Extra Magic Hours---why avoid??

[pbnjrockette]

I've been reading that folks avoid EMH 'like the plague'!! Are the crowds really that bad? Seems like it would be a good way to spend late evenings. What am I missing?

 

[maciec]

I've been reading that folks avoid EMH 'like the plague'!! Are the crowds really that bad? Seems like it would be a good way to spend late evenings. What am I missing?

My experience with them is that there is a lot of people there. It is recommended that you go to the park the day after they have EMH.

 

[BlindTyldak]

If they had two parks with night EMH's open at once to space out the crowds, maybe. But as it stands they are very, VERY hit or miss, with them possibly being empty, possibly being packed up until after the night show and then emptying right out, and possibly being a madhouse right until closing. many people prefer to stick with the almost guaranteed lesser crowds of the "morning after" technique.

me, I'll be taking my chances, with the parks closing so early, what else have I got to do? it's that or twiddle my thumbs by the pool, and park watching is always more entertaining than that.

 

[mla2177]

I was there in July (busiest time of year), and as I had not done the EMH in the evenings, I did do them in the mornings, and got on a lot of major attractions with no problem.

 

[SplshMtnLvr28]

HOLY MOLEY!!

I got back from WDW a week ago. During the day, there were absolutely no crowds at all. I could go on EE, ToT, etc etc over and over because of no lines. So one day we decided to go the PM EMH at MK. It was so crowded, there was a LINE for the TTA. Like, before you even get on the escalator to get on it. The line for Space Mountain was winding around out the door, and there was an hour wait for Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, BTM, etc. When we finally couldn't take the crowds, we went to get on a bus back to our resort. It took 3 full buses to get back, and my mom's friend was there the same night and she said it took 6 buses for her to get back to Pop Century.

Then, on our last day, we went back for the AM EMH at AK, so we could ride EE for the last time. (I saw someone with a DIS pin waiting to get in, so if you were at the AK AM EMH on 10/2/06, post! ) We FLEW over there, lmao. And there was still a 20 min wait. It was ca-razy.

The moral of this story? Never again are we doing EMH.

 

[Quinn222]

Seems like it would be a good way to spend late evenings. What am I missing?

Thousands and thousands of other people agree that it seems like a good way to spend late evenings, that's why it's no fun to go them. It's a mob scene.

 

[declansdad]

We've done both the morning and evening emh in March and July and had no big waits at all.


Maybe because everyone in here says to avoid them, it has made the park less crowded.

 

[AKLRULZ]

Well, I disagree - it's a must in the mornings if you're an early riser. And it's hit or miss in the evenings. We've done EMH during peak times and have found sometimes it's crowded but other times it's great - and you've got the option to leave if it's too crazy. Try it!

 

[seashoreCM]

HOLY MOLEY!!

I got back from WDW a week ago. During the day, there were absolutely no crowds at all. I could go on EE, ToT, etc etc over and over because of no lines.

On EMH days or on non-EMH days?

So one day we decided to go the PM EMH at MK. It was so crowded, there was a LINE for the TTA. Like, before you even get on the escalator to get on it. The line for Space Mountain was winding around out the door, and there was an hour wait for Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, BTM, etc.

During or before the EMH hours?

 

[SnowWitch]

We found the AM option at the MK to be great!! The PM was awful until around midnight. We saw alot of people without wrist bands just taking up space. The lines weren't unbearable but making your way around the park was a pain because of all the people. At Epcot our teens also reported it was awful because there were few big rides so Soarin' and Test Track were packed to the gills.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We will be going to Epcot on the EMH (night) while MK is having the MNSSHP so I hope Epcot won't be too bad.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Extra Magic Hours---why avoid??....

I prefer less crowded park time.

 

[tmt martins]

We hit every morning EMH ( Me and DD that is ,DW sleeps in )until about 11 or 12 .

Then when the park starts to get crowded we leave and hit a non-EMH park or a waterpark (during our June trips).

We then hit the Night time EMH . In the summer when all the park hours are longer I think it's not as crowded as in the offseason because everything is closed early so the only thing open still at a decent hour is the emh park so everyone goes there.

My thought are even when crowded and you just want to stroll around is any time spent in a park is not wasted time.

MK at 2 or 3 am just can't be beat.So If your awake then why not be in a park .

 

[Corwin12]

I like certain EMH evenings. Epcot for instance. I just like being in the park late at night. THe crowds do not bother us. We spend most of the time in the World showcase. I also like Animal Kingdom in the evening.

 

[fAnnF]

I'm normally an EMH girl. I go to the evening ones mostly. They do have a lot of people there sometimes, but others it's not so bad. Normal wait time was 10-15 min for most things. The only EMH i avoid is Epoct, I went once and Soarin' and Test Track had 60 min waits(the longest wait for them during the day was 25)

Last year we had a 4 day trip and used them to ride and see everything. This year we're going for 6 days so we might not take advantage of them as much.

 

[SplshMtnLvr28]

During or before the EMH hours?

During.

 

[pbnjrockette]

My thought are even when crowded and you just want to stroll around is any time spent in a park is not wasted time.

MK at 2 or 3 am just can't be beat.So If your awake then why not be in a park .

You can wander around the parks at 2 am?????

 

[disneygal33]

We used the PM EMH at MK during both of our trips and we really enjoyed ourselves. Sure the park was crowded during regular hours, but when the park closed we were able to ride everything with little or no wait. JMHO

 

[ajleone]

You can wander around the parks at 2 am?????

For the Evening EMH the parks stay open 3 hours past closing- so if the park closes at 11:00pm then with EMH you'd be able to stay untill 2am.

We used the PM EMH at MK during both of our trips and we really enjoyed ourselves. Sure the park was crowded during regular hours, but when the park closed we were able to ride everything with little or no wait. JMHO

The problem is though that it is so hit or miss- you hit it good and were able to enjoy it, we've never had an Evening EMH were it wasn't packed(but at worse you go anyway and if its crowded you can always leave). Although the morning EMH at MK has been great!!

 

[jenga1030]

We don't hop (we spend the extra $ on more days) so the bad thing we learned about EMH is not the actual extended hours, but the regular hours are more crowded.

We did EMH at MK last year and it was more crowded all day, but after about 10:00 it cleared out and we had the park to ourselves, but to me it wasn't worth fighting the crowds all day for.

And this year we tried EPCOT on its EMH night because we'd never done an EPCOT late EMH before, we also went to EPCOT on a non EMH day and we noticed a huge difference in crowds, even the week after labor day.

The morning EMH are totally worth it, but for non hoppers, the park seems more crowded all day after EMH.

So unless we get hoppers and hop from a non EMH park all day to the EMH park late, or out of the morning EMH to a non EMH park, we will avoid them in the future.