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

[Brett Wyman]

Any guess when these will start up again after 8-29? I assume the month of September is out but hoping to see some dates for Oct-Nov-Dec.

 

[tookydo]

I just canceled 3 reservations for 8/7 if anyone is interested.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Any guess when these will start up again after 8-29? I assume the month of September is out but hoping to see some dates for Oct-Nov-Dec.

Well the daily extra extra magic hours go through 11/2, so definitely not through then. I highly suspect additional extra hours will be added past then when the other SWGE ride opens, through the holidays, etc.

My personal opinion is DHS EMM as we know it won't reappear past this month. I'm sure they will do some sort of AM and PM upcharge events incorporating SWGE at some point, but hard to say when.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Well the daily extra extra magic hours go through 11/2, so definitely not through then. I highly suspect additional extra hours will be added past then when the other SWGE ride opens, through the holidays, etc.

My personal opinion is DHS EMM as we know it won't reappear past this month. I'm sure they will do some sort of AM and PM upcharge events incorporating SWGE at some point, but hard to say when.

Now that we know ROtR opens 12/5 and I betting they start up in January at the latest.

 

[elgerber]

I was there this morning with my party of 4. We didn’t do any character greets. We ride TSMMx2 SDDx4 and 1 ride on alien swirling saucers. We thought it was great!

I was there this morning also. I was solo but my family of four could have done the same that I did. I did Saucers x 1, TSMM x 2 and SDD x 5. Could have done another but my stomach was saying it had enough.

 

[dachsie]

We just did EMM this morning and after reading many people’s trip reports I had certain expectations. Walked into TSL at 7:32am at the front of the pack, and only were able to ride TSM x2 and SDD x2. Its amazing how little that allotted time actually is.

I was there this morning with my party of 4. We didn’t do any character greets. We ride TSMMx2 SDDx4 and 1 ride on alien swirling saucers. We thought it was great!

I was there this morning as well. I decided I wanted to do as many SDD as I could. I looked at the Fastpass clock when we got to the ride and it said 7:36. Got on and was off by 8:45. Went back on again and again and again....etc. I rode SDD 8 times. I almost roadie it again but decided to do TSM before rope drop folks arrived. They were on their way when I entered the queue at 9am but were not where I could see them. After I got off I went to breakfast

SDD x8
TSM x1

So I figured they let us in there around 7:30 -was chatting with a family so didn’t see the exact time. Biggest help was them holding back the rope door people til 9am. I also think it helped being solo as I filed in empty seats although I also rode by myself twice

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Dang @dachsie, crushing it this AM!

 

[BCV2003]

So now I'm confused but I'm glad that I found this thread. We are planning to go to Hollywood Studios on 10/31/19 and I see in the Mydisneyexperience app that EMH hours are 6 am to 9am. Will everything be open at that time with no special ticket other than admission? We are staying onsite.

 

[ninafeliz]

So now I'm confused but I'm glad that I found this thread. We are planning to go to Hollywood Studios on 10/31/19 and I see in the Mydisneyexperience app that EMH hours are 6 am to 9am. Will everything be open at that time with no special ticket other than admission? We are staying onsite.

That’s different, that’s extra extra magic hours for resort guests and yes, most things will be open. All rides, and there’s a complete list out there somewhere of what’s open and when the rest opens. It’s for resort guests only, no special ticket. This thread is about early morning magic, a separate ticketed event for only TSL prior to regular park opening. It also ends soon, prior to SWGE opening.

 

[BCV2003]

That’s different, that’s extra extra magic hours for resort guests and yes, most things will be open. All rides, and there’s a complete list out there somewhere of what’s open and when the rest opens. It’s for resort guests only, no special ticket. This thread is about early morning magic, a separate ticketed event for only TSL prior to regular park opening. It also ends soon, prior to SWGE opening.

Thank you! I momentarily panicked thinking it was a ticketed event from 6-9am. This is what happens when you don't visit for 2 years. You fall behind on the news!!

