Magic King and Evening EMH Strategy

[Jewel99]

Hi everyone,

We're trying to do some initial planning for our upcoming trip to WDW in late August/early Sept. On our last night (Sunday, Sept 2 - the day before Labour Day), the expectation is that the MK will be open for Evening EMH from 9 to midnight.

While we've done morning EMH before, we've never really taken advantage of any evening EMH, so we don't know what to expect re. crowds, etc. Given it's our last night, and also that only a few in our party would want to go the parks very late, we don't even know if we'll be in the MK for the evening EMH. I have a few specific questions I hope someone can answer:

- If we do go, we assume all fast passes will be gone by then, so are the waits for the rides long?
- Because the evening EMH hours are a big draw to many, will the MK be busier than normal that day? If it is busier, will it only be later in the day, or would it still be busier than expected even at opening?
- Would people recommend any other park for that morning/evening as it's our last day, and if we assume that the MK evening EMH won't benefit us at all if we'll be stuck heading back to our resort early because of younger kids?

Thanks so much for any insight you can provide... as the park choices affect our dining choices in some instances, we're trying to come up with a tentative plan so we can make our initial ADRs.

Julie

 

[mickeystoontown]

We had never taken advantage of either the early morning or the extra evening hours until our June, 2006 trip. We liked the evening hours much more than the morning hours.

When using the early morning hours at the Magic Kingdom, we toured until about 10:00 to 10:30 a.m. and then rode the monorail over to Epcot because the park became very crowded by then.

We absolutely loved using the extra evening hours at the Magic Kingdom. The park closed at 11:00 p.m. and we stayed until 2:00 a.m. We rode everything at least once and many things we rode three and four times. You will need to keep in mind that not all of the food vendors are open. We had to wakl around a while before we found a place to buy a Coke. That was a small price to pay to ride things over and over again.

 

[Jewel99]

Thanks so much for the input. Unfortunately, with my parents being in their mid-70's, one sister having a 3-month old at the time and our son only being two and my other sister's youngest (6) being the type that needs to go to bed relatively early, I don't know if we'd even make it past 9 in the park, much less later than that, so that's why I'm concerned about how valuable the evening EMHs will be for us.

It's good to know that the crowds aren't too bad, but my gut feeling is that crowds at an 11:00 p.m to 2:00 a.m. EMH would be much lighter than EMHs that run from 9:00 p.m. to midnight

Julie

 

[Robo]

- If we do go, we assume all fast passes will be gone by then, so are the waits for the rides long?
- Because the evening EMH hours are a big draw to many, will the MK be busier than normal that day? If it is busier, will it only be later in the day, or would it still be busier than expected even at opening?
- Would people recommend any other park for that morning/evening as it's our last day, and if we assume that the MK evening EMH won't benefit us at all if we'll be stuck heading back to our resort early because of younger kids?

If evening EMH attractions DO use FP (no guarantee they will) then they "start over" at beginning of EMH... the FP for the "day" are not a part of EMH.

PM EMH's are a mixed bag. I've been when they were PACKED... but on other nights (sometimes within the same trip), the crowds were basically so low that it was like "free rides" on all the open attractions.

Those who have attended PM EMH's and say that "they are TOO CROWDED" are right... but ONLY for the nights they may have attended.
I can say, from personal experience, that they CAN be EMPTY, or FULL or somewhere IN-BETWEEN for attendance, often within the same week.

It can change so much (either way), that saying it was "like X" on a given night, can be meaningless on another night in the same time-period. So, you simply don't KNOW unless you go. Its similar to saying that you attended on a given night and it rained, so guests should never go on that night because it will probably be rainy.

And, considering EMH's are FREE to attend... if its busy, just people-watch or hit the exit (where ELSE are ya gonna go at 10pm, anyway?)
But if its not busy... you're ALL SET for EXTRA FUN!