Morning EMH question

[DizneyMommy]

Disney's Animal Kingdom Park — Mornings
The following attractions are open during morning Extra Magic Hours at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park:

• Avatar Flight of Passage
• DINOSAUR
• Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
• Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail (subject to availability)
• It's Tough to be a Bug!
• Kilimanjaro Safaris (subject to availability)
• Na'vi River Journey
• Primeval Whirl
• TriceraTop Spin

 

[lainadisney2018]

Most of those are listed as open during EMH, I wonder if that was a fluke?

Yeah I have no idea. Weather was great so that wasn't the issue. It was pretty darn frustrating, especially because we had a ADR for Tusker at 9 am. So we missed out on the first hour of official park open AND EMH. We adjusted, but we were not able to get near the amount of stuff done that we wanted because of it. It was so hot by noon so we needed to go to our resort after our FOP FP.

I admittedly did not look into EMH a whole lot because they were added onto our trip so late. So I went in expecting some things to not be open, but not the whole park practically.

The positive was we didn't have to rush through security. It was a nice leisurely pace to take it all in. We just didn't accomplish much.

 

[lainadisney2018]

The only thing on that list that was running was TriceraTop Spin, FOP and Dinosaur after about 20 minutes or so. I have no idea if this is normal or we just went on a really bad luck day.

 

[lainadisney2018]

Oh and Navi. That was open as well.

 

[Remy is Up]

Rule of thumb for everyone I talk to planning a Disney trip and staying on property. Get your butt out of bed and use morning EMH. Youll be leaving the park by 11 on an AK EMH 7AM and any park by 1130-12 on a regular 8AM EMH having done a ton of stuff, can then have the afternoon to relax and enjoy a pool, meal, or even a nap and then save FPs for a park to go to in the evening after a nice dinner. Morning EMH is a no brainer for anyone at Springs or on property. Ive done EMH at AK at 7AM and actually drove from the resort and when I passed through the gates to AK there wasnt anyone at work yet at 615. Did FOP, Navi, Safari, Everest, Dinosaur, Chester, and watched the bird show, was out by 11. MK is just as easy if you follow the crowd patterns. 7DMT and Pan prior to rope drop for the other side of the park at 9, JC, Splash, BTMRR, Pirates, Haunted Mansion and a couple of smaller rides before leaving at 1145 or so..saved FPs for Buzz, Space, and another ride on BTMRR for an evening later on the trip. Its a proven strategy for those willing to get out of bed. And then while others are in the heat of the florida sun in long lines, you are relaxing at a pool or taking a nap.

 

[itstrue56]

Rule of thumb for everyone I talk to planning a Disney trip and staying on property. Get your butt out of bed and use morning EMH. Youll be leaving the park by 11 on an AK EMH 7AM and any park by 1130-12 on a regular 8AM EMH having done a ton of stuff, can then have the afternoon to relax and enjoy a pool, meal, or even a nap and then save FPs for a park to go to in the evening after a nice dinner. Morning EMH is a no brainer for anyone at Springs or on property. Ive done EMH at AK at 7AM and actually drove from the resort and when I passed through the gates to AK there wasnt anyone at work yet at 615. Did FOP, Navi, Safari, Everest, Dinosaur, Chester, and watched the bird show, was out by 11. MK is just as easy if you follow the crowd patterns. 7DMT and Pan prior to rope drop for the other side of the park at 9, JC, Splash, BTMRR, Pirates, Haunted Mansion and a couple of smaller rides before leaving at 1145 or so..saved FPs for Buzz, Space, and another ride on BTMRR for an evening later on the trip. Its a proven strategy for those willing to get out of bed. And then while others are in the heat of the florida sun in long lines, you are relaxing at a pool or taking a nap.

Could not agree more. You are right on the money with this.

