Early Morning Magic - why should I do it?

[BuzzLiteyear]

i am considering purchasing this for our trip next week? It’s pretty costly, but it includes breakfast. Give me some reasons why I should? (2 adults and 2 kids)

 

[nat8199]

Well... we haven't done it before, but I am really hoping to be able to do it on our March trip. I really want to be able to ride the rides with no wait, make it on another (not included) ride or two with no wait at park opening, my kids are voting for Haunted Mansion, and then have a great breakfast before wandering the park for the rest of the day. This also means I won't have to use FP+ for Peter Pan. I might still do a Mine Train FP for our other day in MK, but that is because I love it.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

It’s a unique and arguably ‘special’ way to experience the MK for a brief window before the park opens.

You can free up your FPs for other things besides 7DMT/PP/WTP.

It’s just you a small number of other guests - 200ish.

You have a head start on the rope drop crowd when the park opens.

The breakfast is actually pretty good for theme park/MK standards.

The carousel is usually open as well. Tea cups has also been open on a couple of my EMM experiences.

Obviously the major draw is 7DMT. I think we rode 6 times our last EMM. You could do a lot more if you put your mind to it.

Our EMM ‘routine’ is to head off to another part of the park at 9AM, hit a couple of rides, then go eat closer to 10AM. One time we went straight to BTMR, then backtracked to HM, then breakfast. No waits (ETA “at”) either ride that early.

Happy to answer any questions!

 

[Linkura]

If you love 7DMT and/or PPF, it is worth it. Pooh FP is easy to get, so I wouldn't say it's worth it at all just for Pooh.

7DMT and PPF are very hard to get FPs for. If you want multiple rides per park day, it's the only way you're going to get it (except for 7DMT and BOG PPO- you may be able to get 2-3 rides but it's not guaranteed) without waiting in line for a huge amount of time. The food included is also pretty good, so that helps with the value proposition.

We've only done it with 1-2 people though. For 4 people, it's pretty pricey.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

I would never do it with older kids or just adults bc it's so pricey, BUT...we just did it two weeks ago with a group of 3 - myself, my husband, and our 3 1/2 year old son. Pooh & Peter Pan were his two favorite rides before this trip and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train quickly became a new favorite - as I predicted it would. I couldn't get a FP+ for it, even at 7 AM 63 days out from our trip. Our 3 1/2 year old had unlimited access to his three favorite rides without having to wait. We were able to use our Fast Passes at the MK for other favorites of his that typically get long lines (Pirates, Tomorrowland Speedway, etc) and we had a great, stress-free morning. The breakfast was a bonus - we ate around 9:55 so it was breakfast and lunch. We brought snacks for the morning to hold us over until then. This was definitely a one time thing for us - the next time we go, our son will be old enough to understand waiting in lines, and that you can't always ride your favorite thing a bunch of times in a row, but for this trip, and for a 3 year old, it was awesome.

So in short, if you have really young kids who LOVE those 3 attractions, then absolutely do it. My son still talks about how he rode Seven Dwarves 6 times and how much fun it was. Also the breakfast wasn't terrible, and the setting was nice. I liked the vegetable frittata and my super picky my son liked the french toast.

 

[GillianP1301]

My son and I love 7DMT and during EMM we are able to ride it 10 times in a row with no wait. For that alone, it's worth it to me. Add in Pooh & PP that we can ride and have taken care of before park opening and it saves quite a bit of normal park time. Plus, the breakfast at Pinnochio Village Haus is quite good and very fast. You can easily eat and be on your way in 15 - 20 minutes, if you want.

 

[Average Joes]

I had a similar dilemma with a family of 4. I forget exactly but it was maybe $170 more than eating at the Beast's Castle which we like to do. I figured we could get on maybe a dozen rides and loose 2-3 eating breakfast. Eating at the Castle we got 1 walk on to 7D. The difference was about 8-9 rides. It might take us half a day to get on 8 rides so it seemed worth it for the different experience. Plus we like walking into an emptier park.

Plans changed and it did not happen.

 

[housemartin71]

It's hard to say whether it's worth it for you. What EMM offers (we did it this past summer) is the chance to ride SDMT and PP multiple times without waiting on line. Considering that Pooh and perhaps the Carrousel and Small World are easier to get on during the day, the real benefit is riding SDMT and PP, which are hard to get on FP and experience some of the longest standby waits in the MK. If that appeals to you, then it's probably worth it. We rode SDMT 6 times, PP twice and Pooh twice on our day. We got to sit in the front, middle and rear of the train to decide which we liked the best (rear). As someone mentioned earlier, it also allowed us to use ourFP selections for other rides. The breakfast is reasonably good and plentiful. If you assume the breakfast buffet is worth about $20-25 per person, then you're essentially paying $45-50 for the 1 hour of exclusive access. If you don't like the offered rides or don't like riding the same ride repeatedly in a short time frame, then it's likely not worth it. Our kids loved SDMT, so we thought it was worth it.

 

[allaboutthemouse]

It’s a unique and arguably ‘special’ way to experience the MK for a brief window before the park opens.

You can free up your FPs for other things besides 7DMT/PP/WTP.

It’s just you a small number of other guests - 200ish.

You have a head start on the rope drop crowd when the park opens.

The breakfast is actually pretty good for theme park/MK standards.

The carousel is usually open as well. Tea cups has also been open on a couple of my EMM experiences.

