Just returned from WDW - EMH was a joke!

[sharonk]

We just returned from 6 days at WDW and the EMH was a joke. We had much better luck arriving at park opening on non-entry days.

On Sat., we went to Animal Kingdom at 9:00 (non-early entry day) and rode Dinosaur twice, Triceratop Spin twice and Primeval whirl twice, all with no waiting in the first hour. Then we saw Lion King and It's tough to be a bug, with no wait. We left around noon, and the park still seemed pretty empty. We went back on Monday for early entry morning, and the place was mobbed. By 9:30, there was a 60 minute wait for Dinosaur and it was so crowded you could barely walk.

Same experience at the Magic Kingdom...on SUnday, we went at 8:00 for early entry and within 30 minutes, Fantasy Land was mobbed and all the rides had waits of 20 - 30 minutes. By 10:30, it was so crowded, you could barely move and every ride seemed to have a 60 - 90 minute wait. We went back on Wednesday (non-early entry) at 9:00, and had about 2 hours to enjoy the park before lines started to form, and even then, it was only 20 - 30 minutes waits.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to Epcot for a few hours and Future World was empty. We rode Universe of Energy, Imagination/Figment and Space Ship earth with NO wait. Mission Space only had a 20 minuite wait...and this was at 4:00 in the afternoon.

I don't know what's up with Early Entry...maybe a lot more people are taking advantage of it? A few years ago, you could do early entry and really have the park to yourself for an hour...now, it seems like it's crowded within 15 minutes!

Sharon

 

[bigsis1970]

just an FYI a little late for you but alot of here try to Avoid the Parks with Early Entry that day for that one reason of being Extra Crowded.. Sorry that you encountered that.. Hope the rest of your trip went well .. Michelle

 

[HunnyPots]

We were there 5/31 through 6/7 and did EMH on Friday (AK) Saturday (MGM) and Sunday (MK).

Sunday at MK was our best EMH experience, which I found surprising. We managed to get 8-10 character photos and autographs and ride Splash, Big Thunder, HM, Pirates, Pooh, and see Mickey's Philharmagic by 10:00 am! I thought that was pretty good.

MGM wasn't bad, considering it was a Star Wars weekend. We still did RNR, TOT, and Muppets before park opening.

At AK, we got on the Safari by 8:10 and it was incredible! It was worth doing EMH just for that. I've never seen so many animals so close on any other Safari ride.

One thing I did notice was that no one was asked to show resort id at the gate. Last year we were asked to show ours at each EMH park. Maybe they were only letting resort buses through and checking for id if you entered the parking lots? I don't know. Maybe more people are catching on to EMH. It seemed like it was some sort of secret when we were there last year.

 

[nisiemouse]

Hunnypots: We were there almost the same dates as you and we were asked to see our room keys at AK and Epcot. We were not asked for keys at MK though.

 

[luckywife]

We did EMH last week at MK and MGM. MK was PACKED after about a half an hour. The only things we did without any type of wait was Snow White and Peter Pan. I wasn't smart enough to avoid it on that day lol. When we went to MGM for the EMH the park wasn't too crowded at all. We did ToT and RNR before the park officially opened. We were asked to show our room key there but not at MK.

 

[Eeyore1954]

Like some others, I usually avoid EMH at any park -- my DW and I go to a non-EMH park. And we avoid MK on the weekends like the plague. Not worth the hassle, the long waits and the crowds.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Originally posted by Eeyore1954
Like some others, I usually avoid EMH at any park -- my DW and I go to a non-EMH park. And we avoid MK on the weekends like the plague. Not worth the hassle, the long waits and the crowds.

We do the same thing.

 

[KMovies]

Makes since at the Magic Kingdom gates ... only people that can get up to those gates is from the resort buses or the boat or monorail. If they check at the transportation center for the boat or monorail - they wouldn't need to check at the front gates at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[marcyinPA]

Originally posted by Dopey Sharon
We do the same thing.

Us too! Didn't do any of the EMH days on our last trip. We encountered very little crowds and the waits were minimal EXCEPT for the MK, which we did on a Tuesday and a Wednesday...it was MOBBED both days!

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by sharonk
I don't know what's up with Early Entry...maybe a lot more people are taking advantage of it?

Don't know what else would be "up" with EMH other than people simply taking advantage of it. It's not like they run the attractions half-full for those early morning hours.

WDW can only offer the perk--they cannot control how many people choose to take advantage of it or how it impacts itineraries.

 

[shatzjsl]

hmmm...I may have to rethink my plans and not do early entry next week. We are arriving on a Tuesday and had planned on going to MGM (emh park) around noon. Guess we shouldn't do that, huh?

 

[daisylove]

We are also arriving on tuesday and were planning MKwhen we arrive and waiting for Epcot EMH on Wednesday. Anyone been to EMH at Epcot very recently. It would be our first time doing the EMH.

Should we just hit Epcot Tuesday afternoon (wont get in park until at least 4pm) and do MK wednesday?

Now I am reall concerned. Thanks for any tips!

 

[disvaclub92]

I honestly have not gone to EMH in a long time. It was such a battle getting into the park and getting on the rides. I prefer E-nights. Ok- I do pay a little bit more - but I get to sleep in.

 

[disvaclub92]

I honestly have not gone to EMH in a long time. It was such a battle getting into the park and getting on the rides. I prefer E-nights. Ok- I do pay a little bit more - but I get to sleep in.

 

[cooldisneymom]

I know E-ticket nights are published in advance. Are EMH by park published somewhere?

 

[julfre]

I was at EMH at MK on SUnday a few weeks ago and it was packed. I am an early riser and have been always go to MK EMH and have never hit crowds like that before.

The main difference I truely believe was that NO ONE was being asked to see resort IDs before entering. I didn't even realize this until 4 people were talking in line before me about how nice it was to get into the park an hour early and how they thought you had to be a resort guest or something to get in, but that they were happy they showed up early after all. I will say from what they were saying these did not sound like people who had tried to bend the rules, but had just showed up and were let in.

 

[zurgswife]

WOW!! This thread is interesting... we did EMH during Christmas and New Years and found it work beautifully.....we are going in July so I'm interested to see how many more people do it then....

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Originally posted by cooldisneymom
I know E-ticket nights are published in advance. Are EMH by park published somewhere?

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/earlyentry.htm

 

[EmmasGrammy]

I will share our family's secret about Early Entry days. We schedule our PS for about 9:30 or 9:45 in the park that has early entry. (We are not big on eating the first thing after we are up.) We go to the park at 7:45 and are among the first in the park at 8:00. We enjoy the short lines and ride as many attractions as we can until it is time to head for our breakfast PS's. Ater we eat, we leave the park that had early entry and head for one of the other 3 parks. We have found this to be very effective in our 12 visits to WDW.

 

[cudworth]

We did EMH everyday at Easter and yes it was busy but we thought it was great . I really think they need to police the EMH a little better the resort guests deserve that extra hour.