EMH worth it?

[MrsPete]

Since you added Park Hoppers, I would suggest this strategy for AM-EMH days:
If you can actually be to the AM-EMH Park 30-45 minutes before that EMH time starts, then definitely do this, and then hop to another park when it starts getting too crowded. A lot of resort guests *think* they can manage to be up and at the park by AM-EMH time, but in reality, end up showing up an hour or two after regular opening. So the theory is that AM-EMH days end up being crowded, but not until an hour or two after regular opening. If for some reason you get delayed and cannot make the AM-EMH time, just head straight to your originally planned "hop park" and skip the AM-EMH park.

This is excellent advice! To be perfectly clear:

- Be at the park before the rope drop, and know what rides you plan to hit first. Oddly enough, some people will enter the park early ... but won't have any idea what to do, so they'll stand around looking at their maps trying to make a decision! Stranger still are the people who come into the park and whittle away that first uncrowded hour by shopping!
- For the first two hours of park time, you'll be able to ride-ride-ride all the best rides. Seriously, depending upon the time of year, you can do as much in those couple hours as you could do in a whole day.
- Have your Fast Passes in place for the next couple hours.
- By the time you've done all this, you'll be tired ... so it's a good time to sit down and eat an early lunch (and schedule more Fast Passes), or head back to the hotel for a mid-day rest.
- Once you've rested, you'll find that the EMH park will have become exceedingly crowded. It's time to hop to another park. (Note that the EMH park is the one that people tend to choose anyway ... for example, we came for the Magic Kingdom, so we're definitely doing it on Monday!) You're smart to have added Hoppers; yes, it takes a bit of time to hop, but it gives you freedom to go to dinner in Epcot or to return to re-do a ride you especially enjoyed in Animal Kingdom.

 

[LiveToTravelNicely]

This is excellent advice! To be perfectly clear:

- Be at the park before the rope drop, and know what rides you plan to hit first. Oddly enough, some people will enter the park early ... but won't have any idea what to do, so they'll stand around looking at their maps trying to make a decision! Stranger still are the people who come into the park and whittle away that first uncrowded hour by shopping!
- For the first two hours of park time, you'll be able to ride-ride-ride all the best rides. Seriously, depending upon the time of year, you can do as much in those couple hours as you could do in a whole day.
- Have your Fast Passes in place for the next couple hours.
- By the time you've done all this, you'll be tired ... so it's a good time to sit down and eat an early lunch (and schedule more Fast Passes), or head back to the hotel for a mid-day rest.
- Once you've rested, you'll find that the EMH park will have become exceedingly crowded. It's time to hop to another park. (Note that the EMH park is the one that people tend to choose anyway ... for example, we came for the Magic Kingdom, so we're definitely doing it on Monday!) You're smart to have added Hoppers; yes, it takes a bit of time to hop, but it gives you freedom to go to dinner in Epcot or to return to re-do a ride you especially enjoyed in Animal Kingdom.

I'll add one more tip to the "know what rides you'll do first" excellent tip that Mrs Pete mentioned.... AM-EMH at MK normally only includes Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. The first time we ever staggered into AM-EMH at MK in 2011 with no plan, we wanted to ride BTMRR over and over and that of course wasn't possible.

 

[Remy is Up]

Emh is a no brainer. If you know what to ride and how to manage the park and fps plus refresh there is no reason you cant knock out anything in any park on emh morning by 11am

 

[monorailsilver]

We love morning EMH. I think they are less crowded.

For instance, we were late and got there at 8:30 but my kids rode space mountain twice before 9. We tried the evening hours and at 11:10 space was about a 55 min wait. The park was open til 1 so if we waited we would if only had an hour to ride as much stuff as possible.

EMH in DHS (7am) we did slinky once, TSMM three times, aliens once, pictures with buzz and jessie, pictures with buzz and a bathroom break all by 8:10.

EMH in AK, we did dinosaur, triceratops spin, primeval whirl and Everest twice, although I only got on it once because once was enough! 1st FP was at 9 for that so the kids used it then.

 

[Magical2017]

We usually take advantage of evening EMH when staying on site. (EMH or not, evenings at MK are probably one of my favorite parts of our trips). We have always had very good luck with evening EMH. We have not rope dropped that often, but when we have, it has been great. It's definitely a "try and see if you like it" kind of thing. You may get hooked.

 

[DVCcurious]

Yes.... except for evening EMH that start before midnight

So morning hours are always great, and MK 12-2 EMH are great, but Epcot or HS 9pm-11pm EMH are crowded. MK evening 10-12 are the worst. They are way overcrowded.

 

[gharter]

This is excellent advice! To be perfectly clear:

- Be at the park before the rope drop, and know what rides you plan to hit first. Oddly enough, some people will enter the park early ... but won't have any idea what to do, so they'll stand around looking at their maps trying to make a decision! Stranger still are the people who come into the park and whittle away that first uncrowded hour by shopping!
- For the first two hours of park time, you'll be able to ride-ride-ride all the best rides. Seriously, depending upon the time of year, you can do as much in those couple hours as you could do in a whole day.
- Have your Fast Passes in place for the next couple hours.
- By the time you've done all this, you'll be tired ... so it's a good time to sit down and eat an early lunch (and schedule more Fast Passes), or head back to the hotel for a mid-day rest.
- Once you've rested, you'll find that the EMH park will have become exceedingly crowded. It's time to hop to another park. (Note that the EMH park is the one that people tend to choose anyway ... for example, we came for the Magic Kingdom, so we're definitely doing it on Monday!) You're smart to have added Hoppers; yes, it takes a bit of time to hop, but it gives you freedom to go to dinner in Epcot or to return to re-do a ride you especially enjoyed in Animal Kingdom.

Very good advice.
I'm always amazed at RD, the number ofpeople standing around looking at their map trying to figure out what to do.
If we do EMH at a park, do th eEMH rides, have our FPs for after EMH, ride those and then generally head to a different park for the rest of the day.

 

[Sysyphus]

EMH didn't work for us as well as we had hoped on our two day "last-minute" (booked three weeks ahead) trip last week. We got to Hollywood Studios to walk thru the gate at 7am on Wednesday and there was already a 40 minute line for Slinky Dog by the time we got there... and the MK nightime til 1am was so much busier than we expected... after midnight was still a 40 minute wait for Space Mountain although we did manage to get the Seven Dwarves by joining the "40 minute line" at 1245... got out of the park at 0125

 

[pooh2001]

We like the AM EMH - nice an empty for pictures and getting a few rides in
We will FP 1 or 2 rides in the AM - see what else in available - then do a brunch and
go to another Park for the afternoon.