Another perspective on EMH

[SueSue]

I know many on these boards say to avoid the park that has EMH on that day, but we have always had very good experiences with EMH, so I thought I'd share why we like going to the park with EMH.

My kids have always been early risers and so getting to the park an hour early isn't a big deal to us. If you like to sleep a bit later, or just don't want to rush around in the morning, EMH may not be your best option.

Although the EMH park does get crowded much faster and much earlier, we have always been able to get done the rides open that first hour and move on to the others when the rest of the park opens an hour later. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I think that we've completed everything we wanted that first hour before most people are even at the park. (Maybe it's just my way of justifying getting up earlier - lol!)

We always go in July, so another reason I LOVE EMH is that it's an extra hour when it's still cool! We always leave the park by noon to get out of the heat and swim and rest. With EMH, we get 4 hours, instead of 3, in the park, and I feel like we have been able to do everything we wanted by then.

I know EMH isn't for everyone, but we have always felt like we benefitted from using it. Whether you go to an EMH park or avoid them altogether, you can't go wrong - you're at Disney!

 

[bhillier]

I couldn't agree more. It's very nice to be able to get on rides first thing in the am instead of walking in to the park, getting to Dumbo and finding a 45 min wait.

 

[bhillier]

I couldn't agree more. It's very nice to be able to get on rides first thing in the am instead of walking in to the park, getting to Dumbo and finding a 45 min wait.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

In May, we did 5 attractions in Fantasyland before 9:00. I felt very satisfied with EMH. It works for us.

Lori

 

[Cinderella822]

I'm going in August and I have to agree with you in that I'll be doing EMH mainly for the fact that it will be cooler at that time of day and I'll have time later in the day to swim instead. I was feeling discouraged about my plans to do EMH, but I think I will go ahead as planned. Thanks for your positive input!

 

[xraydave]

Thank you for some positive remarks about these days. We're not planning on entering all the parks on their EMH days and I was getting worried about the few we had planned. I'll let everyone know how we make out.


c-ya real soon.

 

[donnabres]

Could someone please give a link or tell me the end of June, what park has EMH on Monday and Tuesday. We have only 2 days, and would like to take advantage of it.
thanks, Donna

 

[shatzjsl]

I'm so confused!!!!! Half so do EMH and half say don't do EMH.

I think we will play it by ear. I had planned on doing EMH every morning but I will do it Wed. a.m. and if it is awful I'll skip it the rest of the time.

 

[zurgswife]

We do EMH every trip and have had great experiences...we did this past Christmas/New Year's which had record crowds....It was wonderful we would get 15 -25 rides in in about 4 or less hours...

We are going in July for the first time . So, I can report about the effectiveness during that time of year...

 

[Missy1961]

I think I might use EMH once on my trip. I know that all the rides aren't open, just certain ones. So emh at MGM wouldn't work for me--I don't want to ride the rides that are open. But emh at AK will work, so I'll do it there.

 

[sharonk]

I have always been a HUGE supporter of EMH. It is the main reason I stay on-site at Disney. I even talked my BIL and his family into staying at All Star Movies last week so they could take advantage of this benefit.

I have little kids too so we're up anyway and we usually head home after lunch to get out of the heat and go back to a different park in the evening.

Our past expereince has always been that EMH was great. A couple years ago, right before EMH was discontinued, we were able to ride Space Mountain 3 times in 30 minutes and then hit EVERY Fantasy Land attraction in the next hour.

Our past experience has always been that we could do more during the EMH than during the next 3 - 4 hours at the park.

This past trip (just returned 2 days ago) was very, very different. The Extra Magic Hour was MORE crowded (even in the first 15 minutes) than the first hour after opening at the same park on a non-EMH day.

Maybe we just had bad luck and this is not the normal case....I certainly hope so because we have always loved taking advantage of EMH!

Sharon

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Originally posted by pirateofthecarolinas
In May, we did 5 attractions in Fantasyland before 9:00. I felt very satisfied with EMH. It works for us.

Lori

Same here Lori! Same here!

