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

[MudQueen22]

We are booked for July 15. Enjoying reading everyone's reports of their experience. It is helping us plan our strategy. Thank you!

 

[cakebaker]

This was at 9:05am. It seems to me that, unless you are at the very very front of the line, rope dropping SDD is a horrible idea. The waits were down to 65 mins in the afternoon. Of course EMM is still the best option to enjoy TSL.

It is beyond me why anyone thinks doing rope drop and then getting in the longest line of the day is the smartest strategy. The wait times are less later in the day than you’ll spend waiting outside the area at the crack of dawn.

 

[Candycane83]

We are booked for July 15. Enjoying reading everyone's reports of their experience. It is helping us plan our strategy. Thank you!

We’re booked for the 15th too!

 

[OKC Disney Fan]

Okay, after all the glowing reviews, I booked it for us on July 8. It will be our first time at TSL, so wanted to make it nice.

Question for those who have done it: Is it possible/advisable to leave when the main crowd arrives and go do Rockin' Roller Coaster or should we not try to do that and go directly to breakfast? Seems like there is a good hour or so in there where we could pop over and do RRC, but I'd love to hear experiences. We don't want to miss breakfast b/c this will be our brunch, basically, since we'll just skip lunch and have an early dinner.

We were there on Monday and did just that. We left TSL just before the rope drop crowds arrived and made our way over to RnRC area. We were held for just a moment by the Pixar store until the main RD crowd was let in. Straight to RnRC where we were probably the 3 or 4th car on the ride. Then went to TOT and rode with basically no wait. Headed to breakfast at that point. There was plenty of food and everything was still being prepared at 9:45-ish.

 

[cakebaker]

We were there on Monday and did just that. We left TSL just before the rope drop crowds arrived and made our way over to RnRC area. We were held for just a moment by the Pixar store until the main RD crowd was let in. Straight to RnRC where we were probably the 3 or 4th car on the ride. Then went to TOT and rode with basically no wait. Headed to breakfast at that point. There was plenty of food and everything was still being prepared at 9:45-ish.

This what I’d like to do as well, glad to hear it’s doable.

 

[mydisneyanytime]

Does anyone know if you can go through the handicap line at TSMM during EMM? My son is in a wheelchair though he can ride in a normal car (he is mobile for short distances) but it is easier for him to use the button rather than the pull string on the ride. The continual motion for the string is much tougher on him than the button. It is one of his favorite rides and last time we were there we waited about 15 minutes while they cleaned up an accident on the car so that we could ride it with the push button rather than go through the fast pass line. Thanks!

 

[Mrspeaks]

Was hoping for 9/2 this morning, it wasn't available yet. I did get MK EMM for 9/3!

 

[michelepa]

Thank you to the person who released 2 tickets for 3/27.
Now to get one more for DH!

So in total we have two evening hours events (AK) and (MK) and this morning event.

Couldn’t have afforded it if I wasn’t staying at WBC!

Getting excited now that plans are almost finalized.

 

[DisneyMomma930]

I really want to book this for our August trip...preferably for Sunday 8/18. I just can't spare the extra cost today...how much longer do you think I have before it sells out?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I really want to book this for our August trip...preferably for Sunday 8/18. I
just can't spare the extra cost today...how much longer do you think I have before it sells out?

Really tough to say with any degree of certainty, unfortunately. Many if not most dates have been selling out along the way, but it’s pretty dynamic so hard to be specific.

 

[pal6860]

EMM REPORT 3/4/19:

Family of 5 (2 adults, 3 preteens) had a great time! Here are my notes I took today: (We were interested in rides only, not meet and greets, so no info there, sorry)

0645: arrive parking lot.

0650: Arrive security

0655: through the gates

Walk towards the Chinese Theater. Multiple CM’s direct us to breakfast. We linger by the stage, and at...

0701: We walk left and then behind stage, and go directly in front of Chinese theater. We are first with another 2 families.

0712: about 75 people in line.

