Lesson Learned: Don't try to be early on EMH morning

[WillAustin]

One of the popular new strategies emerging with FP+ is to hit a park at RD (or EMH if you're eligible), leave for a break when it gets crowded, and hop to a different park for the afternoon/evening where you have FPs reserved.

This is a good idea that works well, especially because most of the masses don't hop to a second park.

 

[magicbob]

This is a good idea that works well, especially because most of the masses don't hop to a second park.

I've been a vocal critic of FP+, but one of the features has always been the ability to hop to EPCOT in the evening and ride Soarin' with FP or hop to DHS and ride TSMM with a FP. In the past, those two rides would have run out of FPs earlier in the day and if you hopped there, you would have no choice except standby. Now you can have that one headliner reserved in advance for the park you're hopping to. If you hop to MK, you might even have three "choice" FPs.

I'm interested to see what emerges as the most effective combination for am park and pm park. People seem to like hopping to EPCOT in the evening. But maybe EPCOT at RD with no FPs (Soarin' standby and TT using single rider) and then hopping to MK is a more effective use for FP+ since MK doesn't have tiers, so you could theoretically have three headliner FPs?

Animal Kingdom at RD should be very manageable with no FPs. DHS seems like it would be the least effective park to be at (even at RD) with no FP possible because you have them reserved for later at a different park. You would probably need to go directly to TSMM at RD to ride standby and use single rider at RnRC. As long as standby lines for ToT and Star Tours aren't too bad, this might work well. But I'd be very nervous showing up to DHS, even at RD knowing that I would not be able to get a FP for ANY of the rides.

Back to the OP's original point, though... if you're not going to EMH, it's almost always best to avoid the EMH park. But another lesson learned is that if you ARE going to morning EMH, DO be early. Get to the park entrance before EMH begins so you can have that full extra hour to ride the rides that are open.

 

[cakebaker]

But another lesson learned is that if you ARE going to morning EMH, DO be early. Get to the park entrance before EMH begins so you can have that full extra hour to ride the rides that are open.

So many people intend to do emh, but just don't quite make it -and that's not only a waste of low crowd levels, it puts you in the most crowded park of the day.

There are 3 groups who make emh morning parks crowded- those who actually made it for emh, those who came despite it being emh's and those who meant to get there early and didn't, yet came anyway because that was the plan.

Evenings on the other hand, when we go just for the emh's portion only, are more successful for us because it works in reverse- people leave who thought they could last through the entire day but can't, and those who meant to get there for the emh's but didn't for one reason or another never get there.

 

[Jess_S]

Thanks for the post OP. Even though we're staying onsite, we will have a rental car and plan to park at TTC. It's helpful to know what to expect if we want to take advantage of EMH.

 

[Dug720]

Yeah, thanks that's so helpful. And SOOOOO easy to just magically pull off when you have two children and strollers full of stuff and four other members of the party that maybe don't want to go walking around for 45 minutes.

In defense of the poster you snapped at there, they were as others have said, just trying to offer alternative suggestions. And nowhere in your original post was the other child, the strollers, and other members of the party mentioned. They probably thought, as I did, that it was you and the melting DD.

 

[SDSorority]

So theoretically, could you park at the TTC, walk to the Poly and take the Poly monorail to the MK? You'd still be waiting outside the gate, but you'd be in front of the TTC masses??

 

[maxiesmom]

I lose all sympathy for people when they reply like that. Sheesh.

 

[SDSorority]

OOPS just saw others posted that. Good information to know OP, thanks for sharing. We are staying offsite this trip and I wouldn't have even thought about not being able to even get ON the Monorail at the TTC before EMH are over.

 

[Angel Ariel]

So many people intend to do emh, but just don't quite make it -and that's not only a waste of low crowd levels, it puts you in the most crowded park of the day.

There are 3 groups who make emh morning parks crowded- those who actually made it for emh, those who came despite it being emh's and those who meant to get there early and didn't, yet came anyway because that was the plan.

