Recommended days or early EMH?

[twinprincesses09]

We are a family of 4: myself, DH, and twin DDs6 on our 2nd trip to WDW. We have 7 day base tickets and will be visiting the parks 5/31-6/6 staying at CSR. I am 2 weeks away from picking FP+, and I'm starting to question my itinerary. Here is the basics of the original plan:

5/31: MK (RD, BOG ADR at 1, back to resort about 7ish)
6/1: EP (RD, Akerhaus ADR at 10:50, WS until about 4, FW until about 6-7)
6/2: MK (RD, back to resort 2-6, stay until close (hoping close is extended to midnight))
6/3: rest day/EP (spend morning by the pool, back to EP about 4, stay for Illuminations)
6/4: HS (RD, SciFi ADR at 1:35, stay for fireworks, Fantasmic) can take a midday break if we need it
6/5: AK (RD, back to resort 1-5, stay until close which is 8pm now, but hopefully should be extended)
6/6: MK (arrive whenever we get up, take a midday break if we need it, stay until close)


6/6 is the only day we are at a park that is not recommended. The rest of the days we are at the most recommended park. I would like to end our trip with MK, but if we decide to go to a different park because we didn't have enough time to see everything we wanted, I'm willing to change.

However, I keep questioning if we should take advantage of some of the early EMH. It would change our plan to this:

5/31: HS (RD, ADR if I can get it/or midday break, stay for fireworks and Fantasmic)
6/1: EP (late arrival for Akerhaus ADR at 10:50, WS until about 4, FW until 6-7)
6/2: MK (RD, lunch ADR somewhere, stay until about 7)
6/3: MK EMH8-9 (arrive early enough for EMH, midday break, stay until close)
6/4: rest day/EP (spend morning by the pool, back to EP about 4, stay for Illuminations)
6/5: MK (either RD-midday break-leave about 9) or (late arrival-leave about 8)
6/6: AK EMH 8-9 (arrive early enough for EMH, midday break, stay until close)

All days are still recommended except for the 2 EMH days, but we would be leaving midday when the crowds are the worst. Any thoughts?

 

[ellie05]

Honestly this question comes often. I am guessing you are taking recommend parks from somewhere so you must have read a little bit on the subject to know that no touring advise will ever tell you to go to the park with EMH. I would follow the recommended parks it makes a huge difference.

 

[tstidm1]

The question about EMH is whether you are able to make the 8 AM Rope Drop, which means that you have to be out the door by 6:30 AM. Most folks aren't able to do that. I would switch the parks that have EMH to avoid them. I'm not able to make a park that early even though I get up at 6:30 AM normally.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

I find EARLY EMHs are a great way to tour early and get a lot done with minimal waiting. There is hardly anyone in the parks and we really get a lot accomplished.
I also find the reverse to be true, late night EMHs are more crowded, until very late (after 9 pm or so) but if you are able to stay until late late (midnight or 1 am) it can be beneficial, these are days I park hop.
So it really depends on your touring style. If you can get up at the crack of dawn, it's really well worth it. But, if as pp says you want to sleep later then you've lost the edge.

 

[Mikie]

I would only ignore "recommended park" advice if a) I had a coveted ADR or other item I couldn't move or b) the park had EMH that I was confident I'd use fully. Crowd calendars always steer you away from EMH parks, but if you have a good touring plan for how you'll attack the park, you can deal with any crowd level and using the EMH is an advantage. Going to the EMH park without utilizing those hours is just picking the most crowded park and missing out on any advantage.

 

[twinprincesses09]

If we did decide to do the EMH parks, it would only be the early EMH at MK and AK, as much as I would love the pm EMH at MK, I know my kids wouldn't make it until 2am. If we do decide to do the early EMH park, we would be out the door by 6:30. My kids know when mommy is on a schedule, there is no playing around!! Lol! That said, my kids are used to getting up about 7 for school, so getting to the park about 8:20 for a 9 am RD isn't that difficult. And although I would love to have that extra hour before the crowd hits, I'm sure I would be hearing much more whining in the morning about being tired. I think it's best if I just stick with my original plan and go with the most recommended parks!

 

[mshanson3121]

I'm the oddball. I did recommended and non-recommended (because of EMH) park days. One of our best days? Was the non-recommended park day. I'm of the opinion that Disney is busy every day you go. If the crowd calendar is showing a difference of say crowd level 3 and crowd level 6 or 7, then yeah, you might want to pay attention. But if it's just the difference between a 5 and 6 or an 8 and 9, meh. The difference is negligible. Morning EMH doesn't really affect crowd level that much because not many people want to get up that early on vacation. Evening EMH seem to affect it more. So I'd say heck with what the crowd calendars say, and go on those morning EMH days and get some more bang for your buck.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

If we did decide to do the EMH parks, it would only be the early EMH at MK and AK, as much as I would love the pm EMH at MK, I know my kids wouldn't make it until 2am. If we do decide to do the early EMH park, we would be out the door by 6:30. My kids know when mommy is on a schedule, there is no playing around!! Lol! That said, my kids are used to getting up about 7 for school, so getting to the park about 8:20 for a 9 am RD isn't that difficult. And although I would love to have that extra hour before the crowd hits, I'm sure I would be hearing much more whining in the morning about being tired. I think it's best if I just stick with my original plan and go with the most recommended parks!

