Just back last night...our experience AVOIDING EMH

[DWorldObsessed]

We tried a EMH evening at MK. We did not stay for more than a half hour. Our bus was full of disgruntled people. Not only could we not use leftover fastpasses but our handicaped card was no good either. My DH was MAD. He wanted to say to all here, the Handicapped are not welcome at Disney on EMH evenings. But we did find EMH evenings was the perfect day to do the park. Mornings were empty and we left around 5:00 or 6:00. As far as your schedule to those concerned about getting it right, I spent 6 months working it, making PS's and generally obsessing. I through it out the window on day 3. It seems like it was impossible to know what would work until we got there.
We stayed away from all EMH mornings. Not good unless you can hop out of the park by noon.

 

[grandma jan]

We plan on doing most parks the day after EMH evening hrs. except for Epcot. We will go to Epcot on an EMH evening hrs and will try to do the World Showcase. I have read on several sites that both parts of the park will be open till 12 on Thursdays so we just want to do the World and go back the next day. We also plan on doing MK the last night that we are there it will be open till 1 am so this will be our night to stay out until the park closes. We will have been to MK before this night so will have had 2 full days there anyway. What do you guys think of this plan?

 

[PavelB]

really, the reports of those who just came back help tremendously!
I know that July is hot and crowded and any info helps!

 

[katecca]

We just came back and I totally agree to avoid EMH, at least at night. We avoided EMH except for that one night and it was really horrible. We were caught in the spectromagic crowd. It was so crowded that the flow just stopped and we were stuck. I had strangers touching me on all sides, people screaming and pushing and shoving for people to move. It was hot and I just about lost it! The crowd leaving was horrible too. I will never go back to an EMH night, at least during busy season.

We also found if we showed up at the parks when they opened that we could walk on most rides for about 1 hour, then had to wait. We really enjoyed that hour of no crowds and no wait! It was definitely worth getting up and going. It didn't get really crowded until afternoons.

Wish I was back there right now!!! Have fun for all of you with vacations coming up!

 

[GCM13]

I also agree with everyone to avoid evening EMH. We went this past Tuesday night at MK and it was awful. We arrived during SpectroMagic. Afterwards, we made it down to Casey's then it was wall to wall people. There were 7 of us trying to get through the crowd including 2 strollers. There was no place to go, but people still tried to squeeze through the pack. I had other people with strollers cutting me off, others stepping in front of me, others saying they "have to get through now because they have to go to the bathroom" (like no one else in line had to go!). It was awful. My baby was crying but I couldn't do anything about it because we were stuck. Once we got to Adventureland, it did calm down, but lines were still long with no Fastpass. We learned our lesson and will not do that again!

 

[lbgraves]

ITA that MK after the late hours is a great day. We did that two weeks ago 6/9 and it really wasn't too bad. We used FPs all day long & the occassional shower may have thinned the crowds a bit. All the FP rides had 45 -60 min waits in the stand by lines but we avoided them all. The only line that we had to stand in over 20 minutes was Dumbo & to see Ariel. I kept DH & DS busy by giving them the 4 FPs for Buzz & BTMRR that we had so that I could wait with DD. We did find that MGM on Tuesday for the EMH was pretty nice. We hit RNRC first & got a child swap FP to use later in the day and then we started with Little Mermaid FPs & kept at least one on us at all times. It was very steamy that day but I expected more people & lines.

 

[TDS373X]

and AVOID EMH....we started out by taking advantage of it but quickly found out to avoid it if at all possible. We did go last night however and there were waits at the MK for just about everything, it has been VERY hot and humid this past week heat indicies 100+ there were LOTS of hot, tired, cranky, people that I am not sorry to have left behind. DD just HAD to see Spectro for the 3rd time this week and Cinderellabration for the 4th time. After we learned to avoid EMH the parks were much nicer...all in all a wonderful trip

 

[julfre]

Here is my summary of what I've been reading on these boards the last few weeks

Avoid MK and Epcott EMH at night- really crowded unless you wait til very very late
MGM EMH at night seems to be mixed reviews, but mostly very crowded-most likely avoid this one too
AKL EMH at night seem to be worth while- not too many complaints about crowds and a number of good reports of low crowds, but safari closes early

Morning EMH - if you do go, plan only to stay 2-3 hours and then park hop. Be there early and you have a small window to enjoy the rides and then the crowds get horrible.

 

[muffyn]

is there a difference between EMH & days that he parks are just open later?(usually weekends are open later, yes?)

how can you find out what days these are?

 

[DonnaDavid]

I haven't been to the parks since last June. I've always been a fan of EMH, but we usually travel in the Oct. of early Dec. We've always left the parks around 11 am regardless of whether it's the EMH park or not. However, last June, EMH (we called it early entry back then!) was a nightmare - the lines at Epcot were ridiculous. I really regretted getting up so early on vacation to stand in those lines.

We are from Oregon - 8 am FL time is 5 am in OR. I'm having no issues planning to avoid EMH in the am for our next trip. I may be willing to give EMH in the pm a try though.

