EMH Worth it?

[trambach]

I will be staying at the Poly in Aug and have already made my itinerary and ADRs, this was before Disney released their park hours/EMHs for my stay.

My question is, is it worth it to readjust my itinerary to accommodate the EMH on those days? Or would it be better it to add on the Park Hopper and visit those parks during EMH only?

Or considering the heavy crowds in general in Aug, is there a noticeable difference compared to just rope drop?

Thanks

 

[Robo]

I will be staying at the Poly in Aug and have already made my itinerary and ADRs, this was before Disney released their park hours/EMHs for my stay.

My question is, is it worth it to readjust my itinerary to accommodate the EMH on those days? Or would it be better it to add on the Park Hopper and visit those parks during EMH only?

Or considering the heavy crowds in general in Aug, is there a noticeable difference compared to just rope drop?

Thanks

For AM EMH, that park will have the lowest attendance of that day during that first EMH hour.
After that AM EMH hour, attendance at that park will likely grow to have more guests than "usual."

So... If you attend AM EMH, it can be handy to be able to "Hop" out to another park if the attendance gets too high.

 

[trambach]

Thanks for the reply. Any thoughts on PM EMH?

 

[Robo]

Thanks for the reply. Any thoughts on PM EMH?

PM EMH's are a mixed bag. I've been when they were
"packed"... but on other nights (sometimes within the
same trip), the crowds were basically so low that it
was like "free rides" on all the open attractions.

The rule seems to be, it is far easier for guests to

STAY UP at the end of the day, than it is for them to
GET UP at the start of the day.

Generally speaking:
Expect a PM EMH which begins before 10PM to be much busier than one that begins much later.
Expect the first hour of PM EMH to be busier than the last hour.


Those who have attended PM EMH's and say that "they
are too crowded" are right... but that may have been only on the nights
they have attended.

I can say from personal experience that EMH's CAN be
virtually empty, or overly full... or somewhere in-between for attendance,
often within the same week.

The crowd situation at PM EMH can change so much (either way,)
that saying it was "like X" on a given night, can have little relation
to another night in the same time-period. So, you
simply "won't know unless you go."

It's similar to saying
that you attended on a given night and it rained, so
guests should never go on that night because it will
probably be rainy.

But, it can all boil down to your particular timing.

If you just consider that EMH's are FREE to attend...
You might just take a chance.
If it's too busy, just people-watch... or hit the exit.
(Where ELSE are ya gonna go at 10pm, anyway?)

But, if its not busy... you'll be ALL SET for EXTRA FUN!



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[Bullseye]

We're big fans of both EMH! I agree with Robo, sometimes they can be crowded, other times you're on the rides in no time at all. You can always check and see if you can adjust adr's. If not just stick with your plans, and buy the hoppers! Around the six month mark there's a link posted on the boards for the travel agents schedule for WDW. You can usually depend on that to know which parks will have EMH on which day. Thats where I usually start my planning.

 

[aretha30]

We go in August every year. We always get hoppers and we will hit the PM EMH at MK and Epcot. We find we can get a lot done in a short time. This year we will probably hit AK if they have EMH because of the new Rivers of Light show.

 

[gatormom2tots]

We always do AM EMH....we can knock out fantasyland easily in an hour. We usually avoid PMs....we are up early for the AM EMH"s, have small kids, and no guarantee that it will be low crowds.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We use a park hopper with EMH. Total freedom to do Disney.

 

[CAS239]

We never stay on site so we never partake in EMH. However, if we did stay on site, we would definitely take advantage of PM EMH. We love it when we get to stay in the parks super late

 

[Farps]

I love the park hopper option, am EMH and hop to a less crowded park when the crowds roll in. pm EMH can definitely be a crap shoot, the later that they are the better from our experience. We have been in MK until 2am and it seemed like we had the park to ourselves !

 

[5kidsmommy]

We always take advantage of EMH at MK and Epcot, both morning and night but we also hop to take advantage of lower crowds at other parks.

 

[DVCcurious]

I've only done PM extra magic hours twice.

January 2014: MLK Sunday. EMH from 10PM-12AM.
At 10:00 I did Space Mountain and I got out to see a 90 minute wait, so I walked to Thunder and rode that once and then PM EMH were over.

Last week (March 2016): Easter Week Wednesday. EMH from 12AM - 2AM

After 10:00PM we did
MSEP across from Casey's
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
Ice Cream from Mrs. Potts
Ariel under the sea
Barnstormer
Dumbo

Then it was 12:00. After 12:00 we did:
Pooh
Anna & Elsa
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Thunder Mountain
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin X 2
Tomorrowland Speedway
7 Dwarfs (got in line at 1:56, out at 2:23)

So on the first time I got 2 rides, the second time I got 8 rides. What conclusion can we draw? My guess is 12AM extra magic hours have a lot less people than 10PM extra magic hours. But I only have a sample size of 2.

Our goal was to do both Anna & Elsa and 7 Dwarfs during EMH. I also wanted to ride Thunder. If you had chosen to skip A&E or not to ride Thunder you probably could've done a lot more than the 8 rides we did between 12-2 since we wasted valuable time walking from A&E to Thunder then to Buzz. If we'd just stayed in Tomorrowland/Fantasyland and skipped Thunder we probably could've done up to 12 rides during that 2 hour period. But I wanted to ride Thunder at night, so I told DD6 if she got A&E I got to do Thunder.

 

[Mamanemo]

Usually always do PM extra magic hours. Park hoppers are the best. So many options of where to go and what to do. We always do AM extra magic hours. Saves on fast passes and get a lot done before the crowds and heat.

 

[mkla2015]

We always buy park hoppers for total freedom... And, most days we do visit at least 2 parks so they work for our touring style.

We never do morning EMH- no morning peeps in the family. Sometimes we struggle to get to the parks for 9am.

Now, PM EMH- LOVE them!!! Nothing better than being in MK late at night. The 10-12 EMH are definitely more crowded than 11-1 or 12-2 but you can usually still get lots done. On our trip last month, we took advantage of EMH at DHS 830-1030 and MK 11pm- 1am. At DHS, we rode TSMM twice with no more than a 10 min wait and did a few other things. At MK, DH and I went childless and were able to do JC, POTC, magic carpets, dinner @ Pecos Bills, HM, IASW, Philharmagic, 7DMT, Buzz, Stitch, and Space Mountain.

I don't think I'd totally change my plans around just because of EMH but definitely check into park hoppers.

 

[Northernlites]

We did the am EMH for MK in April 2015, what a nightmare, even though we were there at 7 for the 8 am opening it was crazy, thousands of thousands of people, I would never do it again!!!!! The park stayed packed all day and into the evening, there was no letting up. I always do rope drop and the EMH was out of control for the volume of people.