How crowded are evening EMH at MK?

[luvdzny]

We will be heading for WDW next week, we have never done the evening extra magic hours. In the past we have done e-ride nights and the crowds were very light. Since EMH is free I would think it would be much more crowded. What have your experiences been?

Thanks

 

[dizagain]

We didn't actually stay for any of them, although we were still in some parks following evening shows and saw the crowds. I do believe they were much worse than crowds during the day. We did several morning EMH's and they were nice. I can't tell you how many people were pouring into the EMH parks in the evenings as we left. I know that on Thursday morning we were picked up for our plane home at 3 a.m. and just while we were checking out we saw a good 25 people or so coming in from MK EMH!!! I would be an early bird if possible - I know it's not for everyone, but you can get alot done in the first hour or two! Have fun!

 

[Alice's Mom]

In early May my daughter and I took advantage of Evening EMH at Magic Kingdom and it was fantastic, it enabled us to walk onto every single ride that had remained open for the night.

I think we went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad three times!

 

[RevBob]

We were at WDW the week of May 14-20. We tried evening EMH on several occasions. The first at MGM we found that both ToT and RnR were mobbed after Fantastic, and the waits for the other attractions were also longer than at other times. We did AK and found that it was the best of the EMH, walked onto everything during that time. We were at MK for evening EMH and found that as soon as the time for it started that the wait times doubled or tripled on rides that up until that time, were very short waits. After staying an hour we decided to leave. As we were leaving it was obvious that more people were coming in than were leaving. We purposely chose not to try EMH at Epcot. Morning EMH were much better and I would recommend them, did them at both MK and Epcot.

 

[jamal]

We are just back (three hours ago) from eight days there. It took us until the last night to realize how ridiculously crowded the evening EMH is until the last hour (some nights 1:00-2:00 AM). We all (three families) missed E-Ride nights and would have happily paid our $12 each to have smaller crowds!.. We didn't realize until after Fantasmic one night that the FastPass machines are re-set to give out FPs for the late-night EMH> This can really help make it manageable. Example: go to early Fantasmic, hang out (with maaaany others) near RnRC and ToT, then FastPass either or both as soon as EMH begins.

I highly recommend the early EMH; we always zip through the park on those. Oh, one more tip: we went to MK when it opened yesterday (not EMH, 9:00 opening) after it had been open till 2:00AM for evening EMH the night before. All those sleepyheads (including us...we were there till 12:30) were not there and we had an empty park for about two hours. PM me if you have more questions about this. We worked the parks pretty well but I will warn anyone that the evening EMH thing shifted crowd patterns and our Unofficial guide strategy. We were there for over a week and never waited more than 25 mins for anything, but that was not because there were no crowds!

 

[jl3614]

I assume on some nights at some parks evening EMH are uncrowded and a lot of fun. Our experience was similar to most other posters - it was too crowded. We visited in early April and only went to MK EMH. The park closed at 9:00 after Wishes. We have little kids, so went to Fantasyland - all the lines were 25 or 30 minutes. We even had to wait for 15 minutes to get on It's a Small World. We stayed until about 10:30, the kids were just too tired, it was no fun. Maybe the last hour is better, or other parts of the park. I have to assume it was not mobbed (at least not Fantasyland) at 2:00 AM on the nights MK had 3:00 AM EMH, but that is certainly too late for our family.

 

[mhingher]

In the beginning of March, we stayed for every evening EMH except AK and had no problems. We were able to walk on rides more than once, and still left before it was over. I can imagine that during the summer it is more crowded though, since we didn't experience any long lines during the day either. We never waited more than 20 minutes.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We were at WDW from May 21-30. Originally, we had planned on taking advantage of both the a.m. and p.m. EMH. After just a couple of days, we learned to avoid these parks. We did much better spending early mornings and evenings at the non-EMH parks. Since the hours are long now, anyway; this worked out quite well. We may re-evaluate during the shorter winter days.

 

[marriedmarylander]

We went May 16-22 and did EMH evening at AK, MK, and Epcot. The only one I recommend is AK because no one was there (despite it be very crowded the entire day from 9-5). Epcot was the worst with it being very crowded - imagine and entire park of people who are spread out in FW and WS, then all of those same people ending up in just FW during EMH = crowded. I know some people leave because they aren't on resort, but it sure seemed like 90% of the pepole there were resort guests.

MK was crowded as well except BTMRR that particular night. Maybe it was just timing I dunno. Everything else had long waits that were about the same waits as on Saturday afternoon when we went... and evening EMH no fast passes that I saw... I guess waiting in line in the cooler evening night is better than a hot afternoon though.

 

[lajones81]

In March/April, my friend and I took advantage of all the EMH. Not a problem at all considering it was spring break season! When we were kids, we always stayed for the extra hours during the busy summer months. I say try it...if it's too bad, just leave early! Enjoy your stay!

 

[Laz]

It seems like the best strategy (esp. MK) is to stay away from a crowded evening EMH and come back to the same park in the morning. Does this make sense?

 

[danny1649]

May 25th and it was packed with 45 minute wiats and no fast pass.Crowds didn't let up until well into 3rd hour.Park closed at 11PM and I stayed until 2am,but had fun, I was not able to walk on rides like others have posted. I think it will depend on time of year and how crowds were the day you want to do EMH.