MK/Fantasyland “Early Morning Magic” (EMM) (Thread Now Closed, See New MK EMM FAQ Thread)

[nicolispicoli]

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this. I am planning to book EMM for an upcoming trip for me and daughter (age 7). We've experienced DL and CA Adv before but this is our first trip to WDW. Some questions:
1) Has anyone had experience with booking EMM as your very first experience in the MK, or thoughts on this? We are very excited for this and my only thought/concern is that DD might be distracted on the way in, as the castle, etc., are obviously enormous draws and we won't have had time to experience them. (There are two EMM offered during our trip.)
2) Is it a reasonable and a good plan to try to line up to meet Merida right at the end of the EMM time? She is a huge priority for us. Does that line form fast after RD?
3) Do Sun. vs. Tues. EMM make a big difference in terms of crowds at RD/first hour after?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.

I don't have the answers, but I wanted to say that my situation is the same as yours. My DD (almost 7) and I are DLR/DCA vets and this is our first trip to WDW. We decided EMM would be a great introduction to MK especially as our one MK day is smack dab in the middle of Presidents Week and we know the park is going to be crazy (though we don't know what WDW crazy means...yet). We are part of a large group of 12 and I assume the littles will be distracted by the things along the way to Fantasyland (I'm sure I will be too!), we'll just remind them that we're on the way to a super cool ride. I feel like the amount of things we can get done during and right after EMM will be worth it if (when) it's crazy crowded later in the day.

 

[goofygal531]

Thank you! My gut instinct, based in part on lower season weekdays at DL/CA Adv., was that Tues. was bound to be at least a bit less crowded than Sunday. Really appreciate that you shared your experiences! Did you watch people get on Small World from Pinocchio House? Can you actually see inside the ride?

Yes. There's a viewing window that overlooks the boarding area of Small World.

 

[akfan513]

Nice! Mind if I ask, do you see any other dates in your +10 window? Thanks!

August 7th was showing.

 

[MoLoh]

I'm so torn if this is worth the almost $300 for a family of 4. We are going to the parks for 3 days, May 5-8. My kids are 12 and 13 so they can walk quickly from ride to ride and plan to take advantage of all the early/evening morning magic hours. We are staying at the GF club level, so breakfast is already included (my kids are not big eaters so this would be fine for breakfast) and we will be right on the monorail line. I plan on going to the MK Evening Magic Hours until 11pm on Monday night, so not sure if it's worth it to go to this the next morning. Tickets are still available so I need to decide quick. I would love some feedback . Do you think it would be crowded at MK during the evening magic hours?

 

[BradChristian]

2) Is it a reasonable and a good plan to try to line up to meet Merida right at the end of the EMM time? She is a huge priority for us. Does that line form fast after RD?

If the Magic Kingdom still had the 'welcome show' at the train station... I would say to have a traditional rope drop day where you watch the welcome show and then go rope drop Frontier/Adventureland and enjoy the quiet morning over there as the masses run towards SDMT and Space Mountain

EMM may be a great option if you feel your family REALLY would want to do SDMT and Peter Pan on your first day in the park. If they could get a whole days worth of enjoyment out of other attractions... then I would say watch the castle welcome show and do EMM on your tuesday.

 

[EsmeCullen]

I’ll be at the March 6th EMM

 

[Linkura]

I’ll be at the March 6th EMM

Me too! See you there.

 

[mamamelody2]

I'm so torn if this is worth the almost $300 for a family of 4. We are going to the parks for 3 days, May 5-8. My kids are 12 and 13 so they can walk quickly from ride to ride and plan to take advantage of all the early/evening morning magic hours. We are staying at the GF club level, so breakfast is already included (my kids are not big eaters so this would be fine for breakfast) and we will be right on the monorail line. I plan on going to the MK Evening Magic Hours until 11pm on Monday night, so not sure if it's worth it to go to this the next morning. Tickets are still available so I need to decide quick. I would love some feedback . Do you think it would be crowded at MK during the evening magic hours?

DH and I will be going in September with our 12 and 15 year olds. We will do EMM if offered. I consider it a splurge, but the chance to experience an almost-empty Fantasyland is worth it to me. We will have 8 day tickets, so will have plenty of MK time, but I still think EMM is worth it! And YES, I think evening MK EMH will be busy.

