Epcot EMH crowds during low season?

[ryanmilla]

I am going Dec 11-14, which appears it is going to be pretty empty (comparatively speaking) according to the "Touring Plans" website. Right now the way we have planned our trip puts us in Epcot Monday evening. We have a ADR at San Angel in Mexico. However, TGM says to avoid Epcot on Monday due to it being a morning EMH. So, my question is does this advice also apply to the low season? Will Epcot be packed on that Monday even though it is still in the low season?

I have never been to WDW during this time of year. We have always gone during regular seasons (summer or spring break) and just fought with the crowds. Surprisingly, after all of my trips I finally have caught onto the DISboards, TGM, and Touring Plans. We used to always just go with the flow and use our past experience to guide us. However, now that I have caught on to these boards, I feel like I am planning my first ever trip and am getting obsessed. We would like to try Soarin and Crush, so going in the afternoon of a EMH morning, do you think we have a chance?

 

[ryanmilla]

Bump....Anyone have any advice?

 

[GottaGetToDisney!]

I can tell you that my sister and I got together this past weekend to make our itinerary plans. This will be our 7th trip and we have always stayed onsite and always, always, ALWAYS taken advantage of early entry! So, we popped onto TGM to check out his advice (this is the first time we've tried TGM) and, just as you stated, Mike doesn't think it's a good idea to go to Epcot on Monday morning. Well, we have decided to go against his advice. We enjoy having that extra hour when the park is practically empty! It will give us a chance to try Soarin' (maybe even two or three times!) before the crowds start to pick up. It is true that the park having an EMH day is typically more crowded, but usually not until it gets towards late morning/early afternoon, so it's possible that you may have a problem later on in the day. For us that doesn't pose a problem, because we see all of the major attractions during that extra morning hour and then we're ready to head back to our hotel for a nap and a swim by early afternoon. We've never visited in December but have always gone in the off-season. What we're unsure of is whether or not we'll try out the EMH evenings. From what I've seen here, those are the days to really avoid the parks. Those who don't have the park hopping feature will visit a park on the evening EMH day because they know they can stay late.



Hope this helped a little bit!

Gotta Get To Disney!

 

[PortieOwner]

I agree with the Unofficial Guide and I would add that even if you are a WDW resort guest you should avoid the early entry park. Early entry used to be great but there must be 20,000 rooms on WDW resort now and that translates into many tens of thousands of extra guests at the early entry park. We would have done much better avoiding all early entries.

Portie

 

[MHTeacher]

I am also going against the "expert" advice on the touring plans. We are arriving at WDW on the Monday after Thanksgiving. We plan to go to Epcot, have the dinner package for preferred seating at the Candlelight Processional. I'm hopeful that the Thanksgiving crowd will have left, and with it being a Monday, the crowds will be low
We've only been to WDW in May and July, so the crowds will probably seem low to us anyway.

May 2001-All Star Sports
July 2003-CSR
Nov./Dec. 2005-WL

 

[morecast]

Allthough it was against TGMs advice (the only advice i didn't follow) we went to Epcot a couple of Mondays ago and it wasn't bad at all.
The longest wait was 30 min for Soarin in the afternoon and so we used fastpass.
Crush was closed so we couldn't see that.
Considering that there are no walkons on Soarin and Test Track, we did OK. Fastpasses for both (15 min in line). The rest of Future World was about the same including Mission Space.
World Showcase was empty......

Just go and enjoy.......

 

[ryanmilla]

Thanks everyone for the advice and tips. It looks like we rearranged those days after all. Actually, the same parks, but now we are going to do Epcot with the early EMH. Our kids are EARLY risers, so it should actually work out. Then MGM in the afternoon and we are going to try and finish off with Fantasmic. Since we haven't seen that yet, it should be a nice addition.

Again, thanks for all of the advice!

 

[PortieOwner]

Allthough it was against TGMs advice (the only advice i didn't follow) we went to Epcot a couple of Mondays ago and it wasn't bad at all.
The longest wait was 30 min for Soarin in the afternoon and so we used fastpass.
Crush was closed so we couldn't see that.
Considering that there are no walkons on Soarin and Test Track, we did OK. Fastpasses for both (15 min in line). The rest of Future World was about the same including Mission Space.
World Showcase was empty......

Just go and enjoy.......

You would not have had that sort of luck this past Monday, Oct. 3. Epcot was jammed in the early afternoon and in the evening. Long lines for all attractions.

My big mistake this trip was being a little too organized. I should have blown off early entry mornings and also not messed with any character meals any later than 8am or so. Of course with all the dining commotion now you cannot just change eating plans at the last minute or even the last 7 days.

Portie