New "Extra Magic Hours"

[n2mm]

We just returned from doing ALL FOUR parks evening late hours. Each park runs the program a little different and a little stricter. At AK, management would NOT let you into sections (dinoland) if you did NOT have a wristband. Guest with NO wristbands could not go into any attractions. There are 2 CMs at each attractions and you are often asked twice to show your band. The second CM backs up the first one. While they don't THROW anyone out, CM management do wander around the parks preventing non-resort guest from entering. You get your wristbands in 1 or 3 locations in each park. When we left AK at 7:30 one night (closed at 8:00) we saw guest still entering, which answers the question that they do still let resort guest in. THEY check your room ID CAREFULLY to make sure it is not expired. They will also hand you a schedule to help you know what is open. No fastpasses are available, so everyone has the same wait times. MK and EPCOT were busy on our cold nights. I was surprised how many folks did not know about this. When approached by management to leave, most would pull out resort IDs and then directed to the nearest wristband pickup. All members of your party MUST get their own wristbands and they are put on you by the CM. The colors change constantly to prevent next night usage. I found that staying the extra time at AK (closed at 5:00, but stayed open until 8:00) especially nice and relaxing. I see this as a great asset.

Let me say that changing the hours has also impacted the crowd level of the parks. In the past we would love going to MK on Sunday AM, then Sunday AM became the EARLY day, and the crowds were bad. Now there is no Sunday AM at MK (horah) and we went there on our Sunday morning and it was wonderful. MK was open until 11:00 on Saturday with a showing of spetro, so my logic was that no one wants to COME BACK to MK and there was no early entry. Needless to say, we walked on the pooh ride and peter pan's flight.....I mean no one was in line for either of them. We did the almost the entire park in just a couple of hours....even did Tiki birds. Of course it was cold that morning too, around 40s, which help keep the crowd low. You can already see how the new tickets and new EMH have affected the parks. Afterall on Sunday the late night was AK, so if you didn't have hopper priveledges on your ticket and wanted to do the late park, you could NOT come to MK on Sunday morning. This is looking good.

 

[Valentine]

I just was reading where it says: "Wristbands will be distributed NO SOONER than 2 hours before" so.. it seems you can get them anytime... from 2 hours before.. all throughout the emh... I can't imagine them turning away a resort guest... it is not a hard ticket evening.. so if resort guests are entitled, then they can't turn anyone away.. I would think... if you have a resort id.. then you should be able to get in at any time

Kathy

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

I just was reading where it says: "Wristbands will be distributed NO SOONER than 2 hours before" so.. it seems you can get them anytime... from 2 hours before.. all throughout the emh... I can't imagine them turning away a resort guest... it is not a hard ticket evening.. so if resort guests are entitled, then they can't turn anyone away.. I would think... if you have a resort id.. then you should be able to get in at any time

Kathy

Thanks for the info Kathy. I've been looking all over and am trying to piece together an plan for the parks - Now i know I do not have to be in that park at 2 hours before close

 

[maminnie]

Unfortunately I had scheduled different activities and reservations based on the old morning schedule and no late evenings at the parks. All my planning and reservations are rather messed up now that they have changed to both mornings and nights. We're going during a busy time so changing reservations is not possible. Oh well!

I personally am not a big fan of running around doing rides with my children in the dark and late into the night and usually just concentrate on the parades and evening shows with just a few favorite rides. My kids, husband, and I are usually exhausted after the parades and night activities at the parks and really look forward to going back to the resort. I would much rather stick to daily early mornings as you have light and my children are up early anyhow. We are also missing early morning at MK based on our travel schedule. Wish there were at least two early mornings at MK like before.

Hopefully early mornings and late nights will spread out the crowds a bit. We will give it a shot and hope for the best. Maybe it will be even better than all early mornings. Time will tell!!

 

[LSUDis]

N2MM

Very timely and well-thought-out info. Thanks!

So, based on your experience and knowledge of crowd levels, could you list some guidelines for choosing which park for which day?

 

[QueenOfCelts]

We just returned from doing ALL FOUR parks evening late hours. Each park runs the program a little different and a little stricter. At AK, management would NOT let you into sections (dinoland) if you did NOT have a wristband. Guest with NO wristbands could not go into any attractions. There are 2 CMs at each attractions and you are often asked twice to show your band. The second CM backs up the first one. While they don't THROW anyone out, CM management do wander around the parks preventing non-resort guest from entering. You get your wristbands in 1 or 3 locations in each park. When we left AK at 7:30 one night (closed at 8:00) we saw guest still entering, which answers the question that they do still let resort guest in. THEY check your room ID CAREFULLY to make sure it is not expired. They will also hand you a schedule to help you know what is open. No fastpasses are available, so everyone has the same wait times. MK and EPCOT were busy on our cold nights. I was surprised how many folks did not know about this. When approached by management to leave, most would pull out resort IDs and then directed to the nearest wristband pickup. All members of your party MUST get their own wristbands and they are put on you by the CM. The colors change constantly to prevent next night usage. I found that staying the extra time at AK (closed at 5:00, but stayed open until 8:00) especially nice and relaxing. I see this as a great asset.

