Any More Reports on Evening EMH

[scakul]

Now that the trial is over, is there any consensus on how eveneing EMH was received?

Crowds?

Any parks better or worse than others?

 

[Vivianne]

We went to each park offering EMH. My DH and I thought it was great! We got to the parks at about 10 a.m. and stayed straight through til the end. We purposely skipped the busier attractions and went to them later. Because of EMH we were able to cover the attractions at a more relaxed pace. I would definitely do it again.

 

[disfan100]

Went to EMH evening at MK on Wed, May 19th. Fastpass was working. There seemed to be alot of people about. However, the waits at the rides we wanted were not long, about 10 minutes or less. We managed to do all our favorites (some more than once) during EMH. We were mainly at WDW for the flower and garden show at Epcot so this was our only visit to MK. We really appreciated the late EMH as we would not have been able to do MK otherwise.

 

[oogieboogie]

It seems in MK the crowds mostly stayed in Fantasyland. My BIL took the 2 kids to Buzz and was able to ride 5 times in a row meanwhile a woman I chatted with said her wait for Pooh was 35 minutes on stand-by

When we went to the Epcot EMH, it wasn't that crowded, we were able to do Test Track 2 times in a row.

At MGM we waited a few minutes for the general public to head into Fantasmic, then went on RnR and ToT. Those had no waits whatsoever.

All in all I thought it was done quite well. We were asked to show resort ID and they put on the wristband. 5 minute process tops. Then anytime you wanted to ride you just show the wristbands.
Crowds I thought were a bit more than morning EMH, and what I saw a lot of was people coming from other parks just as EMH started, right when the general public left.

I think based on the test period, Disney had a good turnout. I think evening EMH is a keeper especially during low times.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

Because of our small kids we only used it once and it was great. We stayed at AK about an extra hour and were able to get almost every attraction in AK done that day. The Lion King show was even shown twice that evening. Getting the wristbands was very easy, and the CMs were checking which I was glad. During the morning extra hour at MK no one asked to see our room key at the gate!

 

[Phrank40]

Interesting story to EMH. We wanted to go to AK after a day at MK. Asked cast member at POFQ front desk if any problem going into AK after official closing hour ( I think 5:00). He said he was pretty sure you had to be in the park when it closed to use the EMH. I mentioned to him it didn't say that specifically in the flyer you get at check-in, so he read the flyer, thought a second, and said you're right. Then he asked me why I would want to get to a park after it had closed and fight my way against all the people leaving. I told him all I wanted to do was make sure if we got to AK at 5:15 we could go in with no problem. Our conversation ended with him saying he guessed this was why EMH was a test so all the questions could be worked out.

Asked same queston to cast member at MK guest relations, he knew answer right away- said no problem going in after park closed.

The EMH at AK was nice- park not very crowded, walked right on safari with no wait, lots of animals out. We just sort of ambled around the park, at times it was almost like we had AK to ourselves. One note- dining options limited, the Flame Tree was closed, Tusker house closed for a private party although there was food available in the Tusker house bar area.

Phrank

 

[Minky]

I LOVED IT!!!

We were there May 12-19 it was PERFECT! Our first nite was EMH in MK. It was gorgeous not crowded, we rode BTMRR while Wishes was going off and it was BEAUTIFUL! We rode almost everything that nite twice just between 9-12 with a lot of just lounging time. I really hope that they keep it! They still had the early morning hours for people who can get up, but we just cant so this was great! Our last nite was MGM's EMH and wow we had the whole place to ourselves, everything was a walkon.....and we had dinner at the 50's primetime cafe....only Epcat was mobbed in the evening beacause they closed World Showcase..so there was an hour wait for Mission Space and Test Track, but we went back the next day and rode both 3 times each! But anyway, Evening EMH is awesome!

 

[Rhonna]

oogiboogie:

I am hoping they institute the park after dark hours in the fall.

However, I didn't understand something you said. You thought that disney would especially use this program in the low times of the year. I would have thought they would do this in busier times to accomodate more people. What is the reasoning for them implementing it in slow times?