 

[SwissMom]

Will be there April 29th

 

[Getoutyall]

After reading a bunch of reports I had kind of settled on doing Big Thunder Mountain Railroad followed by Haunted Mansion at rope drop and then coming back and grabbing food. Looking at the map has me a little worried though. BTMRR looks so far away. I will have a short 4 year old (right over 40 inches) and though we will have a stroller I'd rather leave it until after breakfast. Is this doable with youngish kids (4 and 8)? Although we have a fp later for BTMRR it was my daughters favorite ride the one other time we've been so I'd love to do it twice. We do not have a fp for haunted mansion.

 

[nicolispicoli]

After reading a bunch of reports I had kind of settled on doing Big Thunder Mountain Railroad followed by Haunted Mansion at rope drop and then coming back and grabbing food. Looking at the map has me a little worried though. BTMRR looks so far away. I will have a short 4 year old (right over 40 inches) and though we will have a stroller I'd rather leave it until after breakfast. Is this doable with youngish kids (4 and 8)? Although we have a fp later for BTMRR it was my daughters favorite ride the one other time we've been so I'd love to do it twice. We do not have a fp for haunted mansion.

I had the same plan and then the same thought (we have four littles 4, 6, 7 and 10. I think for now, the plan is to do some things in Fantasyland and jet over to HM before sitting for breakfast at 9:50. We ended up grabbing a FP for BTMRR for 10:30-11:30, but will happily ride it before that without FP if the line allows. We did not grab a HM FP, but it's a must do for us.

 

[tchris4]

so bummed there is no date between July 30 and August 5! was hoping for Aug 2 - so my 4 year old can ride mine train to his heart's content.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

After reading a bunch of reports I had kind of settled on doing Big Thunder Mountain Railroad followed by Haunted Mansion at rope drop and then coming back and grabbing food. Looking at the map has me a little worried though. BTMRR looks so far away. I will have a short 4 year old (right over 40 inches) and though we will have a stroller I'd rather leave it until after breakfast. Is this doable with youngish kids (4 and 8)? Although we have a fp later for BTMRR it was my daughters favorite ride the one other time we've been so I'd love to do it twice. We do not have a fp for haunted mansion.

It's not that far as the crow flies, but you have to walk through Liberty Square and down around Tom Sawyer Island and back up the other side, which makes it a longer walk. I'm not sure about doing two rides and getting back in under an hour, especially one in Frontierland and Haunted Mansion which isn't exactly fast due to the rooms which add time before you even get on the ride. That is about a 14-20 minute walk (round trip) at 2-3 mph. Both rides are about 7-8 minutes (official ride length), which leaves about 24-30 minutes for everything else (line at second ride, waiting for ride to load, getting through the HM rooms, and eating Breakfast).

I think doing one ride and heading back would be safer, but you can always play it by ear depending on how quickly you clear Haunted Mansion.

 

[kstand]

Eeek. Just clicked "confirm" on my EMM reservation. I blame a glass of wine and peer pressure from my daughter. Anyway, it's official! It's for our first day in MK, so it'll be nice to check those three rides off our list right off the bat! And hopefully Mickey waffles, too.

 

[Helene_C]

Great idea! Thanks!!

I just checked out of curiosity about last-minute cancellation rates and I see 2 available spots for 2/4 - not sure if that's enough for you...

Edit: hmmm, messed up my quotes.

 

[Helene_C]

Someone must have cancelled their April 24 reservation because I was able to add a second guest to mine this morning, so now we're actually going for sure!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Someone must have cancelled their April 24 reservation because I was able to add a second guest to mine this morning, so now we're actually going for sure!

Good proof that is pays to keep checking on things like this. People change their plans all the time and you never know when you’ll get lucky.

Have fun!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Eeek. Just clicked "confirm" on my EMM reservation. I blame a glass of wine and peer pressure from my daughter. Anyway, it's official! It's for our first day in MK, so it'll be nice to check those three rides off our list right off the bat! And hopefully Mickey waffles, too.

Wine usually leads to good Disney planning decisions, at least in my experiance.

As to Mickey Waffles... just FYI... unless they’ve changed it recently or I’m having a total memory lapse, Mickey Waffles aren’t offered at EMM. Just French toast.