0715: TSL CM’s arrive.

0718: over 100 people now waiting.

0723: start walking back to TSL. Over 200 people??? This pic was taken on our walk TO TSL




***WE STAY ON THE FAR RIGHT AS WE WALK TOWARDS TSL***In doing so, we end up...

0727: First in line for SDD.

0733: SDD for 2nd time. Wait time says 15 min. We wait 14min.

0751: alien swirling saucers. No wait

0758: TSM. No wait.

0812: SDD for third time. Wait time says 15 min wait. Actual 8.5 min

0823: bathroom break

0828: SDD (4th time). ONLY 5 min wait max.

0839: walk to rope drop for RnRC. We walk and see this.




We veer left and wait with the ToT and RnRC CM’s to await rope drop.

0845 (?): Rope Drop starts.
0848: RnR
0859: RnR again using FP (standby was about 5-10 min long at this point). Ride was down for about 10 min.
0930: breakfast. A lot of great reviews, so I’ll bypass this.

Overall:
1. SDD x 4 (easily could’ve done one more before RD)
2. Alien Saucers x 1
3. TSM x 1
4. Rope drop
5. RnR x 2 (using FP although it wasn’t necessary)
6. Breakfast

Thank you all for your GREAT advice!!!! We used this message board to:
1. Bypass breakfast and wait in front of the theater at 0700.
2. Stay to the FAR RIGHT as you walk towards TSL with the Cast Members (especially if you are at or near the front)
3. Rope Drop your favorite ride, and re-ride it.
4. Then eat breakfast.

Thanks!!

 

[SinCityMMAFan]

@pal6860 Thank you for the amazing detailed review of your experience.

 

[michelepa]

yes thank you@pal6860
I was looking at MDE this morning and looks like right after event TSM went down for quite awhile if the app is to be believed! Also love the photos. Looks like tons of people heading to event but your report makes it seems like it wasn't a problem.
RD crowds yikes.
Our plan for 3/27 is same as yours heading over to RnR and ToT before RD
I have your plan written down to follow!

 

[Suejacken]

EMM REPORT 3/4/19:

Family of 5 (2 adults, 3 preteens) had a great time! Here are my notes I took today: (We were interested in rides only, not meet and greets, so no info there, sorry)

0645: arrive parking lot.

0650: Arrive security

0655: through the gates

Walk towards the Chinese Theater. Multiple CM’s direct us to breakfast. We linger by the stage, and at...

0701: We walk left and then behind stage, and go directly in front of Chinese theater. We are first with another 2 families.

0712: about 75 people in line.

0715: TSL CM’s arrive.

0718: over 100 people now waiting.

0723: start walking back to TSL. Over 200 people??? This pic was taken on our walk TO TSL

View attachment 386365


***WE STAY ON THE FAR RIGHT AS WE WALK TOWARDS TSL***In doing so, we end up...

0727: First in line for SDD.

0733: SDD for 2nd time. Wait time says 15 min. We wait 14min.

0751: alien swirling saucers. No wait

0758: TSM. No wait.

0812: SDD for third time. Wait time says 15 min wait. Actual 8.5 min

0823: bathroom break

0828: SDD (4th time). ONLY 5 min wait max.

0839: walk to rope drop for RnRC. We walk and see this.

View attachment 386367


We veer left and wait with the ToT and RnRC CM’s to await rope drop.

0845 (?): Rope Drop starts.
0848: RnR
0859: RnR again using FP (standby was about 5-10 min long at this point). Ride was down for about 10 min.
0930: breakfast. A lot of great reviews, so I’ll bypass this.

Overall:
1. SDD x 4 (easily could’ve done one more before RD)
2. Alien Saucers x 1
3. TSM x 1
4. Rope drop
5. RnR x 2 (using FP although it wasn’t necessary)
6. Breakfast

Thank you all for your GREAT advice!!!! We used this message board to:
1. Bypass breakfast and wait in front of the theater at 0700.
2. Stay to the FAR RIGHT as you walk towards TSL with the Cast Members (especially if you are at or near the front)
3. Rope Drop your favorite ride, and re-ride it.
4. Then eat breakfast.

