Fast Pass Strategy When Attending Very Early Before EMH starts

[bjwacker]

I am planning on using FastPass on the most time consuming attractions, but I'm wondering how to use them in tandem with EMH. For instance, at magic kingdom, should I use a fastPass for the Dwarves Ride or should I get a FastPass for something else because I could go to the Dwarves first thing during EMH? Said another way, how do I maximize my EMH time? Thanks!

 

[chris benton]

My answer would be: "It depends."
Here's my answer for am EMH at MK:

If you are at the front of the pack to enter for emh, and you'd like to do 7d, I'd say go for it.
If you are getting to EMH a few minutes late, then you're probably better off cramming in the lower wait attractions, because the 7d line will take up a decent amt of EMH time.

If you only wanna do 7d once, and you can make it a point to get there IN LINE, 30 minutes before emh starts, I wouldn't bother getting a FP for it, I'd do it during EMH. If you are front of the pack, I'd assume you can do both 7d, and Pan before regular rope drop. Knowing what I know, if you wanted to do both of those rides once, I'd not get fastpasses for either. The nice thing about that would be, you'd be able to rock out 4th AND MORE fp's for things that would be in less demand.

The thing is, plenty of folks say, "Ooooh, am EMH, let's go early!"
But they get there late.
If you wanna get the most out of am emh, be there BEFORE they start letting folks in.
Hope this helps you out. Just my 2 cents. We ALWAYS do am EMH, but we are early risers, and getting there early is simple for us.
==
Here's my answer for pm EMH:
Total crap shoot.

 

[Snow White DPMP]

One thing you should do is look up what attractions are open during EMH.
For example off the top of my head I know HM is not open during AM EMH at MK so you will not be able to ride certain things during EMH anyways.
Also consider if there are any attractions you'd like to do more than once.
For example if you want to ride 7DMT 2 times then you could book a FP for it and also wait int he stand by line during EMH.
Personally I like to do a lot of the Fantasyland attractions during AM EMH.
I may FP 7DMT because I only care about doing it once and ratehr wait in a FP line than the SB line during EMH. Then I'd have a FP for Space and Splash.

 

[gharter]

It really depends how early you are willing to get there.
If you show up when it opens for EMH, you can ride many rides. If you show up an hour later, lines will be much longer and you will need FPs for the really popular attractions.
It also depends on how busy the park is that day, luck of the draw.

 

[Kaufeegurl]

We have just returned lat night from an 8 day trip and I have to agree with the PPs. "It depends". How full will the parks be? Nobody really knows. Are you sure you will be up and at the parks pretty close to EMH opening?

I had FPs booked and plans made and most of those were modified or went right out the window due to low crowds and changing our park days. Almost all rides were walk-on with no more than a 10-minute wait at any of them, with the exception of FOP, SDD, and Smuggler's Run. That said, we discovered the wait times were almost half what Disney had posted at stand-by. We were never there at the very start of EMH but did arrive before the park opened to off-site guests. I never used a FP for FOP, but walked on with a 15 minute wait in the morning - even after arriving in the later part of EMH. My initial strategy for booking FPs was to book them for later in the morning, use the earlier part of the morning with no FP to ride the extra Tier 1 rides. I used the tap, grab and modify strategy with great success. I even grabbed a Frozen FP in Epcot for an hour later.

The parks are unpredictable and a little wonky with SWGE and all the EMH available. I think your best plan is to have a loose plan that can be changed. But we found that getting to park within the EMH timeframe allowed us to get the popular rides done without a FP, use/modify FPs that we had, and be out of the parks for afternoon pool time and avoid the afternoon crowds. It was extremely hot and humid this past week and getting to the parks early-ish and out by the almost unbearable afternoon heat was a really good plan

 

[keishashadow]

We do few ADRs, after many trips find renting a car & eating offsite at many of the great venues is more to our liking as to price & quality. Another big benefit is it gives us more flexibility to switch our FP around relatively last minute. I’m always surprised to see many eticket options available when we switch our arrival time or even park.

When kid free in the parks, tend to skip mornings entirely

DH hasn’t experienced SWGE yet. I enjoyed in DL a few weeks ago, standby line was short, at times only 20 minutes long. Don’t expect that in FL, so EEMH we go.

My strategy is to only visit MGM during this trip for the EEMH but multiple days, then back to room for a rest late am/afternoon. Our FP will be scheduled for late afternoon/early evening in another park. Not sure how it will pan out but figured it’s worth a shot. If the first day doesn’t pan out, will rinse and start the FP anew.

 

[bjwacker]

Perhaps I should have written that we're going during Thanksgiving, so I imagine the park will be super busy, does that change the answer?

 

[yorkieteacher]

Perhaps I should have written that we're going during Thanksgiving, so I imagine the park will be super busy, does that change the answer?

I would always get a FP for 7DMT if I could, especially during a busy time. Peter Pan is a better Fantasyland attraction to rope drop. EMH hours won't be at MK and AK everyday in November like they will be in September and October, so my strategy would be to FP the big three-Slinky Dog Dash in HS, Flight of Passage in AK, and 7DMT in MK, as well as two of the three mountains that aren't open during EMH. Then rope drop Peter Pan and Space Mtn. during regular opening or EMH, rope drop ToT or another TSL ride, and rope drop Navi River and Everest.