 

[AliceInJerseyLand]

Rule of thumb for everyone I talk to planning a Disney trip and staying on property. Get your butt out of bed and use morning EMH. Youll be leaving the park by 11 on an AK EMH 7AM and any park by 1130-12 on a regular 8AM EMH having done a ton of stuff, can then have the afternoon to relax and enjoy a pool, meal, or even a nap and then save FPs for a park to go to in the evening after a nice dinner. Morning EMH is a no brainer for anyone at Springs or on property. Ive done EMH at AK at 7AM and actually drove from the resort and when I passed through the gates to AK there wasnt anyone at work yet at 615. Did FOP, Navi, Safari, Everest, Dinosaur, Chester, and watched the bird show, was out by 11. MK is just as easy if you follow the crowd patterns. 7DMT and Pan prior to rope drop for the other side of the park at 9, JC, Splash, BTMRR, Pirates, Haunted Mansion and a couple of smaller rides before leaving at 1145 or so..saved FPs for Buzz, Space, and another ride on BTMRR for an evening later on the trip. Its a proven strategy for those willing to get out of bed. And then while others are in the heat of the florida sun in long lines, you are relaxing at a pool or taking a nap.

You seriously sound like a genius right now. Great plan!!

 

[slpeters]

We did EMH every day of our trip this last November (5 AMs and 2 PMs) and loved them all. I will say we thought the AM ones were much more "useful" than the PM ones. The PM ones seemed more about it being cool to be in the parks late than any kind of advantage due to low crowds. On the other hand we found AM EMHs to have extremely low crowds--not everyone wants to get up early on their vacation and I totally respect that (and take advantage of it).

The way we did them was to avoid the absolute headliners. You should still have FPs for those. We had park hoppers and did two parks a day with a nap in between and thought it was perfect. We made sure we had an evening in each park and at least one day in each where we had FPs for that park that day. That enabled us to not do anything during EMH that would still have a line--SDMT, PP, FEA, FOP, TSMM. That way we didn't have to worry about being at the front of the crowd because we weren't going where they were going anyway. We sort of mentally divided the attractions into say five tiers and EMH sort of allowed us to stay a tier or two ahead of the crowds all morning long. During EMH everyone runs to tier one, you do tier 2. About the time those people are moving on to tier 2 and the regular guests arrive for tier 1, you're on to tier 3 and so on until it's 11 and you start your FPs (the tier 1s) and in between get lunch and do the shows. Then it's time for a nap.

We found that the whole one step ahead thing was the real benefit of AM EMH. We hardly ever waited for anything in our morning park all week--and our week varied from 7s to 10s. Frankly we never waited for anything longer than 30 minutes all week and only over 15 a handful of times despite the crowds. The other thing I would say, particularly if you have multiple mornings in a park, is think a little outside the box about where the lines are that you will encounter that day and how you can change up the schedule to avoid them. We did Mickey Mouse and Tinker Bell one morning with absolutely no one in front of us at all and we didn't arrive early at all. It just didn't occur to people to stop there--when we turned off to go to town square theater there was such a surge of people moving towards the castle that my husband actually said "no I think we're supposed to go that way." Wherever it feels like you're "supposed" to go, don't go there. Same thing for the Star Wars characters in DHS. We actually arrived a little late that day and still got the free photo for being the first people to meet Chewbacca. In AK we arrived about 10 minutes late one morning and still walked on to Na'vi (we of course had FP for FOP a couple different days) and the rest of the park was just empty for a good hour and a half. Again, it's obvious watching the crowds where you're supposed to go (FOP). Just don't go there and you'll have an amazing morning.

And as far as the closing and then opening parks, we did that every day of our trip and I honestly sort of worried that my husband would not find it vacation-like. He's more of a beach vacation kind of guy and I was worried that the pace would be too frantic and he wouldn't want to go back, but the afternoon breaks seemed to work on that account. We missed the crazy time in the park and we took a little nap. After the first couple days he was as insistent about getting there first thing as I was. Afterwards it came up that I was worried it hadn't been a relaxing vacation--he really felt like it had been, as he put it "I mean, we took a nap every day--we don't even do that in Puerto Vallarta!"

 

[Sajchinook2015]

slpeters- what an awesome plan you had. I am going to relook at my touring plan and change a couple of items. Did you criss cross the parks a lot.

 

[slpeters]

slpeters- what an awesome plan you had. I am going to relook at my touring plan and change a couple of items. Did you criss cross the parks a lot.

