Extra Magic Hours - yay or nay?!

[lamb616]

I'm in the beginning stages of planning our first family trip (next spring). I assumed one of the main reasons to stay in a Disney resort was for the EMH. Now I have read in several books/websites that you should NOT take advantage of EMH since every other Disney guest will also be heading over at that same time (makes sense). So.............is that the general consensus? Head to whichever park is NOT having EMH????? Ay, yi, yi..... this just gets more and more confusing.

 

[ancestry]

We usually take advantage of the EMH but only during the actual hours themselves (the hour before or three hours after). During the regular park hours we go to a different park. Since many people don't have park hoppers they often stay in the park that has the EMH making that park more crowded, in my opinion any ways.

 

[oshun]

I agree with ancestry. We avoid the park having EMH during regular hours and only go during the park with EMH during the extra hours. This is why we love the park hoppers.

 

[MHSweb79]

EMH parks can get more crowded than the others, so that's why you will often see advice to avoid these parks, especially if you are staying offsite and not eligible for the extra hours.

HOWEVER, if you are willing to get up early morning EMH hours can be fabulous for touring headliners with either walk-on or very little wait times. Evening EMH can vary, but generally clear out towards the end.

We always take advantage of morning EMH, get TONS of stuff done and by the time the big crowds start coming in (around 11-12), we head back to our resort for a rest or swim. Then we head out to a different park around 4pm for dinner and evening touring. This works great, but you must be willing to get up early on your vacation (most people aren't, which is why the parks are so empty!). Obviously, you need park hoppers to get the most out of this strategy.

If you want to sleep in, or take your time over breakfast, then you probably should avoid the EMH park.

 

[lpizzuro123]

We always try to take advantage of EMH - especially the evening ones. I think alot depends on if you have any children and their ages. We are two adults and have been going to WDW with my husbands son (we first started when he was 9 and now he is 21 - and yes he still goes with us).

For us, morning hours are harder to do but we just love evening hours. A few years ago on Easter Sunday we spent the day at the pool and it was so crowded I said if we are going to have to deal with crowds we might as well be in the parks. We got to DHS around 4:00pm - and left around 10:00 - the MK was having EMH that night and we got there around 10:30 and stayed until 3:00 in the morning. At around 2:00am we were able to ride Splash Mountain 4 times in a row without getting off. It was great - and it was wonderful to walk down Main Street at 3:00 in the morning after a wonderful day in the park.

Now, if you have little kids, you might not be able to do this. I would still recommend staying on property and taking advantage of EMH and all the other things staying on property is good for.

Linda

 

[pepe of ohio]

For us the guide books and tour predictions are alot of bologna. We attend the morning EMH's and same for the evening. Where else are you going to go...........other parks are closed so why not attend the extra hours they give you in a park. Even if it's alittle crowded, so what, regular days can be just as packed, it's free time to wander the park, do some shopping or visit the little things you normally pass up. We attend them when we can and feel like it. MK open to 3 am, usually by 11pm the park is empty, little ones are gone and it's total magic all around.

 

[disneyshakeygirl]

I love them. They are really handy and I found myself catching things that I'd completely missing things that I'd missed before.

 

[MarinLezlie]

I agree with the above. If they say DMH's are too crowded I think theyre nuts. When the parks get to be open til 2 or 3 not very many people are still up and about. I mean yes you still probably wait in line id say a max of 10-15 mins but so worth it!! The sun is down, the rides are less crowded! It is just a great time in my opinion to really take advantage of the park! But if you do stay in MK for the EMH you better to to Haunted Mansion...spooooky!!!

 

[rmjkharrisfam]

We can never get up early enough for morning EMH but we love the night hours. Last week we were at Magic Kingdom for evening EMH from 11pm - 2am. Kids didn't quite make it that long but as we were walking back toward fantasyland from tommorrowland all of the characters came out and you could walk right up to them. Mickey and Minnie rode the Dumbo ride with a lucky kid and then signed a bunch of autographs. It was so special for our kids.

 

[justskip70003]

i always say the best time to be in MK is EMH 12 - 3 am. noone is ever in there, its really beautiful and you can take your time to explore everything you dont have time to during the day when everyone is in your way. the thing about late EMH is all the people who were there with there kids since 8 am are all sleeping. usually at mk and epcot the crowds greatly subside after the fireworks.

 

[GoofItUp]

If you DO have little kids, I'd say go with the guidebook advice. Getting to the parks early enough for the morning EMH's is hard for us - especially since we're already 1 hr behind due to the time zones and my kids aren't early risers. And the evening EMH's are absolutely out of the question unless I want to show everyone a couple of all-out meltdowns due to kids that are wiped out. So, we'll avoid the parks on EMH days and *hopefully* find nice, quiet, un-crowded parks to enjoy!