Thanks!!

Thanks for the info. We are doing it on 7/1 and I was planning on skipping breakfast too

 

[cakebaker]

EMM REPORT 3/4/19:

Family of 5 (2 adults, 3 preteens) had a great time! Here are my notes I took today: (We were interested in rides only, not meet and greets, so no info there, sorry)

0645: arrive parking lot.

0650: Arrive security

0655: through the gates

Walk towards the Chinese Theater. Multiple CM’s direct us to breakfast. We linger by the stage, and at...

0701: We walk left and then behind stage, and go directly in front of Chinese theater. We are first with another 2 families.

0712: about 75 people in line.

0715: TSL CM’s arrive.

0718: over 100 people now waiting.

0723: start walking back to TSL. Over 200 people??? This pic was taken on our walk TO TSL

View attachment 386365


***WE STAY ON THE FAR RIGHT AS WE WALK TOWARDS TSL***In doing so, we end up...

0727: First in line for SDD.

0733: SDD for 2nd time. Wait time says 15 min. We wait 14min.

0751: alien swirling saucers. No wait

0758: TSM. No wait.

0812: SDD for third time. Wait time says 15 min wait. Actual 8.5 min

0823: bathroom break

0828: SDD (4th time). ONLY 5 min wait max.

0839: walk to rope drop for RnRC. We walk and see this.

View attachment 386367


We veer left and wait with the ToT and RnRC CM’s to await rope drop.

0845 (?): Rope Drop starts.
0848: RnR
0859: RnR again using FP (standby was about 5-10 min long at this point). Ride was down for about 10 min.
0930: breakfast. A lot of great reviews, so I’ll bypass this.

Overall:
1. SDD x 4 (easily could’ve done one more before RD)
2. Alien Saucers x 1
3. TSM x 1
4. Rope drop
5. RnR x 2 (using FP although it wasn’t necessary)
6. Breakfast

Thank you all for your GREAT advice!!!! We used this message board to:
1. Bypass breakfast and wait in front of the theater at 0700.
2. Stay to the FAR RIGHT as you walk towards TSL with the Cast Members (especially if you are at or near the front)
3. Rope Drop your favorite ride, and re-ride it.
4. Then eat breakfast.

Thanks!!

Thanks for such detail! I’m using your methods for our EMM in May!

 

[WaterLinds]

The 7:00 Friday time for this week is now showing in the drop down menu, but doesn’t seem to be bookable yet. I’d hope at such short notice they’d enable it right away! Fingers crossed it’s up tomorrow.

Is there anyone here still who is searching a time for this Wednesday, 3/6? Assuming Friday becomes bookable we will be switching, so I can try to coordinate—but I know a lot of folks already found their Wednesday slot.

Now back to packing...

 

[WaterLinds]

@Kimberly Fogarty i can’t PM you because you don’t have enough posts, I think? But you were the first one who had asked me about the Wednesday date. Are you still looking for tickets? I know it’s last minute and you’re probably in the parks now, so I hope you see this.

I’m hoping the Friday slot opens up first thing tomorrow so I’ll tentatively plan to cancel my Wednesday tickets at 7 am tomorrow if that happens...if it’s not open tomorrow it’s going to be too late for me to cancel!

