Crowds on late EMH days?

[stacy6552]

Hey gang! If you have been in the parks on evening EMH days, for the whole day, would you please tell me how the crowds are. Historically I know that the attendance levels were highest on early entry days. Most vets seemed to use the EE and then hop to another park pretty quickly or avoid the park altogether if they werent up early enough.

So what's the logic for evening EMH? Do most people start elsewhere and hop over to the park thats open late? Or do they spend the whole entire day there?

I guess the short question is how are the crowds in the morning? When does the park start to crowd?

 

[J and R's mom]

This is a good question. Anyone out there have some recent experience with this?

 

[ImagineerVelasco]

I know that's what I'm doing. I'm starting out at Animal Kingdom and them hopping over to Magic Kingdom for evening hours. Being that I'm your average first timer I would imagine a lot of average first timers would do that yea?

 

[noladave]

I'd be interested to see if it's changed since February of this year.

My feelings (worst to best)

AK- Evening EMH almost worthless, especially since some of the attractions are seasonal, and will close at dusk. So, late fall to early spring, there's not a whole lot to do, and what rides are open are very,very busy.

MGM - rides open, but it seems EVERYBODY was there. Fast passes for the big attractions are gone by the time evening EMH comes around. Morning EMH is much better - you can ride several of the attractions fairly quickly, if you get there at opening.

EPCOT - this was our mixed bag. We decided to park hop all day, and when evening EMH came around, we drove over about 2 hours before late EMH was over (so about an hour after EMH started). We drove, got real close, and walked right in. Showed our id's, got our bracelets, and went in. Fast pass for fast track and Mission Space were all gone, so you had 60 minute waits for Fast track, and another long line for mission space. The good news was that you could walk right in for Shrunk the Audience, and all of the other attractions. With Soarin, I wonder what that's done to evening EMH.

MK - best of all - get there for moning EMH, and pick certain attractions you want to hit, and you will not have a problem. Evening EMH is a little different, but again, it depends on what you want to do. During the parade, we hit all kinds of attractions, and rode Buzz 3 times straight. Fireworks is another time to hit attractions.

Crowds leaving MK after EMH are HUGE. Be prepared to wait a while for a bus.

 

[J and R's mom]

Thanks for the info, noladave. You brought up some really good points that I hadn't thought of yet, especially for AK evening EMH.

 

[RnRCfreak714]

When I went, everybody was at the park for emh night. I waited longer for test track then I did in the daytime when I was at Epcot.

 

[DrTomorrow]

AK- Evening EMH almost worthless, especially since some of the attractions are seasonal, and will close at dusk. So, late fall to early spring, there's not a whole lot to do, and what rides are open are very,very busy. [...]

I didn't know this (the bolded part). So is it the case that, even if AK has EMH-PM, if the sun sets at, say, 6:30, they won't stay open until 8PM? I was hoping to see AK in the dark....

 

[noladave]

no, just to clarify - certain attractions are daylight sensitive (safari, for example).

When we went in February of this year, the main area open during evening EMH was the Dinosaur area. You could walk through the park, and it was quite nice, but the vast majority of attractions were closed at sunset/dark/whatever.

I wonder if it has changed since February - does anybody know?

 

[Willow25]

We went in September of this year and only used emh twice for MK and MGM. What we found was if we went to dinner during the first hour people start to clear out because the crowds are not very manageable. If you are patient we found that the last few hours before closing the crowd really thins out and you are able to walk onto rides. Although September is a really slow time of year we still found the first few hours to be packed.

 

[Mahusky]

When we went in late August, after the Florida kids went back to school, we did EMH at both Epcot and MK. I would NEVER!!! do this again!! THe crowds were brutal and flat out not worth it!

 

[fabumouse]

We did Eve. MH November 2 (MK) and 3 (Epcot) and the crowds were somewhat heavy right at the beginning, but that last hour and a half was totally dead. We walked onto everything.

 

[DrTomorrow]

no, just to clarify - certain attractions are daylight sensitive (safari, for example).

When we went in February of this year, the main area open during evening EMH was the Dinosaur area. You could walk through the park, and it was quite nice, but the vast majority of attractions were closed at sunset/dark/whatever.

I wonder if it has changed since February - does anybody know?

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. It's just that the chance to see AK in real darkness only comes a months a year....

 

[tinkermell]

I wonder what most people would say was the most crowded?? On days of morning EH or evening???

 

[fabumouse]

I've heard that morning EH are much worse. I'm assuming because kids start to slow down and pass out in the evening hours. =)

 

[Ellielovesdisney]

We are planning our first evening at MK on an EMH night (dec 7). We have 5:20 ADRs at CP, and really just want to see Wishes and do a few attractions. Do you guys think it will be possible to go to Toontown, or a few rides in fantasyland?

 

[mydisneykids]

We just returned and used the EMH at Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I do not belive that toontown was open past the regular park hours.
The park closed at 9:00 to the public and the crowds were very heavy until about 10:30.
We got much more riding done going to the morning EMH and leaving after 2 or 3 hours.

 

[QueenOfCelts]

Normally we try and stay away from the extra hours if at all possible. We have participated in a few but to be honest, it's just not worth it. No Fast Passes and the parks are crowded. Epcot was awful during the evening EMH. They block off lots of walkways, herd everyone like cattle and the choices are very limited. MK was better but not by much. Again those were the evening EMH's. We are going back to avoiding the park(s) with EMH completely. Avoid crowds and you don't need the extra time.

 

[stacy6552]

Hey gang. I appreciate the feedback, but Im not asking about the crowds during emh's, I want to know about the crowds BEFORE the late emh's, especially early in the day.

 

[QueenOfCelts]

Hey gang. I appreciate the feedback, but Im not asking about the crowds during emh's, I want to know about the crowds BEFORE the late emh's, especially early in the day.

I may not have been clear, but that was sort of the all around point of my post. We stay away from the parks with extra hours. Very crowded. My guess is it's because people have to pay extra to park hop now, so they pick the park with extra hours and only visit that park on that day. Who knows though, my perception could be all off. Heck, I even like Small World.

 

[granmaz]

We're stopping onsite for the first, and I think probably the only, time. I was thinking that the evening EMH's would be worth going to just for the experience of being in the parks in the dark. However, I am fast changing my mind, but I'm a bit sad really! We could probably do some Epcot rides during Illuminations. AK probably not worth it anyway in February, and MGM may not have much atmosphere to experience. That would just leave MK. What do you think? We're oldies, so there aren't many rides we would need to go on.