How are evening EMH crowds?

[liv4pixiedust]

May will be my first trip since Disney started evening EMH. I love the morning EMH because the crowds are so small and we can do so many rides. It seems that more people would be likely to stay for evening EMH than to get up early for morning EMH, so I suspect the evening to be more crowded. Have you found the crowds to be a deterrent for evening EMH?

I'm planning our itinerary and don't know whether to plan for any late nights at the parks instead of the early mornings.

 

[cleo]

As with all things Disney, it depends on when you go. As a general rule, Magic Kingdom's Extra Magic Evening is bad to horrendous. During the summer it's a madhouse. I would never do it again (I'm sure someone will come on and say they had the park to themselves, but that was our experience and I'm sticking to it ).

That said, Animal Kingdom's Extra Magic Evening was a godsend. I would definitely work it into your plan if possible.

 

[n2mm]

I stopped doing them also. I find the lines worse when EMH is going on then any other time. I often get my wristband just so I can leisurely walk around the park, or dine later. I now avoid the parks that are having EMH.

 

[jerseyjenny]

Epcot Evening EMH can be a madhouse, too. You need a wristband just to ride the rides, and since there are so few rides in the World Showcase, people still stay to hang out, shop, and eat. They don't make an effort to kick you out of the park after IllumiNations.

 

[KimmLynn]

I've had a completely different experience with Evening EMH. Maybe it's gotten worse, but I didn't find it a madhouse at all. It's great at the Animal Kingdom, you get to go on the Safari at the perfect time just before sunset when the animals are most active. After about an hour into it at Magic Kingdom, the lines were shorter and the streets much less packed. They even had an after hours showing of Spectromagic so you could be on the rides while everyone else was watching the first parade and still catch it. If you decide to do EMH at the Magic Kingdom, I'd go to another park for the day, and then head over to Magic Kingdom just as it's closing because the day of EMH usually is more crowded than other days.
(I might just like the Evening EMH better because I am soooo not a morning person!)

 

[SarahKate]

We just got back a week ago and here are my thoughts.....

I don't think we made it to any morning EMHs.....we happened to go to parks that opened at the normal time.

As for the evenings, we went to MGM on a Thursday nite for EMH. For us, it was DESERTED. It was so cool, like having our run of the place. We walked onto all kinds of stuff!!!

We did Epcot one evening for EMH and that was nice too, however, not everything in the World Showcase stays open. Restaurants close up at 10 p.m. (the park's open til midnite), as do a lot of the shops. The few rides there are still open. I'm sure all the rides in Future World are open, however this particular evening we didn't go on that side so can't say anything about the crowds - as we were leaving it definitely seemed sparse!!!

 

[Joanna71985]

Like someone said, it depends on when you go. I would never go to an EMH during the summer. But when I went to the MK evening EMH on New Years this year, it was literally empty. I was walking onto rides in the last hour and a half. And there was no lines for the characters at all (except the Mickey/Minnie line). I would defientely do it again.