 

[billylen]

Here is my summary of what I've been reading on these boards the last few weeks

Avoid MK and Epcott EMH at night- really crowded unless you wait til very very late
MGM EMH at night seems to be mixed reviews, but mostly very crowded-most likely avoid this one too
AKL EMH at night seem to be worth while- not too many complaints about crowds and a number of good reports of low crowds, but safari closes early

Morning EMH - if you do go, plan only to stay 2-3 hours and then park hop. Be there early and you have a small window to enjoy the rides and then the crowds get horrible.

I was getting that same impression...thanks for sorting this out...

Does anyone else concur?

 

[kesha]

We were there June 1-7 and did all the EMH evenings except AK. Mk went pretty well. But MGM and Epcot was pretty crowded. June 1 was our first day there so we wanted to stay late and that was EMH night at the Mk. It just got more crowded as the week went on. We still had a Great Time. We expected the crowds since most schools were out.

 

[nluvwithmickey]

Avoiding ALL EMH was my plan since the beginning for a couple of reasons:

I do not have a hopper pass....I wouldn't be caught dead in an EMH park without the Hopper option.

This is July folks, who are we kidding? It WILL be crowded.

All the newbies WITHOUT the hopper option going to EMH parks will be Stuck there because they have no where to go and did not think they would need the hopper option because this is their first trip...

Having done morning EMH once last July at MGM, I witnessed what a packed park is and my family were really miserable, so we left.


The one thing I have a hard time with is all the last minute changes they make on the EMH calendars. I have ADR in the parks that I will be visiting but you never know when the EMH will change and you have to change your ADR again in order to avoid EMH parks. And with the vacation dates getting closer and closer, making these changes is getting harder and harder.

 

[LovePug]

The one thing I have a hard time with is all the last minute changes they make on the EMH calendars. I have ADR in the parks that I will be visiting but you never know when the EMH will change and you have to change your ADR again in order to avoid EMH parks. And with the vacation dates getting closer and closer, making these changes is getting harder and harder.

ITA .

 

[bobcat]

From all the reports of evening EMH I sure am going to miss e ride nights in the MK!

We have traveled to WDW in the summer for the past few years and the key to morning EMH is to get there before park opening! If you hesitate even a little you will find the parks start to get crowded already. By getting to the parks before they let you in the gates you are one of the first people on the rides and can get 3-4 rides done before the next wave hits. Then if you have to stand in a small line it doesn't feel so bad because you have already accomplished quite a bit.

The next key is to use fastpass if available during EMH. This helps to maximize your time.

Next you need to head to another area of the park as soon as it opens. This is really important at MK since areas of the park open a little later. If you want to see Toontown without throngs of mini people hit it first thing after it opens.

Next take in a show or two, or use a fast pass that you aquired then get the heck out of dodge! Or have a nice late breakfast/early lunch as all those people who didn't want to get up early on vacation come wandering into the park. It's kind of fun to watch their pained expressions as they see how crowded the parks have become. Meanwhile you have accomplished so much in such a short time, had few waits, the heat isn't unbearable yet, and the kids aren't cranky. As you head out to another park or back for a swim you will feel very pleased with yourself.

 

[katecca]

I totally agree with you Bobcat! This was our first time at WDW and luckily we figured it out rather fast to be at the gates at opening. We accomplished more in that first hour than we did sometimes for the rest of the day! I think we got really lucky.

 

[MNmom]

Thanks you guys for the tips

We are really looking forward to a couple of early mornings (before opening)!!

Any clue as to the evening EMH at MK on Aug. 31st???

We are thinking not too bad and we may try it as it is the beginning of value season. Unless of course they change the EMH!!!

 

[Lizzybee]

Now I'm even more confused. After completely changing my days so that I was just doing morning EMH, now people are saying avoid them. Last week people were saying not to avoid them! UGH!!! OK, I have about 17 more days to get this straight.

We went at a very crowded time, Spring Break, and found the only early EMH that was helpful (even necessary) was MKs. We did all of the rides we wanted to do before 2pm then hopped to Epcot. I felt going to AK on a Saturday morning for early EMH was a big mistake. The busses were packed from our resort because EVERYONE was going there plus 90% of the people go back to the Safari when they get there so I still needed a FP for that ride. Most people seemed to be going to the Safari or It's Tough to be a Bug for the EMH. I didn't use any other EMH but the crowds seemed really manageable at MGM and Epcot. So I guess I have mixed opinions on EMH. At MK, we were there at 7am we saw Chip, Dale, Mickey, and Goofy and got to ride Peter Pan, IASW, dumbo, tea cups, Indy cars, Philharmagic, got a FP for Buzz, had breakfast and rode Buzz all before 10am.

 

[edinburghlass]

Less than two weeks till we go and I think I might stop reading the boards as all my planning changes with each post I read

I understand the jet-lag will get us up early so I guess the early morning hours will suit for a day or two until we get onto US time

 

[Disney_dude]

Let me just say this. I and my son ate breakfast at the bakery at MK two days in a row, last Thursday and Friday. We was there for the opening both days. Thursday we walked right in and got our breakfast with no problems. Friday was EMH (evening), it was so crowded at the bakery I didn't think we were going to get a seat. And we would not have gotten a seat if it wasn't for my wife saving one. And after we had eaten breakfast on Friday it seem like the rides filled up much quicker than on Thursday. Although Space Mountain was closed for awhile Friday morning which may have made the other mountains more crowded. I think the next time we go we will try to avoid EMH morning and evening.