Avoid EArly morning hours at spring break?

[libertygirl]

Okay,

We'll be there april 13-19 during the easter craze! I am trying to set the itinernary but am unsure about how to use these extra hours. I am using two vacation guides. One tells me to take advantage of these early hours, arrive at early opening and leave about an hour or so after the parks opens to the general public. Another guide tells me to avoid these parks altogether, as they will be overly crowded because of the early hours. It is my first time during such a peak period. What is your experience with the parks and the Early morning hours? Use them or lose them?

Thanks!

 

[mmeb144]

If you are staying onsite, I would take advantage of the Early Entry (EE) and leave to go to another park when things get crowded. Also works especially well if you are an early riser. If you are neither of those, I would just avoid the EE park.

Another fun thing to do when the parks are crowded is to hit the resort for a break in the afternoon. You get refreshed and avoid the crowds.

Marie

 

[Tegra89]

Okay,

We'll be there april 13-19 during the easter craze! I am trying to set the itinernary but am unsure about how to use these extra hours. I am using two vacation guides. One tells me to take advantage of these early hours, arrive at early opening and leave about an hour or so after the parks opens to the general public. Another guide tells me to avoid these parks altogether, as they will be overly crowded because of the early hours. It is my first time during such a peak period. What is your experience with the parks and the Early morning hours? Use them or lose them?

Thanks!

Good question! I'm not going during April but will be there in March and wondered the same thing.

 

[Candice30]

funny...i was just wondering the same thing too! i was asking on the solo board about traveling this time of the year solo and the large crowds. i was then going to ask about early magic hours at easter time. the park hours map says that MKG opens regularly at 8 am but has EMH for the entire week. does this mean that the park opens at 7am?? also on easter it says that there is EMH in the evening. how is this when the park is open to midnight? sorry but i am confused about when to use them also.

 

[Robo]

Here is the GUARANTEED* definitive answer to these questions:

NEVER EVER "avoid" entering a theme-park EARLY.

MOST people will NOT get up early on vacation, they just WON'T do it.

Sooo...
entering as early as they will let you in (EMH or NOT) will allow you (EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU DO IT) to ride many of the attractions virtually "alone."

You can usually just keep going back on the same ride as much as you like, or choose to go from one attraction to the next without waiting more than a very few minutes (much shorter wait-times than even using the FAST PASS line later in the day).

Go early... EVERY DAY!
You can get more "done" in the first 1 to 3 hours than at any other time of the day.

----------------

*GUARANTEED to work or TWICE the MONEY-BACK you paid me to tell you.

 

[puggymom]

2 years ago I took my oldest niece and nephew 2 weeks before Easter, making our last day the weekend before Easter. Our plan of attack was we chose the park that had EE the following day. So if MK EE was Thursday we went Wednesday. We got there before opening everyday and grabbed fast passes and did all the major rides at least once before lunch time. I don't think we waited more than 20 minutes using that strategy. Also, our last day (Saturday) we went to Epcot until it was time to leave for the airport and it was dead, I don't think I've ever been in Epcot when it was so quiet.

 

[NancyIL]

Easter week is an extremely busy time at WDW. Therefore, if even a small percentage of the resort guests decide to go to a park for the Extra Magic Hour, it will be crowded almost immediately. While the early birds are at the EMH park, you'd be better off going to a non-EMH park at opening.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Has anyone else done the non-EE parks during busy days?

I've always done the EE mornings but two things are different. There are more on-site guests than ever before since POP opened. The base MYW tickets are non-hoppers so if you have one you are more likely to pick a EE day to use your tickets.

I'm wondering if the crowds patterns have changed?

 

[canwegosoon]

What College students do you know that get out of bed before 10am

Even if they do...it's ok.

Last year we went March 20-30th...only on Sat before Easter were the parks really busy. Usually by 10:30 attendence levels were building...by that time you should have your FP and poss a 2nd FP for rides you want to do(11-1)then grab a lunch...go to the pool(poss grab a late FP if you are coming back to the same park)..and come back later or go to a different park.

 

[Robo]

What College students do you know that get out of bed before 10am

That was EXACLTY the point I was making in my "GUARANTEE".

Even if a "lot" of on-site guests decide to go to early EMH (and they WON'T)... they virtually "disappear" into the various EMH attractions and the traditional "long lines" that WILL be there later in the day (when EVERYONE finally gets out of bed) are simply NOT POSSIBLE in the early morning.