Let me say that changing the hours has also impacted the crowd level of the parks. In the past we would love going to MK on Sunday AM, then Sunday AM became the EARLY day, and the crowds were bad. Now there is no Sunday AM at MK (horah) and we went there on our Sunday morning and it was wonderful. MK was open until 11:00 on Saturday with a showing of spetro, so my logic was that no one wants to COME BACK to MK and there was no early entry. Needless to say, we walked on the pooh ride and peter pan's flight.....I mean no one was in line for either of them. We did the almost the entire park in just a couple of hours....even did Tiki birds. Of course it was cold that morning too, around 40s, which help keep the crowd low. You can already see how the new tickets and new EMH have affected the parks. Afterall on Sunday the late night was AK, so if you didn't have hopper priveledges on your ticket and wanted to do the late park, you could NOT come to MK on Sunday morning. This is looking good.

BRAVO! Excellent work.....and I agree with your thinking 100%. I have been thinking about my upcoming schedule myself and your thoughts are exactly along the same lines as what I was thinking. Very well said!

Thanks.........

 

[MichiganMommy]

n2mm - thanks for posting. I'm feeling better about the new hours now. With the new Magic ticket pricing, we bought 7 day passes for the 1st time. I had originally planned to buy 5 days and have 2 days "off". I'm thinking that we might have a more relaxing trip this time. No commando start mornings! Since we can go the parks on all 7 days there isn't the pressure to cram it all in on certain days.

 

[n2mm]

BRAVO! Excellent work.....and I agree with your thinking 100%. I have been thinking about my upcoming schedule myself and your thoughts are exactly along the same lines as what I was thinking. Very well said!

Thanks.........

Yes this is a good thing! To the folks who enjoyed early morning, think of it this way, Disney could've made it late nights 7 days a week as they have in the past for 7 days a week early mornings, but, instead, they split it down the middle. Now they are pleasing 2 different groups of guest. We do early mornings sometimes, but the late nights are great. As for dragging your children in the dark, I'm assuming your children do not stay for fireworks? I found that with the late nights, you can watch the fireworks, then ride a couple of attractions and then leave after the crowds thin out. You by no means have to stay until closing. And in regard to AK, it is hardly dark at closing in the spring and summer. For this park to stay open now to 8:00 or 9:00 (depending on closing times) is a real plus and not dark yet during DLST. I like the way they split the days too. Again there are no late parks on Friday and Saturday nights, which means both can stay open later to all guest. There is actually one day that has both. That day should prove interesting. Can't remember exactly, but on tuesday, one park opens early and a different one stays open late, which means, no hopper perk, folks will have to choose which one they want to do, which again will impact the crowds. Don't tell anyone, but Sunday at MK has become my new favorite day to visit MK (as it was a long time ago).

There are some Disney folks out there that put ALOT of thought and strategy into this plan and it shows. They are, however, still tweaking it. We saw CMs walking around with surveys and apparantly counting heads at restrurants and shops to decide what should stay open and what should close. We went to Pizzafari and were the only 2 people there, so wouldn't be surprise if the dining options change at AK. Restraruatosaurus was also open.

 

[Tonyspad]

I am also glad Disney has changed the early entry mornings. It was getting to the point that anyone(especially Non- WDW resort guests) could enter the MK early Sunday if they took the resort monorail to the MK and when the rope dropped at 8:00 they just followed everyone else in. It was starting to be so crowded on Sunday morning that it was not worth going to the MK with the extra hour.

 

[maminnie]

n2mm:

Thanks for all the great thoughts. Hopefully this new early morning/late night schedule will work to everyones benefit.

I just wish I would have known about it before I made all my different dining reservations!!

 

[kutchyone]

Would someone who has already experienced Magic Express Hours take some time to create a schedule covering these circumstances.

June 7th to June 16th, 2 adults, 1 16 yr.old. girl. No park entry 7th or 16th, purchasing 4 day tickets with no hopper but have 1 day left on old hopper tickets and 4 plus options, 5 days total in parks with one of those day being able to hop. Have toured 5 times in the past but never in the summer, always in the off season (September/October). Would like a more relaxed touring plan so have built in days of rest, one of which will be a water park without the husband. Prefer not to do early entry but am interested in the late night Magic Hours since we enjoyed E-Night twice in the past.

