EMH-really how long are the lines?

[Mary Diehl]

We are going the third week in June and was hoping someone could give us an idea of how long a typical line is for the Evening EMH. I've heard lots of negative on the boards as to how long the lines still are but didn't actually give an average time. Is MK, Epcot, Studios, AK better/worse than the other? Is there one park I should avoid all together? We are taking advantage of the morning EMH and don't want to stay out too late in another park if we'll just be waiting in long lines anyway. We do need our sleep!! Thanks!

 

[disneyag]

Last June at the MK evening EMH, we stood in line longer than during the day. In fact, we returned the next night (a non-EMH night) and were able to do more than the EMH night!

 

[Sammy]

We were at Disney 2/27 through 3/7 and here's what we experienced for EMH nights (copied from one of my earlier posts):

Evening EMH at AK: really nice, not crowded at all. Got to ride the safari in the cooler late afternoon hours (5:00 pm or so), and saw many more animals than I've ever seen previously. The park is really pretty lit up at night too. Of course, you can't see any animals once it gets dark, so you are limited at that point unless you want to hang out in DinoLand (which we DO NOT)!

Evening EMH at EPCOT: NEVER AGAIN!!!! I truly think it was more crowded that MK on a Saturday during the Holidays!! It was insane! The thing about EPCOT is that there is lots to do in the World Showcase even without an EMH bracelet, so the crowds never dispersed until after 10:00-11:00! Crazy.

Evening EMH at MK: Also crowded in the evening until Wishes at 9:00; once the fireworks were over and people realized they couldn't get onto any rides without a bracelet, the park cleared pretty fast. We had the best time at this EMH! We usually travel in the off-season, so MK is closed by 7:00 or 8:00. What fun to be riding tea cups or Dumbo at midnight!! We would definitely brave the early crowds to do this EMH again....but this is the only one.

Hope this helps!
Sammy

 

[mdoc]

I'd certainly avoid evening EMH at Epcot if you want to do the more popular rides. We were there last year for evening EMH in late March (OK, it was the week after Easter) and the line for Test Track was 60 minutes (and then it shut down for rain before we got on!). Soarin' wasn't open then, but the lines for that when we were there this year (not EMH) were always longer than the Test Track lines, so I imagine its lines will be huge, also. And if a bunch of people are scared off of Mission Space now, those lines will only get bigger. I haven't done EMH evenings in the other parks, but after my experience at Epcot I've pretty much written the evening magic hours off. I still love the morning ones, though!

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

The morning EMH is great. Actually if you get to any park before opening you can get a lot done before the big crowds arrive. EMH or regular morning openings.
On the other hand, last June we tried one evening EMH at the Studios. Except for the FP we grabbed for TOT just as the EMH started it was a waste of time. After riding TOT the next FP return line was way into the night. All the wait times on the board were crazy. As bad or worse than the middle of the day. We gave up and went back to our resort.
We were also in AK and Epcot before their evening EMH. We were not planning on staying unless it was quiet. Both were unusally crowded. At Epcot the lines for the wristbands were really long. At the AK I can honestly say I never saw that many people in the park. Needless to say, we did not stay for either evening EMH.

 

[scheddj]

We used both the morning and evening EMH's during the week before and after Easter in 2005 and loved both. We did the big attractions (TT, ToT, RnRRC, SM, etc) during the morning EMH's and saved the stuff that had moderately long lines during the day (Star Tours, Kali, Maelstrom, etc) for the evening hours and walked right onto everything!

 

[WIcruizer]

Very simple rule of thumb. When EMH first starts at any park, you won't notice much difference. By the end of the night, you can virtually walk on to any ride at MK any time of the year. At MGM, TOT and RNRC will still have 10-15 minutes waits or so. Epcot is the worst, I would get a FP for Soarin during the day. TT isn't that bad real late.

Bottom line, get riding right away in MK, take a break at Epcot and MGM and wait an hour or so before you try the big attractions.

 

[Mary Diehl]

When does the Fastpass machine start up again for the evening EMH? Alot of people on the boards mentioned how fast the passes can be gone during the day. I'm wondering, do they shut the FP machines down then and when will they be up and running again for the evening EMH-before they officially close or right when the EMH starts?

 

[WIcruizer]

When does the Fastpass machine start up again for the evening EMH? Alot of people on the boards mentioned how fast the passes can be gone during the day. I'm wondering, do they shut the FP machines down then and when will they be up and running again for the evening EMH-before they officially close or right when the EMH starts?

FP Machines never "shut down" at certain times. Each attraction has a certain number of FPs, and when they're gone, they're gone. Since EMH is after hours, there are no FPs issued after hours. Resort guests get a bracelet shortly before EMH begins. Make sense?

 

[Sammy]

FP Machines never "shut down" at certain times. Each attraction has a certain number of FPs, and when they're gone, they're gone. Since EMH is after hours, there are no FPs issued after hours. Resort guests get a bracelet shortly before EMH begins. Make sense?

Actually, they "re-load" or "re-start" the FastPass machines at the beginning of the evening EMH's....at least they did when we were there in Feb/Mar.

 

[Robo]

Since EMH is after hours, there are no FPs issued after hours. Resort guests get a bracelet shortly before EMH begins.

Actually, they "re-load" or "re-start" the FastPass machines at the beginning of the evening EMH's....at least they did when we were there in Feb/Mar.

But WAIT...
You're BOTH right!

(I could have said "both WRONG", but that would be MEAN.)

Many nights they don't use FP for EMH, but on some nights on some rides, in certain parks... they DO.

No way of knowing in advance which, if any, FP distribution kiosks will be open during EMH.

As to the "How LONG are the EMH lines" question?

Hold your arms apart... farther... farther... farther... OK.

The lines will be WAY longer than that.

 

[KimR]

IMO, there are way too many variables (time of year, park, time of EMH, which rides,e tc) to give one hard and fast answer. We went to EMH at MGM April 3rd, and RNRC was at least an hour wait all the way up to closing while TOT was 15 minutes at most and a walk-on closer to closing.

Last year, DD and I went to an EMH at MK and never waited for anything. We rode BTMRR 3 or 4 times in a row, did Mickey's Philharmagic, teacups, and countless other rides with little to no wait. I came back home and read quite a few threads on the DIS complaining about long lines that night. At first I thought we were talking about 2 different nights, but no - I guess we must've just hit everything at the right time.

 

[Tink's Pixieduster]

Our family tried the evening EMH at MK in the week before Memorial Day in 2005 and we swore, never again. Instead of getting smaller, the crowds actually seemed to grow! We tried checking every single ride, and the only one we were able get on with a reasonable wait time was Pirates. Most all of the rest had wait times of well over an hour. Our poor feet were way past waiting an hour or more for a 3-minute ride, especially when we knew we would have to walk back to the bus station and wait in line for transportation back to POR (the wait for the bus was 45 minutes).

We were so discouraged we didn't even bother trying at any of the other parks on other nights. Instead we'd usually hit the pool for a nice evening swim without risk of sunburn, or take in a Piano Man Bob (Jackson) show in the bar/lounge . This was a lot less stressful and a lot more enjoyable.

I guess it really depends on the time of year and a number of other factors, but for us it was not worth it.