EMM now being offered at DHS! Epcot to follow?

[123SA]

We are trying it. Last trip we only rode TSMM 2 times. THis way we'll have our fill of it in the morning and can use our FP on RnRC and spend the 9-10am hour on RnRC and ToT

 

[HopperFan]

Good point on the market, unless they roped it off somehow and everyone entered and exited to the left hand side as you enter the pavilion? Could be a tight fit though.

If they put 2 Tier One's in the EMM, I'm sure it would be a HUGE draw! I know I would book it, anyway!

Pluses:
- TT could mean a larger number of tickets could be sold for this and therefore cha-chinging.
- Spreading it between TT and Norway means less crowds, whereas Norway & Mexico only could be tight.
- Breakfast makes sense for Electric Umbrella so since most would eat at end it pulls you back to Futureland which is what will be open.
- TT brings in another level of customer and again, a higher capacity could be offered without hurting the exclusiveness.

We'll see but fun to predict ...........

 

[HopperFan]

We did the same! We are there from Sept. 17-25 and are doing the Halloween party 3 times, EMM at MK twice and EMM at HS twice lol. And if they add one at Epcot, I'm all over that too. I like these events.

You should be getting some kind of VIP treatment for all that!

 

[tarak]

They have the facilities to do 3 of these in EP.

I'm going with:

#1 - FEA, A&E meet, Gran Fiesta plus breakfast

#2 - TT, Mission Space, a few characters (Stitch?!) and breakfast

#3 - Soarin', Character Spot, Nemo, breakfast

I would totally do it. It would allow us to EMM one of the Tier 1's, RD one and FP+ the other.

If they schedule either of the first two, I'd book them.

I like events like this. It makes for a really nice morning with my 3 small kids, and then we can spend the rest of the afternoon at the resort. We don't have to stress over rope drop or PPO breakfast. And we would pay $35-40 per person for breakfast at the resort anyway.

I went to the one at MK with DD4 and thought it was absolutely worth it. Perhaps because I had an AP, so I didn't feel like I was otherwise burning a park day when HS wasn't where I planned to go, even for half the day. Star Tours and TSMM are my favorites at HS. I'd probably book this one, have a FP for RNRC, go to launch bay and then call it a day by noon. Would all my kids want to do it? Probably not. Those not interested could sleep in and meet up later.

What I meant is I don't think it impacts the guests who are not participating but arrive at rope drop. But, yes, if you are not booking FP+ for those rides that opens them up for others during the day so a plus for them.



Call me BIZARRE, I just booked it.

I have APs and that is how I justify paying for any extra hard ticket events. There are different kind of AP holders. I assume from your name you are a local. I have APs but we drive 8 hours to get there, pay for hotels, so while I know I'll get back it may not be for some time. When they offer up some of my DS favorites without crowds and lines plus breakfast, it is worth the price.

DHS closed:
- LMA, same old same old I was fine with not going to see it anymore
- Backlot Tour, same old same old, Catastrophe only saving part
- Animation, Launch Bay is an improvement as long as characters elsewhere
- Pizza Planet, good riddance
- Playground, long past going in there
- Studio Grill, I think I ate there twice, ever
- Jack Sparrow, once and done
- SOA, sad, very sad, but I get it had only one purpose. Hoping for some reprieve.

Everything we enjoy there is still open and they added the fireworks. If it keeps the park less crowded, hey that's good for us. We also enjoy the TS in that park. In the end hoppers are becoming more important to any multi day ticket so you can enjoy the best of each park, spend partial days where you don't feel the love and be able to hop for nighttime experiences.

I agree with all of this. I just hope they keep the number of tickets sold low.

I think Disney would get the FEA working right before offering an EMM. It would not go over well if people were buying this and FEA is down during it.

I agree. I wouldn't be surprised if they added Epcot once FEA is operating relatively reliably.

 

[nicolemb]

So glad we planned HS on a Tuesday. What happens to PPO H&V ADRs on EMM days? (Not saying they should be guaranteed early access, just out of curiosity). Are you required to buy a hard ticket? Do they hold you in the restaurant until 9? A bunch of breakfast reservations for Monday and Wednesday of our week opened up suddenly today, I assume in reaction to this.

