Are PM EMH worth it anymore?

[ACJT]

i haven't done any PM EMH for a couple years until this last week. We did both MK and EP. We felt that lines we just as long as during regular hours, many attractions and snack or dinning venues closed and it was crowded right till the end.

Here are my observations/thoughts:

1. I feel that going during a time of day that's not that much less crowded without the ability to plan and manage wait times with FP is not worth while. (My opinion)

2. With many venues closing during PM EMH it only exacerbates the wait time problem as there's fewer places to spread the crowd out over. ??

3. I wonder if only 2 PM EMH per week (1 MK, 1 EP) draws more resort guests as they have fewer nights over the week to go to a EMH? (I remember a time when there were numerous PM EMH's over a week. )

What do overs think?

Are PM EMH's still a perk to resorts guests?

After this week my perception on them has changed. I can take them or leave them now, whereas I once found them a great perk.

 

[Robo]

If you are mainly interested in RIDES:
MK-yes.
Epcot-no.

If you are mainly interested in ATMOSPHERE:
MK-yes.
Epcot-yes.

 

[Suzanne74]

If the hours are 11pm-1am for MK then they are absolutely worth it. You can walk on anything minus 7DMT with 0-5min wait by midnight.

For Epcot, no. I have yet to see Soarin or TT get below an hour even at 10:55pm. We usually schedule Sandcastle Club childcare and my DH and I hit up World Showcase and drink/eat around the world for the evening. It is so nice to stay after illumination and do this.

 

[ACJT]

I guess our 11-1am experience was not the norm?? For example The line for space mountain extended almost to Astro orbiter and we stuck it till almost closing.

 

[Eastern]

I guess our 11-1am experience was not the norm?? For example The line for space mountain extended almost to Astro orbiter and we stuck it till almost closing.

Whenever we have done the PM EMH at MK, the crowd has dropped off from 10pm on. By midnight there were not a lot of people. Maybe it was super crowded because of college spring breakers? They can stay up for 24 hours straight. The average family goes back to the hotel to sleep, at some point.

 

[ACJT]

Whenever we have done the PM EMH at MK, the crowd has dropped off from 10pm on. By midnight there were not a lot of people. Maybe it was super crowded because of college spring breakers? They can stay up for 24 hours straight. The average family goes back to the hotel to sleep, at some point.

That could be. We also wondered with it being so cold the two EMH nights ...if more people were at the theme parks who would have otherwise been at their resort pool for the day ??

 

[kniquy]

I think it might depend on the time of year and crowds. Just out of curiosity i was looking at the touring plans lines app at wait times for a MK EMH this past week and i saw a lot of rides with wait times less than 20 minutes. If you have hoppers i always thing it is worth it to bounce into the EMH park if you want to tackle some rides with out too high of expectations -- i think the big rides 7dwarfs still had a long wait of almost an hour. If you can stay late i think that helps you out the most, but if you have already been touring a park all day and have busy plans the next, it might not work out to stay late.

 

[Suzanne74]

I guess our 11-1am experience was not the norm?? For example The line for space mountain extended almost to Astro orbiter and we stuck it till almost closing.

Whoa, we have gone during Spring Break and Thanksgiving and have never seen that. Maybe one track was not working?

 

[elaine amj]

I mostly like them just for more hours in the park if I don't want to go to bed early. Otherwise, I never seem to find a noticeable reduction in crowds - unless I luck out on super late EMHs. Also, depends what rides u want. BTMR lines are pretty short once it gets late (EMH or normal night) as are Fantasyland rides. Space typically stays busy until the last bit though. If I want to ride Space (or 7DMT), I wait until just before the park closes.

 

[disneyvoice]

I think it probably depends on the time of year. I agree with PP - if you have lots of teens and college age kids at the park on break from school then you are going to see a much more crowded PM EMH. Those age groups are much more likely to be night owls than families with younger children or adults without children.

