Should I avoid EMH altogether?

[DisKim]

I am traveling with 3 children ages 9, 5 and 4 months. I was not planning on purchasing the hopper option on my tickets. I am thinking that I should readjust my itinerary in order to avoid EMH parks altogether since I can't hop to another park if the crowds are bad. Does this sound like a good strategy?

 

[nickandalexmom]

We just got back 2 weeks ago with two kids ages 6 and 3. I would HIGHLY recommend getting the park hopper option. We went back and forth wondering if it was worth it and we were so glad we purchased it. We actually tried a few EMH evenings and it was horrible. I'm not sure when you are going, but I bet the crowds are even worse than it was when we went at the end of May. Using the Park Hopper was great because the kids hated the really long lines during the EMH evenings. Defintely worth the money getting the park hopper...

 

[Amirah95]

If I were staying onsite, I'd take advantage. If I were staying off-site, I'd avoid it.

 

[kpm76]

I think it depends on what time of year you are planning to visit. When we were there in January, EMH were not bad at all. In fact, at MGM at night, I don't think we waited for anything. We just returend last week and this time of year is a different story. We attempted MGM EMH at night and RnRC and ToT were really long waits, even at 11pm. HTH.....

 

[pplasky]

I would splurge for the park hopper option. Fact is, noone knows what the crowds for EMH will be like. I have heard alot of negativity on the borads today, but read a trip report where the family enjoyed those nights(1st week of June). We are planning on trying EMH, but can hop if needed.

 

[dvcgirl]

Well yeah, EMH in January, February or September when attendance is low would probably be okay. But you don't even need EMH from a stict "trying to fit everything in" point of few during those months. The parks aren't that crowded then. You can easily fit everything in during the day. But when all of Disney's hotels are filled to the brim, as they have been recently and will be all summer long.....EMH has turned out to be an awful plan.

Even back in January when they first unveiled the EMH evenings there was a noticeable increase in crowds in the MK in the late afternoon as guests poured into the park. I can not even comprehend how bad it will be in the coming weeks.

I'm even amazed at the response on these boards. Generally you'll always find a couple of people who disagree with the consensus opinion. But not on EMH evenings....it's an across the board negative review. Well, other than the folks who have reported that EMH was great in January. But comparing the crowds in Janurary to those in July is like comparing apples and oranges.

At least people who are Disney savvy and read boards like this have a clue. But all those poor people who don't buy the hopping option thinking that they'll have plenty of time with all of those EMH hours, well it's going to impact their visits in a negative way. EMH evenings are clearly an example of "more being less".

 

[DisKim]

I forgot to mention that I'm staying onsite 8/23 to 8/31

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We learned during our May trip to avoid bothe EMH mornings and evenings -- and those parks entirely. The hours were long enough for us already. At the beginning of our stay, we had some parks nearly to ourselves when evening rolled around. We're planning on avoiding EMH during our late July visit but will reevaluate in Oct. EE always worked so well for us in the past that the new EMH is especially frustrating.

 

[pigby]

Wondered if the AK evening EMH might be quieter. Anyone try this on a recent visit (ie fairly busy time) - we are going in July and I thought it would be cool to be in AK at night.