 

[Accident]

So glad we planned HS on a Tuesday. What happens to PPO H&V ADRs on EMM days? (Not saying they should be guaranteed early access, just out of curiosity). Are you required to buy a hard ticket? Do they hold you in the restaurant until 9? A bunch of breakfast reservations for Monday and Wednesday of our week opened up suddenly today, I assume in reaction to this.

my understanding is emm gets a wristband and they use fastpass line to get in front of everyone else until rope drop. everything else is normal.

not sure on the ticket question, if your asking if emm needs a ticket to the park, yes you do, emm is just an attraction breakfast.

 

[nicolemb]

my understanding is emm gets a wristband and they use fastpass line to get in front of everyone else until rope drop. everything else is normal.

not sure on the ticket question, if your asking if emm needs a ticket to the park, yes you do, emm is just an attraction breakfast.

I was wondering if you need to purchase EMM if you want to to a PPO adr on these days. The Halloween party at MK requires a party ticket for all ADRs after a certain time.

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

I was wondering if you need to purchase EMM if you want to to a PPO adr on these days. The Halloween party at MK requires a party ticket for all ADRs after a certain time.

No, because those PPO breakfasts happen all the time and don't have anything to do with the EMM. The EMM breakfast is taking place at a location that's not normally serving breakfast. Two separate things there.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Well I am rethinking the possibility of doing an Epcot one. They probably wouldn't have FEA and Soarin both open, due to the locations. And I would want both of them for the price. So I am thinking I could have two options here.

1. A possible PPO breakfast at Garden Grill if we do Epcot on one of the days that they have the EMM hours. That way, after we eat, we could be right there at Soarin for a short wait time around 9 a.m., then just fast pass FEA.

2. I know this could change at any time, looking at the second week of January's hours, Epcot's EMHs for the morning are on a Thursday. I am thinking maybe that will be the same for the first week in February? Just make that our Epcot day instead. I feel like this is the beginning of the end of EMHs, but not just yet.

 

[andyman8]

Not worth it in my opinion. I really see the value in the Fantasyland EMM (especially for offsite guests), but this one seems to lack any real appeal to me, especially given the boosted capacity at TSM recently (which, combined with the lower summer crowds, has seen some decently low waits lately).

That said, Epcot is sure to follow. The managers at Epcot cannot wait, but they're working their way through the loads of issues with FEA before they're willing to charge people and pay CMs to operate it in the morning. My understanding is they're hoping to do an event that offers breakfast at La Cantina in addition to rides on the Gran Fiesta Tour and FEA plus a meet 'n' greet at the Royal Summerhus with A&E (the sisters, not the tv network). Bare in mind, there are several versions of this plan, and if they're still struggling with FEA a little while longer, you might see them roll out a Future World version first with TT and/or Soarin. They're still trying to figure out the details, but if they could get that FEA EMM up and running, I'd guarantee you those tickets would sell out fast.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Not worth it in my opinion. I really see the value in the Fantasyland EMM (especially for offsite guests), but this one seems to lack any real appeal to me, especially given the boosted capacity at TSM recently (which, combined with the lower summer crowds, has seen some decently low waits lately).

That said, Epcot is sure to follow. The managers at Epcot cannot wait, but they're working their way through the loads of issues with FEA before they're willing to charge people and pay CMs to operate it in the morning. My understanding is they're hoping to do an event that offers breakfast at La Cantina in addition to rides on the Gran Fiesta Tour and FEA plus a meet 'n' greet at the Royal Summerhus with A&E (the sisters, not the tv network). Bare in mind, there are several versions of this plan, and if they're still struggling with FEA a little while longer, you might see them roll out a Future World version first with TT and/or Soarin. They're still trying to figure out the details, but if they could get that FEA EMM up and running, I'd guarantee you those tickets would sell out fast.

Exactly! I may just try to plan my Epcot day on what I think will just be an EMH morning day.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

What day do ya'll think that they might do an Epcot EMM entry? I'm thinking on Saturdays.

 

[kandb]

This really pissed me off when I read about this. We have our one day planned to go to HS on Monday, Aug. 29th and now the crowds will not be as low as I hoped. Why add these extras on so close to people's trip. It's almost like when Disney knows the crowds are not going to be horrendous, they add something on so people have to wait in lines. I would not have made our HS day this day but now have our fp's and dinner adr at Sci-Fi. Getting tired of all the "extras" that Disney wants you to buy. Enough already!

