EMH and going to the parks and early morning risers?

[rjthkids]

I have read a couple of people talking about EMH and to *avoid* the parks that have those hours, especially in the morning. May I ask why?

My 4 year old and 17 month old are up with the birds. Seriously, sleeping in for her is six thirty and for him is six o'clock in the morning. Usually they are both up between five am and five thirty in the morning. I had taken note of all the early morning EMHs and planned on visiting those parks as soon as they opened so my kids could have some fun things to do in the morning, given what an "early birds" they are. The late night EMHs don't work for us because both early birds are utterly done in by six thirty/seven o'clock at night and fast asleep.

They will not sleep in any later. Believe you me, we have tried all sorts of nudging with their schedules, including keeping them up insanely late at night hoping they will sleep later in the morning...NOPE. DOESN'T HAPPEN. The crack of dawn...they arise. Heck, my four year old still wakes in the middle of the night, and my 17 month old just started sleeping through the night a month ago!

So, we've consigned ourselves to living with early morning risers and we're on a early morning riser schedule. Waiting to go the parks until 9:00 am really seems like a long time to wait when everyone is up, dressed, fed, and rarin' to go by six a.m. However, if the parks are that miserable due to EMH, then perhaps we will do better finding other things to do.

Does any have good tips on things to do in Disney that suits families with an early morning wake up time?

 

[Luv2Travel]

This morning my family of 5 with not an "earlier riser" in the bunch actually got up at 6 am, checked our luggage into bell services and went to EMH at MK for our last "hurrah" before flying out at 3 pm ( ). We headed to Tomorrowland first and had it to ourselves. My youngest son and I got to ride Astro Orbiter twice without getting off while my other three walked on Space Mountain. We covered the highlights of the park by 10:30 and stopped to watch Cinderellabration before we had to leave. As we were leaving, however, droves of people were coming in (it was 11:15 am). Point being, I think the EMHs to avoid are the night-time ones, not the morning ones. And if you do go to the am EMHs, then be prepared to hop over to another park by lunch as the EMH park will get crowded. Have fun.

 

[WDWguru]

Agreed - we've always had terrific luck with the early morning EMHs and horrible luck with the evening EMHs. Just get there when it opens and don't wait until 11 like everyone else! Another trick is to go at opening to the park that had evening EMH the night before. We did this in August and it was great!

 

[KathylovesPooh]

Disney has been letting "on-site" guests into the park an hour early on certain days for years (at least 10). The EHM "name" and evening hours are new this year. I have only heard a couple of DISers complain about early EHM hours - generally (even in summer) the comments were positive.

If you are early risers, I'd get up and have a good breakfast and get the first bus to the park (around 7ish). Be the first one in - and I don't think you'll be disappointed. We've done "early" entry many times and it is by far the best time to be in the parks.

 

[janette]

If you plan to arrive at 9am then don't go to the EMH park. If you can get to the park at least 1/2 hour or more before opening than it should be fine. That park will tend to be crowded later in the day so it's best not to plan to be there the entire day or at least leave for the afternoon.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Some of it depends on which park and whether you are going during a slow or busy time. A park like Epcot can absorb a lot of people, even later in the day on an early opening day. MK gets busy, even during the slow season.

I like to take advantage of the early openings, even though we are not early risers. I most certainly would go to the early openings if I were you. You can park hop if you decide that the park is getting too busy by mid-morning, but if your kids go to bed early you might want to just stay at the original park until dinner time and then go back to the room and collapse into bed.

When are you going?

 

[DrTomorrow]

If you go to an EMH morning park, be there when they open and plan on leaving that park in the late morning.

EMH is wonderful - there's a sense of having the place all to yourself; even a few hundred other folks don't fill up the MK!

 

[ugadog99]

I think that with children as young as yours and the schedules they keep, morning EMH are the way to go. With that being said, however, MK and AK are the only morning EMH we do. I don't like Epcot's opening and the extra "hour" turns into about 45 minutes. But, I guess if you get to the gates really early it could work. We don't find enough to do at MGM to make EMH worthwhile. Most of the shows don't even start until 10 and my girls aren't big on thrill rides, so we skip the MGM EMH.

 

[KimWDW]

You could always do the morning EMH and then park hop to a different park around 11:00 when it starts to get crowded.

My son is an early bird, too.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We have had both good and bad luck with EMH so I understand both categories of posts. EMH can be PACKED!! In fact, AK EMH in the morning is one that I will nearly always avoid. That park just cannot handle a large number of people entering it all at once! Because so many resort guests head to EMH, that park will remain more crowded throughout the day. Also, we have experienced evening EMH when the evenings were far more packed than during the day! During busy times, we've found it better to avoid the EMH parks. If you are at WDW during a slower time period, EMH can be an incredible plus. I say, give it a try early in your trip and judge for yourself.

