Do you avoid EMH parks?

[Nick6300]

For a Thanksgiving through early Dec stay (7 park days), assuming RotR is open: Could you please provide your opinion if you'd park hop from an early EMH park for RD to a perceived less busy park in the early afternoon? Or is the 1 hr EMH completely used up from the walk to bus, bus wait, ride from park 1 to 2, walk & security in park 2 (seems like yes, unless it was an off peak stay).

We've usually gone to the early EMH park with the intent to leave to park 2 once it got to peak crowds and we'd get to EP/MK on Tue/Wed's EMH late nights after starting somewhere else. I think we sort of thought that the early EMH was more worthwhile with how crowded the late EMH park were. But for our stay, I'm questioning whether we should be hopping at all for a 7 day stay, unless we started at AK and it closed at 830 on a Wed night and we wanted to go to MK until midnight or maybe from EP to MK because of the monorail might be slightly less transportation time. Tough to break away from the herd, but it might be best to pick parks the day after EMH or start at MK on party nights. We're trying to pick park days for ADRs now.

 

[SaintsManiac]

For a Thanksgiving through early Dec stay (7 park days), assuming RotR is open: Could you please provide your opinion if you'd park hop from an early EMH park for RD to a perceived less busy park in the early afternoon? Or is the 1 hr EMH completely used up from the walk to bus, bus wait, ride from park 1 to 2, walk & security in park 2 (seems like yes, unless it was an off peak stay).

We've usually gone to the early EMH park with the intent to leave to park 2 once it got to peak crowds and we'd get to EP/MK on Tue/Wed's EMH late nights after starting somewhere else. I think we sort of thought that the early EMH was more worthwhile with how crowded the late EMH park were. But for our stay, I'm questioning whether we should be hopping at all for a 7 day stay, unless we started at AK and it closed at 830 on a Wed night and we wanted to go to MK until midnight or maybe from EP to MK because of the monorail might be slightly less transportation time. Tough to break away from the herd, but it might be best to pick parks the day after EMH or start at MK on party nights. We're trying to pick park days for ADRs now.

I will be there Thanksgiving week. We don't usually attend EMH, but will make an exception for HS/GE. We prefer to hop for most of our trips, so I don't see that changing. If we are lucky to have the 6am EMH we will attend that, go back to the resort for a while and then head out to another park later.

It's going to be crowded everywhere. I honestly don't think which park had EMH the day before is going to make a difference.

 

[Floppy-Dee33]

When staying offsite the obvious answer is avoid.
When staying onsite to me its the perk so why not take advantage?
I love morning EMH. You can get more done in that 1 hour than the 2 hours night time EMH provides.
If I have park hopper which in recent years I have just because that is how I've been enjoying touring then I hop to another park but it has nothing to do with EMH vs no EMH.

 

[mrsap]

I definitely suggest park hopping if you like that sort of thing. I think you might disappointed if that’s your usual touring style.

 

[Nick6300]

When staying offsite the obvious answer is avoid.
When staying onsite to me its the perk so why not take advantage?
I love morning EMH. You can get more done in that 1 hour than the 2 hours night time EMH provides.
If I have park hopper which in recent years I have just because that is how I've been enjoying touring then I hop to another park but it has nothing to do with EMH vs no EMH.

We are on property. We have let EMH/park hours dictate our days, at least initially for planning. Some recent trips we've altered based on which days we were able to obtain FoP FPs. Sometimes I wonder with 7 days or more it's even worth hopping at all or inefficient since we can go to ea. nearly twice. But we always seem to hop most days anyhow. But for this stay, we have something like 4 MK party nights, with only 2 days for a chance to see HEA. I think Kenny the Pirate tends to state that MK party nights have the lowest crowds of the day. I'm assuming this is since it eliminates some of the non park hop option tickets, short visits, and people not attending the party who just don't feel like having to hop at night.

I agree that I prefer early EMH over late. It seems like the extra crowds are more noticeable for the late EMH park.

 

[alex9179]

IMO, the best way to tour is to arrive before park opening, as well as take advantage of AM EMH. You either get a lot done or have a shorter wait for the headliner than you would have the rest of the day without FP. My goals are a productive morning and lazy afternoon.
Afternoons/early evenings tend to be busier in all of the parks across the board, though we DO hop to see the nighttime shows and take advantage of whatever same-day FPs are still available at a non-EMH park, have a leisurely dinner, etc.
I don't see an issue with the travel time because it's not taking away what you accomplished in the morning.

We've scheduled FP for the PM park, while getting AM EMH rides done somewhere. For some reason, I don't like that as much. FPs are tied up and it feels like more planning, maybe? Also, my kids were at an age where they went hard-core at the beginning of the day, didn't want to leave, and were pooped out by 4pm. They're more flexible, now!

 

[JETSDAD]

We normally avoid them even though we stay on property. We can just get more done during regular park hours with FP's than we can having to do standby during EMH. We also like the extra hour of sleep. That being said, we are going for the first week of September where 3 out of 4 parks have EMH and plan on using the DHS ones to get to explore GE. Sleep can wait.

 

[SarahC97]

I went last Thanksgiving and am going again this year and to answer your question - no, I don't consider EMH at all. TBH, all the parks are going to be busy so just pick the one you want to go to and go there. I found no discernable difference between crowds in the different parks last year.

 

[FCDub]

I don’t let EMH dictate my plans or dissuade me from any scenario. I’ll go where I want when I want. At this point my life, I’ve learned to just go with the flow baby

 

[disneylover102]

I recommend going to EMH, staying for at least a couple more hours, and then park hopping.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I also think it depends where you are staying and if you think hopping is useful. We typically stay at an Epcot resort and enjoy hopping because we may do EMH morning and then go back to the room and take a nap then go back to a park around 4-5. For us, we usually take trips that last 7-9 days always park hop. We find that works best for us. We used to do EMH when they were more plentiful in the past, but recently we haven’t let them really dictate our trips.

 

[holden]

When the kids were younger we took advantage of AM EMH. Now we avoid parks on days they have EMH.

 

[puffkin]

We typically avoid the EMH park unless our resort is really close to that park and we can walk (like an epcot resort for DHS/Epcot) or BLT for MK. I just am not a huge fan of getting to a park an hour before opening. We usually hit a non-EMH park about 15 minutes before opening which gives us plenty of time to get situated, apply sunblock, etc for the day. Except for trying to RD a few key rides like (FOP, TT, SD) it works just fine for us and we get a TON done in the mornings and are heading out by lunch time. We get up at 5:30-6am all year long for work/school so even sleeping in til 7 on vacation is a treat for us!

 

[gharter]

If the park has EMHs, we either get there for EMH hit the popular rides and then park hop or do a different park.
Our last trip, we had 2 days where the park we were ging to had EMH and the group didn't want to get there that early. We arrived at the normal opening. Lines that normally are 5 minutes at park opening were 45. Won't make that mistake again.