Should we avoid Extra Magic Hours???

cmbonneville

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
280
Need some advice from those that have experienced Extra magic hours.... We are going the first week of December and have pretty much planned our itinerary and are pretty much avoiding Extra Magic Hours (Both morning and evenings) every day except 1 out of 7

Should we re-work the plans and go to the parks that have extra magic hours....or are they too busy?

I am worried because I had a HARD time getting a table service restaurant on 12/4 (MGM's extra evening hours) - and could only get hollywood & vine for dinner very late...

What would you do...
 
I'm not sure about the other parks, but Epcot was crazy when we tried to do a Friday night EMH last month. People were getting spots for Illuminations by 7:30. I have never seen that before. The lines for the festival food boths were quite long too.

I would be a little concerned if the restaurants are all booked.
 
I love the extra magic hours - especially the times in the morning. And the ones at night - the first hour is usually the busiest. I like the extra perk!
 
Morning EMH work best if you are there at rope drop and leave early, by 11:30am. I've had some luck with evening EMK heading to a park for the last 1 1/2 hours but it can be iffy. I would say if you don't plan on being at the EMH park at 7:50 AM, especially the MK, then avoid them all together.
 

I steer clear of EMH's, preferring to sleep a bit later, and visit the parks where the crowds are not, the non-EMH ones. :cool1:
 
We went to our first EMH in Aug and were surprised how busy MK was right up until closing which was 1:00 am! I thought it would be the opposite because I figured it would be too late for little ones...wrong!!
 
It depends on how you look at it, how early you can get up, and what your goals are.

For instance, if you REALLY REALLY will get up and be at the park by 8AM on an EMH morning, then go for it. They are wonderful. The crowds do build up as the morning goes on, though, because many inexperienced people plan to get up, sleep in, but still go to that park that day. If you REALLY REALLY get there early, by the time those people start to arrive (10-11AM) you'll have seen half the park, and even when they start doing their first attractions near the front of the park you'll be in the back of the park where it's still relatively quiet.

Then, around lunch, head out for a break or to another park for the rest of the day. That way, you've enjoyed the EMH park, gotten the benefit, but then get out of there before it gets really busy with all the "good intentions" people who slept late but still went to that park that day because it was in "the plan".

Now, as to evening EMH, they have a bad rep because they don't always mean short lines. You will find that pay-sites and books will tell you to avoid them like the plague. Many of us have a more balanced view of this.

Remember, those plans and publications assume your goal is to totally avoid any crowds and your only goal is to ride rides in quick succession for your ENTIRE trip. It doesn't take into account how, for instance, in many times of the year when WDW is slower and hours are reduced, it's the only way to hang out in some parks after dark. And I wouldn't dream of missing an EMH PM at the AK - even if you only do a few rides, it's SO awesome to be in that park at night.

Finally, regarding PM EMH's, you'll find many people say "Ugh, it was crowded, so after two hours we gave up." That's exactly what happens, and if you spend the first two hours walking around and enjoying things at a leisurely pace, avoiding crowds when you can, that last hour can be MAGIC. I've done things like ride ToT or Splash Mountain a half dozen times in a row, or stayed on the Haunted Mansion for five rotations. The parks really close out by the last hour, and remember : as long as you are in line by, say, 11:59PM if the park closes at 12:00AM, you get to ride - the rides don't close at exactly the time the park offically closes, that just means they close off the line. I've ridden a ride as much as 20-30 minutes after offical closing before.

The best advice, in my opinion, to examine what you want out of each day. For many, it varies. Although the popular wisdom seems to be "avoid EMH", if you are willing to work with them (and have a park hopper), you can really take advantage of them and make them as special as possible.

NED
 
Got back from 8 day trip last night. Morn EMH were not busy, but evening were a bit busier. We made out well with morn EMH and would do all the rides before 11:30 or 12:00. I think it depends on how busy the park is when you are there. I was very surprised that CM's were turning away MANY non-resort guests at, AK but inside no waits on anything until 10:30? Go figure!
 
We hit everyone we can sometimes Just for EMH. But we hop a lot so the extra hours are just that extra hours.DW doesn't do most of them as she likes to relax and sleep in. DD and myself are on the go from the time we hit MCO until the time we have to leave the resort.

We can sleep at home is our motto.

We don't do commando through the parks anymore but that doesn't mean we are not at them from the time we get up until we fall over.
 
We plan on taking advantage of EMH for our upcoming trip.. We are going to AK for am emh, to solely do EE! Then we are hopping over to MGM, to take advantage of PM emh that same day. Then we are planning on doing am emh on MK on Thanksgiving day.. just to do fantasyland. I think if you plan, it can be a wonderful thing!
 
We always do mornings but typically avoid evenings. A good strategy that has worked for us is to go to the park that has an evening EMH at opening the NEXT day.
 

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