 

[Regan117]

This really pissed me off when I read about this. We have our one day planned to go to HS on Monday, Aug. 29th and now the crowds will not be as low as I hoped. Why add these extras on so close to people's trip. It's almost like when Disney knows the crowds are not going to be horrendous, they add something on so people have to wait in lines. I would not have made our HS day this day but now have our fp's and dinner adr at Sci-Fi. Getting tired of all the "extras" that Disney wants you to buy. Enough already!

I don't see how this is going to affect crowds and lines. It hasn't affected anything at MK.

 

[kandb]

Not bizarre at all, paying extra for an almost empty park, even to ride a few rides is priceless to me. Its okay that you don't want to spend your money on that, but its not bizarre that some people do. I don't buy APs because I don't go multiple times a year, my time is valuable when I'm there and if I can spend money to save time waiting in line for some rides then I'm all for it.

I'm hoping for an EP one with more multiple Tier 1 attractions open.

I agree, I don't hold it against Disney to add extra things to make their profit more, HOWEVER, why spring it on people 3 weeks before they have their plans for the parks? It's not fair to make everyone plan, check crowd calendars, make dining adr's 6 months in advance and then add something that is going to change the crowds/ride waits. Sorry, but that's the part that I think is unfair.

 

[kandb]

I don't see how this is going to affect crowds and lines. It hasn't affected anything at MK.

MK is a much bigger park with many more rides then HS. HS has barely any rides, many call it a 1/2 day park.

 

[kandb]

I did the EMM at MK. I thought it was reasonable. My only complaint is that it would have been nice to have a character or two or three out. Have Winnie-the-Pooh, Peter Pan and Dopey out and it would have been perfect. So having characters to meet for DHS EMM is a good change. But I would have rather have a ToT and RnRC but oh well. I think this would be very attractive to a Star Wars fan that wants to see as many different Star Tour videos as possible.

Just going to add something a little off topic.

Crowds are down, hotel occupancy is down, ticket sales are down. I think this is the reason you are not seeing really extended hours over the summer and why it is taking so long to update hours. I wouldn't be surprised if operating MK is a quarter of a million dollars or more an hour. If Disney is not going to have the ADRs, store sales and ticket sales to cover those costs, why be open to midnight or later?

Disney is a business, they need to hit labour targets, sales targets. Their P&L needs to balance, just on the operations side of the coin. It sucks that we seem to be getting less hours. But if there isn't demand, there isn't demand. It looks to be why Disney is trying these special events. And remember, we may be sitting here and lamenting the seeming lack of hours. But the cast members that are getting fewer hours because of it are the ones that we should be thinking about. They are losing income to pay their bills and put food on the table.

I would no doubt believe that if Disney's attendance metrics and hotel occupancy were at the same levels of last year that you would be seeing some more hours. But the demand isn't there. So neither is the extras that go along with higher demand. You aren't going to staff for 75,000 when you are only going to get 54,000.

Sorry, don't think it would cost $250K for an extra hour in MK. Not with the $$$$$$ they pay the CM's and a bit more of electricity.

 

[Hikergirl]

I agree, I don't hold it against Disney to add extra things to make their profit more, HOWEVER, why spring it on people 3 weeks before they have their plans for the parks? It's not fair to make everyone plan, check crowd calendars, make dining adr's 6 months in advance and then add something that is going to change the crowds/ride waits. Sorry, but that's the part that I think is unfair.

I didn't realize Disney was supposed to make things fair. And they don't make anyone do those things, they offer those services but people choose to use them.

 

[Regan117]

MK is a much bigger park with many more rides then HS. HS has barely any rides, many call it a 1/2 day park.

And most of the people doing EMM will likely be out of the park by 10am. So I'm still not seeing how it affects lines of the park opens at 9am.

 

[disneymom0104]

There is an EMM scheduled now for one of our HS days. I think (or am hoping) it won't affect things too much. The people that are riding TSMM and ST for that hour are people that won't need to ride them once the park opens. Once they get the other rides out of the way and eat their breakfast they will be moving on to shows or the Star Wars stuff, and they might be done? So I think it definitely turns it into a half day park with the EMM. If people that purchase that and are unable to park hop, i still think it will be such a small number overall.

This EMM actually appeals to me, but not enough to buy the 5 tickets needed for my family. We don't need to ride TSMM 5 times and I think we will be fine on ST either way.