 

[ambellina]

We were there yesterday and had a good time. We started at SDD, got right back on again, then did ***, TSMM, Slinky again and then TSMM again. We took our time walking over to the breakfast and had no problems finding a table and shared ours with another family that arrived later. We could have done even more rides in TSL with EMM but we move slower than most people. I think if you’re really devoted to wanting to get in as many rides as possible, save the breakfast for later. (Also the breakfast was meh so we figure our ticket mostly paid for the privilege of riding with lower wait times and was still worth it to us.)

 

[disneydreamer781]

Patiently waiting for DAH at DHS for October. Have to make some decisions on whether to add a park day or do this event?

 

[123SA]

Event was great today
Line started at 732. We were about 3 rows back from rope so we tried for slinky. We were along the right where line forms but so many people just stay left and force in we got pushed so far back. But being an odd numbered party truly is an advantage. Arrived at ride at 738 off at 749

Went to TSM. Off at 807 and again at 817. Both walk on

Back to slinky at 819 off at 834. We went in the odd lane as two singles and they seated us together. I felt like I cheated

Aliens twice ending at 848. Walk on

Slinky twice before rope drop ( rest of my group went to tsm, just once)

Stars tours and then breakfast at 930

We’re a little slow because one of my kids is not feeling well and we still got a lot done

 

[jhoannam]

I was there this morning with my party of 4. We didn’t do any character greets. We ride TSMMx2 SDDx4 and 1 ride on alien swirling saucers. We thought it was great!

What order did you do them in? Did you head straight to SDD?

 

[Boardgaming]

What order did you do them in? Did you head straight to SDD?

Yes... straight to SDD. Rode twice in a row then did TSMM twice in a row. Did Alien Saucers next and then twice more on SDD

 

[JeninTexas]

We attended on 8/5 and it was great! Our bus from the Contemporary left at 6:45, and we were at the park by 7. The process to check in and get wristbands was quick. Everyone was directed to Backlot Express, so we grabbed a couple of pastries and drinks and ate them on our way over to Toy Story Land. We were probably in about the first 1/3 of the crowd. Because there were so many more people behind us than in front of us, we decided to ride SDD first. The posted wait was 5 minutes and that was about right. We walked through the queue and waited just a couple of minutes before getting on. We then did TSMM and Aliens. We rode SDD again and did TSMM again. It was about 8:45 by this time and we could have easily ridden SDD again, but the kids were ready to go eat so we walked over to Backlot Express. I got the charcuterie platter and the kids got the chicken and donuts. I thought my dish was pretty good, except one of the meat selections was a cut up hot dog??!! The chicken and donuts did not look good at all and my kids both said it was bad and did not eat it. The chicken was just your typical frozen chicken tender and donuts were kind of a mini cinnamon-sugar pastry. The buffet portion with fruit and pastries was better (kind of like your typical hotel breakfast spread). So, while the food left a lot to be desired, the event was great because you could walk around TSL without crowds and it was easy to ride as much as you wanted to. I would do this again for sure.

 

[BlueLion]

Quick rundown of our DHS EMM experience today, Wednesday 8/14. At 6:37 there was no sign of a DHS bus at Pop century, with no eta on the sign or in the app. After a few minutes, one showed up at 6:45. Getting checked in and through bag check was a breeze and we were walking to breakfast for a quick snack just after 7. By 7:20 we were lined up to enter the event and they let us start walking at 7:27. By 7:42, DH and DS12 were on SDD; I can't ride and DS5 didn't want to, so we waited at the exit. By 7:50 we were waiting for Aliens, did two rounds on that, then TSMM and we were walking out by 8:17. DH and DS12 did two more rounds on SDD while DS5 and I made a bathroom stop, another ride on Aliens (he loved it!), and took a couple photopass pictures. We waited 5-10 minutes for them to finish SDD and were all headed to RNRC around 8:45. We beat the crowd still waiting for Toy Story Land, quite a few others were walking to RNRC and TOT but it didn't look like a rope drop crowd. I don't think they were all EMM though. DH and DS12 pretty much walked on to RNRC, no pre-show, and were off by 9:02. At 8:55, RNRC showed a 35 minute wait and I think TOT was 65. We were at Star Tours at 9:10 with a 5-minute standby. The other 3 rode while I waited, then we went to breakfast at 9:25. It was pretty crowded with a short wait for food and no tables inside. We got lots of food and enjoyed most of it, although neither kid was into the chicken. DS12 went back for shrimp and grits after trying mine.

