Seriously Big Park Hours Update 8/29-11/2 - Daily AM EMHs added for DHS, DAK, & MK

[Tiggerlover91]

Oh, please. Lots of us call it Harry Potter World. I do, and I am a Universal AP holder.

I was wondering what was wrong with calling it Harry Potter World? I mean don't those two things take place in the Harry Potter books? So therefore, a part of his world?

 

[gharter]

I was wondering what was wrong with calling it Harry Potter World? I mean don't those two things take place in the Harry Potter books? So therefore, a part of his world?

Technically thats not the name, each land has a separate name. But that seems to be what most people call it. And it really doesn't matter what you call it. Everyone knows what you mean.
Including my daughter. When we do WDW in May, she wanted to do "Harry Potter World" as well. we are.

 

[LaRaine]

We're arriving 11/2, too. The idea that they're abruptly going to go from extended hours/EMH at 3 parks every day down to nothing scares me, too. But it also makes me think that they're going to be extending hours when we get closer. It's just too big a change too quickly if they don't. (Or at least that's what I'm telling myself until I know otherwise!) Question is which parks and how long, since I don't know if they'll keep up the same level of extra hours that they do in the first few months.

If anything, I think the news about the EEMH will encourage on-site people to switch from our week to weeks that have the extended hours. It helps to remind myself that our FP day isn't for 4 months. We'll know so much more by then. Maybe we'll even have an advantage over people going earlier, because GE will have been open a few days by our FP day. I agree that picking parks for ADRs has been extra stressful for this trip, but ADRs are a lot easier to change than FPs!

Good luck tomorrow morning! Hope you get the reservations that you want!

 

[Heffalump12]

Do you mean a crowd level 9 at DHS every weekend?

Thank you as I would like to clarify; Yes HS was bumped to CL 9 or 10 on Saturdays and Sundays for the first half of Sept. For the second half of Sept, Saturdays sustain a CL of 9, as most Sundays go to a level 8. Fridays are around a 6 or 7. The crowd levels in the other parks decreased. My thought’s are they adjusted for all the local APs coming in for SWGE.

 

[FFMickey]

So glad they haven't included Epcot. We have a PPO at GG. We had one at BOG, but now it's just a breakfast ADR. Now we have to decide to keep it or do some rides.

 

[glocon]

I am actually surprised it was not changed to a 10 every single day at HS!

 

[DisMommyTX]

For planning purposes, I appreciate that they try to give relative levels each day, even if 10 is the new 6. While not as critical as they used to be, crowd predictions can still be helpful for planning and managing expectations.

 

[wisblue]

Hogsmeade, and Diagon Alley. There`s no such thing as "Harry Potter World".

Good grief, I know that. Just using a shorthand for saying that we’re planning on going to Universal mainly to see the Harry Potter stuff, including the new ride that’s opening this summer.

 

[yorkieteacher]

We decided to avoid the mass of humanity at DHS on August 29 and head to EPCOT for Food & Wine. I wonder if the early EMHs at the other parks will lighten the crowds at EPCOT. Well maybe not, but I can dream.

I surely hope so, but I am worried that for those with park hoppers Epcot will be THE park to hop to for Food and Wine festival once the other parks get crowded. At least Epcot is big enough for everyone to spread out-

 

[wisblue]

I surely hope so, but I am worried that for those with park hoppers Epcot will be THE park to hop to for Food and Wine festival once the other parks get crowded. At least Epcot is big enough for everyone to spread out-

Because of the different touring approaches people use I think the crowds will get pretty evenly spread out later in the day. There will be the people like us who will go to the early EMH and then use our FPs later in the day at a different park after a midday break. Some people will try to ride the most popular attractions at the end of the day and now Epcot doesn’t have any relatively new hot attractions. Then there will be people going to a specific park to see the late night show at that park. I wouldn’t expect Epcot to have any more than its usual share of the evening crowd that has always gone there for dinner or the late night show.

 

[Mzpalmtree]

Because of the different touring approaches people use I think the crowds will get pretty evenly spread out later in the day. There will be the people like us who will go to the early EMH and then use our FPs later in the day at a different park after a midday break. Some people will try to ride the most popular attractions at the end of the day and now Epcot doesn’t have any relatively new hot attractions. Then there will be people going to a specific park to see the late night show at that park. I wouldn’t expect Epcot to have any more than its usual share of the evening crowd that has always gone there for dinner or the late night show.

But F&W is going on so on the weekends Epcot should expect to draw some crowds from that.

 

[conniehar90]

This is so disappointing to me. This is our first Sept trip since we will be empty nesters and we can go outside of normal school breaks now. We were really hoping for lower crowds but know how to handle high crowds since we have been at Xmas and Easter week. I know it is our preference but we stay offsite in a rental home because we like the extra room, etc. I don't care much about Star Wars but hoped that we would have a fighting chance to get on the ride. And now early hours at all other parks too. Sigh

 

[StacyStrong]

I think this news pretty much made our plans for us.

I think that on the Sunday of our trip, we will get up at the crack of dawn and head to HS to get there by like 4:30/5 based on reports (we are going mid/late October). We will do what we can and then go to California Grill Brunch. Maybe swim/check out DS and call it an early night. MNSSHP is the next day so this works best in our schedule.

We aren't doing a super long trip, but we are APs and will be back in February for Princess so I'm not too concerned.

 

[DingDang12]

I'm part of the bookedforseptembertoavoidcrowds crew but I'm actually pretty stoked. I'll get to do F+W, MNSSHP and SWGE all for the first time in one trip! What's annoying me is the fact I can't plan my DHS days at all, and probably won't be able to until opening day. We arrive on the 29th for two weeks so are leaving our DHS days until the second week so we can get a better idea of the best approach. My main queries are whether we'll need to arrive at like 4 on our non-star wars day so that we actually stand a chance of getting in - will the park reach level 4 before 9? I don't know. The other thing is whether, £n order to see fantasmic, I'll have to arrive at 4 and stay in the park all day because if we leave we won't be able to get back in?

 

[wisblue]

But F&W is going on so on the weekends Epcot should expect to draw some crowds from that.

True, but I guess I consider the evening crowds at Epcot, especially on weekends, during the various festivals to be part of Epcot’s usual share of the nighttime crowds. The Epcot Forever show that debuts on October 1 will probably draw some people to Epcot too. But, I don’t think the early hours at the other parks will have that much of an impact, if any, on what the night crowds would be at Epcot otherwise. There are enough things at the other parks to attract people at night.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

See ya'll at 3am on opening day! I'll be the tired one in a Star Wars T-shirt walking from an Epcot resort on opening day. I will definitely re-arrange my schedule to go back on Sept. 1st too for resort guest EMH.

I can sleep when I get home on Sept. 3rd.

 

[abuck75]

Hmm. We were planning on November 8 - 12 so we could do the Christmas party for the first time. This may cause me to reconsider.

 

[SweetJulia23]

OMG THAT'S HILARIOUS haha whoops. I meant someTHING to eat.

Admit it, you meant someone. You’re trying the thin the herd

 

[glamdring269]

This is the best news, so good that I had to read it twice. The one thing I know I have complete control over on vacation is how to use my time. We already wake up at around 4am to do morning runs at home so transitioning into vacation with that mindset towards the park will be simple. Up early, go at it hard in the morning, back at the hotel to chill by lunch, back out to Epcot for F&W that night.

In short: This is awesome.

 

[DisneyandBeerLover]

Admit it, you meant someone. You’re trying the thin the herd

Shhhh don't tell anyone