Better to do RD on non-EMH or EMH and park hop

[4inapod]

This is our first year with park hoppers. Trying to plan our days, but not sure if it is better to go to parks that have EMH in the am and than park hop if gets busy later or to do rope drop at suggested parks from websites. It just seems like park hopping spends a lot of extra time traveling. I wouldn't mind that if it would truly allow us more rides and less line waiting.

We are going in August.

 

[Robo]

We love AM EMH, and rope drop.

We also generally park hop every single day.

The hopping is done at a time of day when the attraction lines are rather long, so
you would not be missing much during the "hop-time" anyway.

 

[OB1]

Totally agree ROBO. We always have a begin park, and a late afternoon park scheduled. We sometimes catch an offsite lunch, then return to a different park. Usually take advantage of the AM EMH, and seldom the evening.

 

[Ariel on Land]

I don't think there's a huge difference. I think the benefit always stems from being at rope drop, no matter if there are EMH or not. There might be a slight advantage of being at rope drop on an EMH morning, but rope drop is always the key.

 

[laura428]

Totally agree with Robo. We do rope drop at EMH, and find we get SO much done within the first few hours. We usually leave the parks by early pm, chill at the resort for a while, then head back to a park or to dinner later. This was very helpful during our trip this last week when crowds were much higher than expected. Prime example was Friday at MK - was supposed to be a 7 according to Touring Plans, but ended up being a 10. We took advantage of EMH, arriving at MK at about 7:55am, and made best use of our FP+. By doing this, we knocked out Peter Pan, Pooh, HM and BTMR all before 9, then Splash (using FP+), then Barnstormer, People Mover, 7DMT (using FP+), then lunch at BOG, then POTC (using FP+). Out of the park by 2:00pm and back to the resort to swim the rest of the afternoon. Back to HS by 6:30 for dinner at Prime Time, then Star Wars fireworks. Could have been a crazy crowded day for us, but was honestly pretty relaxed while still getting a ton of stuff done.

 

[bcrook]

I'm crazy i know, but my favorite combination is rope drop EMH at Hollywood Studios, go to DAk in the afternoon when people leave that park use FP at MK for the evening. This might change with evening activities in Animal ?Kingdom, but I doubt it.

If we go to EMH, we always leave for another park around noon.

 

[havoc315]

Depends on how early you can really get moving. Morning EMH is only valuable if you get there early enough.
So if you can get to the park by 7:40... Get some great touring in from 8-12, then rest/parkhop.... And hit another park in evening.

But if you'd rather sleep another hour... The RD strategy still works, with less need to park hop.

Being I take a break in the middle of the day regardless, park hopping works for me. But even when not doing EMH, I'll park hop based on where I'm staying. (For example, staying at Beach Club, may do morning at MK, but casual evening at Epcot)

 

[sharonabe]

One more reason to take advantage of that EARLY EMH in August....it's HOOOOOTTTTT!!! The earlier you get up and out, the cooler it will be (relatively speaking). We find those early mornings to be cooler than any evening or night.

 

[tlmadden73]

I would take advantage of early morning EMH. It's a perk for staying onsite, so use it! Plus it is just cooler in the morning. I did EMH for the first time every last August and it was awesome. We took it slow .. but still got a lot of rides done in the first hour. My sister-in-law's family opted to sleep in .. and really missed out. My son enjoyed being able to do Buzz two times in a row and get on the Speedway with little wait.

As for park hopping, I like to stay in a park all day. I would only park hop if you are leaving the park for some reason (afternoon break, dinner reservation) .. and then hop to another park for fun. Otherwise I think it is a waste of time (and money) to purposely PLAN to park hop. I have just always liked it as an option.

I mainly use it when I am "done" with a park for the day and just want to see another night show or have dinner elsewhere.
I often (before this new night stuff at AK) would use it to hop from AK to another park since it closed so early.
I would also use it to hop from DHS to Epcot .. done with DHS for the day, don't want to see Fantasmic, but want better dinner choices? Hop over to Epcot. (or the reverse).
Since there is SO much at MK .. I have never hopped away from MK.

I wouldn't hop to just try and avoid crowds .. then it just seems like a waste of time since you spend a lot of time on transportation.

 

[LSUfan4444]

This is our first year with park hoppers. Trying to plan our days, but not sure if it is better to go to parks that have EMH in the am and than park hop if gets busy later or to do rope drop at suggested parks from websites. It just seems like park hopping spends a lot of extra time traveling. I wouldn't mind that if it would truly allow us more rides and less line waiting.

We are going in August.

All depends on how late the night before ends. With new more night time activities at Hollywood Studios and coming to Animal Kingdom EMH rope drop is going to be hard on alot of families. But, for the most part if we are in a park that has EMH it's because no other park is open and it truly is "extra". I've done EMH rope drop at Hollywood Studios just for Toy Story then walked over to Epcot for non EMH rope drop.