Extra Magic Hours questions

[Albertan mom]

It says on the website that you have to be a WDW resort guest to take advantage of the extra magic hours.

My question is how do they monitor that?

Do you have to show your room key to get in in the morning?

What about the evening ones?
How do they possibly go around telling people that aren't resort guests that they have to leave? Why would they leave, when they know they can just stay and nobody will know any better?

-Or do you have to wear a wristband or something?
-Is there special entrances/exits you use?
-On days that there are EMH, is that park extra crowded? Is it better to avoid that park then gain one hour?

It also says it can be open UP to 3 hours later...how do you know if it is 1, 2, or 3 hours? When do they post that?

Any clarification would be GREATLY appreciated!!
Thanks!

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

Yes, they check your room key in the morning before they let you in.

For the evening, you must pick up a wristband in the park. No wristband = no rides.

It will be three hours extra at night. Evening EMH are always much more crowded than morning EMH.

You might want to have a look here for lots of info on EMH:

http://allearsnet.com/tp/emhour.htm

 

[brentalex]

They are supposed to check the resort keys in the morning before letting you in. We were there for Easter week. At Epcot they checked everyone. At Animal Kingdom they did not. It was a waste of time getting there early. The place was packed, everyone was allowed in and the park was a mess. In the evening they do not make anyone leave the park, but unless you have a wristband you can't go on rides, enter attractions. But you can walk around all you want. May not be much fun if you can't go on a ride, but you can stay.

 

[Karnak]

They are supposed to check the resort keys in the morning before letting you in. We were there for Easter week. At Epcot they checked everyone. At Animal Kingdom they did not. It was a waste of time getting there early. The place was packed, everyone was allowed in and the park was a mess. In the evening they do not make anyone leave the park, but unless you have a wristband you can't go on rides, enter attractions. But you can walk around all you want. May not be much fun if you can't go on a ride, but you can stay.

I don't know how it works all the time, but I do know that on Sunday, March 19, 2006, at the Magic Kingdom, everyone was admitted to rides, wristbands or not, for the first hour of evening magic hours. At about 11:00 pm the CMs did start looking for wristbands, and would not let anyone into an attraction without a wristband from that time on.

Don't know if this is standard practice or not.

Enjoy.

 

[DrTomorrow]

They are supposed to check the resort keys in the morning before letting you in. We were there for Easter week. At Epcot they checked everyone. At Animal Kingdom they did not. It was a waste of time getting there early. The place was packed, everyone was allowed in and the park was a mess. In the evening they do not make anyone leave the park, but unless you have a wristband you can't go on rides, enter attractions. But you can walk around all you want. May not be much fun if you can't go on a ride, but you can stay.

... and spend money!

 

[Albertan mom]

... and spend money!

And eat!

 

[estnh]

We just returned from WDW last night, and they are VERY CLOSELY CHECKING wristbands from the moment of official park closing. We saw several people turned away, even on a ride that was almost empty at the time.

They swipe your resort card in a portable reader before issuing a wristband, and it is a foolproof process. It was much improved since our previous visit a year ago.

 

[ajcolorado]

It looks like you are going in Aug. You want to know when the EMH is just so that you can avoid that park whether you're a resort guest or not. The EMH's will be a zoo. Disney has 30,000 rooms. Even a low average of 2 people per room means a lot of people are being encouraged to head to the same park at the same time. You do not want to be in that herd. Go to a non-EMH park and enjoy the smaller crowds, relatively speaking. Some folks recommend that if MK has an Evening EMH on a certain night, you should go to MK that next day. Going to the EMH the day after the EMH generally results in lower crowds - again, relatively speaking - for that park.