Should we use Extra Magic Hours? Yes or no?

[monkyby87]

Love early EMH!!! I agree with @Robo...
It doesn't seem like very many folks take advantage of the "early" EMH. We found the parks more empty on those days than when we go at RD other days.
We've found late night EMH gets better the later it is... Quite busy the first portion of the late night hours with much longer wait times.
This is just our experience...

This too. I have yet to have a "bad" EMH experience, especially the AM EMH.

 

[Moonwolf]

I always use EMH. The extended hours is worth the slightly longer lines in the afternoon to my family because during that time we'd be using FPs and seeing the shows anyway. The morning EMHs give us a jump on the day while the evening EMH let's us re-ride some of our favorites in the dark.

I feel like the worth of using EMH all comes down to how you tour. My family is willing and able to go from ropedrop (with a little prodding out of bed) to park close with no issue and thus we're able to take advantage of both early and late crowd times to ride the more popular rides and plan high capacity attractions during peak times. For some families they can go early but can't last the night. For them morning EMH are good but late EMH wouldn't be useful. And the opposite is true for families that sleep in but can stay up late. Then there's the families that fall in between. Where they miss standard ropedrop or are just able to make it but any earlier wouldn't work so no early EMH and they also can't do late nights so no late EMH. For those families it's best to avoid the EMH parks altogether because if not then you get the slightly higher crowds without the benefits of the extra time.

 

[LinderInWonderland]

I am pro-EMH, for we are break in the middle of the day type folks. I have no problems getting up early since I am up and out the door by 4:30am most days, but I also enjoy what late nights have to offer. Taking a break in the middle of the day to rest or swim is so restorative to me! Not to mention changing shoes feels like getting new feet! ::

We do have one sleep-in morning with a later breakfast planned and will try an afternoon of shows at AK to beat the heat in another way. But honestly, the times I remember best about our last trip were EMH at a park, then a late breakfast, then back to the resort until 4:30/5p, then back to a park for the rest of the night. Having done the parades last time, I would like to try some late night rides at MK while the fireworks are going. We'll see how it all plays out.

 

[msmama]

One thing that is important for my family is not forcing the EMH.

Getting someone up earlier than they want OR keeping someone up later than they want is a recipe for disaster for us. I'd rather us be happy people and deal with crowds than unhappy people with smaller crowds.

That said, if we're up for it, we totally go - even getting to a park at 8:45 (for 8 EMH, 9 regular opening) can be beneficial!!

 

[Anonymous Sandwich]

We are avoiding EMH because I'm not positive that we could get up on time or stay up. We'll be much more likely to get there at rope drop if it's a normal opening time, especially losing an hour going from CST to EST.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I know I'm probably missing something here, but if people don't get up early for early magic hours why is it more crowded later in the day? They have already missed the advantages of getting up early. I can see the reverse for evening magic hours because people could sleep in and because the park is open later.

One of the problems is 180 days out when booking dining or 60 days out when booking fastpasses, Morning EMH sound great! People book a lunch at CP and FP+ for the afternoon and then the day before realize...wow it's hard to get up at 6am when we stayed our past 10pm! BUT...they're now pretty much locked into the EMH park. I think that's partially why they get busier...it all sounded great 2 months ago when planning in the comfort of your own home.