Are morning EMHs worth it?

[sweetnjmom]

I found it worth it at MK and AK but NOT HS, because even with the AM EMH we didn't make it to TSMM in time to avoid a long wait because my son saw Donald and Daisy and wanted to get autographs (we had hoppers and FP+ at MK in the afternoon). We didn't spend much time at EPCOT last trip.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

We are morning people and have had great success with morning EMHs. I think your plan is great. Personally, my advice would be to take advantage of morning extra magic hours and then hop to the park that had evening extra magic hours the night before. That park is usually much less busy unless it has a special event going on like Star Wars Weekends or Food and Wine Festival.

 

[DisneyLove2015]

For morning EMH at MK- is the welcome show usually the regular length one or is it the abbreviated version? DH has missed the morning show every time we've gone due to something holding us up, and he wants to see it in May but we will be there on an EMH day (we're going for SWW with one MK day planned). I know there are a few versions but I didn't know if it's always the shortened version on EMH days.

 

[mikana876]

You guys have me pretty convinced that hoppers might be worth it! I think we're going to hit morning EMH and then hop to the recommended park with previously reserved FP+ and ADRs. Thanks so much!

 

[jgs75]

This is the big debate. Most planning sites online will tell you to skip EMH, but we LOVE the morning ones. Mainly because we get a ton done in that first hour. But also, because we like to have a few hours to rest in the afternoon. EMH allows us to get lots done and be out of the park earlier, before the crowds get crazy. Then we are rested and ready to hit whatever park we have scheduled for the evening. I sometimes avoid EMH on the first 2 mornings we are there so we can make the adjustment from Pacific to Eastern Time a bit more easily. We rarely use the evening EMH because those can be crowded and we've used up our first 3 FP+! We just pick the least crowded parks for evenings.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

In my experience, EMH in the morning do result in comparatively short lines, but so do most early morning hours at the parks. I prefer to avoid parks that have EMH because they get so crowded on those days. We did extra magic evening hours at AK and we were completely shoulder to shoulder, being rammed by strollers the entire time. Perhaps you can tell from the previous posts that many people who have park hoppers do the EMH, then change parks. People who have base tickets often choose parks with EMH. Therefore, you get double the crowds during EMH.

 

[SnackCredit]

We got inside MK 20 minutes after opening on an EMH day and waited no longer than 15 minutes for the most popular ride (Peter Pan). We ended up doing 10 attractions before lunch at 12:50.

 

[gwb]

Depends on what time of year you go. We go early in Dec. about 8 times since 2000 and am EMH has been great Crowds light wait times not more then 15 minutes. As stated before touring plan sites say stay away but they generally talk about the more popular times 1 time walked up to a completely empty thunder mtn line where we didn't meet any others til we got right to the boats.At soarin we had the same experience

 

[LaurenT]

Morning EMH will see the lowest lines of the day. So many people won't even get there for a 9 am open, let alone 8 am. Couple that with the park only being open to onsite guests, and the hours from 8 to 10 are golden. As one pp said, when you do hop, go to the park that had evening EMH the day before, or follow Josh's advice on Easywdw.com.

 

[LoveToTravel2001]

We are morning people as well. We always do morning EMH. We get a lot accomplished with little to no wait. We stay until the park gets busy and hop to a different park. I specifically remember one trip in July - HS, we did RnRC, ToT, and TsM all before the park opened. We then hit the lesser attractions and were out of the park by noon and off to Epcot.

 

[mikana876]

So my question now is, what time should I anticipate hopping to the next park? (So I can plan my FP+ accordingly)

 

[LynJ]

We went last Christmas, and we did AM extra magic hours every day. On Christmas Eve, we rode Space Mountain 3x, Buzz lightyear 2x, and at least one other ride before 8 am. Fabulous! Before 9, we also rode Little Mermaid, met Ariel, and I think met Rapunzel. We then parkhopped to Epcot for breakfast at Akershus at 9:30.

 

[ghtx]

For morning EMH at MK- is the welcome show usually the regular length one or is it the abbreviated version? DH has missed the morning show every time we've gone due to something holding us up, and he wants to see it in May but we will be there on an EMH day (we're going for SWW with one MK day planned). I know there are a few versions but I didn't know if it's always the shortened version on EMH days.

I think that it is impossible to predict with certainty, but the morning show is usually abbreviated on EMH mornings.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Morning EMH was more valuable pre FP+. This year's current FP+ differs vastly from the FP+ version that was offered last April, and FP- that was offered prior to last year. So any posts talking about pre FP+ AM EMH may not be all that helpful.

Second, it also matter greatly which week. During busy weeks like Easter, EMH is still useful - both AM and PM. We've missed the last few Septembers, but our Sept hopping/AM EMH experience was vastly different from holiday week visits.. During September, a high overall percentage of total guests are onsite guests taking advantage of free dining. So mostly everyone has access to EMH's. Morning EMH was less useful. (though my experience was under FP-)

The other big takeaway I have learned...PLANNING to go to AM EMH is not the same as GOING to EMH. If you arrive at the EMH park AFTER EMH is over, then you arrive at a considerable DISADVANTAGE. Lots of times we thought we'd arrive for EMH, or stay until EMH, but missed the bus, overslept, or got tired early. On those days, we would have done much better at a non-EMH park. With new FP+ it is very hard to change your plans. Under old FP-, if it looked like we were going to miss AM EMH, we just swapped park days. If you swap park days now, you miss out on good FP options - AND maybe have to pay a penalty for changing your ADR! Yuck!

We almost always find PM EMH more useful, especially MK on a Sunday night. with new FP+, PM EMH has become MORE valuable. Guests leave in droves after they finish 3rd FP (maybe 4th FP at MK).


RE hopping: In short, hopping is much more valuable during busy weeks than slow weeks. Second, hopping to take advantage of peripheral hours is a plus, but hopping costs TIME. If you are only in the parks 8am-7pm - then hopping is usually a big LOSS of time.

One exception is hopping to get around FP tiering in HS and Epcot. In Epcot, guests are limited together TT or Soarin'. An early arrival +TT at RD+ hopping to HS to use your 3 FP (or the opposite to get on e-rides at HS) is great hopping.

Hopping from any park to MK mid-day, via WDW transportation often = a loss of an hour.