time effects the crowd at all WDW parks: -
If the park opens at 7am there will be a smallish number of people at rope drop;
If the park opens at 8am there will be a larger number of people at rope drop;
If the park opens at 9am many people going to the park that day will at rope drop or soon afterwards;
If the park opens at 10am almost everyone going to the park that day will be at rope drop.
With morning EMH you not only get the benefit of an earlier opening time but you will only be there with other on-site Disney guests using their ticket and EMH at that park that day.
The reason that the park then becomes more crowded than normal later in the day is down to people not having park hopper on the ticket and so being stuck and the general inertia of park guests. However this does not overcome the benefit of EMH if you go against the trend and actually leave about lunchtime.
Some examples of how to best utilise EMH from my experience: -
MK is the best park for EMH, particularly with children, as you can knock over the whole of Fantasyland in an hour or so whilst it is cooler and/or combine Fantasyland with select Tomorrowland attractions (the other land with rides usually open for EMH).
AK is the second best park for EMH as the earlier time is great for viewing the animals on the safari, and you can do Kali in the heat of the middle of the day and get soaked just before you leave.
Epcot has Soaring and Test Track, amongst other popular rides.
HS has Toy Story Mania, enough said.
As you are on the dining plan you can have a CS lunch in the park before you leave, I recommend Sunshine Seasons in the Land at Epcot, Flame Tree BBQ at AK and Cosmic Rays at MK.
When you leave you can go back to the hotel and use the pool and/or rest before going to another park for the rest of the day, or combine two parks that are close like HS and Epcot.