MK/Fantasyland “Early Morning Magic” (EMM) (Thread Now Closed, See New MK EMM FAQ Thread)

[KrazeeK120]

Just checking in on the schedule...

I have a +10 booking window in October and nothing showing on the EMM calendar through 10/15. Either we're off a pattern of being added at 180 days, or October is looking like it might not have any EMMs. If true, I chalk it up to all the party nights with 6pm closings that are likely to change to 8AM openings at some point. Guess we'll see.

Booooooo!!!

 

[L_MD]

When we did EMM back on 2/4, they predicted rain in the forecast. I was nervous because the forecast never changed for days. That morning it was the most beautiful sunny day. Our first warm-weather day. The rain held out until about 4pm then it was a downpour non-stop for the rest of the evening. Side note, MK cannot handle a little rain! There was major flooding!

Have a wonderful time regardless. It's so much fun having Fantasyland to yourself.

Thanks for the reply! I did EMM back in 2016 and loved it so I know how awesome it can be.

 

[Mrspeaks]

Just checking in on the schedule...

I have a +10 booking window in October and nothing showing on the EMM calendar through 10/15. Either we're off a pattern of being added at 180 days, or October is looking like it might not have any EMMs. If true, I chalk it up to all the party nights with 6pm closings that are likely to change to 8AM openings at some point. Guess we'll see.

I watching this too. Come on Disney, we are willing and ready to give you our money! I get with the party nights they have a shorter day for regular visitors, but I also think that's a reason to have it.

 

[Lsdolphin]

I watching this too. Come on Disney, we are willing and ready to give you our money! I get with the party nights they have a shorter day for regular visitors, but I also think that's a reason to have it.

They might be planning on 8:00 am openings because of the shorter party days.

 

[bizzybee3]

Yes! Just keep checking.

Wanted to provide an update: I was able to book 2 tickets to EMM on May 1st (about 8 hours ago)! I checked several times a day when I had the chance and finally today 2 tickets popped up as available. I'm very excited and now will update some fastpasses as all three I had picked are rides that we will get to experience during EMM!

 

[Meg5348]

I’ve been checking everyday, a few times a day for 4/24. I need 2/3 more EMM. I have an infant so I’m still confused about that. The good news is that since I’ve been checking, I checked for tomorrow (also an emm day) and there have been parties of 3 available all day. Hoping we have the same luck, at the very least, the day before!!! Just driving me nuts, because I will need to change our FP for that day if we do get EMM and the touring plan. Ugh the Disney struggles!! 10 more days until we arrive!!!!!!

 

[tbre1982]

I'm going to EMM tomorrow. We are Staying at contemporary so just have to walk over.

What time should we plan to arrive at the gates ?

I was thinking 725? We will have Already gone through security on the walkway from contemporary, so just have to scan our magic bands and go in.

 

[Linkura]

I'm going to EMM tomorrow. We are Staying at contemporary so just have to walk over.

What time should we plan to arrive at the gates ?

I was thinking 725? We will have Already gone through security on the walkway from contemporary, so just have to scan our magic bands and go in.

Should be fine.

 

[Katie Dawn]

I was sooo hoping to do EMM during our Fall Break trip, but just realized they haven't offered it the last two years during that week (Columbus Day.) I'm going to keep checking of course but I'm going to move past the "I hope I hope" stage and into the "It's a long shot" stage.

Our 2 past trips were on January (2010, super low crowds) and late April, so we aren't used to the crowd level we'll have that week. I was hoping EMM would put us in great shape to still get a bunch of rides in. Oh well, we'll make it work and we'll have fun!

 

[Greg Lembrich]

I'm going to EMM tomorrow. We are Staying at contemporary so just have to walk over.

What time should we plan to arrive at the gates ?

I was thinking 725? We will have Already gone through security on the walkway from contemporary, so just have to scan our magic bands and go in.

My daughter and I will be there tomorrow morning too. Fingers crossed that thunderstorms don't interfere with our morning rides.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I'm going to EMM tomorrow. We are Staying at contemporary so just have to walk over.

What time should we plan to arrive at the gates ?

I was thinking 725? We will have Already gone through security on the walkway from contemporary, so just have to scan our magic bands and go in.

Sounds good to me. I like to get there 7:30ish. You’ll be waiting until 7:45ish when they let you and the PPO ADR folks in.

One of the big benefits of staying CR - quick walkable access for early morning events when time is of the essence!

Have fun!

 

[SaintsManiac]

My daughter and I will be there tomorrow morning too. Fingers crossed that thunderstorms don't interfere with our morning rides.

Please come back and let us know how it went!

