Anyone who just returned Advice on EMH at night

[disgirl]

I am sorry if this is a repeat post, but just wondering if anyone who just returned used EMH in the evenings. If so, what park did you do and how crowded were they? THANKS!! I was not planning on using night time ones, but my single DB who likes to stay up late, is now joining us and has me rethinking my plans. HELP!! We are going Aug. 23-31.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Godolphin]

We did EMH last Friday at the MK.
Between midnight and 2 am we could walk on most rides.The exception being Spalsh and Thunder mountain which had 20 minute waits.
Space mountain had a 40 minute wait.
We went in Mickey's PhilharMagic about 1.30 am we had about a total of 30 people in the whole theater.It was so nice not having anyone blocking our view.
It's also nice to be in the MK late at night with everything lit up.
Have fun.

 

[Loves Disney]

Well, we stayed down at Disney World July 6-13. The EMH evenings were mostly VERY crowded. It all depends on luck really. I like to stay up late and get up early so I was wishing the EMH were going to be really good. The Magic Kingdom was the worst (no surprize there though) It was just as crowed if not worse. However some nights it would be great. We took advantage of it one night after the rain had poured. Frontierland was almost completely empty, Fantasyland was more crowded than ever! you would think it the other way around considering young kids tend to fall asleep early. But anyway we also tried EPCOT EMH. We thought it would be a perfect time to ride soarin'. We were wrong! We waited over 75 minutes! the line kept on getting bigger. But that was it. Nobody was on anything else, just soarin'. You most definetly need a FP for that ride.

But as you asked before about EMH, you will probably run into large crowds or maybe not. It is all based on luck. Mostly the Magic Kingdom will be crowed no matter what. (maybe not frontierland though, we got onto BTMR 5 times in a row) But yeah, sometimes there are extremely large crowds during EMH and sometimes not.

We did not have a good EMH experience (VERY large crowds). But that was in July. It might be different now. Just keep having fun no matter what!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We were there from July 30 to Aug 6. We avoided the evening EMH after the first night. The crowds were horrid. We are morning people so we get up by 6:30 and are out the door before 8 to eat breakfast so we could be at the park when it opened. So we didn't stay up late enough to make it work (the last hour or so might be better than the first hour and the hours leading up to it).

Our son liked to get the bracelets. So for the evening EMH at Disney Studios, they were scanning your room ID. They slid it through a card reader. That made it impossible to use someone else's ID a second time if you didn't have one. I hope they keep that up. They could use that at SAB, too.

 

[Loves Disney]

I am sorry if this is a repeat post, but just wondering if anyone who just returned used EMH in the evenings. If so, what park did you do and how crowded were they? THANKS!! I was not planning on using night time ones, but my single DB who likes to stay up late, is now joining us and has me rethinking my plans. HELP!! We are going Aug. 23-31.

Thanks for any advice!

Wait, is this your very first trip to Disney World or just to that resort?

 

[RyMickey]

Our first EMH at MK - three Friday ago now (July 29, I think) was great - walk-ons of Big Thunder and Splash. Space Mt had a long wait, though, but we got FastPasses. The Friday after that, however, had 20 minute waits for the two Frontierland mountains and a long wait again for Space Mt. (BTW, GoDolphin and I must have been there on the same nights).

That being said, you can get done lots of stuff if you're not worried about seeing the three big mountains. Fantasyland wasn't crowded at all (with the exception of Peter Pan's Flight) and Adventureland was like a ghost town.

We also did night EMHs at Epcot which worked great (but Soarin' was too long of a wait even then) and AK (which was great - did everything possible to do except the Festival of the Lion King Show).

I think they're good if you're willing to forgo seeing some of the bigger attractions and focus on the smaller ones.

 

[psar]

We just returned last night. I found the best thing to do was go to the park the morning after EMH night. It was empty by summer standards until around noon and we were able to ride all the mts 2 times. We did go to AK EMH and it worked out fine. We decided to go to EMH at Epcot. Arrived about 6:30, did a lot while everyone was at the WS and during Illuminations. Finished up by 10:30. Just to let you know they reopened the Test track FP at 9:05, but not Soarin. We were able to do it during Illuminations. Monday we headed to MK EMH. Got there about 6:00 Not as bad as I thought. The only thing we didn't do that night was Space . No FP were being given out here or at Splash, but BTMR had FP when we arrived. It's nice to walk around at night, but if you ever did E night it does not come close. Best bet - go the day after.

 

[disgirl]

Thank you everyone for your quick responses.

Loves Disney: No, we have been to Disney many times, but this is our first trip as DVC members and first time at BCV. DH, DS, and myself did do an E night a couple of years ago at MK and that was not too crowded, but I keep hearing the EMH can be really crowded so I was not planning on attending and thought of going to MK the day after EMH. However, now that my brother is coming for 6 out of the 8 nights we will be there, he is talking about the extra hour nights. He does not sleep that much and likes staying up late, but I told him they are usually really crowded according to my "friends" here on the DIS and I was not planning on going.
Thanks again everyone for your help. I think I will stick to my original plans and if DB wants to try one, he should give it a try.

 

[rcraw45425]

We were there three weeks ago and found the MK EMH horrendous. The heat was aweful, it never cooled off with all that asphalt and the crowds weren't clearing out either. We walked onto Space Mtn. around 10:45, they already had the FP machine running but the line was short, maybe 10 minutes. We then waited ~30 minutes(terrible too, no air stirring) for the Astro Orbiter. Never again, some little monster with ice cream all over it's hands smeared them all over my skirt and blouse in the que, then, when we finally got onto the ride I discovered that it's really uncomfortable, even for the smaller kids. My DD8 felt like she was going to fall out of the car, even with the belt. After that we decided to leve, the crowds weren't thinning out and we're regulars so we figured we'd catch the stuff later. One neat thing though was being allowed "behind the scenes" to exit, behind the main street shops. That really cuts the walk conciderably. We may try again in October, cooler weather and all.