And I would NEVER (and I use that term advisedly) buy any ticket at WDW that does NOT INCLUDE "Hopping".

It costs very little to add that option and can make the difference between a need to "stay and suffer-thru" an unanticipated "problem" at any given park... or just hopping over to another park and finding a happier situation.

Besides, if you go to say, DAK (on a non-evening EMH, especially) and can't HOP, your day will certainly end a lot earlier than if you could go to another park and enjoy the evening fireworks, and EMH, an in-park snack, or shopping.

Hey, if there's an "open" park, I want IN.

 

[Matt]

This thinking is exactly why I avoid ALL EMH mornings except possibly Magic Kingdom. When I take advantage of MK EMH, I usually park hop later.

 

[Robo]

This thinking is exactly why I avoid ALL EMH mornings except possibly Magic Kingdom. When I take advantage of MK EMH, I usually park hop later.

I don't follow what you mean.

You DON'T go because there are FEW people during EMH?

Or you don't go because there will be lots of folks LATER?

 

[brentalex]

Our schools always have their spring break the third week in April. Sometimes it lines up with Easter, sometimes it doesn't. When we go, we always try to take advantage of the morning EMH. This is not to say that it is not busy, but it is not too busy. We get to go on most of what we want in the first hour or two. Then we go on smaller attractions, or leave and go to another park. We always buy hopper tickets, it is well worth the cost. Going to the other parks in the morning puts us on the same footing as all other people going to the parks. By going to the morning EMH park, getting there as early as possible, there is a limited number of people we are going to be in 'competition' with. And as others have said, many people on vacation do not want to be at the MK at 6:45 so that they can get into the park at 7. I say use the morning EMH if you are a resort guest.
Since I have never been at Disney when they had the night time EMH, I am not sure what to make of it. However, I think that my DS ( 14 ) and I may head over to the MK some nights/mornings after midnight since it will only be a few minute walk from the hotel. My DW and DD will be asleep and we may see what it is like.

 

[bellebud]

we went last easter (the week before and week after easter) and for july 4th... for MK, use the extra hour in the morning if you can get up for the 7am opening. we were done w/ every ride we wanted by 10am (which was when it started getting crowded), had a fast pass ready to go, did that, and left MK or ate and then left to go swimming. it was a great feeling walking down main street against the crowds so early in the day. we did this several mornings (not in a row), and once we were done so early, we hopped the monorail to the contemp and had a late breakfast there. i'm into staying in the parks to even hang out, but dh HATES crowds and lines, so this worked perfectly for us. and the kids were very satisfied w/ the amount of times we went on their favs. I can't speak for the other parks emh, since most rides and shows my little kids would enjoy aren't open for emh.

 

[Lizzybee]

We were at WDW last Spring Break/Easter and we found early EMH at MK to be absolutely essential to getting to do what we wanted to do in that park. When we were there, there were early EMH every morning because they anticipated larger than even regular Spring Break crowds. Between 7am and about noon MK was completely manageable, most rides had little or no wait.

Early morning EMH at AK was a total mess. Keep in mind I made an ADR for Donald's for the early EMH day at AK on the Saturday before Easter. Probably about 90% of POFQ and POR went to AK that day. We were there to catch the bus by 6:15 and didn't get a bus until after 7am. The plan was to go to the Safari then catch our ADR 8:30 am, but it seemed everyone ran straight back to the Safari ride instead of spreading out all over the park like people did at MK. So we had to fast pass it which was fine. At about 1pm it started to storm and it just didn't stop. It poured buckets and we decided to just head back to the resort. The line to return to POR was all the way through the line-up area and from the back of the whole depot for all resorts to the front. We ended up grabbing a bus to CBR and then to MGM and POR from there.

Basically what I'm saying is MK early EMH DEFINITELY
AK early EMH...not so much.
The other parks we didn't use the EMH late or early and they were no prob.

 

[GoingtoSeeRella]

Another Easter week attendee here who believes in EMHs....especially at the MK. They open at 7 a.m. every morning, the week before Easter and the week after Easter. And the park was completely managable and not crowded at all until about 10 a.m. So for 3 hours, we accomplished so much!! It only took us from 7 a.m. till 8:30 (when we had a CTR ressie) to do ALL of Fantasyland!!

Downside: we were staying at All-Star Sports and we were out at the bus stop at 6:15 a.m. We have 3 small kids who are early risers anyway, so it wasn't too much of a stretch, but still, that's an early morning wake up call....but soooo worth it!!