Disappointing extra magic hour

[mmmears]

My point is that if they are going to say this EMH is a benefit of staying onsite, the least they could do is to have the limited number of rides they offer in the early morning up and running when they open the gates for their guests. The parks were not run this way in the past, with rides opening late all the time and other rides understaffed.

 

[DisneyPhans]

Wow, it's sounding less and less worth it. Are any Characters out and about during EMH? I am prioritizing photo/video opportunities, like at Pixie Hollow... Last time I waited 45 minutes, but at least got a minute and a half with Tinkerbell. She even stayed in character for my video with my niece, and was trying to speak French with us. I'm looking for things like that, where we would be able to spend more time with Characters.

 

[lk2500]

I had a great MM Saturday 7/2 so I though I would chime in:

7am - lined up at gate 20 but then finally figured out the gate 19 strategy. I walked by a bunch of peeps (who were wondering why I was cutting) up to gate 19 behind the tree island thingie and got in pretty quickly.

Peter Pan
Alice
Mr. Toad
Matterhorn (7:40am)
Star Tours

8am - grabbed Fast Passes for HM

Buzz
Pinochio
Snow White
Casey Jr.
Dumbo (9:15am)
Small World
(all 6 rides above with very short lines)

HM (10am with Fast Passes)

Very good start to a pretty crowded day.

Sorry you had so much bad luck OP.

 

[KingLlama]

Okay, I'm a DL newbie(first trip in 2017), so I have to ask....what is the "Gate 19 strategy"?

 

[E&As Mom]

I'm so sorry OP that you had rotten luck. We were there from 6/28-7/2 and had very good luck with the EMH. We didn't know that any off site guests (who get 1 day of EMH) couldn't go to DCA for the extra hour, so that was a bonus to us! On 6/29 we walked right back to RSR, then did Tower, and then Soarin all before opening at 8. On 7/1, we went right to Soarin, did Tower twice back to back, and then took our time walking over to RSR to grab FPs for later in the morning. On our first DL day, it was disappointing that the Matterhorn was down, but it gave us an opportunity to do Hyperspace Mountain (which I didn't care for!) and Peter Pan. On another of our DL EMH days, we were able to do Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, Snow White, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo, and the Carousel all before the park opened at 8, which we then walked over to Pirates and the Haunted Mansion.

Hope you have better luck next time if you try it again!

 

[Xenorye]

Okay, I'm a DL newbie(first trip in 2017), so I have to ask....what is the "Gate 19 strategy"?

Go to Gate 19.

Only a few feet from Gate 19 is an 'island' with a tree, so people often don't line up there.