 

[disgirl]

Thanks rcraw. I am sorry you had such a terrible experience at MK with EMH. I know when I was first planning our itinerary back in May or so, some people said EMH at night were ok at MGM or Epcot, but I think many seemed to say MK was PACKED even then. I imagine in the summer when you went and I am going will continue to be very crowded. Thanks for sharing your experience. I think we will avoid the night time ones and if my brother really wants to go or take my almost 13 year old son, maybe they will give it a try. It is a shame because when we go MK usually closes at 9, with only a couple of nights at 10 and the studios close at 8:30, so they start to do earlier hours then and EMH would have been nice but not with tons of people. Thanks Again!!

 

[tomerin]

we also had quite a horrendous experience with the EMH at MK. to be honest we were there from july 3rd to july 13th so it is peak time anyway so the crushing crowds should be expected but what i didnt expect was just how crushing it was. we always travel during and around the 4th so we know what to expect as to crowd levels. i am an avid readed of the guide books and a believer of the advice given here on the DIS but we decided to go anyway to MK but go at parade time and try and get in a few rides and then at fireworks time get in a few more and then just leisurely enjoy the rest of the EMH night. WHATTA MISTAKE!!!! we were met with wall-to wall people in main street, the heat from all of those bodies was stifiling. we went to SM and got a fastpass and headed over to stitch, almost an hour wait, then to buzz 45 min wait so off to see about PP. Fuggadebout it! 35 minute wait there. so we went on IASW, fun but not what i really wanted to do. then over to frontierland. SPL was an hour, BTMRR was 45 minutes so no luck there also. well at least we could now go on SM with our fastpass. well after we rode SM we tried to do the same routine we tried hours earlier and i couldnt believe my eyes. it seemed more crowded now then it did when we got there. so we decided to go to POTC and at least get on another fav but that was it. lines were incredibly long even after 12am.

never will i do a EMH night in july again. i will follow the advice and do MK the morning after the emh night.

i dream about WDW bringing back e-ride nights. we as a family miss them


we did not do an EMH night at epcot but we did at MGM and it worked out great. we did everything at MGM we wanted to do without and real difficulty and did most things multiple times

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

Last year we found morning EMH horrendous. This year we tried evening EMH - fabulous. We went Aug 7 to MK, low crowds and max 20 min wait for anything, lots of things were a walk on, would def. do this again. However, in all the time we were in Florida (2 weeks) the max we had to wait for anything was 30 mins.

 

[disgirl]

Wow Stitch's Greatest Fan, that certainly is a different experience than many have reported. You actually found the mornings very crowded last year? I am surprised the night time EMH was great at MK in the summer. I tell you I really do not know what is the best thing to do. Right now I only have 1 EMH planned and that is at MGM in the AM on our last full day at Disney. Like I said, if my brother wants to try MK at EMH night, he should give it a try, but I really have not planned for them at this point. I guess we will try to be flexible and see what happens. Thanks for the responses. I love reading everyone's experiences.

 

[annie1995]

Does anyone want to speculate how busy EMH's will be in mid september? My brain is going to pop with trying to figure out where we will be and when, so I can schedule ADR's, what day my kids might need a break on etc...... I don't want to miss out on fun stuff for them, gosh this is hard HELP!!!

 

[cpayne1997]

We were there from July 30 to Aug 6. We avoided the evening EMH after the first night. The crowds were horrid. We are morning people so we get up by 6:30 and are out the door before 8 to eat breakfast so we could be at the park when it opened. So we didn't stay up late enough to make it work (the last hour or so might be better than the first hour and the hours leading up to it).

Our son liked to get the bracelets. So for the evening EMH at Disney Studios, they were scanning your room ID. They slid it through a card reader. That made it impossible to use someone else's ID a second time if you didn't have one. I hope they keep that up. They could use that at SAB, too.

What is SAB??? Sorry if that is a stupid question.

 

[Deb & Bill]

What is SAB??? Sorry if that is a stupid question.

Stormalong Bay at the YC/BC. It's their themed swimming pool.

I was going to comment on Stitch's Greatest Fan's comment about EMH being bad in the morning last year. They didn't add the evening times until sometime in January 2005. Before that, there was only EMH in the morning (remember MADEMAD?) and E-ticket nights (which limited the number of people allowed into the MK on E-ticket night).

 

[cpayne1997]

Stormalong Bay at the YC/BC. It's their themed swimming pool.

I was going to comment on Stitch's Greatest Fan's comment about EMH being bad in the morning last year. They didn't add the evening times until sometime in January 2005. Before that, there was only EMH in the morning (remember MADEMAD?) and E-ticket nights (which limited the number of people allowed into the MK on E-ticket night).

Thank you so much. I really should have known that! I felt dumb asking but you never know till you ask! Thanks again

 

[LiteBrite]

It seems like people are starting to report lower crowds in general for August than we heard about in July, so maybe those evening EMHs are going to start being less crowded as well. I'm really looking forward to hearing reports about them in September.

 

[WDWguru]

We were also at the MK EMH on August 7th and thought it was horribly crowded! Of course, we're spoiled and used to the May and October crowd levels, but it was still much busier than we anticipated. We went to the 10:30 Fantasmic at the Studios then headed to MK after since it was open until 2 am. Figured after the last Spectro at 11 it would be fairly empty - wrong! Perhaps it was our expectations, but there were waits on most rides of at least 20 minutes and no fast pass distribution. The line for Space Mountain at 1:45 am was 70 minutes! We vowed to stick to the plan we discovered on our May trip -- hit the park with the late EMH at opening the next day. THAT worked like a charm!