EMH in the evenings and crowds

[gizfish]

I know this has probably come up before, but I can't find anything recent, so sorry if I am being redundant. But, what have the crowd levels been like in the open parks during the evening EMHs?

 

[Luv4Disney]

I went in May last year when they were first testing the whole idea for evening EMH and it was great! We rode ToT at least 5 times in a row. The only area in a park that I noticed was STILL busy was Fantasyland. I stayed the full 3 hours and managed to get on a lot of things that we didn't do during the day because the lines were longer.

 

[Disney_dreamer]

I asked this same question before we left.... we just returned from Disney and only participated in one EMH evening at MK on Wednesday, March 2. I would say the park was fairly crowded during the day, I found it somewhat difficult to navigate the crowd. However, after the fireworks, it was joy to ride the rides. We practically walked on to the motor speedway (that has NEVER happened) and had similar experiences at the Fantasyland attractions. Cast members did turn away quite a few people without wristbands... I'm sure they just "love" the whole EMH thing... but I thought it was great. My kids are little (3 and 6) so we weren't interested in the bigger rides, but my guess is the lines have to be much more manageable for those as well.
We split the day, spending the morning at Epcot, and then heading to MK for the evening. I think the crowds at MK were greater than on Monday (typically a high crowd day) but it was worth it to spend a couple of hours in the crowded park to enjoy EMH evening...

 

[EAP'sDAD]

When you get the wristband for EMH does everyone in the party have to be there or can one person wait with all the room keys and pick them up.

 

[racheleich]

We were just there last week (same as Disney_dreamer) and we used the EMH at MGM on the Sunday night we got there. We were able to walk right into the Muppets 3d and the Great Movie Ride. We weren't in the park that long, but my Mom coud hardly believe that we had the park to ourselves. There were VERY few people there. I agree w/ Disney_dreamer that MK was crowded during the day of its evening EMH (but did seem to clear out after the fireworks).

 

[DisneyPhD]

I asked this same question before we left.... we just returned from Disney and only participated in one EMH evening at MK on Wednesday, March 2. I would say the park was fairly crowded during the day, I found it somewhat difficult to navigate the crowd. However, after the fireworks, it was joy to ride the rides. We practically walked on to the motor speedway (that has NEVER happened) and had similar experiences at the Fantasyland attractions. Cast members did turn away quite a few people without wristbands... I'm sure they just "love" the whole EMH thing... but I thought it was great. My kids are little (3 and 6) so we weren't interested in the bigger rides, but my guess is the lines have to be much more manageable for those as well.
We split the day, spending the morning at Epcot, and then heading to MK for the evening. I think the crowds at MK were greater than on Monday (typically a high crowd day) but it was worth it to spend a couple of hours in the crowded park to enjoy EMH evening...

me too, me too (See trip report. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=759034)

I thought the same thing, infact we rode the speedway too, something I will never do unless there is no wait! We also found don't do the park during the day that has EMH, hop over in the evening. We made that mistake for AK and it was much for crowded then it was the day before (Monday). The 1st hour seemed busy, but after that it really cleared out.

Also if you have young kids there isn't much to do with them at any of the other parks other then MK. Hubby and his friend did MGM Sunday night too. They did TT and RR twice each in the last hour. (that was all they were there for.) It was worth it for them.

 

[Disney_dreamer]

When you get the wristband for EMH does everyone in the party have to be there or can one person wait with all the room keys and pick them up.

Everyone in the party does have to be there... you need to show a room key for everyone who would like to receive one, and the CM has to put the band on you. Think about it, I'm sure there are people out there who would attempt to sell wristbands if the CM's just handed them to you....
Also, I read this on the boards before we left - make sure you pack a small scissors (in a checked bag, of course!) to cut off the wrist bands. Those suckers do not come off easily!

 

[Mom2RinJen]

We did EMH evening at MK beginning of Feb. It was AWESOME! Did AK earlier in the day and went to MK around 5:00 and rode the train to Toontown. It seemed pretty crowded for that particular time of year but not too bad. Around 6:00 it started to rain and we rode barnstormer a couple times in a row since noone wanted to ride it and get wet. went over to the speedway and rode that with only about a 10 minute wait and stopped for a cigarette and then went to Cosmic Rays. Got out of Cosmic Rays at 7:00 just as the fireworks were starting. Goodness is it loud in Fantasy Land. LOL. So between 7:00 and 8:30 pm we rode Snow White, Peter Pan, Philharmagic, Winnie the Pooh, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Magic Carpets, met some characters and were on our way to BTM when the CM stopped us to tell us it was closed so we left. NO LINES, NO WAITS and it was heaven walking through MK in the dark and practically empty! We will definitely without a doubt, do MK at night again. Yeah we were wet, but it stopped raining by 7:30 and I was thankful it rained. Cleared the place out! Best idea Disney has had in a long time. Makes up for Stitch's Great Escape. LOL

 

[fyreworks]

I did the evening EMH at MK on 3/2 and the evening EMH at Epcot on 3/3. Both were a dream. There were hardly any lines at all. I didn't wait more than 5 minutes for anything. I spent the MK EMH at Adventureland and Fantasyland and rode everything that was open in those two sections and Haunted Mansion in the 3 extra hours I had. That allowed me to concentrate on the rest of the park the next time I went to MK.

It's harder to comment on Epcot on 3/3. It was miserably cold, rainy and windy. Epcot was open until midnight, but by 10 p.m, I just couldn't take the weather anymore. I think it was in the 40s. Needless to say, there were no crowds either. I walked onto all the rides. There were maybe only 50 people on the Universe of Energy Ride (but they still move all the theatre seats through the ride!

It's definitely worth it. I paid for an after 2 p.m. ticket to get into MH for EMH, and it was totally worth it. It made my other days a lot more relaxing not having to rush around and fight crowds.