Extra magic hours, Go early or late or avoid?

[surfcruiser]

Not sure if anyone answered your question but when we were at AK recently there were signs stating that Safaris and the walk-throughs in Asia and Africa would close at 4:45 due to it being dark. I'm assuming that EMH would close those down also...

Can't verify though as we tend to avoid the EMH parks too.

BUT : I have a question : I am thinking of going to Animal Kingdom for just the evening EMH , doing a few things then taking another day for the rest. We are not there for the AK morning EMH - I've never done evening before - anyone with experience at AK EMH evenings???
Thanks

 

[bdtracey]

DW and I (mainly me though) are contemplating using the EMH evenings. We only want to be there for the ambiance, not for the rides. Well, maybe a couple rides but we mainly want to see that park at night. Does anyone have any suggestions relating to this?

I love taking pictures of everything lit up at night because it is absolutely beautiful. Is it possible to do this without attending to EMH's? We're going in May and it looks like sunset is around 8 p.m. which means it'll be dark around 8:30 p.m.

Has anyone ever done this?

Also, has anyone seen how late the Photopass people stay out on EMH evenings AND on regular evenings?

 

[cybrkitn]

I wasn't too fond of going to the early EMH at the parks because you only have one hour before everyone else starts pouring in. To me, that's just not enough time. Plus, we are not morning people.

Prior to our trip last month, we looked over the calendar and decided to do EMH at both MK and MGM because Disney gives you 3 extra hours. So that meant MK closed at 9 pm for non resort guests and stayed open for EMH until midnight. MGM closed at 7 and was open for EMH up until 10 pm.

For MK, we arrived around 10:30 am and our DS4 actually made it until about 12:30 am before he fell asleep. A record for him ! Those extra 3 hours helped us get through Fantasyland and gave our DS an opportunity to get character autographs that he wouldn't have gotten otherwise (ex. Mickey and Minnie Mouse together, which is very rare according to the CMs). I found the crowds kind of low compared to earlier in the day and absolutely loved it!

The crowds at MGM were a little bit more for EMH, but we only stayed until 9 pm. We had a second character breakfast scheduled the next morning.

One thing I have learned though. Never schedule a character breakfast after doing an EMH night! We didn't get back to Pop until about 1:15 am when we did MK, and DH and I had to get up around 5, 5:30 am to get ready to go to MGM for the Playhouse Disney breakfast. That was just too much! Especially for our DS4.

 

[cybrkitn]

Also, has anyone seen how late the Photopass people stay out on EMH evenings AND on regular evenings?

Don't know how long they stay out. But we left MK around 12:15 am and had our pictures taken with the Castle behind us.

 

[GOODoldPAL]

I'm always grateful for the folks here who always avoid the EMH's.
I makes more room for me to enjoy the HECK out of my extra fun at the parks, early and late.

My sentiments exactly!

I also agree with the posters who stated enjoying 4-5 of the most popular rides with little or no wait in that ONE emh. We are mornin peep, even on vacation, so not a struggle for us -until about the 8th day!

IMHO ~ If you combine the advice given in this thread, and you aren't adverse to park hopping, you have the ultimate solution: EMH park at opening until starts to get crowded (2-3hrs tops) THEN switch to the park that had EMH evening night prior THEN after dinner, head to park with EMH evening hours.
Shhhhh...don't tell anyone; it's my secret plan.

 

[Skroops]

We participate in EMH.

The morning ones are great. We like to go to another park until it closes and then go to the evening EMH when the other parks are closed. We know it will be busy, but we like to go and hang out and just enjoy the ambience. We usually get hoppers or an AP, so we have nothing to lose. If we didn't have the hopper, I think we would avoid it because it usually draws a good portion of the resort guests and is busier than other parks. You can't lose either way, just be ready for more crowds at EMH.

Good luck!

 

[MJMcBride]

Morning is usually better. Its best to use it then hop to another park when its starts to get busy.

 

[Dizneydaz]

We usually do the EMH p.m. Since we come from CA it's too hard to get my DD7 up early for the a.m. one. We've found, for the most part that it's not too crowded. However, we do go during less crowded times to begin with. The p.m. on at AK is just okay. The Safari ride isn't open late so that really only leaves Dinosaur and EE. Of course, EE alone is probably worth it. Also, most of the visitors who've been there all day start to head out about 4 or so. As soon as the parade is over.

 

[famsen]

We did evening EMH at MGM in mid October and it was horrible!
The park was the most crowded that I had ever seen.
We had to wait in line for Rock and Rollercoaster for about 45 minutes. Our wait was much less during the afternoon of a non EMH day.

 

[Blondie]

I get there when I get there and let nature take her course. OMO, but it's what works for my family.

That's been our mantra for the last few years, we rarely make an EMH anymore. We find that everyone tends to gravitate towards the EMH park of the day, even if they don't get there for EMH in the morning.

 

[Lizziejane]

The last time we were at WDW, the kids were much younger and the only EMH hours were at MK in the morning. We took advantage of that then, however, on our next trip, we'll only use evening EMH. OUr plan is simply to use the EMH as a way of having something else to do in the evening. We'll spend most of the day at one park, go back to the resort and rest, have dinner - then wander into the EMH park to see what's happening. If it's not too crowded, we'll ride - if it is busy, we'll just take in the sights.

 

[WeirdTigger27]

Hubby and I did EMH at EPCOT on a Wednesday and had a blast! We had already done the "major" rides like Sorin' and Misson Space by then. I would do those earlier in the day or Fastpass them earlier in the day. We had a good time in the Character Connection we had Mickey, Goofy, Chip, Dale and Pluto to ourselves for a little while. I got to dance around with Chip and Dale for a bit. Pluto was laying on the floor having a dream of chasing a cat! It was fun! We had the Figment play room after the right just about all to ourselves too! EMH may not be as good for the major attractions, but it's perfect for the minor ones!

 

[okie from muskogee]

Great advice as always from the in-the-know crowd! Thank you for sharing your strategies and experiences. Can't wait to get there; there is nothing like the first look down main street USA!

 

[VickiVM]

We were at WDW the week before Memorial Week in 2005. Our vacation started on Wed prior and we departed for home the Wed after Memorial Weekend.

I'm sure I posted on it after I returned, but if I remember correctly - and I debated the exact same thing in my head - we chose to do opposite parks of morning EMH, but got to those parks as close to opening as possible.

I did go against the grain on Memorial Monday and took the kids to MK right at opening. I thought we would stay til after lunch then go back to room, but we were able to do so many attractions that morning that we went ahead and stayed til around 5pm - the latter part of the day spent just taking everything in and only boarding rides/attractions that were minimal waits. It worked out perfectly.

I think as far as attractions are concerned, by using the 'opposite' parks strategy, we were able to get everything in we wanted to.

We used TGM for this trip (only because I felt I needed expert advice because of the holiday) and followed his advice pretty closely - it worked out fabulously!

Also, don't forget your dining reservations. You are out of luck if you just show up and hope to get a table at your favorite restaurants.

 

[lomillerin]

I think it depends on how late the EMH are in the evening. We went last year to MK on Christmas Day. We didn't get to the park until 6:00pm, we had no problem getting in, we had dinner at Crystal Palace, walked around a bit, watched Wishes and Spectro, and then, started to ride around 11:00pm. The park was open from midnight until 3:00am. By 1:00 am we could ride almost everything but Space Mountain with no wait. It only had a short wait.

I think most people don't want to be out at 1 or 2 in the morning.