Predicting how much chaos there will be at Pandora during EMH

[rtbreneman]

Going to be at WDW during first week of June, staying onsite. AK has EMH each evening from 11:00 pm to 1 am. I know that it is all speculation, but exactly how crazy will it be - a new land with only two rides for all on-site guests? We have already booked FP for both rides during the days of our trip, but I'm debating on how much enjoyment one will get from wall to wall people in an area that is about the size of New Fantasyland (from what I've heard).

 

[DisDreaming4116]

On a scale from 1-10, a 12.

 

[TXHauntedMansionFan]

I don't know about a "12" necessarily because of the lateness of the EMH. But I do agree with DisDreaming that it will be substantial compared to the average night time EMH typically at AK. Probably even exponential compared to one in the past.

Being that it's right after the land opens, it's good that you realize it may be much busier than you expect.

 

[gap2368]

Disney has about 30,600 rooms and if each room has 4 people ( on average ) and if one fourth go to pandora for the EMH that would be 30,600 ( I did the easy math) take there are 2 rides so 15,300 at each ride ( and yes some will be walking around and shopping )I think this = on the crowded scale why the H*** did I come. exspashaly since pandora should be better at night.

My only suggestion is go as late as you can so the 12-1 "should" be less crowded then the 11 to 12 ( the key word is should but agin new land with better things at night)

 

[rtbreneman]

My new thought is to start checking the wait times the week before during that 11 -1 time frame through the MDE app. I think the EMH for onsite guests open the first week of June? If the waits are still in the 1.5 - 2 hour range at 11 pm, I'm just gonna sleep through it.

 

[gap2368]

My new thought is to start checking the wait times the week before during that 11 -1 time frame through the MDE app. I think the EMH for onsite guests open the first week of June? If the waits are still in the 1.5 - 2 hour range at 11 pm, I'm just gonna sleep through it.

The extra magical hours starts opening day May 26

 

[heidijanesmith]

I normally love the really late night touring, but we are going to pass on this one. We are going June 14-22nd and are planning on AK touring with FP+ and rope drop arrival.

I guessing that it will be like WWoHP at US area when it first opened. A very small area with a few rides, it was quite claustrophobic!

I wish it was the entire park open that late, that would give guests more room to spread out and enjoy other attractions, but I am sure that budget wise that is a no-go.

 

[TygerHawks]

I will be there the same time, and thinking that I have to stay late at least once to say I did it But yes, expecting shoulder to shoulder. Not expecting to do the rides, but I am curious how the crowds will effect the enjoyment of the land itself.

On the flip side, morning EMH is at 7, so will take full advantage of that one. Sorta, gonna hit it and try to be at MK by 8:30. Hope to ride FOP that morning.

 

[tlmadden73]

It will be super busy, but I wouldn't expect it to be that crowded due to the extreme lateness of the EMH.

A LOT of the families staying in the resorts simply won't be able go that late due to kids or plans they have the following mornings or will just simply be exhausted after a long day.

 

[Accident]

I think 12 is being nice. I suspect there will be a line waiting for someone to leave to get into pandora. daily emh for over a month?? disney is expecting it to be crazy..

If anything, I think they are trying to make 3 categories of people. Rope droppers, afternooners and now insomniacs to try to spread people out for when they want to come and see AK and pandora. I can see a lot of people expecting to do something like park hop to AK to do an evening with pandora emh.

 

[maryj11]

I think the least crowded time during that EMH will be from 12:30 to 1:00.

 

[maryj11]

I normally love the really late night touring, but we are going to pass on this one. We are going June 14-22nd and are planning on AK touring with FP+ and rope drop arrival.

I guessing that it will be like WWoHP at US area when it first opened. A very small area with a few rides, it was quite claustrophobic!

I wish it was the entire park open that late, that would give guests more room to spread out and enjoy other attractions, but I am sure that budget wise that is a no-go.

I agree, if they had the whole park open it would make things a lot better. With only Pandora open it is going to be packed.