 

[DWFamilyof6]

Reporting back our experience today. 3/4.
2 adults, 4 kids (7-10)
Left POp at 6:51, had just missed the bus at 6:35. Bummer but we were fine. Made it in easily by 7:10. All the CMs were super friendly and offered breakfast or we could wait to enter TSL. We were maybe 100 people back. They let us in at 7:22.
As we headed past the M&G for where Woody and Jesse would meet no one was lined up yet. I was so tempted to stop but we kept going. Later the line was so so long the entire EMM. Rode Slinky Dog 3xs with very little wait. Maybe 7-8 min each. On to ALiens Saucers. Restroom break. Snapped pictures as we walked but we moved pretty briskly. Toy Story Mania next. Then Slinky Dog 4 more times. By the end I think we waited 5 min or less each. Hit up Toy Story Mania as the rope drop came in. Just as our game finished the ride broke down and we emergency exited. Crazy. I felt
so bad for rope droppers that had just got on. Stopped to get a CM pic in front of the entrance to Toy Story Land. Buzz had quite a long line but no one was getting Entry to the land pics. Family was hungry so we went to breakfast instead of Star Tours as I had planned. Everyone enjoyed breakfast a lot, or they were just starving.
We rode Star Tours, RR (FP), TT (FP), Nom NOm cookies and Incredibles Dance Party, stoped to watch the Galaxy Far Away stage show and back at the resort about 1:30. We are now at the pool relaxing before heading back tonight for our Slinky Dog FP and to see the land at night.
Thanks for all the tips from this thread! My family and I really loved it!
Ride count
SDD -7
ALiens - 1
TSM - 2

 

[Lease257]

First, a quick thank you to everyone on this thread! I have literally read every post and while I think our party would have enjoyed the event either way, having a thorough understanding of the event and using all of the advice on this board made it that much more successful!

On to our experience...

We attended the event on Monday, February 25 and had 7:00AM tickets (although as noted many times on this thread, the time does not matter). We were a party of 6 adults staying at Boardwalk Inn.

The night before my party asked me what time we needed to leave and I told them to first answer me whether they wanted a pastry and coffee first (since breakfast is all you can eat) or if they just wanted to arrive in time for the opening of the rides and eat once after. We all agreed on skipping the first coffee/pastry in favor of a little extra sleep. With that decision, we agreed to leave the hotel at 6:40AM to make the walk over. (I gave that time preemptively knowing full well we would all be running 5-10 minutes late!)

We ended up heading out at 6:45AM and were at the park right about 7. We are fast and able walkers, though. If you have children or take a more leisurely pace, I would give yourself closer to 20-25 minutes for the walk vs 15 and definitely a bit more if on the other side at Yacht/Beach Club.

Check in was very easy and we were through the gates by 7:05AM. Walked slowly up street and arrived at the Chinese Theatre. They directed us to breakfast (as I expected), but we ignored them and went to wait with the small crowd behind the stage. At about 7:10AM a CM came around and told us that TSL would not open until 7:30AM, again pushing us to go get coffee, etc. My party got antsy and didn't want to wait for 20 minutes if that was true, but I assured them that they were just saying that and we had a good chance of getting in a bit early if we just waited! Luckily I convinced them as we were let back at 7:20AM!

The crowd was very pleasant and kind to one another and we had an easy walk back in to the land. One thing we got lucky with was being on the right had side of the crowd. If you are headed to SDD be on the right side, as that is where the push people going to SDD. The crowd was so small it didn't really matter, but being on the correct side already got us on the VERY FIRST RIDE of the event!

With my knowledge from this board I felt we could ride once more and still have a short wait, so we did. We ended up getting off our second ride just after 7:30AM. At this point the wait had "ballooned' to 15 minutes so I suggested we move on to a quick ride on AS2, then TSM and then back to SDD at the end. Luckily everyone agreed and we moved on! (I will say skipping breakfast and being at the "rope drop" is key to maximize rides, it definitely helped us get those two extra rides on SDD and our count may have only been 6 rides total if not for these key 10 minutes at the start.)

AS2 was a true walk on. We go through the queue and they just had us go pick any seat we wanted. We rode it once. It was fun, but didn't need to ride again. For anyone who is worried about it being like Teacups/making you motion sick, my DH hesitantly rode it and said he was pleasantly surprised and that it was definitely not as bad as other spinning rides. It more swings you back and forth than around in lots of little circles.

We then went to TSM. Rode once and almost could have stayed on to ride again, but couldn't get the group to agree and stay seated fast enough, so out the long exit we went. At that point everyone needed a quick bathroom break and some grabbed coffee in the land.