We really didn't. I was worried about that before we went so laid everything out to avoid backtracking. To be honest though, I don't think I will worry about it as much next time. IMO the maps make the parks look much bigger than they actually are. Now of course we're two fit adults--if we were hauling strollers and the like I might look at it differently...

 

[maryj11]

We did EMH every day of our trip this last November (5 AMs and 2 PMs) and loved them all. I will say we thought the AM ones were much more "useful" than the PM ones. The PM ones seemed more about it being cool to be in the parks late than any kind of advantage due to low crowds. On the other hand we found AM EMHs to have extremely low crowds--not everyone wants to get up early on their vacation and I totally respect that (and take advantage of it).

The way we did them was to avoid the absolute headliners. You should still have FPs for those. We had park hoppers and did two parks a day with a nap in between and thought it was perfect. We made sure we had an evening in each park and at least one day in each where we had FPs for that park that day. That enabled us to not do anything during EMH that would still have a line--SDMT, PP, FEA, FOP, TSMM. That way we didn't have to worry about being at the front of the crowd because we weren't going where they were going anyway. We sort of mentally divided the attractions into say five tiers and EMH sort of allowed us to stay a tier or two ahead of the crowds all morning long. During EMH everyone runs to tier one, you do tier 2. About the time those people are moving on to tier 2 and the regular guests arrive for tier 1, you're on to tier 3 and so on until it's 11 and you start your FPs (the tier 1s) and in between get lunch and do the shows. Then it's time for a nap.

We found that the whole one step ahead thing was the real benefit of AM EMH. We hardly ever waited for anything in our morning park all week--and our week varied from 7s to 10s. Frankly we never waited for anything longer than 30 minutes all week and only over 15 a handful of times despite the crowds. The other thing I would say, particularly if you have multiple mornings in a park, is think a little outside the box about where the lines are that you will encounter that day and how you can change up the schedule to avoid them. We did Mickey Mouse and Tinker Bell one morning with absolutely no one in front of us at all and we didn't arrive early at all. It just didn't occur to people to stop there--when we turned off to go to town square theater there was such a surge of people moving towards the castle that my husband actually said "no I think we're supposed to go that way." Wherever it feels like you're "supposed" to go, don't go there. Same thing for the Star Wars characters in DHS. We actually arrived a little late that day and still got the free photo for being the first people to meet Chewbacca. In AK we arrived about 10 minutes late one morning and still walked on to Na'vi (we of course had FP for FOP a couple different days) and the rest of the park was just empty for a good hour and a half. Again, it's obvious watching the crowds where you're supposed to go (FOP). Just don't go there and you'll have an amazing morning.

And as far as the closing and then opening parks, we did that every day of our trip and I honestly sort of worried that my husband would not find it vacation-like. He's more of a beach vacation kind of guy and I was worried that the pace would be too frantic and he wouldn't want to go back, but the afternoon breaks seemed to work on that account. We missed the crazy time in the park and we took a little nap. After the first couple days he was as insistent about getting there first thing as I was. Afterwards it came up that I was worried it hadn't been a relaxing vacation--he really felt like it had been, as he put it "I mean, we took a nap every day--we don't even do that in Puerto Vallarta!"

I want to do this, but my problem is I have a really hard time napping in the middle of the day. I'm just to excited to be at Disney and cant fall asleep . Then I worry about being worn out.

 

[Remy is Up]

I always thought the "midday Nap" was an impossibility for me as well. And some days it is. But, just being out of a crowded hot park, witing in lines, vs having drinks at the Margarita Stand in Springs listening to music in the shade, exploring some resorts, casually walking around springs or the boardwalk, having drinks at Geyser Point and enjoying the view, seeing a movie, bowling, playing putt putt, or just sitting by the pool is just as relaxing on days I cant nap. And then for the evening Im wide awake, body and mind are relaxed and able to fully enjoy the night. Getting up the next morning has been no issue. We have even done a park morning EMH, break, evening in a park, went to see bob or have drinks at Raglan or Homecoming, gotten to bed around 1 and still were up for another morning EMH without issue. That middle of the day break is a game changer.