Extra Magic Hours Opinions

[blondietink]

We just got back from WDW yesterday and my advice is that if you want to do Toy Stoy Mania, you need to do the morning EMH's. We got there right at 8 a.m. opening and got a fastpass for 9:45 and then stood in the regular line for about 10 minutes before 9 a.m.. So, we got to ride twice within an hour. By the time we left at 11 a.m. the fast passes were sold out entirely. This also happened on another day we went to Studios and we got a fastpass at 10 a.m. for 3:15 p.m.. Just our recent experience. The line when we went by several times during the day had a 90 minute wait.

 

[dominicsplace]

I always plan around EMH evenings - it gives you the extra luxury of time so you are not frantically trying to get across the park to catch that last ride.

What you need to be careful of is that by staying late after a day of travel that you do not tire yourself out for the remainder of the week! My DS is 8 and though we stayed for EMH hours we usually left before they ended.

They are also great to plan around if you want to split up your day and go back to the hotel for a break and return later.

 

[Mick West]

I like the AM EMH if I can get there when they open. and it is really neat to be at AK during the evening EMH. The park looks a lot different then. Not as many people stay at AK for the evening because the safari isn't open, might be different now though with them having Everest.

Wow - Thanks for this brain jogger! I go to Disney often and honestly never thought of the PM EMH at AK. Probably because we take advantage of the AM EMH at AK. I bet it does take on a different feel at night. I'm certainly going to do that on my Jan 09- trip. Thanks!!

 

[TheWog]

Wow - Thanks for this brain jogger! I go to Disney often and honestly never thought of the PM EMH at AK. Probably because we take advantage of the AM EMH at AK. I bet it does take on a different feel at night. I'm certainly going to do that on my Jan 09- trip. Thanks!!

Everest is fun at night.

 

[mecllap]

The way the description on the official website reads -- people are no longer required to be resort guests (staying on property) to do EMH for the main parks, just for the water parks. That doesn't make much sense - what's the point of calling it EMH, when it's just extended hours for everyone who has a Magic Your Way ticket?

I was looking forward to some EMH time for our June visit, but if it is indeed open to all MYW tickets holders, it will be too crowded to bother.

 

[blondietink]

You cannot get on the rides at night EMH's unless you show your room card.

 

[PrincessBetsy]

I love EMH, it is really fun to be in the parks late at night or early in the morning!! However, I feel that the parks are less crowded in the morning and you can get much more done. Don't try to go to all the EMH every night or you will get exhausted very quickly.

 

[shyjade]

The way the description on the official website reads -- people are no longer required to be resort guests (staying on property) to do EMH for the main parks, just for the water parks. That doesn't make much sense - what's the point of calling it EMH, when it's just extended hours for everyone who has a Magic Your Way ticket?

I was looking forward to some EMH time for our June visit, but if it is indeed open to all MYW tickets holders, it will be too crowded to bother.

Magic Your Way packages are for resort guests only, so this indeed means you need to be staying on Disney property to use the EMH (and as a previous poster said, you must show your valid room card to get on each ride during EMH, along with needing it just to enter the EMH parks). So no worries!

 

[joyfulscrapper]

Last year was our first trip and I planned according to the EMH hours daily with the exception of two days only. Never again! It seemed that everyone else had the same idea as we did and it was quite busy!

We just got back from trip number two this week, and never went to a EMH (am or pm)! It was much better!

We do not have "park hoppers"... perhaps if you did have them, spent the day at a non EMH park and then went to the EMH park after your park closed it would not be bad.

Whichever way you choose to plan, we hope that your trip is absolutely magical!

This is our first time going with our kids and the change in ticket options. I have read in MANY travel books that if you don't have park hopper tickets, you should avoid the parks with the EMH for that day. Since we have young kids and I can't imagine going from park to park dragging them all over, we just have base tickets as well and are avoiding all the EMH parks every day of our stay. The EMH may be worth it if you can hop out of the park when it gets more crowded later in the day (haven't been to any EMH to know about the crowds at those times, but always hear it's always pretty good in the morning), but if you're not hopping, it doesn't sound worth it because of the crowds you will encounter later in the day because more are drawn to the EMH parks. And we are NOT morning people, especially on vacation, and our kids are little and would never be able to stay awake for night EMH, so it just isn't something that appealed to us at all.

 

[blondietink]

Another option that worked well for us last week was this: Whatever park has evening EMH's on one day, go to that park the next day and it will be very uncrowded. We tried this and it worked like a charm. For example: MK had late hours on Saturday, so we went to MK on Sunday and it was really terrific with no crowds and you could walk right on most of the rides with little or no waiting. Even Jungle Cruise had less than a 5 minute wait.

 

[tjigrl]

we were just there last week and would only do the EMH, we finished soarin', test track and mission space all within an hour and a half...left the park when it was getting busy, and spent the evening at another EMH park. It was fabulous and allowed us to spend time by the pool during the busier and hotter times of the day.

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

DH and I did night time EMH's at both MK and Epcot last year in mid-May. MK was not busy at all. We walked on every ride. Epcot had long waits for the usual, Soarin' and Test Track, but other than that, the park seemed somewhat empty.

I did the evening EMH in August at MK with my DN & her BFF when the park was open til 3am. The park itself was very empty and the girls got to continuously ride several of the big rides.....they absolutely loved it. To me it was the nicest part of the day - between Midnight and 3am because you could relax and enjoy the park. Actually walk down Main Street without getting run over. The Disney photographers were still there & took some awesome pictures for us, too. During our stay in September, I wanted to try evening EMH at AK, but it stormed the one day it was scheduled for so we just hung out at AKL instead.

 

[jmcconlogue]

Although EMH can be crowded, it's also nice not to be run out of the park so early. We can get on some of the smaller kids rides with no wait...