any reports in yet from the new magic hours?

[TigerLaw]

Has anyone done the new day/night magic hours yet? I am particularly interested in how the new night hours are working (esp. animal kingdom) and how the crowds are.

thanks for the scoop!

 

[MACUSER]

Hi we are just back from 7 nights We went to 2 nights 1 at mgm and 1 at mk .
at mgm it was open for 3 hours till 12:00 before the magic hour it was walk on for tower and rockin after the were lines for both. mk was the same 3 hours till 12:00 and the lnes were better than the day time plus riding splash at night was great ...

 

[Qwackertoo]

Just back this past week and went to the very first one of this test program on Sunday @ EPCOT. After Illuminations and eating over in Mexico, most of the shops were CLOSED including Mouse Gears. Since we had just eaten I didn't want to go on Mission Space again, had already done it twice earlier in the evening with a 5 minute (actually no wait) but yet Test Track was 65 minutes and even later after Illuminations and during the extra magic hour it was still 45 minutes. Since we had been at MK the night before and didn't get back to resort until 12:15 we decided to call it a night and head back to resort.

 

[Kaybee]

We just got back after spending 8 days and did the extra magic hour everytime it was offered. I can't tell you how great that was!! I hope they continue to offer it. You were given bracelet about 2 hours prior to the original closing time after showing your room pass/key. The bracelets look like hospital pt. ID bands. They give you a list of all the attractions that are open. We had a great time staying at the parks till after midnight!! Some of the parks were crowded and others weren't. We had no long wait times at all. We were lucky and rode test tract at Epcot twice with no wait time at all. Animal Kingdom stayed opened till 8pm which was nice. Rode all the rides and saw attractions that were too crowded during the day. If the lines were long you could still fast pass with some of the popular rides. It was great riding the big thunder mountain railroad in the dark, my son just loved it!!

 

[plutosgirl]

Just back from 10 days and we loved the Late hours at MK. We went back around 7pm got our wristbands had a late supper and then when the fireworks started we started hitting the rides. We had a great time and never had a wait for any of the rides.

We also did the late hours at Ecpcot...this didn't work out so good. By 10:30 ish they had closed half of the countries and wouldn't let us back. We got to do Mexico and Norway...never got to Italy or france for our desserts that night! We had already done the front section the day before and didn't plan on doing it again that night.

We didn't do the MGM or the AK so I'm not sure on them but it was nice not having to get extra early every morning and sleeping a little later, taking a nice break in the afternoon and heading back for a later evening and the kids did great at MK...they went right until midnight without a whine or meltdown! (ages 8,7,5 &3)

 

[TigerLaw]

come on, there has to be more than this!

 

[dijid]

Given that my kids are young, we weren't able to take advantage of anything other than the AK ones. We loved it! Walked into Tarzan Rocks less than 10 min before show time and got good seats. Kids rode Triceratop Spin several times without waiting. Walked on to Primeval Whirl. Not much wait on Kali. We left before the very end - we'd done everything we wanted to - so I can't comment about it getting dark.

I talked to a few people while we were there and they said MK was great. Some lines until about 10:30pm then it cleared out. No one seemed particularly happy about Epcot. I guess everyone wanted to ride Test Track and Mission Space and so the lines were longer than during the day.

 

[dbail2]

Sounds great and I hope they continue this in August when we go.........

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Sorry, but I did not like the evening EMH's at all!!

I always did the early morning hours and there is no comparison. The crowds were much, much heavier. This makes a big difference to those of us who navigate a double stroller. My children are young, in order to enjoy the evening EMH's I had to work on them to take a nap for MK and although they were awake until almost 11pm that night there wasn't the same energy or excitement.

Walking down Main St. in the early morning sunshine is one of the most magical moments of the vacation.

At AK I thought the crowds were much heavier than a regular day. I like how the crowds thin out by late afternoon.

EPCOT was a waste of time.

Without morning EMH there is no benefit to our staying onsite. If they wanted to add a couple of nights, why not add an MK night and an Studio's night to the regular schedule.

 

[lorifl2]

We did the evening hours at EPCOT and MK last week. At EPCOT the line for test track was still over an hour, but they did have the fast pass machines still running, so we did that. Mission Space was a walk on (but then again, it was a walk on all day). Everything else that was open seemed to be a very short wait. Saw HISTA with about 20 other people in the theater at 11PM.

MK was crowded early, but thinned out. Walked onto Splash and BTMRR right after the fireworks, but then a line started to build. Waited 15 minutes for the Magic Carpets (don't ask me why). Went through Fantasyland after 11PM and there was NO ONE there -- if you have little ones that can make it til midnight (my 5 year could do it with an afternoon nap), that would be the time to do Fantasyland! Some of the rides, like Jungle Cruise and Splash, are so much better at night!

 

[dbail2]

The morning hours were good when my girls were young but now we just make it after the park opens and they like to stay up at night so I feel the added evening hours will be better for older kids like mine....Sounds like they are thinking of both by doing this...

 

[sters]

I'm just wondering... did they eliminate the morning EMH for this test, or was the late night exta hours IN ADDITION to? I definitely prefer the morning, especially with young kids but I can see the appeal of the evenning for those, like my DH, who are NOT morning people and for teenagers.

 

[GrumpyC.Hook]

I am down at disney right now... We went Sunday for the EMH at EPCOT and the line for Test track was as long as during the day but Mission space (which was awesome) was walk on no wait. When they have EMH at night there is no extra magic hour during the day.

Morning hours are :

Monday -AK
Wednesday-EPCOT
Friday-MK
Saturday- MGM


Night hours

Sunday-EPCOT
Tuesday-MGM
Wednesday-MK
Thursday-AK


Wrist bands are given out inside the park at tables and you have to show your resort ID and no sooner then 2 hours before the Night hours begin.

Hope this helps.

Amy

 

[JKanownik]

DH and I were at the evening EMH at MK last Wed and thought it was horrible. In fact, we were so disappointed that we skipped the evening EMH at the rest of the parks. It was extremely crowded and there were long waits for most all attractions. We arrived at MK in the afternoon on Wed and were able to just walk onto many attractions. Even waits for the most popular attractions were less than 20 minutes. By 10 PM, we could hardly move it was so crowded. The waits for most rides were 35-60 minutes. We thought about leaving early, but were holding out hope that it would start to thin out. It did not start to die down until 11:50 PM. We were extremely disappointed and intend on contacting Disney with our feelings. We would have much rather paid the money for an e-ride night and had the crowds limited. Because of all the people, it just did not have the same magical feeling as an e-ride night. We did, however, take advantage of the morning EMH at the parks and really enjoyed them. We hope that once this test is over, they will go back to the old way of doing things. If you are going to WDW during the summer, I suggest you take advantage of the e-ride nights that are being offered. It doesn't get better than that.

-Colleen