DHS/Toy Story Land "Early Morning Magic" (EMM) FAQ & Discussion

[StacyStrong]

Thank you for the reports!

 

[Kdp2]

It sounds like people are getting everything done at Hollywood Studios pretty early in the day after attending this event. Has anyone who's done EMM managed to stay a full day at the park? Or do you all just hop to another park?

We're planning to park hop to Epcot (maybe Beaches & Cream in between???) after EMM and then have a second day at HS later in the week. I managed to get a FP for SDD the second HS day, so I really hope my 3 yo likes it!! When we did passholder event we finished everything and left the park around 10-1030, but we didn't have our kids that day. We did manage SDD 4x, AS2 once, TSM 2x, breakfast at Woody's, then we went over to R&RC, then TOT, then we all felt like we were gonna lose our breakfast tarts so we left!! It was so serene being in the park with so few people! I can't wait for EMM!

 

[disneyworldsk]

ok so two reports of uber and lyft drivers not knowing their way or being available quickly for on property pick ups to get there on time (meaning before 7:30). how can that be prevented? I will be going in november from pofq. So should i take bus at 6:30 ish or try these possibly unreliable car services/ride shares?

 

[Babs1975]

ok so two reports of uber and lyft drivers not knowing their way or being available quickly for on property pick ups to get there on time (meaning before 7:30). how can that be prevented? I will be going in november from pofq. So should i take bus at 6:30 ish or try these possibly unreliable car services/ride shares?

Minnie van?

 

[TinkerBeth18]

Went to EMM this morning. Totally worth it!

We got to HS about 6:45, quite a few people were already there. Checked in with the iPad people, got wristbands and then we were let in at 7 but they funneled everyone to ABC Commissary. I asked and they said we could eat then if we wanted or at anytime until 10:00 and that Toy Story land wouldn’t be open until 7:30. Grabbed some coffee and pastries then went out to wait for them to let us in to TSL. We were held near the commissary until they let everyone go at around 7:20. Got to TSL around 7:25 and stopped to wait for Woody and Jessie. Slinky started running about 7:25. Characters came out at 7:30.

We got to slinky at probably 7:40 and waited maybe 10 minutes the first time. Rode 3 more times and the line got shorter each time. Then did AS2 and TSM 1 time each before 8:45. Probably could have gotten more rides in, but I injured my knee a week before our trip so it slowed us down.

Went immediately at 8:45 to sign up for Jedi training and had to wait 30 minutes. The earliest time they had available was 11:40.

Got to breakfast at 9:30 and it was pretty busy but we didn’t have to wait too long. I got the avacado toast and it was just ok. I also tried the donuts and they were good. They did tell us we could get as many entrees as we wanted.

We all loved Slinky, super fun coaster

ETA: I had a 7:30 reservation that I made before they added the 7:00 and there was no mention of different reservation times when we checked in.

 

[jennab]

Went to EMM this morning. Totally worth it!

We got to HS about 6:45, quite a few people were already there. Checked in with the iPad people, got wristbands and then we were let in at 7 but they funneled everyone to ABC Commissary. I asked and they said we could eat then if we wanted or at anytime until 10:00 and that Toy Story land wouldn’t be open until 7:30. Grabbed some coffee and pastries then went out to wait for them to let us in to TSL. We were held near the commissary until they let everyone go at around 7:20. Got to TSL around 7:25 and stopped to wait for Woody and Jessie. Slinky started running about 7:25. Characters came out at 7:30.

We got to slinky at probably 7:40 and waited maybe 10 minutes the first time. Rode 3 more times and the line got shorter each time. Then did AS2 and TSM 1 time each before 8:45. Probably could have gotten more rides in, but I injured my knee a week before our trip so it slowed us down.

Went immediately at 8:45 to sign up for Jedi training and had to wait 30 minutes. The earliest time they had available was 11:40.

Got to breakfast at 9:30 and it was pretty busy but we didn’t have to wait too long. I got the avacado toast and it was just ok. I also tried the donuts and they were good. They did tell us we could get as many entrees as we wanted.

We all loved Slinky, super fun coaster

ETA: I had a 7:30 reservation that I made before they added the 7:00 and there was no mention of different reservation times when we checked in.

Thanks for the detailed review! That sucks it was a wait for Jedi sign ups. Guess we will be doing that right when EMM gets done.

 

[RachaelA]

Went to EMM this morning. Totally worth it!

We got to HS about 6:45, quite a few people were already there. Checked in with the iPad people, got wristbands and then we were let in at 7 but they funneled everyone to ABC Commissary. I asked and they said we could eat then if we wanted or at anytime until 10:00 and that Toy Story land wouldn’t be open until 7:30. Grabbed some coffee and pastries then went out to wait for them to let us in to TSL. We were held near the commissary until they let everyone go at around 7:20. Got to TSL around 7:25 and stopped to wait for Woody and Jessie. Slinky started running about 7:25. Characters came out at 7:30.

We got to slinky at probably 7:40 and waited maybe 10 minutes the first time. Rode 3 more times and the line got shorter each time. Then did AS2 and TSM 1 time each before 8:45. Probably could have gotten more rides in, but I injured my knee a week before our trip so it slowed us down.

Went immediately at 8:45 to sign up for Jedi training and had to wait 30 minutes. The earliest time they had available was 11:40.

