Extra Extra Magic Hours! Post Your Experiences Here!

[Dug720]

These reports *almost* make me want to go to Studios for Tower and RnRC and then head to Magic Kingdom. But the time suck getting between the parks is the main thing stopping me. (No, I do not want to do Lyft or a Minnie Van.)

 

[Tess]

@CastAStone I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your hard work and time spent posting the wait time updates! This thread is a total game-changer for me.

Agreed and keep it coming. . .we don't hit WDW until 10/10. I know the crowds will be filling by then.

 

[serendipityaey]

Does anyone have any first hand experience with AK EEMH? What time did you arrive and how long was the actual wait for FoP compared to posted time?

 

[CherieFran]

Does anyone have any first hand experience with AK EEMH? What time did you arrive and how long was the actual wait for FoP compared to posted time?

I did it this morning. Arrived via Lyft at 6:50. By the time I got through gate and made a bathroom stop, got in line for FOP about 7:10. Line was all the way back to Africa bridge but moving fast. Posted wait time was 60 min when I got in line but only waited 25 minutes until pre-show room. It was posted at 45 min at 7:55.

 

[serendipityaey]

I did it this morning. Arrived via Lyft at 6:50. By the time I got through gate and made a bathroom stop, got in line for FOP about 7:10. Line was all the way back to Africa bridge but moving fast. Posted wait time was 60 min when I got in line but only waited 25 minutes until pre-show room. It was posted at 45 min at 7:55.

Thank you so much!

 

[CastAStone]

Extra Extra late post today but to be fair I’m actually at Disney world right now which makes this harder.

9/15, 7:42AM

DHS:
MFSR:45
SDD:35
TOT,TSM:20
RNR:10

Getting busier!

MK:
7DMT:Closed!
Meet Mickey:30
Space:15
Speedway, PP, Meet Tink, Meet Cinderella, Pooh, Dumbo:10

AK:
FOP:45
Navi:10

All other rides and attractions 5 or 0.

I’ll probably be posting at weird times for the next several days, but I’ll try to take those AM screenshots to do it from!

 

[CouponGirl]

Extra Extra late post today but to be fair I’m actually at Disney world right now which makes this harder.

DHS:
MFSR:45
SDD:35
TOT,TSM:20
RNR:10

Getting busier!

MK:
7DMT:Closed!
Meet Mickey:30
Space:15
Speedway, PP, Meet Tink, Meet Cinderella, Pooh, Dumbo:10

AK:
FOP:45
Navi:10

All other rides and attractions 5 or 0.

I’ll probably be posting at weird times for the next several days, but I’ll try to take those AM screenshots to do it from!

Have fun!! Hope you have an amazing trip!

 

[CouponGirl]

6:46 AM

DHS:
MFSR:50
SDD:35
TOT:13

Everything else in DHS 5

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Does anyone have any first hand experience with AK EEMH? What time did you arrive and how long was the actual wait for FoP compared to posted time?

Yes, I posted a little about AK 2 pages back. It was great but similar to DHS, it might be better to NOT go with the crowd to the biggest headliner (FOP) and go ride EE first, THEN go to FOP. Everyone goes straight to FOP, and the line was immediately 60 minutes at RD but we headed over to EE and had a train all to ourselves and by the time we got back over to FOP at 7:40, the listed wait was 35 and it took actually less to do the line and the entire ride. Only problem is that there isnt much open for eemh at AK, safari doesn't open until 8am.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

These reports *almost* make me want to go to Studios for Tower and RnRC and then head to Magic Kingdom. But the time suck getting between the parks is the main thing stopping me. (No, I do not want to do Lyft or a Minnie Van.)

The biggest problem I see with this is transportation. My DH and I were done with what we wanted to do at eemh AK and were ready to head to Epcot. It took quite a while for a bus at 8:30am as they were bring people TO the park, not expecting many to be leaving already!

 

[Dug720]

The biggest problem I see with this is transportation. My DH and I were done with what we wanted to do at eemh AK and were ready to head to Epcot. It took quite a while for a bus at 8:30am as they were bring people TO the park, not expecting many to be leaving already!

Yeah, like I said, I'm not planning to do it given the time suck. Even walking over to the Beach or Yacht or Boardwalk (whichever is closer) is a huge time suck. Studios will just remain the park that is dead to me. Not worth the effort to get there for the two things I'll actually go on. (And I love Fantasmic, but I'm not doing the time suck just for that either. Even if I put the three together, nope.)

 

[WIll C]

The biggest problem I see with this is transportation. My DH and I were done with what we wanted to do at eemh AK and were ready to head to Epcot. It took quite a while for a bus at 8:30am as they were bring people TO the park, not expecting many to be leaving already!

When I left HS on Sat morning around 9am I got some info from the bus driver. Until 11am, there is no regularly scheduled bus service back to the MK resorts (and possibly the MK itself and other locations). The buses are all coming down to drop people off and then taking off without passengers. If you want a bus, stop one of the cast members at the pick up area or a driver and ask them to call dispatch for a pick up. They'll get a bus to you.
The driver I had saw me waiting and called dispatch and got the OK to take me back to the Contemporary. Otherwise, I may have been waiting a long time as I had no idea I needed to do that.

