Extra Magic hour or not?

[mplsmom1]

I'm struggling with my itinerary and have a plan sketched out. However, most of the days I have outlined don't match up with the Extra Magic Hour opening. We're definitely morning people - but I don't want to wait until Thursday for MK. What are people's thoughts about EMH? thanks!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We think the MK EMH is the only one that is really worth it. But if you want to ride ToT or RnRC or TT or M:S, this is a good time to do it. We always try to do EMH at MK, though. You can ride a lot before the rest of the guests enter.

 

[AZKathy]

We find it only worth it for MK to get Fantasyland done before the crowds come.

When we did EMH at MGM, we only got RNR and TOT riden once. Everyone headed towards that area and it was packed.

 

[Eeyore2003]

This worked really perfect for us last week. We entered for FP at Magic Kingdom. Didn't want to ride Space Mountain, so went straight to Buzz, did Buzz twice, then on to Pooh, then Peter Pan, we could easily have fit in Space Mountain, or another ride, or even Mickey's Philharmagic, but it's been so long since we'd gone into Fantasy Land, that we actually had to stop and look at our map!!!

We were waiting at the gate by HM at about 8:45, it was just a little too short of a time to fit in Mickey's Philharmagic before the 9:00 opening of Splash Mountain.

We could have easily fit in Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion and Mickey's Philharmagic before our 10:30 reservation at Crystal Palace, but we got stuck twice on Splash Mountain and it took about 1/2 hour for the ride.

I think it's worth it if you plan on doing allot of the headliners. You can really get allot ahead of the crowd which makes your day so much nicer. Of course we had our afternoon break that day too!!!

 

[Eeyore2003]

I forgot to add, I do understand your dilemma though, I planned our vacation with my brother and family in July so that we'd get there to do Magic Kingdom on our first day (Sunday). It's a tough call.

 

[crisi]

EMH is great for Fantasyland. But if it doesn't match up with your trip, consider park hopping if you have park hoppers. That's what they are there for.

Go to MK on your first day and enjoy yourselves. On Thursday, when MK has EE, go there in the morning again and do Fantasyland and leave by 10:00. AK and MK are really morning parks, and it is nice to be there when the gates open, especially when the parks close early - but MGM and Epcot - particularly Epcot - are afternoon/evening parks.

I haven't been in Epcot in the morning for three trips. We always use this as our afternoon/evening park on MK/AK days.

 

[afsi3838]

can someone post a link to where you can find out what days have the extra hour? thanks

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Don't have a link but:

EMH

MK (Sundays and Thursdays)
AK (Mondays and Fridays)
MGM (Tuesdays and Saturdays)
EPCOT (Wednesdays)

Hope this helps.

 

[motaei]

mplsmom1 - Thanks for posting this question. You've read my mind. I have 4+ possible itineraries planned & I'm racking my head "to EMH or not to EMH?" The EMH is a big perk to staying on site, but it's so early in the morning. Plus we're meeting friends from Israel & I have no idea what time their bodies are going to be on. I feel less stressed knowing that other on-site people don't necessarily use the EMH.

 

[kbkids]

We planned to last week every day that we were there, but with two small kids, it was impossible. By the time we reached our third day, I had given up and was just greatful for a little extra sleep.

 

[Lucky4me]

When staying onsite I plan on doing EMH every day, but the reality is by the third day we are pooped. The every other day plan works well for us.

For example:

Sunday-EMH MK
Monday-EPCOT whenever we wake up
Tuesday-EMH AK
Wednesday-MGM whenever we wake up
Thursday-EMH MK
Friday-EPCOT whenever we wake up or other favorites

We usually go in off season when the parks close early so we're there from open to close, or we'll hop around a bit after the EMHs.

 

[jeankeri]

We did EMH at Epcot and found it helpful. Since we did Epcot in two days (am for Future World/ pm for World Showcase), the extra hour helped. My DS8 also wanted to do Ellen's Energy Adventure (LONG attraction- 45 minutes!). After Test Track (2 times) and M:S (once), we were on EEA at 8:45. Never could have done what my boys wanted to do without the extra hour. If Ellen wasn't on the list, we might have slept in!

 

[swilphil]

We did the Day After approach--went to the parks the day after they had EMH, so they weren't as crowded. We did go early too, which helped with crowds. You also can make breakfast PS's in the park before opening and that will get you in before anyone else.

 

[HaleyB]

We always use EMH at MK. For other parks it just depends on how we feel in the morning. We often park hop out of the EMH park by 11am or so.

 

[fiveforall]

We didn't use it in Oct. because I didn't want to make my kids get up super early. However, DH and I utilized it last week and it was WONDERFUL. In AK, by park opening we had done Kilimanjaro Safaris, Pangani(sp), and dinosaur. At MGM, by park opening we had ridden Rocknroll rollercoaster twice, the great movie ride, muppetvision 3d, and ate a snack at starring rolls bakery. Next time the kids come, we'll use extra magic hour.

 

[SuBeat]

We used EMH on our last trip, but just like others have said, our kids just couldn't handle the early mornings. We like staying out for all the nighttime events and it's really hard to burn the candle at both ends for very long. This trip we are taking the "anything but the EMH park" approach.

 

[BrerMama]

Very interesting opinions. On our last trip, we stayed off site and I planned around EMH days to avoid crowds. We were so excited to be there, however, that we were usually at the gate an hour before opening! So this time we're doing on-site and definitely plan to use EMH. We will definitely need a break during the day and will probably go to bed early most days. I do hope to do Wishes, Illuminations and Fantasmic as we weren't able to do these last trip. I don't plan to do an EMH the day after one of those shows, however. It's just a trade off as to what best fits your family and touring style.

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

mplsmom1, first, do you have room in a suitcase for a fellow "Twin Citian"?

On our recent trip we tried the "day after EMH" method and I thought it worked pretty well. We used EMH on our trip in 2000.

The only place I thought it would have been nice to have used EMH was in AK for Kilimanjaro Safari. At every other park, we were there for opening and were able on a couple popular attractions or "slow loaders" before wait times got to be more than about five minutes.

Have a great trip!

 

[mplsmom1]

Wow - some really great ideas. Thank you everyone!! I'm still not too close on deciding but definitely some things to think about!

Lucky4Me - Hi again fellow DisVeteran! I hope all is well with you and your family!

motaei - it is a tough decision - glad to be of some benefit.

crisi - I really like your ideas and your thoughts about which parks are morning and which are afternoons. I think I'll definitely switch Thursday a.m. to MK EMH to catch what we didn't get done on. We do have park hoppers!

BrerMama - your note is exactly why we want EMH - even with it on our first trip we were still at rope drop at MK for over 30 mins. I guess we were overanxious!

swilphil - cool idea about breakfast ressies to get you in.

mbrownbear - come on along!

 

[vicb]

I'm with SuBeat! We did EMH one trip and we exhausted by 7pm each night. Not just kids but DH and I too!

Last trip was post 9/11 and hours were reduced and Character Caravan was in swing. I must say we enjoyed the extra hour of sleep in the morning, we could see some characters in our hotel then still make park opening! It was a much easier trip for us.

For upcoming trip we have planned to avoid parks with EMH and feel no guilt about it!