 

[Inga]

Hi

We do what KimWDW does, go EMH mornings (before opening), then hop to another park mid morning (or to DTD we go!). Morning EMHs work well, I think, in part because of the time zones. We are from the east coast so getting up at 7am Florida time is like getting up at 8am atlantic time...no problem. If you are from the western, getting up at 7am Florida time could be like getting up at 6, 5 or 4 am! Way too early for most folks, especially on vacation or after a busy day before! So I think many visitors will tend to skip it.

I think also that is why the evening EMHs are so popular, you are already at the park, why not stay a few extra hours and the time zone differences for North Americans is not a problem. We did the evening EMHs in Feb and it was terrible, so this trip we are only doing the morning EMHs and avoiding evening EMH parks like the plague!

I agree too that EMH for Epcot is ok but only a few rides are open...Ellens U of E is open but once you do that ride the entire EMH is over as it takes so long to do! Doing MS first thing in the AM after eggs is a bit risky ...

Inga

 

[henrylovespooh]

Having early rising kids is a blessing, IMHO. Our kids are up early and we use it to our advantage at all the parks. Do your kids like characters? Then use the mornings to get all your pictures so you don't want in long lines later in the day.

We pack breakfasty foods (applesauce in plastic containers, bagels and peanut butter, cereal bars and bananas) so we can have a light breakfast in our room before we leave for the parks. Or sometimes DH runs to the food court to get something and brings it back.

On a non-EMH day, we leave the hotel a little before 8 a.m. to get on a bus. In March, the CM's let us in the park earlier than park opening and you could wander Main Street, get a danish or muffin, and look at things you might rush by at another time. You can also get great castle pictures without lots of people in them.

We get park hopper passes, so we go to MK at least three mornings of a weeklong visit. We always do morning EMH and always find it uncrowded. One morning we will focus on characters and hang out near the park entrance where all the characters are and then go ride rides. The next morning visit we'll head straight to Fantasyland and ride as many rides as we can before the lines get long. Then we'll go to Toontown as soon as it opens to see more characters. We tend to leave MK either right before lunch or after lunch when it starts getting too crowded, and either go back to the room for a break or to another park, usually Epcot or MGM.

Epcot at park opening is also cool for littles ones who like the characters. At the rope drop, the characters come on a bus and you can get in line to get pictures. Most people are racing to Test Track and Mission Space, so the little ones can get great pictures with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Rafiki, Pinnochio, and lots of others.

At MGM, we got great pictures right at park opening - pictures with Mickey and Pluto together as well as Minnie and Goofy. Pooh was also there with Tigger. We don't do much at MGM, so if we're there at park opening, we can be out by lunch and go somewhere else.

Ak is nice in the mornings because it's not as hot. We go right to the safari, and then walk around the other areas until we can go see Festival of the Lion King and the Pocahontas show (DD's favorite!)

We never to evening EMH because since the kids are under 5 and we're up early. We head back to the hotel around 8 or 9 p.m. to get lots of rest for the next day. Sometimes if we're back earlier, we swim a bit to further tire the kids out so they sleep better.

 

[SandrA9810]

I'm am not an early morning riser, even though we usually camp out and have the sun shining down on us. We're never up before 9 and we're usually out by 10 or 11.
I would just think the only problem with the early morning is the amount of non resort guests rushing in the minute the parks open. Especially to do the whole waking up Tink. I'm sure Magic Kingdom has the largest amount of people in the morning because that's what every one wants to do first, and then people kind of spread out through out the day.

 

[speakupjc]

We are not early risers but can be in certain situations if it is to our benefit.

 

[LaraK]

I also have early early risers (4:30AM this morning ). Although it hurts on normal days....it makes early days in the park no problem. With little kids, however, I found the EMH in the evening impossible. Also, impossibly crowded. I'll never try that again.

 

[jann1033]

we always go to emh and stay in the park that day..if you go off season that works, probably not during peak seasons

off season we do as follows( rarely have any waits):

mgm we go on tot and rnr a few times, then go back to star tours and tour the park from the back up, ending at tot and rnr right before closing for another go round of them

ak we did safari and ttbab, toured discovery island then were at dinoland at opening( it was cold so kali was not on our list)

mk forget what we did last time..sm and buzz then i think we hit fantasy land as soon as it opened then headed for splash and btmrr

epcot we walked on se then went to ms and tt before opening ( living seas was closed) so we were pretty much done with fw by lunch (it's gettting kind of empty in there! how about replacing or opening the life pavilion again since with lseas closed there are what 6 pavilions now.innoventions seems kind of empty and not all that innoventive also.???? can't think what is where horizons used to be)so we spent the rest of our time in ws