MK open until midnight now. Where's the EMH perk?

JennSaint

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 18, 2000
Messages
2,325
I have to say I'm a little disappointed that the hours have changed for President's week. Now with MK being opened until midnight that means no EMH for resort guest. One reason why we stay onsite is for this perk. I would rather have MK close at 9 or 10pm to the public and have extra hours for resort guests. Does this seem fair that they are taking away our perk?
I'm sure everyone staying off-site is very happy. I would be too.
 
The late EMH hours is new this past year ... before special late hours available for on-site guests was called E-Ride Night and there was a $12 charge. We were lucky to have this a couple years ago for one night and loved it!!! The late EMH hours is pretty much the same but FREE.

I wouldn't get too excited about them having late hours during President's week as that can be a very busy time.

Any of the announced park hours are subject to change based on attendance, so you really just need to go with the flow and plan accordingly. We feel that staying on-site still is more adventageous than off-site, even if they were to cancel the evening EMH during our stay.

Relax and enjoy!
 
VAN said:
The late EMH hours is new this past year ... before special late hours available for on-site guests was called E-Ride Night and there was a $12 charge. We were lucky to have this a couple years ago for one night and loved it!!! The late EMH hours is pretty much the same but FREE.

I wouldn't get too excited about them having late hours during President's week as that can be a very busy time.

Any of the announced park hours are subject to change based on attendance, so you really just need to go with the flow and plan accordingly. We feel that staying on-site still is more adventageous than off-site, even if they were to cancel the evening EMH during our stay.

Relax and enjoy!


I don't think you understand what I said. I'm not excited about the late hours during Presidents week. It now means there will be no EMH which is one reason why we stay onsite.
 
Have you confirmed no EMH? Disney.com still lists it:

Feb 20 - Mar 12, 2005
MAGIC KINGDOM® Park - Friday Morning and Wednesday Evening
EPCOT® - Monday Morning and Thursday Evening
DISNEY-MGM STUDIOS - Tuesday Morning and Sunday Evening
DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM® Theme Park - Saturday Morning and Tuesday Evening

Schedule is subject to change without notice
 

VAN said:
...before special late hours available for on-site guests was called E-Ride Night and there was a $12 charge. We were lucky to have this a couple years ago for one night and loved it!!! The late EMH hours is pretty much the same but FREE.


I can understand your frustration. One of the 'perks' for staying onsite was the exclusive use of a particular park on certain days, whether that was the extra hour in the morning, or the new EMH in the evening. With late hours until midnight, anyone in the Orlando vicinity can be visiting the parks, rather than just WDW guests. That will certainly mean increased attendance, which means longer lines.

However, there IS a difference between the old E-Ride Night and the new EMH perk. Under the E-Ride night, granted, we had to pay $12, but it was LIMITED to the number of guests who could take advantage of it. That helped tremendously in keeping the lines, attendance, etc. down in the park. With this new EMH system, the only limit is the number of people who are staying in the WDW resorts that day...which can be triple what used to be allowed in under the E-ride nights.

Unfortunately, it is a lesson learned from going during busy weeks, such as President's Day, Easter, etc. I myself am going during Grad Week, and have resigned myself to MK closing at 7:00 pm for both weekends.
 
I can understand your frustration. One of the 'perks' for staying onsite was the exclusive use of a particular park on certain days, whether that was the extra hour in the morning, or the new EMH in the evening. With late hours until midnight, anyone in the Orlando vicinity can be visiting the parks, rather than just WDW guests. That will certainly mean increased attendance, which means longer lines.

However, there IS a difference between the old E-Ride Night and the new EMH perk. Under the E-Ride night, granted, we had to pay $12, but it was LIMITED to the number of guests who could take advantage of it. That helped tremendously in keeping the lines, attendance, etc. down in the park. With this new EMH system, the only limit is the number of people who are staying in the WDW resorts that day...which can be triple what used to be allowed in under the E-ride nights.

Unfortunately, it is a lesson learned from going during busy weeks, such as President's Day, Easter, etc. I myself am going during Grad Week, and have resigned myself to MK closing at 7:00 pm for both weekends.
 
EMH will probably just run very late at night if they are listing it. E-ride went until 2am sometimes if I remember it correctly. President's weekend is high holiday season, of course they are running very long hours. If I understand you correctly you want them to close the park earlier(on a holiday weekend) so you have you emh at the usual time?!? Realize that emh will be very late during the summer also, when the parks will close routinely at 10-11pm. I would think that a late night will be great for emh, very few people will stay that late, the park will be empty. This will always supposed to time after the park closed, be that 6pm or midnight.
 
