Strongly Disagree with Comments about EMH at Night

[IDoBelieveinFairies!]

EMH does have a great purpose in the evenings!! It is great when everyone goes in the Evenings for EMH, because the next morning, the park that had the EMH the night before is practically empty. It is crowd control for the following day. That is how you take advantage of EMH. If you do not like the rules to a game, make up a new game.

We have thought the same thing, normally what we do is hit the park early and go back to resort during hottest part of day, for down time. Then after we get the recharge off again.

We tend to be flexible with our planning, only way I can get through the day with out losing my Disney Magic.

 

[EDuke98080]

Websitekid - I forgot about that! When we showed up around 11:30 - 12:00 for EMH, they routed us behind the Confectionary through to Tomorrowland....DURING extra magic hours...it was packed.

We have only run into this during Christmas week, it must haven been really crowded! We always use EMH in the evenings and have a blast staying in the parks till the very end. It is very cool to walk quietly out of the park at 3AM. We have laways had very good luck with walk on to every ride when we use EMH evenings.
~Erika

 

[ehaimann236]

In response to all of those nonbelievers; here's a point to ponder.

I'm a milkshake advocate; and usually have to time my milkshake indulgences so I don't get stuck in line at BK. Now, most days I go at 3 because kids are in classes and I don't get stuck in long lines. However; that doesn't mean that ANYTIME someone gets a milkshake at three there won't be a wait, it just means that usually 3 is a good time to get milkshakes.

Now that we know about my milkshake infatuation; last week the EMH were very crowded. In fact, not only did they have EMH until 3:00 at the Magic kingdom, but they also extended regular hours twice in the three other days we were at the MK (unplanned extensions, might I add).
Not all attractions were busy, but since it was spring break there were MANY high school groups there, as well as a large number of families with middle aged students. The younger age groups are usually the ones who take advantage of EMH's, and since there was a large number of younger students or children there, there was a larger than normal number of people in the parks.

In fact, one night the MK was so crowded that the disney cast had to use Class B evacuations to get people out of the park (at 12:00, even though the park was open until 3:00!!). For those of you who don't know, Disney has 3 evacuation techniques to allow people to leave the park most comfortably. Class A is using normal exits; Class B uses backstage exits for when the parks are entirely too crowded to function normally with a large influx of people after a parade or fireworks; and Class C is for when a catastrophe hits and people must evacuate immediately.

Long story short, the parks were very crowded.

First off I would like to state the my initials are EMH so I was excited to make that connection about me and Extra Magic Hours.

Second nice job with the connection to the Tour we had about the evacuations. Love it.

And finally I frequent WDW during Christmas week which is arguable one of the busiest times. The extra magic hours were not as crowded as those times but they were def up there. I believe at one point it was up to 80 or 90 min wait for Space Mountain (which is a lot for regular park hours but especially for EMH). Now for those who may have had worst experiences with EMH then I could see why they would consider it not crowded.

All in all Spring Break is crowded so beware when planning your trip around that time.

EMH is out.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

We love evening EMH. Being westcoasters we tend to sleep in a bit later and stay in the parks longer...we've never made it to a rope drop yet!

 

[kaligal]

I'm saving the podcast for tomorrow morning, so haven't listened.

My experience with night EMHs has been that they suck. Time after time, they sucked. I'd keep reading on the DIS that they didn't always suck, especially if you stayed really late. So I kept trying.

But I never had any luck at all with them and now I just avoid them.

I'm sure the folks who say they're great and everything is a walk-on have had that experience, but it was never, ever mine.

 

[slapwhitey]

We have never found any luck with evening EMH as well. Early EMH has been fantastic for us though. We can get more done in that 1 hour in the morning than the 3 hours in the evening.

As a previous poster stated, we find the best thing about evening EMH is that it thins the crowd the next morning in that park. That has always been a better strategy for us....and we go quite often so I can't say it's just a one time bad experience.

 

[lugnut33]

There's a reason why the Unofficial Guide says to avoid the park with EMH.... and that's because it attracts more people. That doesn't mean they will all stay until the end, but it does mean that EMH will skew the attendance towards the highside (remember, those that have non-park hopper tickets will more likely choose the park with EMH, it's a value thing).

Sounds like DavidandLeahZ got caught up in an especially busy night where people decided to stay out late (probably because it is Spring Break).

As for us, we like to head to parks with EMH, but only after spending the day in a park that doesn't have EMH.

 

[jpeka65844]

In response to all of those nonbelievers; here's a point to ponder.

I'm a milkshake advocate; and usually have to time my milkshake indulgences so I don't get stuck in line at BK. Now, most days I go at 3 because kids are in classes and I don't get stuck in long lines. However; that doesn't mean that ANYTIME someone gets a milkshake at three there won't be a wait, it just means that usually 3 is a good time to get milkshakes.

Now that we know about my milkshake infatuation; last week the EMH were very crowded. In fact, not only did they have EMH until 3:00 at the Magic kingdom, but they also extended regular hours twice in the three other days we were at the MK (unplanned extensions, might I add).
Not all attractions were busy, but since it was spring break there were MANY high school groups there, as well as a large number of families with middle aged students. The younger age groups are usually the ones who take advantage of EMH's, and since there was a large number of younger students or children there, there was a larger than normal number of people in the parks.