 

[Greg Lembrich]

Please come back and let us know how it went!

EMM this morning was truly great. The rain largely held off during EMM, though there were drops from time to time. We were let in right at 7:45 (by my watch), everything was running, and DD7 and I were on 7DMT by 7:53. All 3 major rides stayed up the whole EMM, and Carousel opened a little after 8 as well. We never waited more than 4 minutes for 7DMT (rode 5 times), and usually less. PP was a walk on throughout (rode that 5 times as well). Pooh was downright lonely, with most cars going by unfilled (we only rode once, but were encouraged to stay on if we wanted). No line at Carousel either, as most horses lacked riders. We could have been more aggressive and gotten a few more rides in at 7DMT and/or PP, but 5 times on each was enough for us. One family we rode 7DMT with multiple times later told us at breakfast that they decided to stop after 11 consecutive rides and still had time to do PP and Pooh before EMM ended.

At around 8:50, we walked over near Mad Tea Party and were then able to position ourselves just ahead of the RD crowd heading to Tomorrowland, where we did Buzz and Astro Orbiter with no waits. By that point my daughter was hungry, so we went to breakfast. Breakfast at PVH could not have been more pleasant. The food was pretty good, with lots of variety, and all the CMs were really nice. I found the quality to be the same, if not better, than most character breakfasts we have attended.

By the time which we finished breakfast, the thunderstorms the forecasters promised had arrived. The rain was torrential for at least an hour, and every outdoor ride was closed for at least some time. Even though the rains cleared out most visitors from the park (and kept others away), we noted throughout the day that standby waits at 7DMT (when it was open) and PP remained significant. Almost everything else was a walk on or just a brief wait, with extra FPs in abundance, but largely unnecessary. So we had a great day. Our goal was to ride every moving ride in park (24), plus see Laugh Floor, and we easily accomplished that by 4:30 without having to rush (and having a relaxed lunch). We were definitely glad that we got to ride 7DMT and PP during EMM, which helped a lot.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend EMM to anyone who wants to ride 7DMT and PP (especially if you want to ride either or both several times) and will take advantage of the breakfast buffet. It can also set you up in prime position to hit other lands/rides at RD. It was a great experience for us and money very well spent. We will definitely do it again on a future trip. 5 stars!

 

[ELLH]

It’s been a few weeks now but I wanted to drop in and post my brief thoughts from my family’s experience doing EMM on Tuesday, 3/20/2018.


Quick background: Family of three: myself, DW and DD(7yo). The week of our trip was our Spring Break covering 3/17 – 3/23 (1st park day – last park day). Overall crowds throughout our trip felt plenty tolerable; not slow but not terribly crowded. However, as you know, MK is always the most crowded park and as the week drew to an end the crowds at MK picked up quite a bit. Being our EMM day was on a Tuesday the crowds during the day - AFTER the EMM - were on the heavy side with typical Spring Break wait times. Weather this day was nice. No rain. Temps a bit on the chilly side in the morning but warmer in the day. Ok, scene set. Places... action!


We rolled up to the parking attendant stands at about 7am, to find that no one was in place so we rolled on through and headed toward the parking lot. We parked toward the front of the parking lot (in the Jafar section) and walked to the TTC. We arrived to MK via Monorail at about 7:20am. At this time there was a moderate line forming, maybe 40 people in front of us, for the event/breakfast reservations. As we got a bit closer up two cast members were asking those attending EMM to join them off to the side so we stepped out and they got our info, then put the event bands on our arms and went through the gates and waited at the queuing area. Cast Members allowed us to enter the park right at 7:45am and we then walked with the rest of the folks back to New Fantasyland.


We hit Peter Pan first, figuring most would jet over to SDMT so we might save ourselves… maybe a minute or two of waiting in line… first world problems. I won’t bore you with details of ride order but rather here’s the number of times per ride:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (SDMT) – 5x
  
• Peter Pan’s Flight (PPF) – 3x
  
• Winnie the Pooh (WTP) – 2x

Note: We could have ridden these more if we had made it a point to. But, we also stopped a few minutes here and there to take photos.

The exit of SDMT was set up to where the rope - as you walk out of the covered area, along the poles used to separate the in/out lines - was unhooked and you just u-turned it right back in to the ride queue (which was practically no wait when there was a wait at all).

PPF was similar. As we exited the ride, the CM’s encouraged us to go right back to the front of the line without navigating the queue line.


