Just back!!! EMH HUGE WASTE!!!!

[cheyita]

even if you get on 1 ride during EMH that's 1 more than you would have without EMH

Now THAT's optimistic thinking!!

 

[erikthewise]

Thanks for the feedback. It will greatly help in planning our trip. Perhaps evening EMH works better during slower times of the year. We've only done morning EMH and it has worked well for us (aside from DW's grumbling!) because most people aren't willing to get up that early.

For what it's worth, it's not unusual for Living with the Land to have long lines, as it's a slow-loading ride, and before Soarin' it was the most popular attraction at The Land. Actually Soarin' may have made it worse by pulling more people into The Land.

 

[tlbwriter]

Maybe it depends on the time of year you travel. We used EMH in January and it was great! Sorry you had a bad experience.

That's what I'm wondering... in the summer, I wonder if people are more likely to stay out of the parks in the heat of the afternoon (maybe swim at the resort instead) and then go back in the evening when it's cooler. And it might not be as much of an issue in the cooler months.

 

[Mortlives]

EMH was fabulous in February when we went. It may have been the cooler weather, or the fact that it's a slower time of year, but it worked out great. Maybe when it's busier a different strategy is needed... Maybe if they had EMH every night at every park people wouldn't bunch up at one?

Kungaloosh!
Morticia.

 

[NoodlesTheRabbit]

We had the same problem with EMH as the others. We too found MK to be good LATE...we stayed right until 2 am. I couldn't believe the CM said 2-3 hour wait for Soarin'! What a joke. we did enjoy being in the parks late and just walking around, shopping, riding the not-so-popular rides again. We discovered that we LOVE TTA, especially at night. It was so relaxing and the park looked gorgeous at night.

With that said, the morning EMH weren't as bad. We got on Soarin' with about a 10 minute wait and Test Track about 15 minutes.

 

[novastar]

If there is a ride you really want to go on, I would do it in the morning. During EMH you should just go on whatever you can.

 

[asaj]

I'll be really interested in how the extra evening hours works out; I was looking at them as a bonus, but from these posts it sounds like the best option is to use the morning hours, or just avoid the extra time altogether. Do you think this is mostly due to the time of year rather than a problem with the program itself? My trip is at the beginning of October, and I've understood that to be a slower, less crowded time to visit.

I am wondering the same thing. We are going the first week in Oct also, and I have to think the extra hours would be a lot less crowded, just because the parks as a whole are less crowded this time of year. If not, I imagine we'd just head back to the resort and swim. Our 5 year old will probably be whipped by then anyways.

I always had a bigger issue with the extra morning hours. You get in earlier, but most of the good rides aren't running, so what's the point? Don't know if it is still like that or not.

Andy

 

[LIFERBABE]

Don't plan on doing major attractions during the Evening hours, go early in the morning and ride those early in the day. Then during the evening hours, you go back and do the faster loading attractions like Buzz, Small World, Pirates, Mickeys PHM, etc and the attractions with shorter lines.

This worked out great for us and I will admit MK EMH was crowded, but it was great to enter so late, watch Wishes, Spectro and then walk around and have a couple of hours to ride all on the same Hopper ticket we used earlier in the day. We also took longer afternoon breaks on EMH days.
Mondays were the best, because we did Early Morning Hour at Epcot, left around 3pm and then went to Eve Magic Hours at MK around 8:00 pm and stayed after 1am.

We didnt do the other parks evening hours, because there are much fewer attractions open, so we would be forced to stand in long lines, but MK was worth it. We will do AK evenings when we return in September.

 

[OzFan]

When we went in May, MK was a ghost town! It was alittle eerie walking around, I felt like we had snuck in. We rode Buzz 8x in row without getting off, we did Stitch twice (I know what you are thinking.. WHY?). My kids loved it! Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion. That was our only EMH, we are early risers so the early entry was more for us. I do think the time of year has alot to do with it. On a side note Soarin IMO is worth the wait! That was my favorite this year!

 

[Laura66]

We were there from 6/11-6/16 and then we headed over to IO/US.
We avoided the parks that had EMH and found the crowds manageable. MK seemed to be crowded no matter what the day - so we really weren't able to do much - with the heat and a 3 year old.
I want Enights back!

Laura

 

[Master Grayson]

I'm actually going back Aug 4-9 and Oct 21-27 so I'll see if there is a difference. Hopefully it's just a summer thing. By the way we rode Soarin three times buy far the best ride at disney just be sure to get in row #1 it's a much better experience then having feet dangle in front of you.

