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

[Greg Lembrich]

Yes, everything on MDE has been slow or standstill this morning. Definitely the free dining stampede.

 

[lchuck]

We'll be doing an EMM in June and want opinions on the best place to stop for a castle photo on our way in. We will likely head to 7D as our 1st ride and would like a nice family castle pic with few other people in it. Previous attempts to do this at EMM have not been very successful, so I thought I'd throw the question out to the crowd. Thanks!

 

[ninafeliz]

We'll be doing an EMM in June and want opinions on the best place to stop for a castle photo on our way in. We will likely head to 7D as our 1st ride and would like a nice family castle pic with few other people in it. Previous attempts to do this at EMM have not been very successful, so I thought I'd throw the question out to the crowd. Thanks!

We always stop for the picture close to the castle, where they also get the statue in the photo as well. However, it often has a small wait by then and my kids revolt about getting a picture when we could be going to ride. So I only get one, and I'm lucky if they aren't looking pretty grumpy in it. Now it isn't as empty behind us as I would like anymore - between letting everyone onto main st prior to opening and the sheer amt of people with PPO ADRs and EMM. I have read (here somewhere) that there should be a PP to the side of the castle that you could stop at after you leave the area where people would be hanging out waiting for opening and only EMM guests and I guess BOG guests would be there. But I don't have exact details on where that is, or it it staffed reliably every morning.

Just in general, over the years I have noticed that I prefer my castle photos to be close to the castle. The ones toward the beginning of main street have too much in the foreground and the castle is too far away. But that's just my preference. I just know for me I put more eggs in the closer to the castle basket and work harder to get my family to cooperate for those ones, in the elusive hope of a perfect photo (that I have never, even gotten after dozens of trips )

 

[sailored]

Do you think they will have a 10/28 date, since the park opens at 9 AM? I'm not seeing it, but it could also be because it's more than 180 days out. I'm really hoping for a 10/28 or 11/9.

Edit: Nevermind! I saw the previous posts.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

FYI, in case helpful, I keep Post #2 updated with a past/current date schedule for quick reference.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...ws-october-dates-added.3651152/#post-58529655

 

[aokeefe]

We'll be doing an EMM in June and want opinions on the best place to stop for a castle photo on our way in. We will likely head to 7D as our 1st ride and would like a nice family castle pic with few other people in it. Previous attempts to do this at EMM have not been very successful, so I thought I'd throw the question out to the crowd. Thanks!

If you don't mind a side view of the castle, there is a photographer there (to the left of the castle; you have to go by it to enter fantasyland) Like the pp said, it is only open to EMM and PPO guests so there was no wait when we walked by (we had stopped earlier for a photo on Main Street but I wish we had waited as my family was not stopping for another photo). There will be no people in the background.

 

[Alison S]

Anyone know why historically there have been no November dates?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Anyone know why historically there have been no November dates?

Well, they did have a few dates in 2016 (I went to one the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it was great!). But they didn't offer any last year. EMM is often on Sundays and Tuesdays, which are also often party days that time of year. Last year, a lot (not all) of those November party days eventually became 8AM openings. 8AM openings and EMM don't mix.

Obviously TBD for what they do this year! We'll know soon.

 

[MudBud]

I'm just curious about why Disney opens the parks at 8am on MVMCP days but has EMM and the Halloween party on the same day? We're going at the end of November and I really, really, really, really would like to go to an EMM. Which I realize is highly unlikely.

 

[steve_rob]

Had an absolutely brillant EMM experience yesterday (Tuesday 24th April) and for anyone who has not attended one yet and is debating about whether it is worth the money or not, I can say that in my opinion, it totally is.

Full details: coming from offsite, we arrived at the TTC parking toll booths at 6:45am and as they were unmanned, we got in for free! Got a little lost in the car park without any staff around to direct though - found ourselves at the disabled parking section and so had to go round again, this time ending up parking in the front row of the Zurg section. Caught the first resort monorail of the day, arriving at MK at 7:15ish.

Check in and armband attachment started not long after and then it was just a matter of waiting around until 7:45. The lady in charge gave a speech outlining all the details a few minutes beforehand; or at least I think she did. While she had a microphone, because the background music was still playing (quite loudly) and the steam train was pulling in to Main Street station, if you weren't within ten feet of her, you had no way of hearing what she was saying. I just hoped that she wasn't telling us that Mine Train was closed or that breakfast was moved or something!

When we were let on to Main Street it seemed quite busy and there still were a few runners - so don't get hopeful for a quiet stroll or any empty Main Street/Castle photos. However, quite a lot of the people turned out to be on Be Our Guest reservations - I'd say more than half of the guests around us headed there when we branched off to go on to our first ride, so don't worry if it looks like a lot of people are ahead of you!

We figured that everyone would head for 7DMT first, so we hit Peter Pan instead. Not sure when exactly we got there, but when we got off it was dead on 8am. Went to Mine Train next and there must have been a brief problem just beforehand, as the FP line was a little backed up to just outside the building - I'd say 60-70 people ahead of us. It only took 5 mins before we boarded though. We went straight on a second time (now down to about 40 people in the queue) and when we got off, it was 8:20. Rode it these times in both front row and back and it does feel like two different rides!

