Easy WDW - opinions?

[Baklava]

Okay, clearly he's done his homework and he knows stuff, but...

-His plan for our trip would have us miss every single extra magic hour
-The busiest day of our trip is a 6 with all the others ranging from 2-5

Have you used his predictions in off-peak season? How crucial was it to your planning? Would you consider deviating in order to take advantage of EMH?

 

[Missyrose]

Okay, clearly he's done his homework and he knows stuff, but...

-His plan for our trip would have us miss every single extra magic hour
-The busiest day of our trip is a 6 with all the others ranging from 2-5

Have you used his predictions in off-peak season? How crucial was it to your planning? Would you consider deviating in order to take advantage of EMH?

Any of the planning sites will suggest you skip parks with EMH. They're busier than the other parks. The morning EMH can work if you spend a couple of hours in that park, then hop to a less-crowded park the rest of the day.

 

[hpfan100]

I usually follow his advice with the expection of extra hours at animal kingdom. I actually like them since they tend to be so early in the morning. Also if you have park hoppers you can hop around from extra hours park to non extra parks.

 

[Baklava]

Any of the planning sites will suggest you skip parks with EMH. They're busier than the other parks. The morning EMH can work if you spend a couple of hours in that park, then hop to a less-crowded park the rest of the day.

We won't have hoppers, so that's out. I guess I'm trying to figure out if the extra hours are better than the lower crowds on days that are 2s and 3s.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Hola! Who is "he", and just exactly when are you going? If you avoid EMH evening hours, you end up in the park that has the lowest crowds, therefore shortest lines, therefore able to see/do/experience a lot more, without long waits... IMHO. Morning EMH are a completely different ball game. They are not as greatly attended, and give you a whole hour more to " beat the crowd" that doesn't arrive until 10:30 or 11am, when you are now ready for lunch or break! Hope this answers a little of your question.

 

[Accident]

EMH is somewhere we hop to if we find the day is over elsewhere and we still want to do a little more that night. I have to agree though, most want to squeeze extra hours into their short trip and they tend to really follow EHM to get more time in the day. As a PP said, the mornings of a late night EHM you can usually get in a good couple hours without crowds before hoping to a better park to get a little extra in if you desire.

As far as animal kingdom, I also agree with a PP that I like going in really early. It's mainly so we get out before the noon sun is blaring on us or so we can sit down for the start of lunch and get out while everyone else is waiting in line and baking. Also it's live animals, they are a little more active in the morning then high noon in our opinion and if you can get yourself back to your favorite ride earlier, the better.

 

[Baklava]

Hola! Who is "he", and just exactly when are you going? If you avoid EMH evening hours, you end up in the park that has the lowest crowds, therefore shortest lines, therefore able to see/do/experience a lot more, without long waits... IMHO. Morning EMH are a completely different ball game. They are not as greatly attended, and give you a whole hour more to " beat the crowd" that doesn't arrive until 10:30 or 11am, when you are now ready for lunch or break! Hope this answers a little of your question.

"He" is the guy who runs Easy WDW. Our park days are 1/6 to 1/15. We have 10 day non-hoppers with the intention of 8 days in the park and 2 resort/DTD days with the option of going to the parks if we're up for it in the evening.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

"He" is the guy who runs Easy WDW. Our park days are 1/6 to 1/15. We have 10 day non-hoppers with the intention of 8 days in the park and 2 resort/DTD days with the option of going to the parks if we're up for it in the evening.

I would follow Easy WDW advice. These advisors (not just Easy WDW) have spent countless hours and computer programming and are amazingly accurate in their advice. I have found, in the past, that late night EMH in the "off" season is generally less well attended than at other times of the year. However, not every attraction is open during EMH, so there's that disappointment as well. Only you can decide what works for you, but IMHO I find if I listen to the advice of those who have walked in Mickey's shoes before me, I tend to have a more magical time! But I totally agree with going to the early EMH, especially at AK. But I think most of the planning sites recommend this strategy...

 

[amomma23]

He knows his stuff. We have had many successful trips following his advice.

When crowds are generally low, I think it makes even more sense to choose the "best" park. If you're going at a busy time the difference between an "9" and "10" crowd isn't going feel much different. The difference between a "3" and "6" Is going to be noticeable.

 

[loves to dive]

I'm all about the evening EMH, use them as much as I can. We've been known to hit every ride we want to during evening hours and have our days free to do whatever we missed or resort hop or re do rides. We have never followed any of the touring plans, I sometimes look at their suggestions for what park to visit but almost always end of going to the park they suggest we shouldn't. Some swear by them and it seems to work, others, like myself and my family, tend to go rogue and not follow anyone. It really depends on your own style and what you want to get out of your trip.