Hope you have a great time!

 

[jenniferhouston2]

Here is our EMM report from today, Sunday February 4.

We had a group of 3 and had been unable to secure tickets for months. However, as yesterday was the 1 day cancellation deadline, we were able to get 3 tickets through the website!! We checked in around 7:20am and were the first ones waiting to enter the park on the far left side.

First, a small negative, and then all the rest is positive. People with the EMM bracelets are lumped in with the Prior to Park Opening (PPO) breakfast crowds. As a result, when there is a delay for one group, it affects the EMM bracelet holders. Rather than being let in at 7:45am, no one entered the park until 7:56am. I know that 11 minutes may seem like whining to some, but you are paying a lot of money for 75 minutes of crowd free riding, and if they open 11 minutes late, they just took around 15% of your time away.

Besides that one negative, the experience was a splurge and very worth it. We have a special needs kid who loves Pooh. So, we were able to ride Peter Pan x2, 7DMT x2, and Pooh about 7 or 8 times before rope drop. At Pooh and Peter Pan, there were times when the CMs allowed you to bypass the queue to ride again, if no one was coming up in the line. We then positioned ourselves to go to Tomorrow land at 9:00 to hit Space Mountain.

Around 9:30am, we needed some energy and went to breakfast at Pinocchio Haus. Good buffet with plenty of breakfast meats and selection of pastries and fruit. It did not feel crowded at all in the restaurant.

I agree with assessments on here that the EMM felt like a group of 200 people. The CMs strictly enforced the wrist band rule and would not allow anyone who had finished breakfast early to enter Fantasyland before 8:55am. There was a long line of people from Beauty and the Beast ready to go on 7DMT and they were allowed in the standby line around 8:55am.

At $70 per person, it was a considerable investment, and not one we will or can do often. But, it made our Pooh lovers day!

I am curious if other EMM participants have experienced delays entering the park

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Here is our EMM report from today, Sunday February 4.

We had a group of 3 and had been unable to secure tickets for months. However, as yesterday was the 1 day cancellation deadline, we were able to get 3 tickets through the website!! We checked in around 7:20am and were the first ones waiting to enter the park on the far left side.

First, a small negative, and then all the rest is positive. People with the EMM bracelets are lumped in with the Prior to Park Opening (PPO) breakfast crowds. As a result, when there is a delay for one group, it affects the EMM bracelet holders. Rather than being let in at 7:45am, no one entered the park until 7:56am. I know that 11 minutes may seem like whining to some, but you are paying a lot of money for 75 minutes of crowd free riding, and if they open 11 minutes late, they just took around 15% of your time away.

Besides that one negative, the experience was a splurge and very worth it. We have a special needs kid who loves Pooh. So, we were able to ride Peter Pan x2, 7DMT x2, and Pooh about 7 or 8 times before rope drop. At Pooh and Peter Pan, there were times when the CMs allowed you to bypass the queue to ride again, if no one was coming up in the line. We then positioned ourselves to go to Tomorrow land at 9:00 to hit Space Mountain.

Around 9:30am, we needed some energy and went to breakfast at Pinocchio Haus. Good buffet with plenty of breakfast meats and selection of pastries and fruit. It did not feel crowded at all in the restaurant.

I agree with assessments on here that the EMM felt like a group of 200 people. The CMs strictly enforced the wrist band rule and would not allow anyone who had finished breakfast early to enter Fantasyland before 8:55am. There was a long line of people from Beauty and the Beast ready to go on 7DMT and they were allowed in the standby line around 8:55am.

At $70 per person, it was a considerable investment, and not one we will or can do often. But, it made our Pooh lovers day!

I am curious if other EMM participants have experienced delays entering the park

Thanks for that report! Glad you had an enjoyable experiance, overall. You may have the record for rides on Pooh of any DIS EMMer.

7:56AM is definitely on the late side. Disney notes that you’ll be let in the front gate at 7:45AM. In my experiance after going to this a few times, it has been 7:45ish, and by ‘ish’ I mean a range of 7:42 - 7:47, give or take a few seconds.

I suspect there must have been something unusual/wrong with getting the go ahead to open the gates on your morning. Not that that’s an excuse, I’m just speculating as to the reason.

Thanks again for the report!