Obviously the major draw is 7DMT. I think we rode 6 times our last EMM. You could do a lot more if you put your mind to it.

Our EMM ‘routine’ is to head off to another part of the park at 9AM, hit a couple of rides, then go eat closer to 10AM. One time we went straight to BTMR, then backtracked to HM, then breakfast. No waits (ETA “at”) either ride that early.

Happy to answer any questions!

Question- Do you have any experience with how strict they are with the breakfast ending at 10:00? Do they take the food away right at 10:00, or are you able to linger if you don't get there till, say, 9:45?
Thanks!

 

[whiporee]

The don't rush you out. I think I saw them bringing new stuff out up until 10, and then you sort of filter your way through. But the CMs made a point to say there was no rush. We got there at about 9:45 and were able to take as long as we wanted.

 

[rwdavis2]

We did it at Hollywood Studios and thought it was worth it. We rode Toy Story 3 times without getting off and then Star Tours about 4 times. Breakfast was fine but nothing special.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Question- Do you have any experience with how strict they are with the breakfast ending at 10:00? Do they take the food away right at 10:00, or are you able to linger if you don't get there till, say, 9:45?
Thanks!

We got there around 9:50 and they were still putting fresh food out even after 10:00. We stayed until about 10:30. A few shirt and tie Disney employees were in there getting some food at that point too

 

[housemartin71]

They were putting food out until about 1015 on our morning. We left a little later and could have still gotten some more.

 

[bcactus]

Also important to note is that you can go to the breakfast multiple times. We went and got drinks and pastries at about 8:50, then rode Space Mountain and a couple other rides with no wait, then went back and had a full breakfast at around 9:50

 

[disneyvoice]

My husband and I did it during our July trip. It was great! We rode 7DMT about 5 times - we literally got off, got right back in line and rode again. There was no line - I mean absolutely no line at all. Several times we never even stopped walking because the train was loading when we got back to the loading area. Fantasyland felt almost totally empty, I took pictures while we were there and there are no people in the shots. We liked it because we could do a lot of the rides we typically get FP for (Peter Pan and 7DMT) plus we were able to do the all of the Fantasyland rides that usually have a longer line during normal park hours. So when the park opened we were able to do the other popular rides outside of Fantasyland at rope drop or shortly thereafter and then got FPs for other rides earlier in the day. We ended up riding everything we wanted by early afternoon. We were originally planning to not eat the breakfast (we aren't big breakfast eaters) but ended up eating about 20 minutes before park opening. The breakfast was delicious, we were actually quite surprised. We will definitely do it again on future trips.

 

[goofygal531]

Anyone offer a strategy on how to best use the time? We plan to head to 7DMT first, then PP. my son loves PP and would happily ride that repeatedly more than 7DMT. I love the idea of popping in grabbing a drink and pastry then returning for a sit down breakfast later, closer to 10am.

We'd like to head to HM at 9am. Is the area roped off?

We'll be there in Feb and touring plans has the park listed as a 5. Should be low crowds.

Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[MermaidMommy]

Anyone offer a strategy on how to best use the time? We plan to head to 7DMT first, then PP. my son loves PP and would happily ride that repeatedly more than 7DMT. I love the idea of popping in grabbing a drink and pastry then returning for a sit down breakfast later, closer to 10am.

We'd like to head to HM at 9am. Is the area roped off?

We'll be there in Feb and touring plans has the park listed as a 5. Should be low crowds.

Any tips would be appreciated.

We went to PP first, as its DD's favorite ride, too. Because most people seemed to go to SDMT first, we were the only people at PP, and we were able to ride it three times in a row without getting off. (We had to get off for a fourth time because there were a few people in line by then.) It was fun riding it without anybody else in the ships!

By the time we got to SDMT, some people had moved on to the other two rides, so there still weren't any lines there.

We got pastries earlier in the morning to take with us, and did other rides until about 9:40, when we went back for breakfast.

 

[disneyvoice]

You won't even need a strategy for EMM because there are so few people. The only ride we ever had a wait for was the Carousel because you have to wait for the current ride to end before they reload. We literally walked right on everything else multiple times.

 

[soniam]

It's only worth it if you really want to ride one of the 3 rides multiple or even several times. We did it in August. I rode 7DMT 11 times in a row before having to stop due to dizziness. DH and DS rode it 2 more for a total of 13. Pooh was down though. We did PP once, which is all we wanted to do. We had a decent breakfast and then waited a few minutes for the park to open to head to Haunted Mansion. We could have rode PP and 7DMT even more if we had pushed eating until later and rode until the lines formed. It was worth it the one time. With just DH and I, we wouldn't do it again. I would consider doing it again if DS were with us. He really enjoyed it.

 

[Linkura]

Anyone offer a strategy on how to best use the time? We plan to head to 7DMT first, then PP. my son loves PP and would happily ride that repeatedly more than 7DMT. I love the idea of popping in grabbing a drink and pastry then returning for a sit down breakfast later, closer to 10am.

We'd like to head to HM at 9am. Is the area roped off?

We'll be there in Feb and touring plans has the park listed as a 5. Should be low crowds.

Any tips would be appreciated.

I'd do PP first. Most people head to 7DMT first, so there's a slight wait (just a minute or two, but still) that decreases as EMM goes on. PP is a ghost town on the other hand, and your son will be able to ride it multiple times with zero wait.

The area to HM is roped off until the park's official open, but you can go right at 9. You'll have no wait at that time.