Switch dining plans to align with EMH?

[RollTideinMD]

Hi everyone!

I'm a single mom and my two kids (9 and 6) will be going to Disneyworld February 11-16, 2019. We are staying at Pop and have the DDP. It's my first time, plus I am navigating this with two excited kids solo, so I'm THRILLED and a little nervous!

I have booked through a Disney planner and we've already made all of our dining reservations for the trip. During some recent itinerary planning, I noticed none of our touring plans for the parks line up with EMH for the day. To save money, time, and sanity, I opted to not have the park hopper as part of our vacation package.

My question is - are the EMH worth it? Would it be worth trying to shift around all of our dining plans so our reservations match the parks that are having EMH for the day?

Thank you for the insight!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Personal touring preference and no real right or wrong answer, but we tend to not utilize EMHs that much. AM EMHs can be nice, but I find PM EMHs (mainly MK) are never quite as good/low crowd as I go in thinking they will be, so more in the "not worth it" camp for us (unless it's really late EMH, like 11-1 or 12-2).

While we don't always follow this rule, we tend to avoid the park with EMHs. Whether that's a good strategy or not is debatable, but it has just sort of always worked for us so we stick to it.

 

[RollTideinMD]

That's an interesting perspective - thank you!

We were lucky with a BOG lunch ADR and CRT dinner ADR, so I am hesitant to try to move it all around (but wanted to maximize our time).

 

[sharonabe]

The ONLY reason we take advantage of EMH (and usually that means early, for us), is because we also always have hoppers. We love the uncrowded early morning, but hop to a different park for the afternoon and evening. The EMH parks do tend to be more crowded on an EMH day than on days without them. That "crowded" isn't much, but it can make a difference in wait times.

In your situation, with no history of doing this at all, I wouldn't change anything. It is entirely possible you could change everything around with the INTENT of using the early or late EMH and then your kids just can't get up that early or they poop out before the end of late EMH and then you've possibly lost your coveted ADRs for nothing.

 

[neverenoughtime]

I would not change a thing. Especially with two good advanced dining reservations.

 

[StarSeven7]

We have a 10 day trip coming up in January and we planned all our park days around EMH. We used to stay offsite before this year so we look at EMH as part of what we're paying for to stay onsite. We don't do hoppers either. We had a trip this past April that we used morning EMH most days (when possible) and we loved having that extra hour of quieter touring time in the park! We normally rope drop anyways so we didn't mind getting up a bit earlier. I will say though, we were leaving our hotel room by 7am every morning so if that sounds too early for you or your kids then it probably isn't worth it! How many park days do you have? If you have more than one MK day you could leave your ADRs as is and try to do EMH at MK on another day. Or you could try to get new ADRs before you cancel any that you have now. Either way, I'm sure you guys will have a great time! My kids are right around the same ages as yours and Disney World is their favorite place ever!

 

[mrsap]

I definitely feel like they’re worth it and actually did just that for my upcoming trip... It was frustrating, but eventually got everything I wanted. If you decide to try and change some reservations around, just be patient and keep checking! (The sooner the better!) Good luck!

 

[HopperFan]

I've been going ......... forever. I never pick a park based on EMH or based on crowd calendars.

- I pick based mostly on park hours if I want to stay put all day.
- I book my ADRs.
- I book FP+ early so I can roll them all day.
- I would always have park hopper if wanting to maximize my time.

If you and the kids will be early birds,
if you can manage an AM EMH it can be beneficial particularly for nappers,
but I wouldn't say required if your kids can go all day long.

 

[chris benton]

My 2 cents:
If you are paying for EMH by staying onsite, and you are early risers, you should use am emh, but you have to get there on time. If you do not get there on time, it's a waste of time and effort compared to what you could (should be able to) do if you were there on time.

If you are paying for EMH by staying onsite, and you go to a park for an adr during am EMH, my opinion is that is not a great use of time and money. That early morning low crowd time is paid back to you in spades later in the day, when other people are waiting in long lines for the stuff you've already done. This is the time when you can just relax, and do the second tier attractions and score extra fastpasses. I can attest to this being a glorious way to attack and conquer wallyworld. The downside might be that you'll be somewhat glued to your phone at times, but hopefully the kids can entertain each other for a few minutes at a time. Really though, when you score a new FP, and you raise your arms in victory, (and ppl look at you funny) you can chill until you tap in, and start searching for your next.

If you are paying for EMH by staying onsite, and you have no interest in emh, it's probably a good idea to look into avoiding the parks with emh, and trying to get to the park that had emh the day after the emh.

Also, the CRT adr, you probably want to keep, but the bog - you can probably drop that and re-arrange it using one of the res finders without too much of an issue. CRT's a tough one to drop if you really want to go.