Evenings on the other hand, when we go just for the emh's portion only, are more successful for us because it works in reverse- people leave who thought they could last through the entire day but can't, and those who meant to get there for the emh's but didn't for one reason or another never get there.

How does your grandson handle late night emh? I think Dd is close in age to him, but we've never ventured to evening emh with her. If we do it, she's back at the hotel with grandparents. Evening emh is one of our favorite times, so the idea of being able to include her in that is definitely appealing.

 

[LOL!]

I'm interested to see what emerges as the most effective combination for am park and pm park. People seem to like hopping to EPCOT in the evening. But maybe EPCOT at RD with no FPs (Soarin' standby and TT using single rider) and then hopping to MK is a more effective use for FP+ since MK doesn't have tiers, so you could theoretically have three headliner FPs?

For us the strategy is to go to the park predicted to be the least crowded in the morning (usually based on EasyWDW recommendations), enjoy as much as possible before the crowds and waits grow, then hop to a park for the late afternoon and evening where we've made our FP reservations. Usually, that will be the Magic Kingdom because we can then also enjoy fireworks and maybe a parade in addition to our FP's but we'll also consider Epcot or Hollywood for the same reason (Illuminations or Fantasmic) sans parades. Sometimes we may even return to the same park that day but that's been happening less and less.

It can really make for a full day.

 

[Robo]

For us the strategy is to go to the park predicted to be the least crowded in the morning... enjoy as much as possible before the crowds and waits grow,
then hop to a park for the late afternoon and evening where we've made our FP reservations..

Which works in a similar way as choosing the park with AM EMH and getting an extra hour's
worth of morning attractions with low crowds before hopping to the other park.

 

[nicki.momof3]

Thanks for posting. Ouch to some of the replies. It never would have occurred to me that they wouldn't let you on the boats or monorails! I find that shocking.

OP I am sorry for others comments - rude.

The entrance area after bag check is not that big (the whole entrance area for a matter of fact). If they let everyone come over early and stand around for an hour it would make it very congested and difficult for those trying to take advantage of EMH to even get in. I assume that is why they do it.

 

[Miskey]

This thread needs to be intertwined with the "admit it, you've been that rude guest" thread But I'm sure some PM apologies have been exchanged.

 

[JimmyBean42]

Ok so my follow up to on this thread would be this: with so many of us saying avoid EMH and going to the EMH park, when does that trend hit the tipping point and too many are going to other parks to avoid EMH and then the non-EMH parks become the busy ones?

 

[cakebaker]

How does your grandson handle late night emh? I think Dd is close in age to him, but we've never ventured to evening emh with her. If we do it, she's back at the hotel with grandparents. Evening emh is one of our favorite times, so the idea of being able to include her in that is definitely appealing.

He's 3 1/2 and was a trooper! We went to 2 emh's that ran until 2am. The first one, on a Saturday, our first day at WDW, we arrived at WDW around 10am, had our room by noon and we spent the rest of the day at the resort. We went to the MK around 6pm and we all lasted until just after midnight. No problems at all. Some of my family went to the last day of SWW the next day and because I'm not a fan, I stayed at the resort with him that morning and went to MK around 10am just to use FP's for meet and greets and then lunch. After that it was a pool day at the resort until the fireworks at HS that night- so after that emh, he got a light day the next day.

The 2nd one was our last night at WDW. We were all a little tired from being there all week. We all slept in a little and relaxed at the resort most of the day, then went to Epcot around 4. We had used our 3 FP+'s, had a long dinner and watched Illuminations. We headed back over to the MK just in time for emh's to begin. I lasted until close to 1am- but he was still going strong- no meltdowns, no signs of tired. I took him by boat back to the resort- he fell asleep in his stroller on the way back and never budged when I put him to bed. And since we were leaving the next day, there was no early morning the next day.

So, it was undoubtedly tiring for him, especially that second one, but he handled it very well. We basically took it fairly easy the day of an EMH and had a light morning at least the day after. I think that was the key to making it work. That said, I had volunteered to be the one to take him back the minute we had any problems with him- we just didn't. I gave up before he did!

