To EMH or Not to EMH....that is the question.

[Dustmouse]

OK, let me be frank. I'm Mary Beth and I have a problem...I'm a theme park commando. I like to be there early...I like to be on schedule. I also have two DS's. (DS12, social butterfly. DS13, video game shut in.) And let's not forget DH50 (overweight and out of shape.) Now then, let's go back five years to the trip of 2001. Up early every day and to the gate for "early entry". The kids were not too happy getting up early, but came around by the time we hit the gate. DH made the best of it, but dropped out by day four and ordered room service. (I made peace with that and took the kids to MK without him.) So then, do I repeat this pattern or try the theory of Disney reverse psychology. That is, go to the park that just had EMH the night before. This plan though tempting with an hour of extra sleep puts me at the MK on day 6 of a 7 day trip. (Oh, and day 6 is Saturday.)

So, can there be a happy medium? Has anyone successfully combined the two theories and how is the evening EMH working out for people? (I think I could sleep in if I could stay late.) I've got to nail down a plan so I can make ADR's. (I just read it isn't 90 days anymore...aaaagh!)

 

[MulanMom]

Before tickets became one-park-per-day-unless-you-pay-for-park-hopping-privileges, we noticed during a late summer trip that the AM EMH was more crowded than getting to a park at opening on a nonEMH day. Don't know if the same holds true with there now being AM EMH in one park and evening EMH in another on the same day....kind of splits the crowd trying to maximize their nonpark hopping tickets.

Being a reformed park commando (much more relaxing, trust me!), I suggest going to a nonEMH park early in the morning and getting that extra hour's sleep. You might get more done versus going early on an EMH day. You can always check out a morning EMH at MK and decide for yourself.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

 

[disneyfanfamily]

Do you take afternoon breaks? The EMH at MK was well worth it for us. However, we spent most of that time in Fantasyland. We got more done in that 1 hour than we did all day. However, we went on the week of the 4th of July. But we took breaks. Worked out well for us. Maybe you can get up early as long as they know they can come back to the hotel for a few hours for breaks.

 

[eugeniuss]

disneyfanfamily, we are going the week of July fourth this year, any tips or advice about anything in particular for that week?

 

[MessyJ]

Dustmouse, I like disneyfanfamily's idea of taking afternoon breaks. We always get PH tickets, go to one park as soon as we can, EMH or not. Late morning, the park starts getting hot and overcrowded, so we try to make advance reservations for lunch as early as possible. After lunch, we head back to the hotel for a nap. We try to be back to a different park about 4 or 5. We also make early dinner reservations, because it is still pretty crowded and hot at 4 or 5. Then we either hit the evening fireworks, or get tons of stuff done while everyone else in the park is watching them. Obviously, you'll have to do AK in the morning. I am also an overweight, out-of-shape DH, and this schedule seems to work pretty well for me, although we haven't added kids to the equation yet.

Also, we have attended both morning and evening EMH since the Happiest COE has started, and we much prefer the evenings. The morning at MK seemed just as crowded as the rest of the day. We didn't get much done and it was only an hour. Usually in the evenings, the EMH last at least 2 hours, and usually 3 at MK. By the third hour, EVERYONE had gone home and we could just about walk on to whatever was open. ALSO, about 10 characters showed up in front of the castle at about 1:00 in the morning during MK Evening EMH when we were there. We got to see Mickey, Minnie, and Donald with minimal waits.

 

[disneyfanfamily]

euginius - Get there during morning EMH hours. At least for us it worked out great. By 10:30 the parks just filled up. We advise to stay away from the parks on July 4th. You can see the patriotic fireworks show on July 3rd at MK. I think they are worth seeing. They were very touching - at least to me. Drink lots of water!!! Use the fastpass as often as you can. We had a 7 day hopper and did most things (and some several times) that we wanted. We did use our hopper when we went to the EMH morning hours. We would go to the park that opened early and then after about 2 hours, we went to another park - one of the ones that did NOT have the late night EMH. We did not enjoy the evening EMH. TOO CROWDED!!!! But some people do.

Most of all - HAVE FUN!!! We had a blast.

 

[Sammy]

We have never done EMH (or whatever they were called previously) on any trip....ever. We always lived by the "go to the park that had Early Entry the day before" and it usually served us well.

That being said, we are no longer park commandos as we are lucky enough to have been to WDW several times over the past few years. For our upcoming trip (12 days away! ), I really wanted to go to a few of the evening EMH's because I love seeing the parks at night. So, on those days, we'll either split the day into two parks, with a break/rest in the afternoon (which is also something we've never done); or just not do a park in the morning, and head into the EMH park around 3/4 PM. At MK, for example, that still gives us 9 hours (open 'til Midnight). I don't think even I (park commando extraordinaire) could manage a park from opening to EMH closing, and DH would probably divorce me if I tried!

Sammy

 

[Dustmouse]

Dustmouse, I like disneyfanfamily's idea of taking afternoon breaks. We always get PH tickets, go to one park as soon as we can, EMH or not. Late morning, the park starts getting hot and overcrowded, so we try to make advance reservations for lunch as early as possible. After lunch, we head back to the hotel for a nap. We try to be back to a different park about 4 or 5. We also make early dinner reservations, because it is still pretty crowded and hot at 4 or 5. Then we either hit the evening fireworks, or get tons of stuff done while everyone else in the park is watching them.

You're right, a break is probably in order. Now do ya AM EMH and hop to a non PM EMH park or vice versa. Maybe if you went to the park that didn't have either you'd have the place to yourself...ya right!

 

[ajleone]

really the big question is - when are you going? That makes a huge difference on the emh effect.

 

[MOM POPPINS]

We are going the first week of March so how do you think the crowds will be at EMH evening hours. We really want to try the MGM and AK EMH

 

[ajleone]

IMHO it may be alittle busy however I don't think you'll have a real problem, so just go for it.Have a great time!!

 

[vicb]

My family is not into the morning emh thing. We were probably the only people who liked the old character caravan mornings at the resorts. We were there a few months after 9-11 and park hours were reduced. Epcot opened at 10am! We loved sleeping in. Last trip we tried one a.m. emh at MGM and it wasn't worth it for us. DD and DH did RNC and TT but DS doesn't like these rides so I took him over to Muppet 3D which was having "technical difficulties" so there wasn't anything to do with him. They should have the playground open.

Evening emh is new since our last trip, we plan to try evening emh at MK during our stay the first week of March. We will do park openings but no more early mornings for us.