EMH with little ones? too much?

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Hi all! We are going on our first trip with our 4.5 year old triplets and I'm wondering if all these EMH mornings are going to be too much/too early? Our schedule/ADR's are all made and it turns out each part we go to each day has EMH. What time should I plan on leaving our resort (POR) each morning to get there for rope drop? Is this going to be too much? I'm just thinking it would be nice to do everything early and beat the crowds..but I don't want to arrive at 9:00 on and EMH day..ya know? thanks!

Karen

 

[tanyaandallie]

We didn't do any emh. The guide that I used really advised us not to so we didn't. Well, not true, I guess. We did do on emh in the evening. We had an easy day and went back to the park for fireworks, etc. The kids did ok but not something I would do again as my 2 year old melted down as we were leaving the park and cried for a very long time.

 

[carissanboys]

I guess it depends on your kids. My boys are early birds (they take after their mom) and are up early no matter what. We just tried to make sure they got to bed early enough. We didn't do any late dinners or late nights in the park (we saw Wishes once, but the next day we probably took it easy). The one morning we did EMH at MK it was really quiet in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and I'm glad we went. I think it partly depends on when you're going too. If you're going at a busy time, it might be really busy at those parks even during EMH. We were there at a slower time in March and it was great.

With that said, I do think it's important to throw a non-park day in the mix to relax and take it easy. We also left the parks after lunch/early afternoon when it began to get busy and we were all exhausted. Our younger two would take a nap and then we'd go to Downtown Disney or something like that.

 

[DisneyBarlans]

We love the EMH hours-morning and night, although don't try to do both in one day! If you go in the morning, there is hardly anyone there, we got Fantasyland knocked out in under 2 hours on our last trip-hardly any wait for Dumbo. When we go at night, we just take the double stroller that day so when DS5 and DS2 get tired, they can lay down and DH and I can take turns riding with DS11. You can walk right up to rides like Splash Mtn, Big Thunder RR, etc. with little to no wait during the evening hours. It feels like you have the park to yourself.

 

[PJinNYC]

We did some of the EMH. What we did was go for the early hours and then go back to the room to take a break when the park got crowded and really hot mid-day. I don't think DD (age 4) would have made it if we started with EMH in the morning and kept going all day. Just the heat alone made that too hard.

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

I also thought it might be to stressful to try to get up and head over early (ds likes to sleep late). I'm planning on doing the evening hrs, but, not the morning. We are going in November and ds will be 4 years old at that time. I think he will do much better sleeping in and us heading over to the parks around 11ish, riding the rides, etc...we have adr around 5ish every night, then we will go back out and enjoy the evening hrs, then sleep in the next morning and do it all again.

 

[kokotg]

We did one of the Little Ones EMHs last Sept. with our 5, 3, and 9 mo. olds, and it was great! I have two scheduled for this year's trip. But mine our the early rising type, too, so getting there at 8 really wasn't a big deal. If it's going to stress you out trying to get there that early, then it might not be worth it.

 

[skoi]

We used to plan our schedule based on EMH when the kids were little, and would be at that park for it (back when it was only AM). It was easier because it was cooler, lines shorter especially for the rides they wanted to go on, etc. We don't anymore, and usually just go to the EMH at Magic Kingdom because it's the kids' favorite park. We never had any problem with our kids and tiredness/grumpiness. Ds is a morning person, both dds will nap in the afternoon if they need to.

We've never done PM EMH and are really looking forward to it.

Have a great trip-
Julie

 

[dsnymomof4]

Yes, it is a little hard getting up early while on vacation - especially after still being tired from the long day before, it really is worth it because the crowds are minimal and you really can get a lot done in the hour before the park opens and even the first hour or two after. Once you approach lunch-time, it starts to get really crowded - that is the time to head to another park or back to hotel for break.

 

[PA Princess]

We are early morning people and for years we always did am EMH, but I have to say that several days into the trip we always hit a wall and had to stop and do a non park day to re-coop.

We have learned that if we do opening at a non EMH park, that we can make that day after day without exhausting ourselves. Not sure why that extra hour matters so much for us, but it really does.

Also, we have found that getting to a park at opening is the key...whether it is EMH or not seems to matter little in our experience. In fact, often the EMH openings have been more crowded than openings at a non EMH park.

Anyway, this is what we have learned in 10 years of Disney travels with 4 kids (currently ages 12, 11, 6, and 2). Since your plans are in place and making changes may not be possible in what park you are doing, I would plan to be at opening. If that means am EMH, so be it. Just know that after 2 or 3 days, you may need a non park day.

 

[murcor]

emh....everyone goes.. Go to another park, it is not as busy.

 

[asktriplets]

hi!

if your question is, "should we take advantage of EMHs?", here are my thoughts:
we generally only go to EMH (morning) at MK...at the other 3 parks, our interest level in the "major attractions" doesn't justify dealing with the crowd levels on EMH days, as we generally don't do rides the kids can't/won't do (unless we are fitting them into our day with fastpasses while we take turns doing downtime activities with the kids) . AK seems especially crazy-crowded on EMH days. Epcot might be worth it for you, but if you are doing rides for the kids, MGM has very little to offer on EMH days that will make it worth your while to deal with the extra crowds.


MK is GREAT on EMH mornings! fantasyland is so much fun. for the past 4 trips, we've done EMH in the MK and then walked over to the contemp. for a Chef Mickey's late breakfast at around 10:45/11...great timing for a break, and we still get "breakfast" pricing for our lunch.


if your question is, "should we be in the parks on EMH days if we are not taking advantage of EMHs?", i say NO! you're going in the fall, right? crowds will be light(er), but why deal with addtl. crowds if you don't have to?

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

okay...thanks for the responses. But the problem is that every day the park we are scheduled to be at with ADRS and such has EMH?? Will we be running into crowds at 9 or 10 oclock?