P.M. vs A.M. Extra Magic Hours Debate

[nutty4wdw]

it's a trade off. i feel PM is more crowded but more rides are open and is longer. AM is less crowded but with fewer rides open. however, if you have little ones that like fantasyland i'd do AM since rides like dumbo etc have long lines all day and night. get your fix in with the cycle rides early.

 

[mouseRD]

When we want to be "ride commandos", the AM EMH definitely worked out best. Then, like Cannot_Wait posted, it's better to plan to leave by ~ 11 am & go to another park because it gets too crowded. We found the parks to be very crowded during PM EMH; I couldn't believe how many really little kids were still up that late. My DH & I actually left before lot of them (around 10:30 pm). But there is a really fun, festive mood to the parks at night with everything lit up. It was fun to just walk around although the number of rides we were able to ride was limited.

 

[frannn]

It's really a hit or miss, depending on the time of year, etc. We usually have good luck with the earlier hours at MK, but we have never gotten there exactly at opening. There was not much for us to do at EP late night, as we're not into thrill rides, and there didn't seem to be many other rides open. We tried MGM late night twice on our last trip in Oct '05. One night (beginning of the trip) was very crowded, so we only did TGMR and left. I think that one ride took almost two hours to get through, including the line. The second time (last evening of our trip) we got to do every ride we wanted, with little wait. It was just me and DD12 taking advantage of it, and it was a really nice bonding experience. If I remember correctly, we did TGMR, Star Tours, Muppets, and Mermaid in a matter of a couple hours.

 

[pinchy]

the way I see it is...

make sure you have the park hopper option

on morning emh you go first thing and in the afternoon you hop to the park without emh thats going to be open latest

on days with evening emh you first go to the park that had emh the previous day then you hop to the park with emh much later in the day... if the park is epcot you don't get worked up about crowds and going on rides... instead you use the opportunity to get some good late dining in in the world showcase

 

[DisDarling]

I really liked the A.M. hours because it gave us a jump on our day, the P.M. hours are great when you are there during the off-season, cause it feels like you have the park to yourself. Now when we were there this past December (3rd week) the P.M. was INSANELY crowded, you pretty much still had lines until the last half hour of it. We used it more for walking around at night and checking things out! I would suggest doing the A.M. while its still a bit cooler yet and than head back to your hotel to swim and nap while you recharge!
D.D.