Extra Magic Hour Value

[lifebybethany]

My husband and I are doing a split Disneyland/Cruise trip this upcoming Feb (DLR for 2 days, Cruise for 4, and back to DLR for 3 nights) and are debating between Paradise Pier and BWPPI for the 3 nights post cruise. It'd cost us just under $300 more to stay at PP and I'm wondering how helpful the Extra MAgic hour is -- thoughts? advice?

I'm a WDW vet who used to be all about the early entry, but it got really early and really crowded and now I'm opposed - but DLR hours appear to be very manageable (I can make Extra Magic Hour at 8 or 9am especially when I'm walking from the resort).

Help!

 

[mom2rtk]

We struggle with the same choice.

What days would you be there?

 

[lalasmama]

$300 for 3 extra hours of rides. That's $100/day. Not the whole park is open. So, if you were able to ride, say, 5 rides in that time, you'd be paying $20/ride. That's a pretty steep price for me, personally. Even if you could get 10 rides in, making it $10 per ride, that's pretty steep in my mind.

And then you add in a 3+ times longer walk to the main gates when compared to BWPPI? It's a hard sell for me.

 

[ErinTwinmom]

I would tour counter to it and save your money, also correct me if im wrong but the cheaper hotel is a good neighbor hotel. I thought if you did three days at a good neighbor with park tickets you got Disneyland magic morning just not CA adventure.

 

[celiacla]

Good neighbor hotels do not give magic morning. With a 3 day or more park hopper you do get one morning of early entry at DL (not DCA) though.

 

[figment_jii]

My family has talked about staying at one of the DLR on-site hotels as well, but we ultimately end up at the BWPPI because of the price and proximity. The distance from the Esplanade to the BWPPI lobby is about 0.24 miles and it's about 0.48 miles to the PPI lobby (so about double). Neither walk is really all that bad (consider that the distance between the DL flag pole and the Partner's Statue is 0.12 miles). So, it really comes down to the price...Personally, I think the Extra Magic Hour in DCA "worth" more than the one in DL. Most (all?) of the most popular attractions are open in DCA for EMH (e.g., RSR, TSMM, Screamin', Soarin', etc.) and only on-site guests have access to EMH. Over in DL, the EMH morning overlaps with Magic Morning (MM), meaning you have both on-site guests and guests with qualifying tickets in the park. Only select attractions in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open during EMH/MM, so it seems like there is less of a selection (and some of the most popular attractions, e.g., Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Indy, etc.) aren't open.

For me, given that it's $300 more to stay on-site, I would probably opt to stay at the BWPPI, get to the park at rope drop, and go to the non-EMH/MM park first. I think you can usually get a lot done in the first hour to two hours of the park that didn't have EMH/MM.

 

[ArchOwl]

Picking on-site solely for the EMH value is difficult. Personally, for $300 more I would stay on-site but that is because I prefer the PPH to the hotels along Harbor. $300 doesn't sound bad for the ugraded room and amenities. But that is a very personal decision.

The value of an EMH is lessened the later in the morning it begins. 7am EMH is much more valuable than a 9am EMH. You can guess why. If you don't have trouble making a 9am EMH, then most likely there are lots of people who can make it as well.

I also think the DCA EMH is much better than the DL. So if my dates lined up with more DCA EMHs, I might value them more. The entire park is open during DCA EMH. You can get a lot done. For reasons known only to Disney, they invite more people to the DL EMH and limit them to two sections of the park, namely FL and TL. It is weird. A 9am EMH at DL is quite busy.

 

[RemainSeatedPlease]

Something you didn't mention is where you will be staying for the pre-cruise DLR trip. If I were you, I would opt to have the best of both worlds and stay at a resort hotel for the first night/two nights pre-cruise, then stay at BWPPI for the last three days of the DLR trip post-cruise.

 

[lifebybethany]

Thanks for all the responses! We're staying at BWPPI pre-cruise for sure, and was planning on using our Magic Morning at DL during one of those days. I was able to lock in a rate for PP for more like $225 on orbitz last night instead of $300 (though still refundable and still on the fence!). The early mornings are definitely a big factor, but I'm thinking I might like the location with Downtown Disney so close too - I've always wanted to explore the DLR resort lobbys and such and I doubt we'd make the trip coming from BWPPI... Decisions! My husband is intrigued by that early morning CA Adventure speech walking thing on their website, and the pool seems nicer than BWPPI -- but no free breakfast! Thanks for all the input guys.

 

[5forMickey]

I LOVE early mornings at both parks and would never go without them, especially during this year that seems to be extra busy. It amazes me each time we are there how much we can get done in those early hours and why more people don't take advantage of it. Now with that being said, it is not the only reason we chose to stay on site. We just like onsite better for the whole experience. This last trip we stayed at the new Marriott the first night of our trip because it was an add on day and there wasn't availability at the DLH. While it was a very nice new hotel, were sad we were not on site (even though it technically was only for about 12 hours). Everyone's idea of value is different but for us it works. I think your idea about trying both is perfect because then you can see what works best for your family. Have a great trip!