I think there's some confusion in this thread! I think the issue is - if MK is open until 10:00 pm on a day listed as EMH at night, is the park then opened until 1:00 am for EMH guests only? I believe the answer is yes. I guess the drawback as compared to E-night is that you need to be a night owl to take advantage of touring the parks from 10 pm to 1 am, but remember E-nights were limited in occurrence and availability.
 
Your point is well taken. But even if the off-site people stay in the parks late, only WDW resort guests can get the wristbands to ride the rides. We were there for a few EMH nights last month. You had to show your KTTW card (and once our licenses) to get your wristbands. pirate:
 
3Mousketeers said:
I think there's some confusion in this thread! I think the issue is - if MK is open until 10:00 pm on a day listed as EMH at night, is the park then opened until 1:00 am for EMH guests only? I believe the answer is yes. I guess the drawback as compared to E-night is that you need to be a night owl to take advantage of touring the parks from 10 pm to 1 am, but remember E-nights were limited in occurrence and availability.
I was under that understanding also. Question...for summer hours will they still have one night for each park as an LMH park? In other words if the regular hours is over at 10:00pm at MK will the park then stay open until 1:00 am if that is the LMH park or will they just not have LMH if they are open all week late?

Also I would like to use the correct accronyms. EMH = Extended Magic Hours (late and early), MMH = Morning Magic Hours (extra hour in the morning), LMH = Late Magic Hours (hours extra in the evening. Are those correct?
 
Princess Wannabe said:
VAN said:
However, there IS a difference between the old E-Ride Night and the new EMH perk. Under the E-Ride night, granted, we had to pay $12, but it was LIMITED to the number of guests who could take advantage of it. That helped tremendously in keeping the lines, attendance, etc. down in the park. With this new EMH system, the only limit is the number of people who are staying in the WDW resorts that day...which can be triple what used to be allowed in under the E-ride nights.

True, but more rides are open during EMH than the old e-ride nights.
 
JennSaint said:
I have to say I'm a little disappointed that the hours have changed for President's week. Now with MK being opened until midnight that means no EMH for resort guest. One reason why we stay onsite is for this perk. I would rather have MK close at 9 or 10pm to the public and have extra hours for resort guests. Does this seem fair that they are taking away our perk?
I'm sure everyone staying off-site is very happy. I would be too.

Don't get your panties (or boxers) in a bunch...I went to the disney employee website (the portal) and checked your hours. (Not something I do for everyone because my computer is so slow). There ARE EMH hours for President's week. Here is what the employee site says: (Not sure which week you're going, so will give you both)

Week 1:

Sunday 13th: MK (late) 10:00PM-1:00AM
Monday 14th: EPCOT (AM)
Tuesday 15th: MGM (AM) AND AK (late) 5:00P-8:00P
Wednesday 16th: MGM (late) 7:00P-10:00P
Thursday 17th: EPCOT (late) 9:00P-12:00A
Friday 18th: MK (AM)
Saturday 19th: AK (AM)

Week 2:

Sunday 20th: MGM (late) 8:30P-11:30P
Monday 21th: EPCOT (AM)
Tuesday 22nd: MGM (AM) AND AK (late) 7:00P-10:00P
Wednesday 23rd: MK (late) 12:00AM until 3:00 AM :earseek:
Thursday 24th: EPCOT (late) 9:00P-12:00P
Friday 25th: MK (AM)
Saturday 26th: AK (AM)

So as you can see Disney is STILL offering it's resort guest one late night and one early morning in each of the 4 parks for each week as promised.

It is not unusual for WDW to move the days around as they are adjusting to the crowd level. We were there January 15th (MLK) and the schedule was no where near the normal "set" schedule.
 
I think you've proved the original poster's point. Yes they are offering EMH, but Midnight to 3am at MK would be of no value to us at all. If the original hours were earlier (don't know if they were), then they may have planned to go to MK expecting to take advantage of EMH til midnight or whatever. It will be interesting to see how EMH works during the peak times with late night hours. It could be a huge advantage for those willing to stay til 3am.......
 
n2mm said:
Don't get your panties (or boxers) in a bunch...I went to the disney employee website (the portal) and checked your hours. (Not something I do for everyone because my computer is so slow). There ARE EMH hours for President's week. Here is what the employee site says: (Not sure which week you're going, so will give you both)

Week 1:

Sunday 13th: MK (late) 10:00PM-1:00AM
Monday 14th: EPCOT (AM)
Tuesday 15th: MGM (AM) AND AK (late) 5:00P-8:00P
Wednesday 16th: MGM (late) 7:00P-10:00P
Thursday 17th: EPCOT (late) 9:00P-12:00A
Friday 18th: MK (AM)
Saturday 19th: AK (AM)

Week 2:

Sunday 20th: MGM (late) 8:30P-11:30P
Monday 21th: EPCOT (AM)
Tuesday 22nd: MGM (AM) AND AK (late) 7:00P-10:00P
Wednesday 23rd: MK (late) 12:00AM until 3:00 AM :earseek:
Thursday 24th: EPCOT (late) 9:00P-12:00P
Friday 25th: MK (AM)
Saturday 26th: AK (AM)

So as you can see Disney is STILL offering it's resort guest one late night and one early morning in each of the 4 parks for each week as promised.