In fact, one night the MK was so crowded that the disney cast had to use Class B evacuations to get people out of the park (at 12:00, even though the park was open until 3:00!!). For those of you who don't know, Disney has 3 evacuation techniques to allow people to leave the park most comfortably. Class A is using normal exits; Class B uses backstage exits for when the parks are entirely too crowded to function normally with a large influx of people after a parade or fireworks; and Class C is for when a catastrophe hits and people must evacuate immediately.

Long story short, the parks were very crowded.

This sounds like my Starbucks habit! I usually indulge once every 2-3 weeks. However, the one on my way to work is also right by a high school. Every so often, the high school has a "late start" day and this S'bucks gets particularly flooded with HS kids. I still can't figure out their pattern for "late start" b/c it seems to be on different days of the week!!

We've never done PM EMH; DH doesn't have it in him.....but we've done AM EMH which we feel is a waste of time. We spend the first 30 minutes of it in line for Dumbo. At The World, we'll always avoid EMH parks on a particular day.

At The LAND however, that Early Entry is AMAZING!!! We did it this past summer and rode a whole day's worth of rides (and some even TWICE!) before 10 AM! I was in Disney heaven!!!!

 

[DavidandLeahZ]

I have to agree with the podcast! We have never had good luck with the evening EMH. Maybe we should be more patient and stick around further into the hours, though. The non-resort guests may still be in lines, increasing the wait times through the first hour.

I'm saving the podcast for tomorrow morning, so haven't listened.

My experience with night EMHs has been that they suck. Time after time, they sucked. I'd keep reading on the DIS that they didn't always suck, especially if you stayed really late. So I kept trying.

But I never had any luck at all with them and now I just avoid them.

I'm sure the folks who say they're great and everything is a walk-on have had that experience, but it was never, ever mine.

We have never found any luck with evening EMH as well. Early EMH has been fantastic for us though. We can get more done in that 1 hour in the morning than the 3 hours in the evening.

As a previous poster stated, we find the best thing about evening EMH is that it thins the crowd the next morning in that park. That has always been a better strategy for us....and we go quite often so I can't say it's just a one time bad experience.

I was starting to think I was crazy.

 

[jeanigor]

I was starting to think I was crazy.

Don't worry. We all know you are. And we still you.

 

[Madi100]

We have always loved EMHs in the evenings. However, the last couple trips have proved to be not so beneficial. We used to enjoy the evenings with walk-ons. Now we have to wait in lines. I think that the longer they are around the more people know about them and the more popular they become.

 

[Castaway Dave]

Does Nikkibell ever agree with anyone?

TOO FUNNY!

 

[slapwhitey]

I was starting to think I was crazy.

Aren't we all just a little bit crazy!!

 

[DavidandLeahZ]

Aren't we all just a little bit crazy!!

Touche.

 

[irunnoft]

We have found EMH at night to be a total waste of time. Every experience I've ever had was similar to that described in the podcast. The best thing ever at night was E-night (?). That was probably four or five years ago. E-nights were awesome at the MK because they only sold a set number of tickets. Once they were gone for a particular night, they were gone. Also, they were VERY reasonable to purchase, too. I think for my family of three it cost us about $35 for a night and the E-night experience was just what you'd hope it would be - practically walk on at the major attractions in the MK. They ruined it when they went to EMH at night. I would personally be in favor of them doing away with evening EMH and bringing back E-nights. Just open the E-night experience up to all parks, not just MK.

 

[bcvdreamer]

Last June we were there with 2 other families. The mom's took the younger kids 3-11 to MK for EMH one night. OMG it was scary busy - shoulder to shoulder people. So scary that we were afraid that we were going to lose a kid. We only had one stroller for the 3 yr old, so my friend and I had the death grip on the other kid's hands. The kids were overwhelmed too.

We were there 2.5 hours and only got to ride BTM! We swore off evening EMH that trip. In the past we've always loved them and never had a problem walking on rides.

 

[wishspirit]

We love evening EMH. Being westcoasters we tend to sleep in a bit later and stay in the parks longer...we've never made it to a rope drop yet!

See I have the time advantage the other way. I am 5 hours ahead! I rarely miss a rope drop!

I have never even tried EMH in the evening, usually because we are all in bed or relaxing in the evenings, ready to get a head start on the next day.

The weirdest thing is that I am NOT like this at home, and Dis-er who knows me knows that I am often up 'till 2am (my time) on chat nights and wake up late. Funny what Disney will do to ya!

 

[chillcoupons]

I have experienced both sides of the argument with EMH. I have had plenty of great walk on experiences but I have also seen waits at the MK. To be fair it was mostly the tomorrow land attractions have had lines and the rest of the MK was walk on.

 

[jcb]

I strongly disagree with those folks talking about how wonderful it is during morning EMH.

I have done morning EMH and it is terrible, terrible I tell you. Everyone, especially teenagers, gets up early at WDW. The crowd levels are astronomical. No attraction, especially BTMRR or Soarin or Test Track or Expedition Everest, is a walk-on, ever. And, at times, the wait is an unbearable 15 minutes or more.

So, do evening EMH all you want, but avoid morning EMH at all costs.

 

[dizneedoll]

I've done a couple of EMH mornings and didn't think it was worth it at all. I now use TGM's strategy and avoid the EMH park. A PP also mentioned going to the park that had EMH evenings the following morning and that works out well too. I have a toddler so evening EMH wouldn't work out very well for us anyways.