Got to breakfast at 9:30 and it was pretty busy but we didn’t have to wait too long. I got the avacado toast and it was just ok. I also tried the donuts and they were good. They did tell us we could get as many entrees as we wanted.

We all loved Slinky, super fun coaster

ETA: I had a 7:30 reservation that I made before they added the 7:00 and there was no mention of different reservation times when we checked in.

Thanks for the review!

A 10 minute wait initially for SDD and long character lines that people have reported are worrying me.

The Jedi training part was super helpful. I think your plan to sign up at 8:45 before breakfast is going to have to be what we do.

 

[VAtink]

Minnie van?

We learned on our EMM at TSL that Minnie Van's don't start running until 6:30, and at that point are far and few between! We did discover later in the trip however the HS buses came to the resort by 6:15!

 

[ilanakan]

Great question! I wasn't thinking another park, but an afternoon visit to Ample Hills since we aren't staying at the Boardwalk or Beach Club this time.

Great minds think alike That's exactly what we are planning to do.

 

[LMO429]

For those of you who are worried about getting a minnie van. You can pre reserve mears online. This way the mears driver will be waiting for you at your resort at a pre determined time and you do not have to deal with the minnie van app and possibly not getting one. While the service and car seats are def better with minnie vans we found last trip they were hard to come by all the time. We are staying at the beach club this trip so it's a non issue for us we plan on walking over. But for those of you stressing how you will get to HS i would def pre reserve a mears van or taxi online. If i was at another resort this would be my plan of attack for getting there
on time.

 

[emilyhuff]

Does anyone have any reports on how the buses from the resorts were to get to EMM? Like as in, what time did they start running, etc

 

[masylimed]

Does anyone have any reports on how the buses from the resorts were to get to EMM? Like as in, what time did they start running, etc

I'm curious about this too. Staying at AKL for our 10/31 EMM date.

 

[kniquy]

We learned on our EMM at TSL that Minnie Van's don't start running until 6:30, and at that point are far and few between! We did discover later in the trip however the HS buses came to the resort by 6:15!

I'd also love to hear about transportation that early in the morning. Do they run the HS buses earlier because of this event? I'd just assume take the bus

 

[RubySlippers]

We will have our car this upcoming trip. How did the parking work out if you drove yourself? I read that there are no parking attendants that early in the morning and with all the construction going on was knowing where to park an issue?

 

[TinkerBeth18]

Thanks for the detailed review! That sucks it was a wait for Jedi sign ups. Guess we will be doing that right when EMM gets done.

I was not expecting to have to wait 30 minutes for that and we did have to change our plans around some, but still did almost everything we planned. I ended up picking the 1:00 time a lot and it was surface of the sun hot, just FYI.

 

[TinkerBeth18]

Thanks for the review!

A 10 minute wait initially for SDD and long character lines that people have reported are worrying me.

The Jedi training part was super helpful. I think your plan to sign up at 8:45 before breakfast is going to have to be what we do.

I heard the lines were long for Woody and Jessie which is why we decided to wait for them to come out (we were first in line). I think it worked out better that way, since most people are going to slinky first. The line got shorter every time, the last time was almost a walk on.

I’m not good at estimating crowds but I would say there were between 200 and 300 people there.

 

[TinkerBeth18]

We will have our car this upcoming trip. How did the parking work out if you drove yourself? I read that there are no parking attendants that early in the morning and with all the construction going on was knowing where to park an issue?

We drove ourselves. There was no one in the booth, but there were people directing us where to park.

 

[KrazeeK120]

We drove ourselves. There was no one in the booth, but there were people directing us where to park.

Thanks for this report. We will be driving ourselves too, and I was a little concerned about figuring out where to park. This puts my mind at ease.

 

[rxbeth]

For those of you who are worried about getting a minnie van. You can pre reserve mears online. This way the mears driver will be waiting for you at your resort at a pre determined time and you do not have to deal with the minnie van app and possibly not getting one. While the service and car seats are def better with minnie vans we found last trip they were hard to come by all the time. We are staying at the beach club this trip so it's a non issue for us we plan on walking over. But for those of you stressing how you will get to HS i would def pre reserve a mears van or taxi online. If i was at another resort this would be my plan of attack for getting there
on time.

It will just be me and my 6 year old. How much was Mears and did they have carseats? Transportation is my main worry with this early morning reservation. I just pulled the trigger!

 

[AngiTN]

Went immediately at 8:45 to sign up for Jedi training and had to wait 30 minutes. The earliest time they had available was 11:40.

Thanks for the detailed review! That sucks it was a wait for Jedi sign ups. Guess we will be doing that right when EMM gets done.

Thanks for the review!

A 10 minute wait initially for SDD and long character lines that people have reported are worrying me.

The Jedi training part was super helpful. I think your plan to sign up at 8:45 before breakfast is going to have to be what we do.

I was not expecting to have to wait 30 minutes for that and we did have to change our plans around some, but still did almost everything we planned. I ended up picking the 1:00 time a lot and it was surface of the sun hot, just FYI.

Sounds like you got caught up in the rope drop lines.

The impact of TSL... there was a time when by 8:45 you'd be down to the last show, if that.
If you don't need a specific time, I'd just wait and go after breakfast. The line from rope drop will be down by then.