Next, we headed to Pooh and got straight on. After that, my DW needed to use the bathroom and while waiting, I was getting a little hungry (had only got a small bowl of cereal in the hotel room at 6am) so I popped in to Pinocchio's to literally just grab a pastry to eat on the move. I was surprised to see how many people were eating a full breakfast at this time to be honest.

With that done, we then did one ride on the Carousel (unfortunately arriving just after the gate was closed, so had to wait a few minutes for that ride to complete before getting on), then managed two more trips on 7DMT - with virtually no wait this time. We probably could have done a fifth, but knowing that we wanted to head for Tomorrowland at 9am, we waited by Pooh to be let out. Just as we got there, you could hear Mickey in the distance counting down with the crowd to be let in, so it was perfect timing.

We were allowed to walk to Cosmic Ray's but for some reason we were held there for a minute or two by a cast member. We did get to see the masses rushing towards our position, which was awesome and a little scary, but we knew they were going for Seven Dwarves, so it didn't matter. Eventually we were released and I headed for Space Mountain, while my wife went to Speedway. At SM I found that being held for that short period of time meant that lots of people from the Hub had already beaten me there, but it didn't add too much to the queue thankfully - maybe only a five minute wait.

After getting off both our rides, we met up and headed to Barnstormer (got straight on) before deciding to do breakfast then (9:30) rather than trying to squeeze in one more ride. I would actually say the queue was no bigger than it was an hour before when I popped in. Plenty of food was available, even when we went up a second time at about 9:50. Crispy bacon and the frittatas were probably our favourite options, but everything we tried was good at the very least.

For the rest of the morning we mainly hung around Adventureland and Frontierland doing as much as possible, before starting our Fastpasses at about 11am. Having the ability to knock out those headline rides with virtually nobody around certainly makes the rest of your day at the park so much easier and less stressful - there's no need to go back to them and join the now 90 to 150 minute queues.

In fact, despite doing 7 rides in that first hour and a bit, we took our time and didn't rush at all - someone who wanted to cram as much in to EMM as possible certainly could do at LEAST 4-5 more rides on Mine Train or Peter Pan if they tried, but we were happy doing it at our pace and still thought we got fantastic value for money out of it.

We have one more day at MK later in our holiday (no EMM this time) but then probably won't be back at WDW for 3 years afterwards. When we do, will we book EMM then, assuming it is still available? I'd say possibly - heck, maybe even probably!

 

[Surgie2]

Thanks for the detailed and helpful review @steve_rob You mentioned 7DMT feels very different front and back row...just confirming that front row is the calmest?

 

[SaintsManiac]

Thanks for the detailed and helpful review @steve_rob You mentioned 7DMT feels very different front and back row...just confirming that front row is the calmest?

In my experience the front is calmer than the back. I've ridden all over the train and I prefer the front.

 

[goodeats]

Trying to decide doing this or booking CRT for our August trip. It's not in the budget to do both. With two girls (6 and 9), which do you think gives us more bang for our buck?!

 

[blabadie]

Trying to decide doing this or booking CRT for our August trip. It's not in the budget to do both. With two girls (6 and 9), which do you think gives us more bang for our buck?!

Have they been to Cinderella's castle before? My girls are ages 4-7, and for them Cinderella's castle is pretty special and something we wouldn't want to miss at this age if possible. If I were choosing between the two for our family, I would do Cinderella's castle since you can ride the rides regardless but you can't really experience Cinderella's castle without eating there. I might feel differently if my kids were older but right now I want to enjoy as much magic as possible.

However, you know your girls best and which will mean the most to them. If doing the castle is not that big of a deal to them, there is a lot of value in EMM and it might make more sense. In that case, perhaps you could consider doing EMM plus Akershus to add some of the princess royal hall experience.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Trying to decide doing this or booking CRT for our August trip. It's not in the budget to do both. With two girls (6 and 9), which do you think gives us more bang for our buck?!

Really depends on the kids. My daughter has no interest in princess meals. She wants to ride Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan over and over and eat Mickey waffles lol.

 

[BaymaxForever]

Trying to decide doing this or booking CRT for our August trip. It's not in the budget to do both. With two girls (6 and 9), which do you think gives us more bang for our buck?!

Are your girls into princesses? If so, I would say go for Cinderella’s Royal Table. My dgtr was older, almost nine, when we first went and I thought it was pretty magical for both of us! Last trip she was almost 12, and while we enjoyed it it was not like the first time.
I think your girls are at such an age that it would be awesome for them.

This trip, we are doing EMM, because we’ve done CRT twice. And, my kids aren’t big into roller coasters, but they love the mine train. (Dgtr-13, son-9).

 

[goodeats]

Thanks guys. The 6yo is way into princesses and I think the 9yo would get a kick out of it.

 

[tarak]

In my experience the front is calmer than the back. I've ridden all over the train and I prefer the front.

I agree - the last train swings more, in my experience. We prefer the back for that reason.

 

[steve_rob]

Thanks for the detailed and helpful review @steve_rob You mentioned 7DMT feels very different front and back row...just confirming that front row is the calmest?

Just to confirm what others have already said, the nearer the front of the train, the smoother the ride. That's not to say that the back is rough or anything, it just feels a little faster through the corners. Both ends have their benefits and personally I'd ride as many times as possible in all locations to get that variety of experiences.

 

[teamharrisdisney]

Any word on EMM for 10/30? ADR day is coming up in a few days and curious if that day would be an option or if we'll need to go with 10/28. Thanks!