We ALWAYS ignore recommended days, but that is because we also ALWAYS commit to being there for early EMH on time. We're early risers, so it's not an issue with us -- we LOVE how much we get done early.

But sounds like for you, keeping things as you have them makes the most sense... whining isn't magical...

 

[msmama]

We used to do morning EMH days when my son was little and was already up crazy early but as he's gotten older we've stopped.

I think that having a good realistic touring strategy is better than pretty much any other advantage (like an extra hour).

 

[SnipsNSnails]

We do some of the EMH days. This last trip we did 1 EMH per park except HS. It worked out great for us. We got a ton done during EMH. At AK we did Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, and EE twice. At Epcot, we did TT and MS Green (We didn't have a lot to accomplish there as we had been there a few days earlier when crowds were low and rode every ride then so we weren't trying very hard). At MK we did PP, IASW, Pooh, Barnstormer, Teacups, and Dumbo. During a higher crowd time, I think they are even more valuable. We are early morning people rather than late night people. We have never done evening EMH and are usually in bed by 8 except the nights we do the fireworks. One of our days was a sleep in and Disney Springs day with FP for MSEP and Wishes.

 

[Shanti]

If you know for sure that you will make it to the EMH park at least 15 minutes before EMH begins, then yes, I would choose the morning EMH park over the recommended park. You'll get so much done during that first hour, and will be able to allocate your 3 FastPasses to other things- you won't have to spend as much time in the park to get it all done, which makes going back to the resort for a swim, nap or hang-out time a cinch. If you have hoppers, I recommend it especially, as you can change to the recommended park after your midday break. But morning EMH are great even if you don't switch parks, because riding popular rides first thing takes the pressure off, so you can relax more and really enjoy the park for the rest of the day.

 

[pens4821]

We were there at a slower time but got in line for the bus about 715/720 for AM EMH at 8 for HS and AK. we rode everything we wanted multiple times by 10. We hopped to another park after, but if that isn't an option I'd still do it. I would take an afternoon break after rushing in the AM, then make my FP for the evening and just take it easy.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We watch the emh park locations so we can go to the low crowd parks, much easier with the lower crowds, get more done. And keep in mind that about half of MK is not available during AM emh hour.

 

[senadler]

I think AM EMH are great if you can (1) get there early enough and (2) hop to another park for the afternoon or evening. If you are will not have park hoppers and plan to spend the whole day at the park, I would opt for RD and the most recommended park.

 

[SFMommy]

We are a family of 4: myself, DH, and twin DDs6 on our 2nd trip to WDW. We have 7 day base tickets and will be visiting the parks 5/31-6/6 staying at CSR. I am 2 weeks away from picking FP+, and I'm starting to question my itinerary. Here is the basics of the original plan:

5/31: MK (RD, BOG ADR at 1, back to resort about 7ish)
6/1: EP (RD, Akerhaus ADR at 10:50, WS until about 4, FW until about 6-7)
6/2: MK (RD, back to resort 2-6, stay until close (hoping close is extended to midnight))
6/3: rest day/EP (spend morning by the pool, back to EP about 4, stay for Illuminations)
6/4: HS (RD, SciFi ADR at 1:35, stay for fireworks, Fantasmic) can take a midday break if we need it
6/5: AK (RD, back to resort 1-5, stay until close which is 8pm now, but hopefully should be extended)
6/6: MK (arrive whenever we get up, take a midday break if we need it, stay until close)


6/6 is the only day we are at a park that is not recommended. The rest of the days we are at the most recommended park. I would like to end our trip with MK, but if we decide to go to a different park because we didn't have enough time to see everything we wanted, I'm willing to change.

However, I keep questioning if we should take advantage of some of the early EMH. It would change our plan to this:

5/31: HS (RD, ADR if I can get it/or midday break, stay for fireworks and Fantasmic)
6/1: EP (late arrival for Akerhaus ADR at 10:50, WS until about 4, FW until 6-7)
6/2: MK (RD, lunch ADR somewhere, stay until about 7)
6/3: MK EMH8-9 (arrive early enough for EMH, midday break, stay until close)
6/4: rest day/EP (spend morning by the pool, back to EP about 4, stay for Illuminations)
6/5: MK (either RD-midday break-leave about 9) or (late arrival-leave about 8)
6/6: AK EMH 8-9 (arrive early enough for EMH, midday break, stay until close)

All days are still recommended except for the 2 EMH days, but we would be leaving midday when the crowds are the worst. Any thoughts?

OP - I was having the exact same dilemma as you! At first I scheduled everything for recommended days (easywdw.com). Then my DH was like "why are we staying onsite if we aren't going to go to the extra hours?" (FYI...we always do early hours at DLR...waking up at 5:45 a.m. on Thanksgiving to be at gates at 6:30 for a 7:00 a.m. opening...we love how much we get done early in the morning).

So I did some more research and ultimately decided to do 2 morning EMH days...one at MK and one at AK. The HS EMH morning didn't work with our schedule and it didn't seem like there were enough rides open at EP for it to make a difference for us. So we are doing 2 days at EP (recommended), 1 at HS (recommended), 2 at MK (1 not-recommended EMH and 1 recommended) and 1 at AK (not recommended).

We are going to be there the first week of May and I can let you know when we get back if I think the morning EMH's were worth it!

Also...we do not have hoppers. But we have good touring plans that will have us eating TS meals, watching shows and doing other things that shouldn't matter if the parks get really busy starting at around 11:00.