The exception was DH and I rode Pooh's ride twice, Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Buzz's Ranger Spin all before our breakfast PS at Tony's at 9:30. We picked up a fastpass for Buzz before riding and did it again after breakfast and then returned to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan one more time before the wait got out of hand. It was at about 15 minutes at the time we walked on.
EMH always works well for DH and I when we visit in May.
The only park we don't do EMH on is EPCOT because we like to visit that park on our anniversary and our anniversary date has never fallen on an EMH day. I don't do Test Track anyway, so that's why we just go to EPCOT around 9am hang out in Future World til the Showcases open and that's where we spend the majority of the day.

 

[sters]

It depends on the park. EMH works great for MK, but not so great for MGM.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Originally posted by donnabres
Could someone please give a link or tell me the end of June, what park has EMH on Monday and Tuesday. We have only 2 days, and would like to take advantage of it.
thanks, Donna

If you just remember the acronym MADE MAD, you will always remember EMH days.

MADE MAD is the first letter of the parks from Sun-Sat.

M=Magic Kingdom (Sunday)
A=Animal Kingdom (Monday)
D=Disney Studios(MGM) (Tuesday)
E=EPCOT (Wednesday)

M=Magic Kingdom (Thursday)
A=Animal Kingdom (Friday)
D=Disney Studios (Saturday)

 

[skiwee1]

We did EMH for the first and last time this May. The CMs did not check to see if anyone entering were resort guests. No one asked to see any of our resort keys. We had APs so there was no way of knowing if we were onsite or not. When I asked the CM if he needed to see the room key he said no and that he trusted me. While waiting for my mom to get through the stroller gate I watched other CMs and none were checking for onsite proof. Now I know that there are plenty of folks that park at the resorts to go to a meal or just to get out of paying the parking fee. They then get on the monorail and head over to the MK. No one questions you at the resort monorail stationswhether you are onsite guests so they can easily slip through. I even met one such family at the Poly while waiting for the monorail that EMH. The one man told me that his family stays offsite but valet parks at the Poly and head over to the MK for EMH. He said they do it all the time. I recently found out that a couple of friends do the same thing. The EMH was just as crowded as mid afternoon. It was really a total waste of time. I would have rather stayed in bed! LOL! So I am one that has always avoided EMH because I am not a morning person. Now I avoid it as it is a joke as far as being for onsite guests only.

 

[Eeyore2003]

I think the people that say avoid EMH are the ones that don't make it FOR EMH. If you hit later, it is swamped and you're not ahead of the crowd. In fact, your with a HUGE crowd!!!

Personally, I get everyone up and I'm in the EMH line 30 to 45 minutes early. I tell everyone that hopefully it will be the only significant wait of the day!!! And we also leave the parks by noonish. Having mostly done Disney in August, I agree that the cooler morning is an added plus!!!

 

[dawgsgirl]

I was there the last of May and went to MK on an EMH Sunday. We were staying offsite, but had and 8:05 PS at Crytal Palace. No one questioned us at TTC or resort monorail. At the MK, I knew to get in the line all the way to the left for breakfast folks. None of the CM's ever questioned me at all. I had my PS # ready!

 

[sharonk]

We did several EMHs last week, and AK was the only place they checked for Resort IDs. At the other parks, the cast members were letting everyone through.

 

[Micca]

I used to get my poor family (DW and twin DDs ) up early for EMH and we always made good use of it. Now it's just me and DW and we go to WDW with enough frequency that there is just no attraction that we absolutely have to go on anymore. This makes it much less stressful We use FP and go on rides with 20 minutes or less wait time, and we're happy For parties who go to WDW "once in a lifetime" or with years between trips, and want to see most of the attractions, I think EMH is very worthwhile. But ya gotta get up EARLY

 

[leise]

EMH is great for us, since coming from the UK , the kids get up at 4am for the first week of the holiday anyway. We are in the food court at 6am, first in the queue for the bus and first in the queue for park rope drop.... The only problem is we don't get to see any fireworks until week two........