 

[experiment626mom]

I have to disagree. We just got back and did EMH at MK and Epcot. I didn't think it was over crowded and we got on just about everything. The two longest lines at MK were Space Mtn and Splash Mtn. Other than that it was walk on or a 10-20 minute wait on everything else.

 

[kenlib]

I totally agree with EMH stinking. We were there June 12-19th There were 3X as many people in the park after hours than during the day. We left the kids with Grandma at 9:30pm. I am not joking, we stayed until 1:30am and only went on 5 attractions/rides. And one was the jungle cruise. LOL.

My take is everyone is at that park at that time. There are no other parks open to thin it down.

Don't even get me started on how long it took to get on a bus to go back to the resort. I think we waited for six buses before we could get on one. Two were coming at a time.

We absolutely love EMH and use it to our best advantage. HOW? We only go to a park that does NOT have EMH that day . We also avoided SWW at MGM.
We were there June 14-19 and except for a 30 minute wait at FastTrack (because it broke down), the longest we waited all week was about 20 minutes. We arrived early (even made rope drop 2 mornings) and maxed fastpass. From the other posts I guess all the crowds were at EMH parks or SWW.

 

[SolitaryPhoenix]

What's the difference between e-nights and extra hours? You'll have to forgive what may seem to be a stupid question, but I'm a fairly recent convert to Disney.

 

[pdchris]

We absolutely love EMH and use it to our best advantage. HOW? We only go to a park that does NOT have EMH that day . We also avoided SWW at MGM.
We were there June 14-19 and except for a 30 minute wait at FastTrack (because it broke down), the longest we waited all week was about 20 minutes. We arrived early (even made rope drop 2 mornings) and maxed fastpass. From the other posts I guess all the crowds were at EMH parks or SWW.

I'm with you. We did the same thing: avoided the park that had EMH. I've also read on the DIS that a good strategy is to visit the park that had EMH the next day.

 

[MickeyMinnieMommy]

Extra Magic Hours are times the parks are open only to on-site resort guests; E-Nights were the nights the "E-ticket" rides were open and you paid an extra $10 to $30 to get in for three hours and ride. Disney sold a limited number of e-night tickets while EMH are open as long as you have resort ID.

Personally, I find it a bit funny how many people on this thread want to spend MORE at WDW!

I haven't been in the parks yet for evening EMH but would bet the problems are due to the huge crowds this time of year. Morning EMH at AK were so crowded that I won't be trying that again; at MGM and MK they were wonderful. It's easier for many people to stay out late than to get up early, especially if the kids have napped or if you're coming in from the west (as we will).

 

[minnie2me]

Been a year since last vacation. Can anyone explain What the EMH are about?

 

[Greg K.]

I fully agree. Even in the off season, it is majorly busy during the evening EMH. The thing I don't understand is If disney can charge 10-20 for an e-ticket night, why are they giving so many free nights away with this program. Heck MNSSHP wasn't as busy as our last MK evening EMH

They must be making a mint off the gift shops and concessions. That's the only way to justify it. Certainly, it's not doing well in the customer satisfaction department!

 

[Brian Noble]

I don't think EMHs were extended to sell more in parks. Rather, I think the evening EMHs were added as a loss leader to put heads in beds.

 

[lovethattink]

I was at MK on Friday. It was an EMH night. I was at the Contemporary and decided to take ds(1) for a walk in his stroller. We ended up at MK, so we made the best of it and got a Dole whip. YUM!!! Then we headed back to the Contemp. The park was so crowded. This was at 6:30pm. People were starting to sit for the 8pm parade. The # of people entering the park was way more than those leaving. After the dole whip, we left and headed back to DH and DS(11). When I told dh where we ended up, he too wanted a dole whip. So this time we, my whole family, walked to MK for a dole whip. By this time it was 8:30. The parade had just finished and it the crowds looked like Christmas day. We waited in a huge line for the bag check. Then an even huger line for the turnstile. It was hard to navigate the stroller through the crowds to get to the Dole Whips. We ate our dole whip and decided to just leave. It was too crowded.

I think the problem stems from the new MYW tickets. People just can justify spending $35/person extra for the hopping feature. They figure EMH will get them more rides, so they go to that park and are stuck since they can't hop. I think the majority of people are buying this type of pass, thinking they are saving $35/person.