We rode WTP last at about 8:50am and once we exited we stood at the ride’s entrance area with a few others until the CMs had the all clear to let us head toward Tomorrowland. We rode Space Mountain twice with practically no wait, then darted back across the park to BTMRR. At this time it was about 9:30am so we went to Pinocchio’s Villagehaus to eat. The buffet was good… if you’ve had Disney breakfast buffet or Disney breakfast in general then you know what to expect. If you haven’t then there are reviews via Google that will discuss this more, I’m certain. I’m not a foodie… sausage, eggs,… it was edible. So I ate it.




The ride selection itself is rather limited but we all know this ahead of time so it’s not a surprise. IMHO the “is it worth it” question can best be answered by asking yourself how many times you’d care to ride the available rides and not so much the breakfast. (Of course, you could factor in an extra $15-20 per person for breakfast (or early lunch) might also help make the decision easier. Though, some people, myself included, aren’t big breakfast eaters so my $1 pop-tart meal is considerably cheaper than me “paying” $15-20 for the buffet from that perspective.) If you're the kind of person who would get sick of riding the same ride more than 2 times then maybe this is a total waste of money for you. I'd certainly say it's a waste if your desire to ride these rides more than once is nil.


So having said that, even if I were to take out the breakfast as a ‘money saver’ would I still pay $70 for a single ticket to ride the limited selection of rides within 1.25 hours, a relatively significant number of times?...

Absolutely! Without a doubt. Overall I believe the money we spent for the three of us was well worth it.


In terms of "did I get my money's worth" events, I (not speaking for anyone else here) put this a step above the Christmas Party and a step below the Halloween Parties (both of which, I've experienced quite a few times). The number of times we got to ride some of these classic rides without a wait was killer! The capacity limit of 200 really makes this that kind of event. If it were increased to, say, one-thousand then I might feel differently; maybe the breaking point is 1,000 or maybe it's 2,000... I don't know what it is. However, since it is limited to 200 then I'll gladly keep coming back to this event. Our next trip in December likely won’t have EMM based on the previous dates posted in this thread but if it did I’d do it again.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I would like some advice about what to do at 9am. My daughter is refusing to ride Space and/or BTMRR. Will we have time to do one of those if my husband and I have to take turns riding? Should we just FP those and stick to Fantasyland?

 

[ELLH]

I would like some advice about what to do at 9am. My daughter is refusing to ride Space and/or BTMRR. Will we have time to do one of those if my husband and I have to take turns riding? Should we just FP those and stick to Fantasyland?

Can't you guys could do rider swap? We don't do this so I'm not 'up' on RS but I'd think it's an option.

However, just because most of us seem to be choosing BTMRR & SpM after the EMM time ends doesn’t mean those are your only options. What does your daughter like to do? You’ve got your pick… and since it’s so early and you’re toward the back of the park already you have a good shot of doing at least 2 rides before the breakfast window ends at 10am. If you pushed it you could do more or if you skipped breakfast… any number of scenarios.

Bottom line, though, is you are already in a perfect position to do what will make you all the most happy. Even if that means telling DD she’s gonna have to suck it up and ride at least one of those rides as a compromise (I’m kidding.. kind of).

 

[SaintsManiac]

Can't you guys could do rider swap? We don't do this so I'm not 'up' on RS but I'd think it's an option.

However, just because most of us seem to be choosing BTMRR & SpM after the EMM time ends doesn’t mean those are your only options. What does your daughter like to do? You’ve got your pick… and since it’s so early and you’re toward the back of the park already you have a good shot of doing at least 2 rides before the breakfast window ends at 10am. If you pushed it you could do more or if you skipped breakfast… any number of scenarios.

Bottom line, though, is you are already in a perfect position to do what will make you all the most happy. Even if that means telling DD she’s gonna have to suck it up and ride at least one of those rides as a compromise (I’m kidding.. kind of).

Oh I know they aren't the only options, but those are the main 2 that my husband and I want to ride.

She's ridden BTMRR before, but flat out refuses to do it again. I don't want to do Splash first thing in case we get wet. We originally planned to just hang in FL before eating breakfast. It's her birthday splurge, so we probably should let her decide. *sigh* We definitely won't be skipping breakfast. I don't need hangry touring companions.

Husband and I have not ridden Space in years, so we want to do it. We have 4 MK days, so we might just FP it to be safe.

 

[ELLH]

Gotcha.

Well, it seems you're experienced enough to know what you guys want to do. The question you asked was if you would have time to do one if you two swap out or stick to Fantasyland. The answer, based on my experience, is: You have plenty of time.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Can't you guys could do rider swap? We don't do this so I'm not 'up' on RS but I'd think it's an option.

Some CMs won’t give RS if the child is tall enough to ride.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Some CMs won’t give RS if the child is tall enough to ride.

This is my concern.