Rope Drop? EMH? New Year’s Week

[ebenmax]

Our family of 7 is visiting 12/29-1/4. I’ve done most of my strategic planning, but still have some wiggle room. Given that crowd predictions are virtually 10/10 for most of the days - all day long -
I wondered if EMH and/or RD (at any park) would be beneficial or not. I know that EMH generally overloads the park that has them, but do they still help for that one hour and a little beyond? Trying to decide...
Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[js]

If you do a search on my name from 2016 or 2017 my family of four went day after Christmas to New Years day and I did a small rrip report. Look for January of one of those years. We RD every park day and were heading out of the park by lunch. We rode everything without lines and some things we did twice. We were at RD no less than an hour prior to park opening and that was with us staying at SSR THVs without a car.

 

[KayaWildfire]

Early is very beneficial during this week. Crowds seem to buck the trend during super busy times. No one comes before like 10 or 11 am. Use your fastpasses early, thers seemed like good availability for additional ones during our trip during this time frame last year. Honestly we accomplished more over our Christmas trip than we did at the end of January.

 

[ebenmax]

Early is very beneficial during this week. Crowds seem to buck the trend during super busy times. No one comes before like 10 or 11 am. Use your fastpasses early, thers seemed like good availability for additional ones during our trip during this time frame last year. Honestly we accomplished more over our Christmas trip than we did at the end of January.

Wow! I’m shocked! I figured most everyone would be ready at rope drop, (except for Jan. 1) but I’m hoping what you said holds true this year, as well!! Gearing up for FP+ booking in 10 days!

 

[ebenmax]

If you do a search on my name from 2016 or 2017 my family of four went day after Christmas to New Years day and I did a small rrip report. Look for January of one of those years. We RD every park day and were heading out of the park by lunch. We rode everything without lines and some things we did twice. We were at RD no less than an hour prior to park opening and that was with us staying at SSR THVs without a car.

Thanks for your thoughts! Our plan is to RD and head out by lunch as well, because we have a 2 yr. old with us who will NEED his nap! That’s awesome you rode everything without lines. Something tells me we may not be so lucky with Rise of the Resistance but we can only hope!!

 

[soniam]

We did RD and AM EMH during our 2016 Xmas->New Years Day trip. It was totally beneficial, and really the only way to do it during this time of year. We also thought that MK wasn't that busy on the 30th. It might have been because it was cold. However, most people were partying in the hub, and the rest of the park was kind of empty, including rides.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I’m a rope dropper and we’ve gone the last few years around that time. I get my park time in early - you won’t find me in the park much past noon!

One thing holds true no matter the crowd level - the majority of park guests just don’t want to get up early!

 

[soniam]

I’m a rope dropper and we’ve gone the last few years around that time. I get my park time in early - you won’t find me in the park much past noon!

One thing holds true no matter the crowd level - the majority of park guests just don’t want to get up early!

Thanks goodness for this

 

[rad91]

We did RD and AM EMH during our 2016 Xmas->New Years Day trip. It was totally beneficial, and really the only way to do it during this time of year. We also thought that MK wasn't that busy on the 30th. It might have been because it was cold. However, most people were partying in the hub, and the rest of the park was kind of empty, including rides.

What's your opinion on RD EMH vs RD non-EMH? You think EMH made a difference during the busy week?

 

[soniam]

What's your opinion on RD EMH vs RD non-EMH? You think EMH made a difference during the busy week?

Absolutely! I pick EMH whenever I can. However, it may not be offered on all days or offered equally at all parks. The AM EMH during that time will probably be 7am at MK; it will probably still be dark in the morning. No way are most people going to get up at "night" to hit the park. It will probably be 8am for the other parks, except maybe DHS since ROTR will be opening. The earlier, the better!

 

[ebenmax]

There are usually no FP+ during EMH...does that hold true this time of the year, too? For example, if MK opens at 7:00 for EMH, FP+ begins at 8:00?
Is it only if Disney changes the official hours of the park that they add extra FP+? Gotta get this all straight!

 

[js]

What's your opinion on RD EMH vs RD non-EMH? You think EMH made a difference during the busy week?

Use your time wisely. No one wants to get up super early so that is when YOU want to be there.
More people also go to non EMH parks to get the most use of their ticket.
Get to EMH RD no later than an hour prior to park opening and you will be amazed at all you can do!

 

[ebenmax]

Use your time wisely. No one wants to get up super early so that is when YOU want to be there.
More people also go to non EMH parks to get the most use of their ticket.
Get to EMH RD no later than an hour prior to park opening and you will be amazed at all you can do!

That’s definitely our plan! The 2 yr. old will be leading the pack because he’s up every morning by 6:00 am. Although I know we will need to be at MK BY 6:00 am if they open at 7:00.
Our main goal is to ride RotR (and see SWGE) so I’m hoping the RD strategy will work for that since there is no FP+. I’ve read right now it’s best to do at night, but that’s out for us because of the little one. We are trying to wait and see how the first few weeks with SWGE fully open go to get a better feel for the best strategy.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

There are usually no FP+ during EMH...does that hold true this time of the year, too? For example, if MK opens at 7:00 for EMH, FP+ begins at 8:00?
Is it only if Disney changes the official hours of the park that they add extra FP+? Gotta get this all straight!

You are correct - no FPs during EMHs.

If current park opening is 9am with 8am-9 EMHs, FP availability starts at 9am.

If they later change park opening to something earlier, say 8am, that’ll bump the EMHs to 7am-8am, and FPs will be added to the 8am-9am hour a bit after hours are updated.

 

[buzz1fan]

what do you all do who have gone over Christmas / New Years do in the evening? Do you get fast passes for night time after you use your am passes? We are going this year and we have a hopper.

 

[MaleficentRN]

I'm a rope dropper. Even rope dropped New Year's Day at MK after ringing in the New Year at EPCOT. I found basically everything walk on when we did that. We'd be out of the park by 1pm, nap in the room or by the pool. We'd resort hop or go to Disney Springs in the evening. I think that's the best way to survive those crowds.

 

[buzz1fan]

I’m hoping to ride all am- and hopefully get a fast pass evenings

 

[Gehrig1B]

what do you all do who have gone over Christmas / New Years do in the evening? Do you get fast passes for night time after you use your am passes? We are going this year and we have a hopper.

We visit annually at Christmas/NYE. We FP+ the morning park, 10-1 back to back to back. We have found plenty of same day fastpasses in the evening are available with a little effort. Your plan is a good one. And don't worry about capacity closures. If staying on property you will get in... There hasn't been a phase 4 closure in over a decade.

 

[Leigh L]

Early is very beneficial during this week. Crowds seem to buck the trend during super busy times. No one comes before like 10 or 11 am. Use your fastpasses early, thers seemed like good availability for additional ones during our trip during this time frame last year. Honestly we accomplished more over our Christmas trip than we did at the end of January.

Agree! Early is a great time to go. This was our experience too.
Our first day in the parks was 1/1 and we got an early start every day, doing both EMH and RD. Any day there was morning EMH we were there. We accomplished way more than we did over our 2018 President's Day week trip. The only park that we didn't enjoy doing RD was HS (we weren't there for any EMH days for that park) because the crowd was aggressive getting in (we avoided SDD and headed towards other rides which turned out to be a good plan). I'm not so sure we'd RD that park ever again, esp now that GE is open (unless things have changed). RD and crowd control was way better at the other parks last year. I would do an EMH for HS though.

We booked our FP starting approximately 1-2 hours after park opening (and adjusted as we went along) and also added many FP for a group of 5 (sometimes we did have to split up 2 and 3 with close times)