 

[mom2rtk]

It's a very expensive "extra". But if it makes the difference between a good trip and a disappointing trip, it's worth it.

The first 3 days of our last trip were packed (first day turned out to be a crowd level 10). Having that first hour to get off on the right foot before everything ground to a halt made a big difference for us. I really expected that we would be staying offsite next trip, but after this experience, I'm not so sure.

That said, we are early risers and are from the central time zone, so we would be up at that hour anyway. So we use EE every day.

 

[Sagginit]

I had the park hopper with one early morning entry in DL. I thought it was an absolute bust so it will only help with DCA. We were across the street at Camelot and got there to get bags checked at about 10 to 8am when it was opening. By the time we did that and got in the massive lines to enter into the gates it was already a quarter after. There are people that clog up the lines that don't realize they aren't allowed in until they get to the park pass scan and then will even argue. Once we got through we had a hard time finding rides actually open, Fantasyland had massive lines. They then let the rest of the folks in for rope drop on Main St and then drop the rope to let them go towards the lands where you are waiting (at that point you want to move onto Splash Mtn or Big Thunder) before they open the rope to the land. We then got there and found Splash wasn't even open yet so by the time we looped over to the other rides they had lines. The early entry day we did only 3 rides in an hour and half. We had much better luck on the weekeday nights closer to closing or in mid afternoon.

Now with DCA it might be worth it, keep in mind though the big rides are in the corners of the park. RSR is in Cars land with only one other ride, so if you go to that you then need to bust a move to another corner for California Screamin or Tower of Terror. I think with paper fast passes and a good touring plan you can actually do more than you may think without that hour.

 

[isk8]

Early Entry at DL is really great. I think it's worth the extra cost. We never do early entry at WDW. DL has been quite crowded. We were there during the second week of October on what should have been a 4 crowd-wise, and it wound up being a 9. On a Tuesday. We were just there over the weekend, and again, it was crowded. If you don't get to DL very often, stay at PP. If you go all the time, then stay at the BW.

At DCA, during early entry, we can ride RSR, Toy Story x 2, and California Screamin'. But you need to be one of the first ones on RSR to do this.

If you choose not to do early entry, then make sure you visit the non-early entry park on the days you will be there.

 

[gottalovepluto]

With 3 EMHs something should work right for you. DL EMH generally works out well for my family, only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are open during that time FYI. We have a 50/50 success/fail rate at DCA for EMH. Some mornings everything that's supposed to be up (like RSR and Screamin') are and others nothing seems to be up and running yet. Last trip we had a DCA EMH where RSR was down, Screamin down, Ferris wheel literally broke down right before we got on, even the little Paradise Pier rides were down with their own issues, the only ride we did that EMH was Little Mermaid. If I had paid $100 extra for that specific hour I would have been livid and there wouldn't have been a darn thing that could have been done about it, thankfully we stayed onsite for other reasons. I'm not trying to dissuade you from staying at PP (congrats on your deal btw) I'm just trying to temper EMH expectations, spend the extra money as long you have reasons besides EMH.

 

[sheetz]

If you're going to spend 5 days at DLR then EMH is not needed, especially if you're not going at a super crowded period like Christmas week. Stay onsite if you want the experience, but not because of EMH.

 

[millie0312]

I had the park hopper with one early morning entry in DL. I thought it was an absolute bust so it will only help with DCA. We were across the street at Camelot and got there to get bags checked at about 10 to 8am when it was opening. By the time we did that and got in the massive lines to enter into the gates it was already a quarter after. There are people that clog up the lines that don't realize they aren't allowed in until they get to the park pass scan and then will even argue. Once we got through we had a hard time finding rides actually open, Fantasyland had massive lines. They then let the rest of the folks in for rope drop on Main St and then drop the rope to let them go towards the lands where you are waiting (at that point you want to move onto Splash Mtn or Big Thunder) before they open the rope to the land. We then got there and found Splash wasn't even open yet so by the time we looped over to the other rides they had lines. The early entry day we did only 3 rides in an hour and half. We had much better luck on the weekeday nights closer to closing or in mid afternoon.

Now with DCA it might be worth it, keep in mind though the big rides are in the corners of the park. RSR is in Cars land with only one other ride, so if you go to that you then need to bust a move to another corner for California Screamin or Tower of Terror. I think with paper fast passes and a good touring plan you can actually do more than you may think without that hour.

The key to EE is to be in the gate line at least 30 mins before the EE starts to avoid experiences like that one. We were there during prime holiday time last Dec and got into the line 30 mins early. We were never more then maybe 5 groups back or even less people and the lines moved fast. To us EE coupled with the experience (including free tours, great pools, decor that is themed, activities, etc) make it worth staying on site for us- in fact it's a must for our family! We love the EE as we go during the busy holiday times- it's a great way to start your day!