Would LOVE to rob you or your ideas and I know that many of you LOVE to share! Have attempted to put something together myself but not sure if I have thought everything through correctly. I have additional questions about the Fantasmic Package and how/if necessary in the summer when they have two shows and the Magic Express late hours?

HELP & THANKS

 

[addlema]

Anyone have info on the EMH hours for may yet?

 

[Mortlives]

When we left AK at 7:30 one night (closed at 8:00) we saw guest still entering, which answers the question that they do still let resort guest in.

Thanks for the eyewitness info! That makes things easier.

Kungaloosh!
Morticia.

 

[alicenwonder99]

Since I have never been I am not sure on that but everything I have read says that you have to pick up your bracelet for the EMH at that park 2 hours before regular closing hours. You may be able to leave and come back after the park closes as long as you already have the bracelet but if you do not have the bracelet I don't think you could get in since you have to pick the bracelet up 2 hours before close- I hope that makes sense - Does anyone else know?

No, you don't have to be there before the EMH starts. We were there the first week of January. We went to MK on EMH day, left around 4:30pm and came back for EMH night. (And they were starting to hand out the bracelets around 4pm that day). We decided not to pick up our bracelets before we left. MK was closing at 7pm that night and so EMH was going from 7pm-10pm that night. We got back to MK around 7:30pm. At the turnstyle where you have to put in your ticket, the CM asks to see your resort card for everyone...even the little ones. Each adult and child is given a resort key with their name on it along with the dates their staying onsite when you register at the hotel on checkin. So, make sure you bring along everyone's resort key...don't leave the kids' resort keys back in the hotel room.

Main Street was kinda crowded that night, because everyone was LEAVING! As soon as we got past Main Street, it was empty. It was a walk-on for most of the rides, except for some of them in Fantasyland. They DID HAVE FASTPASS going for Peter Pan and Pooh that night. The return time was for 10 minutes later...lol. Of course we took advantage of that. I still don't know why anyone would want to wait in a 30 minute line when you could return for the ride in 10 minutes????!!!! So, we would pick up a fastpass, go ride another ride in Fantasyland that was short line, then head back for our fastpass.

They were not ushering people out of the parks who didn't have a bracelet on, but they weren't letting them get in the lines for the rides without the bracelet. And you had to show your bracelet a couple of times in the line.

Another thing I should mention is that there are more rides operating for the EMH nights compared to EMH mornings. We got to AK for the EMH morning and the ONLY ATTRACTION open was It's Tough to be a Bug, and the walking trails. We got to AK at 8am to ride the big rides and they weren't open. They wouldn't even let anyone go into Dinoland to go stand in line for Dinosaur until 8:45am. When you register at checkin, they'll give you a sheet that lists which rides will be open for EMH. But you have to read it carefully (which I didn't, obviously). It puts a * next to the rides that are open only at the evening EMH (which are most of them). I still have my sheet with the rides open during EMH morning and evening, so if anyone wants to know what they are, let me know.

HTH.

Mary

 

[dreamflight99]

We have LONG been a LOVER of E-RIDE nights! Especially since our DD is older, and enjoys the late nights. It's also usually "cooler" in the summer months, when we visit WDW. I always wondered why they offered FREE EE mornings to resort guests, yet CHARGED an "additional" fee for E-Ride nights? For our family of three, the charge was not that significant ($12x3 plus tax). BUT...for larger groups/families, this fee could be overwhelming!

Therefore...I was THRILLED to see the EMH begin!! I would like to know if this program is still in the "pilot" phase...or is here to stay? Also, every eve we enjoyed E-RIDE night, there were MANY guests in the park until this special event closed, without WRISTBANDS. The security and CM's never made them leave the park, as most were either "parents or grandparents" whom chose to stay & monitor their children and grandchildren without riding the rides! These folks ALSO purchased FOOD items for these kids, and souvenier/gift merchandise in the shops...so Disney is NOT going to boot them out of any park!! BUT, without a wristband, they can NOT enter/ride the attractions. CM's were very diligent about this, checking wristbands and turning people away in each line we entered.

I am looking forward to the advantages of this new perk...especially considering E-Ride was only for MK, and EMH includes ALL the parks...even AK!!!

Pure...DISNEY MAGIC!!

 

[DisneyFans4]

I too would like to know the new extra magic hours if someone can e-mail me or post it.
Thanks!!

 

[Samsma]

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/earlyentry.htm

 

[QueenOfCelts]

I too would like to know the new extra magic hours if someone can e-mail me or post it.
Thanks!!

This should help you out.......http://www.allearsnet.com/tp/emhour.htm

 

[mar915]

Is there still a charge for Enight hours for resort guest now?

Thanks

Mar

 

[LSUDis]

I'm sooooo glad that AK has the extra hours at night. That park is the hottest place during the daytime. Night temps should be a big relief.