It really is personal preference though. I wouldn't let an ADR hold me back from what I wanted to do, unless it was a hard to get ADR, like CRT.
Make the best decision for your fam, but use the info you get from your questions here. There's a wealth of info from real people who are trying to steer you in the right direction to make the best choice for you.

 

[RollTideinMD]

Thank all y'all for the great info! Just fueling the excitement of planning over here

 

[bashuck]

We (DW/DD8 and I) hit a park early, go back to the resort for pool time/relaxation, then to a different park in the evening. If we only going to be in 1 park each day I imagine we would just cut out the mid day break entirely and show up as early as we could and then leave early evening and go back to the resort for pool time then. If it were me and 2 kids like you are talking I wouldn't want to put myself into a mad rush each morning to get there for EMH. If you don't make it not only did you not benefit, you are now worse off the rest of the day as the park will be slightly busier the entire time you are there as a result of those who targeted the park for this very reason. Stick with your current setup. The park is still somewhat less crowded earlier either way.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

That's an interesting perspective - thank you!

We were lucky with a BOG lunch ADR and CRT dinner ADR, so I am hesitant to try to move it all around (but wanted to maximize our time).

I would leave things as they are. We've been to WDW 30+ times and I can't even remember the last time we did EMH. I also think planning on doing EMH every day of your trip would be exhausting. If you have ADR's that you like and you book your preferred FP+ at 60 days, you should be fine.

 

[Bete]

Maybe, you can compromise and choose a favorite park or two to switch to early morning magic hour. Then, you wouldn't have to replan everything.

We really like the extra morning magic hour. We get at least double the amount done in that time period. The secret is to stay ahead of the crowds. For example, be towards the back of the park by the time the park is open to the general public. Do your 3 fastpasses all in a row, now. Then, try for extra fastpasses as you go around the park to exit. You can do a few stand bys, too.

We are not commandos. Sometimes we do the early magic hour, then our 3 fastpasses and exit the park. We then return in the evening for more park time.

I will agree the best way to enjoy early morning magic hour is to have park hoppers.

 

[Nancyg56]

Hi everyone!

I'm a single mom and my two kids (9 and 6) will be going to Disneyworld February 11-16, 2019. We are staying at Pop and have the DDP. It's my first time, plus I am navigating this with two excited kids solo, so I'm THRILLED and a little nervous!

I have booked through a Disney planner and we've already made all of our dining reservations for the trip. During some recent itinerary planning, I noticed none of our touring plans for the parks line up with EMH for the day. To save money, time, and sanity, I opted to not have the park hopper as part of our vacation package.

My question is - are the EMH worth it? Would it be worth trying to shift around all of our dining plans so our reservations match the parks that are having EMH for the day?

Thank you for the insight!

I would just leave things alone. In over 14 years I have never used EMH and still my family has managed quite well. There are those who absolutely will not go to a park that has EMH, and others who swear by them. Personally I think it is best to choose parks and ADR's that are convenient for you.

 

[wiihoo888]

That’s a tricky one. I love the AM EMH since my husband and I are super early birds anyway. However, the crowds can definitely become more crowded on those days because of the extra influx in the AM.

One strategy we have used recently, when we did not have a FP for some of the more popular attraction...try to book an AM character breakfast during the private Morning Magic events or when there are no early hours at all.You won’t be able to ride anything, but you will be done eating and already in the park at rope drop. It’s a great way to see Frozen (Norway breakfast) and Seven dwrfs Mine Train (BOG) with a much smaller line. It’s also a great way to make sure you get at least one character breakfast in your trip

 

[wiihoo888]

That’s a tricky one. I love the AM EMH since my husband and I are super early birds anyway. However, the crowds can definitely become more crowded on those days because of the extra influx in the AM.

One strategy we have used recently, when we did not have a FP for some of the more popular attraction...try to book an AM character breakfast during the private Morning Magic events or when there are no early hours at all.You won’t be able to ride anything, but you will be done eating and already in the park at rope drop. It’s a great way to see Frozen (Norway breakfast) and Seven dwrfs Mine Train (BOG) with a much smaller line. It’s also a great way to make sure you get at least one character breakfast in your trip

Should have added that BOG isn’y character...it’s just really closeby

 

[chris benton]

I'm wondering what criteria was used for the Disney planner to have you avoid EMH?

 

[Nancyg56]

I'm wondering what criteria was used for the Disney planner to have you avoid EMH?

I have no idea about the planner's strategy, however avoiding any park with EMH is a common planning tool. The folks who follow it feel that the park will be more crowded than on days there is no EMH.

 

[RollTideinMD]

Thank all ya'll - I've decided to leave our reservations alone and keep our trip as scheduled