 

[serendipityaey]

Yes, I posted a little about AK 2 pages back. It was great but similar to DHS, it might be better to NOT go with the crowd to the biggest headliner (FOP) and go ride EE first, THEN go to FOP. Everyone goes straight to FOP, and the line was immediately 60 minutes at RD but we headed over to EE and had a train all to ourselves and by the time we got back over to FOP at 7:40, the listed wait was 35 and it took actually less to do the line and the entire ride. Only problem is that there isnt much open for eemh at AK, safari doesn't open until 8am.

I saw but my daughter won’t be riding EE so that’s not an option for us.

 

[alicat130]

We went for a last minute trip this last weekend. Friday, we went to MK and made it inside around 7:20am after a delayed monorail. We rode Space Mountain three times, peoplemover, Big Thunder 3 times, met Mary Poppins and went to Starbucks before 9am. The longest wait of the morning was Sleepy Hollow for breakfast.

Saturday, we arrived at HS at 5:30 and didn't have any wait to get in. We grabbed Starbucks and it was really quick. We headed to Toy Story Land first, I was a little surprised how many headed that way after seeing earlier reports. We managed to get on the first Slinky of the day and waited 5-10 minutes for a second time. We rode Mania once, no waiting to board. We headed over to Rockin and rode twice without having to watch the pre-show. One time, we were one of only two rows on our car. The second time was maybe half full. We went to Tower and rode four times, we did have to watch the pre-show each time. Two of our rides, we got to be the only ones in the elevator. That was so special for us! We stopped for around a 20 min break at this point to buy tickets for a broadway show that went on sale at 8am. While we were waiting for our turn to buy, we were able to make it to right outside Galaxy's Edge. We waited one time in the standby line for Smugglers Run, I think it was posted 30 and we waited around 20 and got to be pilots. We then rode two times in the single rider line with no wait at all. We loved EEMH and are looking forward to doing it again next month. It ranks up there as one of our favorite days at Disney!

 

[glamdring269]

Let's assume for the moment that these wait time experiences continue for the next several weeks. For those who have experienced this, how would you handle your FP if you had park hoppers? At this point I'm considering making some changes and just moving all of my FP away from the park I plan to rope drop that day.

 

[emilymad]

Let's assume for the moment that these wait time experiences continue for the next several weeks. For those who have experienced this, how would you handle your FP if you had park hoppers? At this point I'm considering making some changes and just moving all of my FP away from the park I plan to rope drop that day.

I am considering the same thing but I am going to wait until the very last minute to change FP to see if these trends continue.

 

[evlaina]

Let's assume for the moment that these wait time experiences continue for the next several weeks. For those who have experienced this, how would you handle your FP if you had park hoppers? At this point I'm considering making some changes and just moving all of my FP away from the park I plan to rope drop that day.

I haven't experienced it yet but I'm not changing my plans (we go in 12 days). We always rope drop and we also always book FP as early as possible so we can get more, whether at the park we rope drop, or the park we are hopping to. I just checked availability for our arrival day (Saturday, 9/28) and every ride at MK still has plenty of FP availability all day for our party of 6 except for the Mickey/Minnie greet and 7DMT. I checked the other parks throughout that week and the same thing. I'm not worried about crowds now.

I think plans depend on 2 things - how soon are you going, and if you take mid-day breaks. We naturally early risers and never go back to the resort for breaks, so I am constantly booking my next FP throughout the day. If we were mid-day break people, I might change my plans and only do later FP if I wanted a nap or to go to the pool.

The only park we did not book morning FP for is HS. Changing tiers really devalued FP there for us, and we'll be there early so we won't need it. We are doing HS one afternoon/evening after Epcot and I'm expecting I can pick some FP up after our Epcot ones are done.

 

[WIll C]

I am considering the same thing but I am going to wait until the very last minute to change FP to see if these trends continue.

I ended up removing all my HS FPs when I went to EEMH. I did everything I wanted to so changed over to Epcot as I was going there next. Got into most of what I wanted day of (other than Frozen, of course).
I would not book FPs for the park you are doing EEMH or even EMH, especially MK if there is a party that night. Seemed like no one was in the park in the morning. I would only think you would want to if there are certain attractions you want to do in the afternoon/evening and are going to spend the whole day in that one park ( or come back to it).

 

[Disney Frenhines]

When I left HS on Sat morning around 9am I got some info from the bus driver. Until 11am, there is no regularly scheduled bus service back to the MK resorts (and possibly the MK itself and other locations). The buses are all coming down to drop people off and then taking off without passengers. If you want a bus, stop one of the cast members at the pick up area or a driver and ask them to call dispatch for a pick up. They'll get a bus to you.
The driver I had saw me waiting and called dispatch and got the OK to take me back to the Contemporary. Otherwise, I may have been waiting a long time as I had no idea I needed to do that.

Get a boat to YC then get the MK bus from there.

 

[Davey Jones II]

I ended up removing all my HS FPs when I went to EEMH. I did everything I wanted to so changed over to Epcot as I was going there next. Got into most of what I wanted day of (other than Frozen, of course).
I would not book FPs for the park you are doing EEMH or even EMH, especially MK if there is a party that night. Seemed like no one was in the park in the morning. I would only think you would want to if there are certain attractions you want to do in the afternoon/evening and are going to spend the whole day in that one park ( or come back to it).

Sounds like a smart strategy for September, but we arrive on Oct. 14, for a nine-day trip (seven people). Seems to me that crowd conditions will be much busier in October.