to do or not to do extra magic hours

[Mikes:)Mom]

We never used AM EMHs. We are on vacation so we sleep in everyday. We LOVE PM EMHs!

Last year, my DS15 and I was at MK for PM EMHs. It did seem there was tons of people at first. There was NO lines for the rides!

We will be at MK next Sunday until 2:00am. Can't wait

 

[Carol23]

When my DS and I were there in April, the night we arrived (Thursday) was a PM EMH for MK. Our flight got in at 10:30 and we were in MK at 11! We stayed til 3:30 and he rode Space Mountain like 17 times in a row. (SM was closing for the summer the Saturday we were there). There were no crowds for ANY of the PM EMH's that we did. If we didn't do the EMH, he may not have been able to ride this one at all!
I should also mention that we did hop pretty much every day we were there and one day we hopped three parks! I totally LOVED doing MK PM EMH as my fav thing was seeing the castle change colors. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO beautiful!

 

[fan1080]

In our experience, there are a few things that are important with regards to EMH.

1. Park Hopper Tickets, especially for AM EMH.

If you do not plan on getting Hoppers, I would suggest staying away from AM EMH (or add hopping during your trip). The park may get busy later on (not always, but usually does). With hoppers you can hop over to another park if it gets busy. You don't have to purchase hoppers in advance either. You can add hoppers on anytime after you get there, it will be the same price regardless of the number of days used/left on your ticket. Upgrade your tickets, when/if, it's necessary.

2. Be there for rope drop for AM EMH

This is critical, you need to be there for opening.


3. Can you stay till park close for PM EMH.

Of our past trips, for PM EMH, the closer you stay to closing time the better the experience. Crowds tend to thin out significantly and hour or so into PM EMH. If your family can stay late, give it a try. Many rides will be walk on, sometimes you can even ride again without getting off.

Taking advantage of AM & PM EMH has always been a priority for our trips.

 

[patty57]

I seem to be a little confused about Epcot's morning EMH. B-Ride said that guests are held until opening? What does that mean? If early EMH's begin at 8 am, what time are you actually let in the park to ride on attractions? Why would you only get one ride on Soarin?
Sorry if I'm being dense...I'm just not understanding what this means. Can anyone clear this up?

Thanks, Patty

 

[patty57]

One other question about Epcot early EMH's...how does it work if you come in through the international gateway? Is that open for early EMH's?
We haven't done early EMH's since my teenagers were much younger (teens sleep late!), but I'ms spending a few days at BCV solo and will definitely plan on early EMH's at the parks.

 

[Geoff_M]

I've never understood the avoidance of EMH, particularly in the AM. We've never had anything other than good experiences with it. At MK you can get SO much done in the first 60 minutes after rope drop that would take most of the afternoon to do otherwise.

 

[Robo]

I seem to be a little confused about Epcot's morning EMH. B-Ride said that guests are held until opening? What does that mean? If early EMH's begin at 8 am, what time are you actually let in the park to ride on attractions? Why would you only get one ride on Soarin?
Sorry if I'm being dense...I'm just not understanding what this means. Can anyone clear this up?

As I said in my post #11 in this thread (in regard to the same post you are questioning,)

Even though there can always be exceptions, my experience is that they usually hold the guests near the Fountain of Nations.

There is a "timing difference" between keeping guests outside the front gates until straight-up "opening time"
-OR- allowing guests through the front gates and then "holding" them at some other place inside the park to await the "Rope Drop" (which usually then occurs at the straight-up "opening time.")

It takes a long time for guests to file through the front gates, trying to use tickets and the finger-scanners, many pushing strollers and herding larger groups (many little kids) and some folks using wheelchairs and ECV's.

If the CM's allow some of this "gate ballet" to take place well before (say, starting 15-20 minutes before) "opening time," it will allow many, many guests time to get through the gates and then line up ready to head directly to their first attraction with little or no delay at "opening time."


Again, it has been my experience (and I have quite a bit) that on most days (I'll even say, "just about EVERY day) early-arriving guests will be let through the gates early and held inside the park (yes, even Epcot)
to await the "Rope Drop" time.

And that info applies to both AM EMH and "regular" opening times.

 

[bgsnmky]

I've never understood the avoidance of EMH, particularly in the AM. We've never had anything other than good experiences with it. At MK you can get SO much done in the first 60 minutes after rope drop that would take most of the afternoon to do otherwise.

Ditto..which is why I started this thread...so interesting to me that all the professional touring websites/books say to avoid.

 

[fairestoneofall]

i pretty much agree 100% with what robo says.

for the most part, our evening EMH experiences have been good ones. on our september trip though, MK was packed for the evening EMH. it was insane. the wait times for some of the rides were longer than what they had been during the day. but that is the only time i've felt it was overly crowded.

and morning EMH are usually pretty great. you can knock a lot out in the first hour of park opening (normally) and even more so with EMH.

 

[pyrxtc]

I don't even remember if we have ever done a morning one but I know we have done many evening ones. I just write up the hours including the EMH into the hour times wihtout noting it and try to show up when the park opens and then not leave until it is closing.

 

[puffkin]

I don't do touring plans. Not a big fan honestly. We have found all morning EMH to be great when we do them. You can get so much done then plus get FP's for later. In the summer they are nice because it is so much more bearable in the parks. We tend to avoid PM EMH in the summer since the parks are open later.

During the winter we do a lot of PM EMH's. Epcot and AK's are great. We get lots done then and crowds aren't too bad. I do not like HS because I don't think there are enough rides open....so we tend to avoid that park. I will do MK EMH any time of the year because I think that park is so magical at night. There is just so much to do there that even with crowds some of the lines will be reasonable. And just soaking up the atmosphere (especially in December) is so worth it!

 

[MorgannesMom]

This was my experience with EMH at Epcot this past Friday evening - We arrived at Epcot about 7 pm with our FP for Soarin' in hand (we had been at Epcot that morning as well). We used our 7:15 FP at about 7:15 and had minimal wait - less than 5 minutes. The standby line however was 95 minutes! And even more amazing - people were choosing to wait that long! Future World seemed quite crowded as did our walk to our ADR in Japan. We had an 8:30 ADR and stayed until nearly 9:45. We were not out for Illuminations. When we did get out of Tappan Edo, we found the countries to be empty!

We walked around the countries in the World Show Case for nearly 2 hours with just a handful of other guests. The stores were open as were the other attractions. It was pure magic to have the park so empty! We did not go back up to Future World - maybe it was still a zoo - but the World Showcase was absolutely perfect. I would not hesitate to the evening EMH again - I would just plan to eat a late dinner or arrive after illuminations to fully enjoy the benefit.

Just my experience...

Morganne's Mom

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

I avoid them at HS but enjoy them at MK even if it is more crowded.

 

[X_Mickeys_Pal_X]

It depends on what you want to do really
In EMH time it is good as you can get on the rides easily but when every other guest comes in its gets unbarabley busy.
For me i would have to say No.
Just make sure on normal days you get there early as i always do and im fine x