On a typical day, even without PM EMH, the parks tend to thin out with the exception of people hanging on to watch the evening entertainment - that time is always good for attractions. But when the parks are heavy with teens and college kids I think the crowds seem to almost increase as it gets later. Luckily for my DH and I we are old now and head out of the parks early, I don't think we could make it to PM EMH if we tried!

My teenage son and his friends, however are the group that gets back to the resort at 2 am still trying to find something to do.

 

[canyoncam]

The last PM EMH at MK I did was from 12-2 in early October. I stuck it out until 2 and the longest lines I saw after 1 were for Space at 30 min and 7D for 40. I thought those were high. But the rest of the rides were walk on and walking the park without anyone on my heels and by my elbows was and is why I will try PM EMH again.

 

[janicept]

As someone that doesn't stay onsite anymore I love pm EMHs to just walk around when it's not as crowded especially at MK at 1 and 2 am. I usually try to get in line somewhere before it closes to offsite guests which may be why the lines aren't really shorter for onsite guests during the EMHs. They don't kick me out if I'm already in line.

 

[Suzanne74]

As someone that doesn't stay onsite anymore I love pm EMHs to just walk around when it's not as crowded especially at MK at 1 and 2 am. I usually try to get in line somewhere before it closes to offsite guests which may be why the lines aren't really shorter for onsite guests during the EMHs. They don't kick me out if I'm already in line.

This is why I miss the 3hr EMH. We used to get a snack or go on a unpopular rides for the first hour. By then the non-resort park guests are gone and the lines are really low.

I think this is why TT, FEA, and Soarin are so high during EMH. Anyone offsite will pick one of those 3 rides and get in at 8:55pm and just wait it out because the park is going to close and it is not that late. That is definitely what I would do. And not to mention those with last hour FP are almost always heading in the last 5-10min.

 

[Suzanne74]

The last PM EMH at MK I did was from 12-2 in early October. I stuck it out until 2 and the longest lines I saw after 1 were for Space at 30 min and 7D for 40. I thought those were high. But the rest of the rides were walk on and walking the park without anyone on my heels and by my elbows was and is why I will try PM EMH again.

I have seen posted waits like that for Space and then you walk all the way down until the last set of ins/outs and it is 10 minutes tops. But you aren't going to walk that far and take the chance to find out. LOL

 

[pens4821]

I'm not a Disney veteran, but from my thoughts I'm sure the shorter hours don't help. When we were there January 2014 MK was open with EMH until like 2 or 3. February 2016 it was open until midnight. I was looking at some dates this January (we weren't there) and it was 10. Even the 10-12 you had people leaving, but now that it can be 8-10 most people still probably just stay.

HS for us those years was never really worth it. Longer waits. Never did Epcot, but we are planning on in next trip (january 2018). Disappointed to see that we most likely won't be able to do TT and Soarin (maybe FEA) without low waits.

 

[ratfam]

We only do PM EMH for Epcot because it is nice to be able to stroll the World Showcase with fewer crowds and get some dessert. This year we planned an 8:15 dinner at Spice Road Table, watched Illuminations from the restaurant (not as good nearly as seeing it from around the World Showcase but we have seen it several times and with the music piped into the restaurant it was enjoyable and worked for us), then we just walked around. Based on the MDE app the wait times were not long for the main attractions during Illuminations but had picked up quickly afterwards. However, we decided to check out TT since we didn't have Fastpasses for that during our stay and we were able to do the single rider with about a 20 minute wait.

 

[senadler]

We are planning to do EMH the last week of March. We have two other MK days during our trip to use FP+ for SDMT, PP, and others that always have lines. I think this will give us a great opportunity to do all of the rides in Fantasy Land and end our night with a few rides on BTMRR (my kids favorite). We are going to the late show of HDDR that night, so we should be getting to the park pretty close to the 11 PM closing. We don't have early plans the next day and should be able to stay until 1 AM with no problem.