All in all, we were pretty happy. Final ride count was SDD 3x for DH/DS12, Aliens once for them and 3x for DS5 and me, TSMM once for all of us. Agree with others who've commented on the long walk on and off for TSMM; it didn't seem worth doing that one again. The kids weren't interested in characters so we skipped them, but the Jessie and Woody/Bo Peep lines were very long. We saw Buzz on the way out and his was shorter. Family was fairly pleased, and the quick ride on RNRC was a bonus. DS12 said he liked Fantasyland EMM a little better because it has more rides. Seems everyone thought it was worth doing once. We did the original version with TSMM and Star Tours 3 years ago and this was vastly different. That one was so lightly attended that Woody and Buzz had no one visiting them so they came out to spend more time with my then 2 yo and me, which was amazing. Not the case today, but we still had fun!

 

[Figment1990]

Just thought I would share our experience here today because I found the info from people on the last couple of pages very helpful. Especially the part about odd numbered parties. We are a party of three, so at the point they split you up (at the fast pass spot) it helped us maybe by one train each time.

We caught our bus from the Polynesian at 6:39 and were thru bag check and heading towards the backlot express by a little after seven. I wanted coffee (mainly bc our room coffee maker was broken) and really regretted it because I was too hot to drink any! We grabbed a few pastries and headed to the holding spot, which is over by launch bay. We were about 5-6 families people back on the left smaller entrance and then as things got closer to 7:30, a bunch of people started to go “wide” instead of back, cutting up the left side in front of all of us (as in wider than the opening so they would be pushing in and getting ahead of people who had been there waiting.) I honestly don’t know why Disney can’t use ropes and lanes better for situations like this and pandora. Anyhow my recommendation is to skip pastries, head to the drop point, and try to get in the middle group. They seemed to get thru before our smaller opening did plus we knew we had to get “right” for SDD anyway. (Again, no ropes, so more left side mergers - not helpful).

Anyhow we waited about 8 min for the first ride on SDD, 13 for the second, then walked on AS2, TSMM, and went back to slinky for 3x at that point SDD was less than 5 min and they had started using the FP entrance. Then we did AS2 again and would have been able to stay on to ride again if we wanted. At that point it was just before 9 and we were going to try to ride TSMM one more time but the rope drop mass beat us to it and since we had FP for it later in the morning we went to breakfast and did Star tours. Then used our FP for ToT, RnRC and TSMM, and spent time in the launch bay, back in the room by 1:30.

All in all, 5x SDD, 2x AS2, and 1x TSMM. DS and DH would probably have gone on SDD again had I not been trying to get to TSMM again to not have to go back to TSL later. Also the exit line from TSMM takes forever, as some have noted, and I was ready for A/C and coffee.

We were happy with the morning and though we won’t do it every time, I truly don’t like wandering around TSL during normal hours (me, not the rest of my family) so it was worth it to me and I’m glad my DS talked us into it.

Also - the wait time posted for slinky was 20-25 the whole time but I would say it was at least 5 min less than posted, or more, depending on if u have even or odd numbered party.

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

Packing stuff up for our trip in 9 days. We are going 8/28. Should I have any type of tickets printed for this or will they just scan our MB's to get in? If I had something from when I made the reservations I am not finding it so I need to look harder if I should have something.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Packing stuff up for our trip in 9 days. We are going 8/28. Should I have any type of tickets printed for this or will they just scan our MB's to get in? If I had something from when I made the reservations I am not finding it so I need to look harder if I should have something.

Just your MBs... you’re all good!