It is not unusual for WDW to move the days around as they are adjusting to the crowd level. We were there January 15th (MLK) and the schedule was no where near the normal "set" schedule.

Thanks for checking this info on the employee website. We will be there from the 15th until the 25th. I really can't believe they would have EMH 12:00am -3:00am. Are employees really willing to work until 3:00am?
 
If I didn't have anything planned the next day, I would be more than willing to attend an EMH until 3am. Sounds like fun to me :cool1:. I don't think I'd do it with my kids, but my Mom is coming this summer, so she can sit with the kids while we go out and have some fun (in a hopefully empty park) :cool1:

I'm sure the employees are willing to work until 3 am, after all if you watch those specials they have on the Travel Channel, there are people who work the overnight shift in MK getting the parks ready for the next day.

zippehsmom
 
jlaspoq said:
I think you've proved the original poster's point. Yes they are offering EMH, but Midnight to 3am at MK would be of no value to us at all. If the original hours were earlier (don't know if they were), then they may have planned to go to MK expecting to take advantage of EMH til midnight or whatever. It will be interesting to see how EMH works during the peak times with late night hours. It could be a huge advantage for those willing to stay til 3am.......

I agree, you won't find me there after midnight either. I guess Disney still has to offer it. I imagine we will see more of this in the summer when MK close around 11:00PM or later. I personally love going in May and October. So this will be a great time to enjoy the late EMH. MK closes around 7:00 PM and with EMH, it makes it even more perfect. Unfortunately I can barely make it to 10:00PM. While in WDW in January, we went to EPCOT for EMH. We watched Illuminations, then hit Mexico, and figment and SSE. We were done by 9:45, but wanted to just say I did it.
 
jlaspoq said:
I think you've proved the original poster's point. Yes they are offering EMH, but Midnight to 3am at MK would be of no value to us at all. If the original hours were earlier (don't know if they were), then they may have planned to go to MK expecting to take advantage of EMH til midnight or whatever. It will be interesting to see how EMH works during the peak times with late night hours. It could be a huge advantage for those willing to stay til 3am.......

I guess I am just happy that they do this at all, you certainly won't find me complaining. Disney can't cater to everyone and that's why they now offer both early and late EMH perks. Eride night often ran until 1 and 2am and was never a problem for the night owls. I can understand from a business standpoint why they wouldn't be willing to close the parks at 9pm so that some of their resort guests can enjoy EMH the following three hours. There are off site guests who are looking to enjoy time at the parks too, and during a peak season it is beneficial to everyone that the parks are open so attractions can be enjoyed.
 
What's the problem? The busses don't turn into pumpkins at the stroke of midnight.

Personally, I *love* it when MK goes into the wee hours. It means I can spend the heat of the day someplace quiet, and not even go to the park until after sundown. (Also, it's beautiful at night.) This being February, you could get in essentially an entire low-season park day after the sun goes down, almost 9 hours.
 
NotUrsula said:
What's the problem? The busses don't turn into pumpkins at the stroke of midnight.

Personally, I *love* it when MK goes into the wee hours. It means I can spend the heat of the day someplace quiet, and not even go to the park until after sundown. (Also, it's beautiful at night.) This being February, you could get in essentially an entire low-season park day after the sun goes down, almost 9 hours.
I agree completely!! Some people like to stay late at night and some don't, and the one's who appreciate the late hours, will, and the one's that don't, will complain. Especially on the Disboards ;) ! Personally, I'd like it if WDW would allow me, personally, to choose a park, they would empty it completely, and I could use the park with my family and friends only, when I want it, but that's not going to happen, so...
I think we'll have to file this one under "Can't please all the people, all of the time."!
 


Disney Vacation Planning. Free. Done for You.
Our Authorized Disney Vacation Planners are here to provide personalized, expert advice, answer every question, and uncover the best discounts. Let Dreams Unlimited Travel take care of all the details, so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy a stress-free vacation.
Start Your Disney Vacation
Disney EarMarked Producer






DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter

Add as a preferred source on Google

Back
Top Bottom