Extra magic hours

[Nbyromd]

Hi All,

My family and I are heading to WDW May 1 - 15th, staying on property with DVC. We are all booked with our dining reservations and FP+. I chose my park days through Touring Plans - therefore, getting the lower attendance days for our schedule. What I didn't take into considerations was Extra Magic Hours. It turns out - we do not have any extra magic hours on our trip. Was this a mistake? Should I reconsider our schedule and see what I can change? Wondering how important Extra Magic Hours are?

We are Disneyland veterans (West Coasters) and always use Extra Magic Hours there, but they are entirely different parks. Any advice would be MUCH appreciated! Thank you so much in advance!

Nicole

 

[Robo]

Some guests love them.
Some guests dislike them.

Never attending EMH's because they will be "too crowded or overly-stressful,"
is like never eating grapes because they will be "too sour."
CAN be that way.
Doesn't HAVE to be that way.

Each EMH experience can be different.

We always go to AM EMH (virtually every day of the trip
that we did not do a PM EMH late the night before)...
never ONCE regretted an AM EMH... they are amazingly
empty and easy to ride the open attractions.

If that park then starts to fill 2 to 3 hours later...
We're happy with "doing" that park for the day and we
can HOP elsewhere or do lunch and take a rest until
later.

PM EMH's are a mixed bag. I've been when they were
"packed"... but on other nights (sometimes within the
same trip), the crowds were basically so low that it
was like "free rides" on all the open attractions.

The rule seems to be, it is far easier for guests to
STAY UP at the end of the day, than it is for them to
GET UP at the start of the day.

Generally speaking:
Expect a PM EMH which begins before 10PM to be much busier than one that begins much later.
Expect the first hour of PM EMH to be busier than the last hour.

 

[disBEAST]

Using planning sites like Touring Plans means you will be deliberately avoiding parks with EMH because the majority of visitors who are staying on property plan their schedules according to which park has EMH that day. If you still want to take advantage of the odd EMH you can get Park Hopper tickets, but it's likely not worth it for an hour here or there. With 2 weeks and I'm sure some good touring plans you won't need the extra time.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

If there are no EMH during your stay at all, they won't affect anything you do. Unless you already planned around anticipated EMH and there ended up not being any. As for whether they might add some later, at this point there is no way to plan for that.

 

[Nbyromd]

Thank you everyone! We are using Touring Plans, so I think will stick with our schedule the way we have it now. I have booked our FP's for afternoon times, so if we really wanted to hit EMH then we can always park hop back to where our FP's are.

Can't wait!!!!

 

[soniam]

I always use Touring Plans, and we pretty much do AM EMH when available. TP actually recommends that you do it, but they may list that park as being more crowded than other parks. Love AM EMH. It's so useful and efficient. Don't change your dates. You will be fine.