 

[GrtWtNorth]

Morning extra magic hours are great, assuming you can get up early enough to take full advantage of the extra hour. But the advice you've heard is correct -- parks woth morning EMH do attract more visitors than the other three parks, so if you sleep in a bit, you should probably go to another park (if crowds are an issue during the time of your visit).

In any park, if you arrive as the park opens, you can accomplish more in the first 2 hours than you can in 4-5 hours in the afternoon.

Evening EMHs are great at Magic Kingdom. However, evening EMH at other parks are not as effective because lines for major attractions do not dissipate as much as they do at Magic Kingdom. Remember that some FastPasses will be distributed at the beginning of EMH, but they are distributed very, very quickly. (You'll likely only get one FastPass.)

 

[PoohsFan1]

We love both the morning and evening EMH and plan out our itinerary around them. And when it is during the day and the crowds are outrageous, we have no problems leaving to go back to our resort to either swim, nap, or just relax and then head back to the park for dinner and then EMH.

 

[cmcinc]

We always take advantage of the extra morning hours...night time hours not so much with two young ones.

 

[pocahontasgal87]

I also love EMH, it seems the waits for me not that long at all, tis is excellenty

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

I plan my days around when we want to go to the parks i dont pay much attention to EMH.

 

[loafskier]

On our first trip we did a couple of Morning EMHs but we found after about 1.5 hours (first hour of EMH, 30 minutes of regular hours) it was getting really crowded. By choosing the non-EMH park, we found low crowds for the first 1.5 - 2 hours and didn't have to get up so early. The added resort guests that went to the park for morning EMH seemed to fill the place up quicker.

So, basically, I think getting to a park at rope drop for either EMH or non-EMH is what matters but after 1.5 - 2 hours at either the crowds start so why get up an hour earlier.

I have no experience with the evening EMH, but from what I read it sounds like those are really great and well worth it. My kids (and DH for that matter) just cannot stay up that late. Maybe when they are teenagers they can keep up with me

 

[lamb616]

On our first trip we did a couple of Morning EMHs but we found after about 1.5 hours (first hour of EMH, 30 minutes of regular hours) it was getting really crowded. By choosing the non-EMH park, we found low crowds for the first 1.5 - 2 hours and didn't have to get up so early. The added resort guests that went to the park for morning EMH seemed to fill the place up quicker.

So, basically, I think getting to a park at rope drop for either EMH or non-EMH is what matters but after 1.5 - 2 hours at either the crowds start so why get up an hour earlier.

I have no experience with the evening EMH, but from what I read it sounds like those are really great and well worth it. My kids (and DH for that matter) just cannot stay up that late. Maybe when they are teenagers they can keep up with me

ok, thanks. We're early birds anyways, so not a big deal getting up early. BTW, we are also "north of Boston"

 

[megaron1]

I'll tell you what we do to take advantage of EMH's: Buy park hopper passes, go to the park with the morning EMH and be there when the rope drops to take advantage of a time when folks don't like to get up early. Stay at that park until lunch time (have lunch at that park or near/at your resort). Go back to your room for an afternoon siesta! Go to the park with the evening EMHs, have dinner there with ADRs, and stay until closing. We have done this twice with children between the ages of 7 and 10 and it works beautifully every time. We do major advance-planning and always make the most of every minute we spend at WDW, and it's totally worth it!

 

[arcurioa]

EMH parks can get more crowded than the others, so that's why you will often see advice to avoid these parks, especially if you are staying offsite and not eligible for the extra hours.

HOWEVER, if you are willing to get up early morning EMH hours can be fabulous for touring headliners with either walk-on or very little wait times. Evening EMH can vary, but generally clear out towards the end.

We always take advantage of morning EMH, get TONS of stuff done and by the time the big crowds start coming in (around 11-12), we head back to our resort for a rest or swim. Then we head out to a different park around 4pm for dinner and evening touring. This works great, but you must be willing to get up early on your vacation (most people aren't, which is why the parks are so empty!). Obviously, you need park hoppers to get the most out of this strategy.

If you want to sleep in, or take your time over breakfast, then you probably should avoid the EMH park.

This is what we do. Very important for MK.

We tend to avoid late EMH because we have found them to be too crowded, especially the earlier they start. We found the lines to be longer than on a regular night at the same park. If you can stay up later or have kids that are night owls, I have heard the that hours after midnight are fabulous during EMH.