Do you take advantage of Extra Magic Hours or AVOID?

[Lumiere Lover]

I try to plan our vacation days so we can do all of the extra magic hours-in the morning. It seems to me a lot of people at WDW don't like to get up early in the mornings.

 

[Lauren0505]

We prefer going to morning EMH. With the extra hour you can get a lot done before noon and spend the afternoon relaxing at the hotel. We typically collect fast passes along the way and then come back in the evening.
We did try two trips following the recommended parks. We found we couldn't fit as much in and did not enjoy the trip as much without the afternoon break to relax.

 

[gojoe]

We always do morning hours. We are there for rope drop. We can hit all the headliners by noon and be back to the resort for some R&R. With evening hours we don't have to rush back . Chill at the pool. We make lunch our big meal of the day (sometimes a savings). We always go in the summer (due to school & work) so getting to the back to a park after the sun goes down is another plus. I will admit I'm dragging by midnight. Gives me time to smell the roses.

 

[klmall]

I'm a morning person anyway so morning EMHs are pretty easy for me by DH and DS usually meet me later for lunch or whatever. I ride what I want and take pictures when I get there early.

We rarely stay for evening EMHs; never have even when we were younger but I want to try a couple this time for picture-taking!

And we always buy park-hoppers since we like to move around and stay in the MK resorts.

 

[TheWog]

We tried to take advantage of them. We preferred the evening hours.

 

[CupcakeLisa]

we are staying onsite for first time and will be taking advantage of morning hours. We are going to try and get the big rides done in the morning so we can spend the rest of the day wandering

 

[happyann79]

I usually avoid them b/c of the time of year I go. Staying at MK till 3am isn't my cup of tea.

 

[Brit_Jude]

We have enjoyed early EMH. Tried to do the evening EMH at MK but riding Space Mountain at midnight just didn't work for us we got dizzy from being tired...... I really like morning EMH at Animal Kingdom and getting on the safari and Everest before the other guests arrive. We stay till mid-day one o'clock then leave.

But going to a park in the morning that had evening EMH the night before also works for us as the crowds a lighter.

It's also depends on the time of year, if it is a low crowd time or year and it's not the summer heat then going to an evening EMH might work out better as the heat is so draining.

We always get hoppers. It really works out for us go to a park early one morning, head back to the resort and hang out, swim then head to another park later on.

 

[debfen]

We love EMH. It is one of the best perks of staying on property! We prefer the evening hours because there are usually more attractions open in the evening than in the morning hours (and we really are not morning people). We have and will use the parkhopper because it gives us more flexibility.

 

[dISNEYlOveer]

We never use the morning EMH's but do sometimes use the evening EMH but dont stay the whole time. We usually stay for an hour to an hour and a half after EMH starts. Also if we get park hopper tickets, we go to EPCOT or DHS and in the evening (if applicable) go to MK for EMH and still go to MK for a full day. We're experts with Disney

 

[fannonzoo]

We did Park Hopper and EMH the first go round. Last time though, no park hopper and we were off site. I LOVED EMH (mainly at night though) and am looking forward to using them in May when we return.
I agree that it's a personal preference. Last April (when we were offsite), we stayed at MK until 1 am - normal closing, and it was still a blast (even with a 9 month old - he was sleeping away in his carrier/stroller)...my DH, DD and DS rode Space Mountain like 4 times back to back.

 

[TimeLady]

Last January's trip was the first time we used Extra Magic Hours and we did it at both MK and Epcot. For MK, it wasn't really worth it. The park was gorgeous at night, but it was by far the most crowded we saw any park during our seven day stay. The lines were not shorter than during the day and the walkways felt claustrophobic. Epcot, on the other hand, worked out great. Epcot at night is so magical anyway and the crowds were noticeably thinner.
For this February's trip, I want to try to follow some advice I've read here and visit parks (especially MK) the morning after EMH.