 

[yulilin3]

remember that even though evening EMH are from 11pm to 1am, regular, non resort day guests can get in line at 10:59pm.
If the line for FoP at that time is 2 hours long, it'll probably still be very long at midnight
I would take advantage of morning EMH for Pandora and just visit in the evening for the bioluminescent atmosphere but not the rides themselves

 

[Accident]

I agree, if they had the whole park open it would make things a lot better. With only Pandora open it is going to be packed.

I think the opposite would happen and more people would view it as worth park hopping as you could do the whole park until emh close. I think by limiting to pandora that more people will get to ak earlier in the day spreading out the crowds from people seeing AK to peopel seeing pandora.

 

[Accident]

remember that even though evening EMH are from 11pm to 1am, regular, non resort day guests can get in line at 10:59pm.
If the line for FoP at that time is 2 hours long, it'll probably still be very long at midnight
I would take advantage of morning EMH for Pandora and just visit in the evening for the bioluminescent atmosphere but not the rides themselves

oh yeah On the 31st when the people coming in for the anniversary for a day or two only, I plan to get myself into pandora before that emh starts so I can at least hang around with them even if I can't get into a ride line.

 

[pat fan]

I would take advantage of morning EMH for Pandora and just visit in the evening for the bioluminescent atmosphere but not the rides themselves

We are there opening weekend (BY MISTAKE!) and plan to hit one night for just seeing what it looks like. Don't plan on trying to do the rides. We hated the movie, but since we're going to be in WDW, we figured we'd at least walk through to see how it looks.

 

[shh]

Seems so short sighted not to open the whole park and really celebrate Pandora with a park-wide crowds are there, people like to eat, drink, shop and people watch...and F&B is where the profit margins sing...especially drinks. People would ebb and flow in/out of Pandora if there were other places to hang out and the atmosphere would encourage people to spend more vs most of the park dark and everyone pushed into one small area.

We'll be there early June - dreading the crowds, but as AP holders for just this year and in driving distance, couldn't resist "getting our money's worth" ) by adding a quick 3 day getaway home.

But for the 1st time, we're staying offsite to save some money on trip. So no late night EMH for us.
We FPd one new ride for early evening and the other for following morning are hoping the wait for those FPs isn't too crazy. If it is, we'll just ditch the FPs and hope to catch the rides in Dec.

 

[loutoo]

My math was a little different:
30,600 on site rooms
93% occupancy w/ average 3 guests per room=approx 85,000 onsite guests.
I think only 25% of these people will do the Pandora EMH. And most of those WILL ONLY DO IT ONE OF THEIR NIGHTS. Almost nobody is going to stay up that late multiple times. If we assume average stay of 5 nights, that means approximately 4,250 on any given night.

4000 people in a land with 2 rides is still busy, but manageable.

We here on the DIS are the exception, even with the advertising campaign I think half the visitors will know little or nothing about Pandora. When a cast member says they should check it out there are going be lots of people who hear 120 minute wait or 1AM and say no thanks I'm going to go ride space mountain and meet Mickey.

 

[HopperFan]

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I think I am more optimistic than many of you. I am holding out hope that many families will head back to their resorts by eleven, as their children and they will be exhausted. Many folks want to rode drop, and others will have PPO breakfasts. That will stop some of them from hanging out at AK until 1 am.

AK was open until 11 pm last summer and the last couple of hours were near empty in July. I know Pandora wasn't open, but having Pandora open so late for so many nights will surely spread out crowds.

Furthermore, if Pandora is open, will not all the shops between Pandora and the entrance be open? Maybe not, but I'm hoping that something else will be open since people have to walk back and forth from the entrance to Pandora. Maybe the Tree of Life Awakenings will also be going on?

I still have a back up plan in case of the mad crowds some of you are predicting. I have three days in AK with three fastpasses for the new rides, and I can always just wander back and forth in the Oasis if things get too packed in Pandora.

Still optimistic. Still optimistic.