I think if we had tried to do an emh evening, then get him out of bed to try and rope drop the next day- or even wake him up before he naturally woke up, we would've had a very cranky boy. He didn't sleep terribly late the mornings after, but later than his normal 6-7am waking time.

 

[cakebaker]

Ok so my follow up to on this thread would be this: with so many of us saying avoid EMH and going to the EMH park, when does that trend hit the tipping point and too many are going to other parks to avoid EMH and then the non-EMH parks become the busy ones?

I think the number of people who are on the Dis and/or know this much about the best way to tour is insignificant in the long scheme of things. We are a drop in the proverbial bucket.

 

[wareagle57]

So did anyone even answer what would happen as a non-resort guest who opted to drive to MK vs taking the bus? I would think they'd still have the monorail running before/during EMH, or at least have the resort monorail stop at the TTC, no?

 

[bumbershoot]

Ok so my follow up to on this thread would be this: with so many of us saying avoid EMH and going to the EMH park, when does that trend hit the tipping point and too many are going to other parks to avoid EMH and then the non-EMH parks become the busy ones?

It's been the suggested way of doing things for years and years and it still works. Similar "get there early" threads about Disneyland for years. Still, it works. Knowledge like this doesn't change human behavior, and the majority of vacationers don't want to get up early and don't want to do research for a trip.

 

[bumbershoot]

LOL at all the people Disney-shaming the original poster.

That's not a thing. Let's not allow that to be a thing.

People were reacting to the OP. Reacting with shock. That's not "shaming" and it's especially not "word-shaming" (omg please make that nonsense stop). It's *reacting*. So some people didn't do it gracefully. Been there done that, that's for sure! Sometimes you're just too stunned.

Yeah, thanks that's so helpful. And SOOOOO easy to just magically pull off when you have two children and strollers full of stuff and four other members of the party that maybe don't want to go walking around for 45 minutes.

Literally what you said was:

If you're not a resort guest, don't bother trying for rope drop on an extra magic hour morning - there isn't any. While I knew they wouldn't let us into the park until 9:00, I didn't realize they won't even let you on the monorails or boat! They make you stand at the TTC until 8:45, and by the time you finally get through the mob, onto your chosen transportation and into the park it's about 9:15. That was a fun meltdown with DD being stuck in the sun for 30 minutes at the TTC this morning. So, tip of the day: sleep in on EMH if you're not a Disney resort guest, or go a different day.

No age of DD, no stroller mentioned, no four other members. Just you and DD.

Oh, and for all those who know soooo much and are enjoying mentioning what a dumb plan we had, because y'know, being an hour late and all we basically wasted our morning - after we actually got into the park, the touring was perfect. In fact, we had lower waits today on the EMH day than our other day when we hit RD. We walked on rides that Josh's touring plans said would have 15-20 minute waits.

In fact the touring was far better this morning than the morning we did RD.

Then it sounds like your day was perfect and awesome? So why would we want to *avoid* what you did? If it worked out beautifully?

I thought rule #1 was to always go left...?

Nope. It's to always quote the original post(er).

Sounds like in EMH mornings, that is especially true since the transport is shut down.

Has anyone said transportation was shut down? What I've read repeatedly in the thread is that they check and don't let you go through if you aren't eligible.

So did anyone even answer what would happen as a non-resort guest who opted to drive to MK vs taking the bus? I would think they'd still have the monorail running before/during EMH, or at least have the resort monorail stop at the TTC, no?

I haven't read that they don't, as a rule, have things shut down. They just check to see who can go through.

 

[itchin2go]

That's not a thing. Let's not allow that to be a thing.

People were reacting to the OP. Reacting with shock. That's not "shaming" and it's especially not "word-shaming" (omg please make that nonsense stop). It's *reacting*. So some people didn't do it gracefully. Been there done that, that's for sure! Sometimes you're just too stunned.

If we're going to cut some people slack, I think that should include the OP. I don't know if you saw OP's other thread bouncing around about the same time, but she was dealing with some other stuff too. Which is often the case with many of us.