EMH and Park Hopping

[Version 6]

Hi Guys

We have a trip coming up (family of 4 with kids 5 and 7), staying on site.

I have seen many peolpe recommend taking advantage of EMH and then hopping over to the park without early access to take advantage of lower crowds there also.

Is this still a good strategy? Say, we had an EMH at Disnelyland starting at 8:00am and DCA was starting at 9:00am, what time should we head to the DCA gate? (And will we not just end up in another long line to get in)?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[disneylover102]

To be honest, I haven’t noticed that much of a difference in crowds between parks due to EMH when I’ve been. I actually think it’s a good strategy to stay in the park with EMH for a little bit because Fastpass return times start earlier there (they start at park opening in an EMH park and 30 minutes after park opening in a non EMH park). That might not make a huge difference but that half an hour could make a big difference later in the day for rides with FP that run out quickly. And you might be right that the line might be long to get into the other park. I’m not 100% sure because I never go into a park right before park opening (I always get there way before opening).

 

[tsumgirl]

This strategy can be helpful for people who will only be at the parks for 1-2 days. It helps you knock out a bunch of headliners early on in the day if you have a limited amount of time, and may not be able to ride as many rides otherwise.

If you have 3 or more days though, it's really not necessary and the benefits are minimal. Guests in line early for a 9am DCA opening will already have been let into the parks for rope drop, so you'll be behind those crowds. Rather than switching parks, I would advise heading to the left side of DL towards the end of your EMH, so you're starting that side of the park as soon as it's open, and you have the benefit of those short lines.

On your DCA day, do the same. Hit the headliners during EMH, and then at regular park opening, take advantage of shorter lines on other rides that build throughout the day.

 

[chrisaman]

This was a big one in the past for fastpasses. You grab your Cars fastpass then jet to Disneyland to get fastpasses there. Not sure if this really matters anymore with Maxpass. That's the only reason we did it in the past. Now I would just stay in the park I started in untill the front gate lines go down.