 

[Jing]

I don't care for absolutes, and I do like EMH a couple of times per trip. I find a good touring plan is more important than park choice, because you can decide to ditch something in the moment and still be on track to get in what you want to experience. I swear by the Lines app from touring plans for that. But we also get park hoppers every time - it still gives the illusion of spontaneity even if your meals and FPs have been booked for months.

 

[cakebaker]

If I didn't have park hoppers, I would avoid emh's evening or morning. Josh knows his stuff, but I think the suggestion that you should avoid emh's are for those who are off site or who don't park hop. It's just a fact that the park that has emh's is going to be more crowded as the day goes on than the ones that don't.

Being on site with hoppers allows you to take advantage of them, then get out once the park starts getting crowded in the mornings. In the evenings, we wait until close to time for the emh's to start before arriving at the parks.

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

We use easywdw for every trip (both off-season and March Break) and always get everything we want to done with minimal waits and no need for EMH.

 

[minnie mum]

If you have 10 day tickets, then you really have the luxury of time. There's no reason why you couldn't plan on a couple of late EMH days, just to experience them. Late EMH at MK can be a lot of fun. And in January, the regular hours tend to be shorter, anyway. By and large we have followed the park recommendations, and we almost never have park hoppers. But we usually do one late EMH at MK.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

Generally I use Josh's site as a reference. I stick to my own plan, but use his site for advice and to see what's happening in the parks and to see what I can expect for each park day. I am a big fan of using EMH so I rarely follow that advice, but the tips I have taken from his site have never led me wrong. Ultimately, it's your trip and you're free to plan it as you like.

 

[Mouse of Mystery]

It's just a fact that the park that has emh's is going to be more crowded as the day goes on than the ones that don't.

First of all, I have followed Josh's advice on touring plans and have found them to be spot-on. He puts his own ideas to the test quite often and makes changes when required.

Cakebaker's post is accurate -- EMH parks are going to be the busiest, so avoiding them during peak hours is smart. By all means, go early in the morning and take advantage of morning EMH, but be ready to bail when all the late-risers start heading to the park. Enjoy those late-night MK EMH if you're willing to stay late enough for crowds to thin. But it's almost always a good idea to avoid them during the day.

 

[brooke789]

For us, we go to the EMH park. But we do have park hoppers and we have kids who are up early. So, if we didn't we'd be sitting around an extra hour waiting. So, also if you're normally up early I'd def do the EMH. We do PH though, so when it gets crowded we go somewhere else.

 

[BudgieMama]

Generally I use Josh's site as a reference. I stick to my own plan, but use his site for advice and to see what's happening in the parks and to see what I can expect for each park day. I am a big fan of using EMH so I rarely follow that advice, but the tips I have taken from his site have never led me wrong. Ultimately, it's your trip and you're free to plan it as you like.

Yes, exactly. We followed the advice of Josh/TouringPlans/countless others and avoided EMH last year. We were there at a pretty quiet time, and didn't have problems with long waits (especially using Josh's plan for our arrival at MK). Next time, we'll do a couple of EMH visits (14 day park hopper tickets mean we have both time and freedom to change parks) to experience them, but probably not for all parks, and most days we'll avoid EMH parks. The planning sites and books have to talk in generalisations, and as always, your mileage may vary!

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I definitely recommend easywdw - usually has very good advice. We always try to make morning EMH parks but we also have park hoppers, so if it gets busy we will hop to another park (we rarely spend the entire day in the same park). Since you don't have park hoppers it makes sense to perhaps skip some of the EMH parks since those do tend to be more crowded, and even at low crowd times the parks are really busy during the middle of the day. I think the key is going to be getting to the parks at rope drop so that you get a lot done in the morning. And even though you can't change parks, you can leave late morning for a break at the resorts and return to the same park later in the day, which might be a good way to take advantage of EMH without hitting the crowds. We typically like to take advantage of morning EMH at AK and MK and evening EMH at MK. I've found EMH at Epcot and DHS to still be very busy because there are so many fewer rides that attract folks at those two parks.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Okay, clearly he's done his homework and he knows stuff, but...

-His plan for our trip would have us miss every single extra magic hour
-The busiest day of our trip is a 6 with all the others ranging from 2-5

Have you used his predictions in off-peak season? How crucial was it to your planning? Would you consider deviating in order to take advantage of EMH?

We don't generally take advantage of morning EMH as much because DD is a late sleeper and it's hard to get her awake early enough to make it there. If that weren't an issue, though, and if we had park hoppers, I would probably go to the morning EMH park until 10 or 11am or so (when exactly would depend on how crowds build), and then hop to a different park for lunch and the afternoon/evening (with the 2nd park following Josh's recommendations). If I didn't have park hoppers, we would be a lot less likely to do the morning EMH park.

We've always had great experiences following his recommended park days, but we also love EMH (usually the evening ones ). So we work with his recommendations and the EMH schedule as best we can to come up with a combination of following his park recommendations and still using EMH that gets us the experience we really want.