Morning EMH parks and crowd levels

[halssister]

I know that the crowd calendars all list the EMH parks as the most crowded of the day. But we are early risers, and want to take advantage of the morning EMH parks while we are there. We will be awake and ready to go before 7 anyway, may as well get going!

We will be going July 9-14, which is listed as heavy crowds. This will be our second July trip, but the first was an anomaly as it rained (like, storming all day type rain, not the normal afternoon shower) every day we were there, which seemed to clear the parks out and make it easy for people like us who didn't mind the wetness! So I don't have a good idea of what heavy crowds will really feel like.

Currently I'm planning AK and Epcot on their a.m. EMH days. I am avoiding MK on its p.m. EMH day. We plan to leave around one and take a break until about 5, then return for a few more hours. We don't have hoppers, so we have to return to the same park each day. If we don't ride many of the popular rides anyway, and have a decent touring plan (as well as a DAS to utilize in addition to our FPs), is it a bad idea to take advantage of the a.m. EMH parks? Would YOU do it? How much faith should I put in those crowd calendars? We have one day to spend in each park, with an extra half day (arriving early afternoon on a Sunday) to spend likely at Epcot.

 

[Traver Freeman]

I just answered a very similar question. They are going a few weeks before you though. If you like the AM EMH, go for it. The time before 11 AM is the best time all day to get rides in as it really starts to pick up with crowds after that.

I've never been in July. We went first week of June for our honeymoon and it was busy, but I don't really remember the crowds, I can just tell from pictures. I assume July will be worse, but you are missing 4th of July week, so it will probably be lighter than the week before.

Personally, my family avoids the EMHs, but that's just because we don't want to be there that early and don't want the park already semi crowded before we arrive. We like rope drop, just not early rope drop.

 

[cassie58]

We like to utilize the morning EMH, especially in the hot weather. You can get so much done in the first few hours, and then plan FP for late morning/early afternoon, then make a 4th for when you return from break, or if breaking earlier make 3 for later. For AK I definitely think it will be good to do Pandora first, since many visitors will want to go there to check it out as they arrive, then FP for your usual attractions, except ROL, which you need FP for later if you plan to do it(unless doing a dining package) - obviously this park will be the wild card for now. I also like it for getting in two rides on our faves, like TSM, which we do first thing, and then FP to do later.

 

[sharonabe]

Since you're planning on taking a break during the most crowded part of the day anyway, I'd definitely hit up the morning EMH park and then return in the evening.

 

[pennylane16]

Yes!! We love to take advantage of EMH! I personally recommend it, if you are going to be up anyways, I say go for it!

 

[halssister]

Thanks everyone for your advice - it confirms my thinking, and now I can get back to tweaking my touring plans for the next 107 days

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Normally we avoid the EMH park, but this trip we will be getting up early to move from Universal to WDW. We figured might as well get up early enough to hit AK for it's EMH. Looking forward to the early morning safari