Extra Magic Hours - Your opinion?

[ozziewags]

Please post your opinions of the extra magic hours - morning and evening. Which parks do you use them and which ones do you avoid? I read that Epcot does not give out fast passes for some of the new attractions and there are loooong waits in the (EMH) evenings. What has been your experience? We will be there end of May, early June.

 

[disvaclub92]

I actually preferred it when it was called E-Ticket night. When they did that, they limited the entrance to 3000 people in the park that night. The lines were not bad at all. With EMH - we only participate in the evening sessions, but it is so crowded. We seem to do better if we start later in the evening, like 11 - 11:30pm. Crowds seem to leave and then we target our favorite rides.

 

[JulielovesDisney]

I've never done the EMH in the am, we never get up that early. But I've heard that's one of the better times to go b/c crowd levels are very minimal usually. EMH in the pm are very crowded. Many people attend the pm EMH, so lines are long. If you wait until later in the night, the crowds should thin out more, so you can ride more rides. They're both handy, but you just have to plan them out right.

 

[estnh]

We always use EMH in the morning, then hop out to another park by noon. They really do work!

However, IMO evening EMHs are useless (I speak only of Epcot and MK--never bothered to try them at AK). The crowds are just as big, if not bigger, than they are during the day. and there are fewer attractions to divide them up!

I am also a big fan of the old "E-ticket" night. It's worth a few bucks more not to have to battle the crowds.

 

[Renee1061]

Are the 12:00 - 3:00 a.m. EMH at MK usually crowded? My DD and I are going the end of this month (22nd-28th) and MK has evening EMH on the 23rd. It seems to me it would not be as crowded, because young children are not going to be up that late.

Does anyone have any experiences to share?

Thanks,
Renee

 

[waste]

Can't speak about morning EMH, but have done evening EMH. I found that Epcot was pretty good after hours. I went first week of Jan., and after 11pm, I was able to walk right into Mission: Space (no wait), and the listed wait time for Soarin' was only 20 mins (FP for Soarin' had all been gone by noon that day! and lines were up to 160 mins during the daytime). I actually got into Soarin' in less than 10 mins because I was the only single rider, and apparently they needed to fill up single seats - my wait time ended up being less than 10 mins. Also, I was able to meet all the characters in Character Connection without any wait - and got a group picture with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and Dale!

As for MK from 12-3am, crowds are fewer but can still be significant for some rides. I was there on Jan. 1, and at 1am, Peter Pan still had a 30min wait, and Space Mt had a 20min wait. Some other rides were walk-in (it's a small world, the casousel). But I think the later in the night you get, the fewer the people there will be.

IMO, evening EMH is also a good time to meet some characters. More show up and lines can be shorter for some of them (not Mickey and Minnie, who always have long lines regardless of the time).