I'm all for it in slow season but I don't know what the reasoning is behind giving it to customers during slower times. Unless it's to attract more guests to their resorts in off season???

This gives me some hope we might get it for our trip in late Oct.??

Thanks!

Rhonna

 

[oogieboogie]

During low season, the parks typically close earlier (like MK closing at 6pm). By opening MK up for another 3 hours after park closes, it gives resort guests a longer time to ride the rides and hopefully go spend more money shopping and eating.

Also, during low season, resort occupancy would be down so this EMH could be used to entice more people to stay on-site rather than off-site by touting the benefits of EMH.

If I were going in low season, I'd definitely think twice about staying off-site because then instead of going home at 6pm and having a whole night of doing nothing, I can just stay on-site and get the full benefit of my vacation.

 

[Rhonna]

Thanks! We always stay on site. I really hope they implement the extra nighttime hours this fall.

Rhonna

 

[JKanownik]

I only experienced EMH at MK on May 12th, so I can't comment on the others, but I would have much rather had an E-ride night. Many of the lines we experienced were actually longer during EMH than they were during the day. That included almost all of Fantasyland and Space Mountain. The standby times were 30 minutes for both Splash Mountain and BTMRR. Compare this to E-ride nights, morning EMH or even the first hour the park is open to all guests, where pretty much every ride is walk on. During the evening EMH here's what we were able to ride:

Jungle Cruise
Splash Mountain
BTMRR (fastpass used)
Haunted Mansion
Buzz Lightyear x 2
TTA
Space Mountain (fastpass used)
Astro Orbiter

Compare this to what we rode last year during an E-ride night:

Stopped to eat a meal at Pecos Bill's
Splash Mountain x 2
BTMRR x 3
Haunted Mansion
Space Mountain x 2
Buzz x 3 (4?)
Astro Orbiter
TTA x 2

There were very noticable differences in the crowds during evening EMH vs. E-ride nights. And while the list of rides appears similar between the two events, there are two important differences to note:

1) During E-ride night we were able to ride a single attraction multiple times without wait. Even a 10 minute wait dramatically reduces your ability to ride a single ride multiple times, let alone a 30 minute wait. During the E-ride night we could have easily squeezed in an extra trip on EACH ride we rode if we had hurried along and not stopped for a meal.

2) While the number of attractions available during evening EMH was larger than E-ride nights, either the show time (PhilharMagic, Hall of Presidents) or the wait time (Dumbo, Peter Pan) was prohibitive to maximizing your rides. So, if we had wanted to take advantage of the extra rides available, then the list of rides we were able to ride would have shrunk. When PhilharMagic and Hall of Presidents are walk on during the day (when it is hot and an indoor attraction is best), having them open during evening EMH isn't much of a bonus.

Personally I was little shocked at the number of quests that took advantage of evening EMH, and was extremely shocked at how many stuck around past 11 PM. And while it is hard to explain the difference in experiencing the park with 5,000 (E-ride) people in it vs 20,000 (evening EMH), I can say that I would have been willing to pay the $12 for an E-ride night for just that feeling alone.

-Josh

 

[rileyroosmom]

I too was there on the 12th. I think it was the first night at MK for the extended hours. I asked earlier in the day 3 different CMs how and what time the writstbands were to be given out and got 3 different answers. One being I wouldn't even need the wristband! When we got to the park (2 hours before closing like the flyer said) it was very disorganized. People just crowded around the CM trying to get bands - no one asked for resort id. Inside the park were CMs at different locations giving out the bands with no crowds. I guess this will all get worked out over time.

As for the rides, I found them to have long lines, especially in Fantasyland right after Wishes. I heard a few people complaining about the lines.

There was almost no food available. We hadn't had dinner yet, thinking I could grab something quick and everything was closed. Couldn't even get icecream or popcorn from a vendor. We finally found Cosmic Ray's open to our relief and had some dinner.

All in all, I was disappointed, but it was the first time. Maybe things got better as the weeks went on. In honesty, I didn't even bother trying it out at the other parks so I can't comment if it worked better there.