Our group then wanted to ride SDD again, but I saw the wait was still 15 minutes and knew it would go back down eventually. One couple really preferred to ride again over TSM, so we split up and met back up exactly at the same time! (So we ended up both getting a ride in in that time frame, but TSM is a longer ride and has a longer exit, so we definitely waited less.)

Then we all road SDD back to back two more times with about a 10 minute wait and then a 5 minute wait.

At that point it was 8:44AM so we rushed to TSM to get one last ride it!

My MIL wanted to get another coffee and relax so she waited outside and saw the mass of humanity that was the rope drop crowd come in! She said it was at about 8:50AM. This line for SDD was INSANE as we left the land. Extended all the way out past One Man's Dream/The Mike and Sully M&G.

We had gotten a 4th FP for TOT the evening before when we were at HS for dinner and fireworks, so we only were looking to ride RNRC. We walked to RNRC and it had a 5 minute wait at 9AM. It took more like 15 though, so I think the sign had not caught up to the line. We emerged to a 35 min wait at TOT so we headed back to breakfast. (Had we needed/wanted to ride TOT I think you need to cut your time in TSL a bit short and leave the land closer to 8:40AM. Especially with TOT sometimes running at half capacity now for maintenance it looked like the waits ballooned a lot faster.)

We really enjoyed breakfast and all of our party got multiple entrees and thought it was really fun you could try all of them. I know some people wish it was a little more basic of dishes, but we liked the variety and those that wanted plain eggs just got the kids meal.

In summary our ride count was:

Party #1: 9 Total (8 in TSL)
SDD - 4
TSM - 3
AS2 - 1
RNRC - 1

Party #2: 9 Total (8 in TSL)
SDD - 5
TSM - 2
AS2 - 1
RNRC - 1

We loved the event and honestly could have probably hustled to do a bit more, but we took a bathroom and coffee break and enjoyed having those moments to experience the land with low crowds.

Thank you everyone again!

I was there that day too. Everyone was so nice and pleasant. It was such a calm and peaceful atmosphere !!

 

[Branderson610]

Reporting back our experience today. 3/4.
2 adults, 4 kids (7-10)
Left POp at 6:51, had just missed the bus at 6:35. Bummer but we were fine. Made it in easily by 7:10. All the CMs were super friendly and offered breakfast or we could wait to enter TSL. We were maybe 100 people back. They let us in at 7:22.
As we headed past the M&G for where Woody and Jesse would meet no one was lined up yet. I was so tempted to stop but we kept going. Later the line was so so long the entire EMM. Rode Slinky Dog 3xs with very little wait. Maybe 7-8 min each. On to ALiens Saucers. Restroom break. Snapped pictures as we walked but we moved pretty briskly. Toy Story Mania next. Then Slinky Dog 4 more times. By the end I think we waited 5 min or less each. Hit up Toy Story Mania as the rope drop came in. Just as our game finished the ride broke down and we emergency exited. Crazy. I felt
so bad for rope droppers that had just got on. Stopped to get a CM pic in front of the entrance to Toy Story Land. Buzz had quite a long line but no one was getting Entry to the land pics. Family was hungry so we went to breakfast instead of Star Tours as I had planned. Everyone enjoyed breakfast a lot, or they were just starving.
We rode Star Tours, RR (FP), TT (FP), Nom NOm cookies and Incredibles Dance Party, stoped to watch the Galaxy Far Away stage show and back at the resort about 1:30. We are now at the pool relaxing before heading back tonight for our Slinky Dog FP and to see the land at night.
Thanks for all the tips from this thread! My family and I really loved it!
Ride count
SDD -7
ALiens - 1
TSM - 2

Wow SDD 7 times! That is amazing! I will be doing EMM next Monday. I can't wait. I have been noticing the Land has been opening around 7:20ish. I think I will get a pastry and a drink in time to get over there around 7:20.