To EMH or not to EMH? That's the question.

[eXo]

I seem to see two widely differing views on the topic.

One school of thought, common through many of the "how to disney" websites and touring sites is to avoid parks with EMH at all costs. According to these sites, EMH causes all resort guests to crowd to that single park. So while the park opens earlier, it is also more crowded on the whole.

However I also see a lot of individual folks claim that they base their trips' schedule around making sure they are at parks on the days they offer EMH.

As this board is full of veterans and experts, I think this would be the best place for me to gather opinions on the topic.

To go a little further, morning EMH is where I consistently here I should avoid, however many touring web sites seem to say that night EMH is worth it (however I tend to not think that will work well for me due to the young age of my children, DD5 and DS2 (first time I've attempted those abbreviations... I'm being turned to the dark side here).

Is it best to hit up morning EMH and then bail mid day?
Is it best to avoid EMH all together?
Or are both of the above wrong, and EMH does not significantly impact the crowd levels at all?

If it helps, we will be there during a somewhat slow time (dec 6-13th), however I have also read that nights they are doing extra events (like the Christmas party) also tend to inflate the parks levels. So I don't know. At this point it feels like if a Canadian Goose flies over me twice then that means park crowds will double.

 

[Reddog1134]

Most folks don't want to get up early enough to take advantage of morning EMH. So you can get a lot done early and then leave when crowds start getting heavy.

With evening EMH, the later the hours, the emptier the park gets.

EMH works really well with Park Hoppers.

 

[BrianL]

I am a big supporter of using the EMH that I am entitled to, especially during a less crowded period. Honestly, if the crowd level is low enough, it doesn't matter if that park is the least recommended, it still won't be that crowded (though crowded is relative). If you can hop, then that's even better as you can escape if crowds get too crazy. I always play to use my EMH time though.

 

[wdwjeffc37]

Park Hopper tickets are a must to make the best use of EMH. For AM EMH get there at rope drop, get as much done as you can, and when the park gets too crowded hop over to another park (depending on the time of day we might take a break at the resort). Use one of the wait time apps to see which park seems to be the least crowded. PM EMH are easier. The later it gets, the shorter the wait times get. Be aware that if you arrive at a park at closing time it can be hard to fight your way in against the crowd that is heading out. Also, remember that not all attractions are open for EMH. Find out what is open so you can make your plan. Good luck and have fun!

 

[wisblue]

To the OP, you might want to check out easywdw.com and look through their summaries for recommended park days for when you are visiting. Those discussions go through the pros and cons of going to the park that has EMH.

As others have said, if you have park hoppers, going to AM EMh can be great if you are there right when it opens to take advantage of the lower crowds. Then when the crowds get too large for your taste you can go to another park.

We are morning people, so we love to take advantage of AM EMH but rarely are up late enough for PM EMH.

 

[nat8199]

We skip morning EMH, but that is because we like to eat breakfast in the parks before opening.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

On our recent trip our parks days were all 3s and 4s. On the night of the MK EMH (12-2am) the park was insanely crowded from 8pm-12am. I'm talking 4th of July crowded. We bailed, but the reports were that when the clock struck midnight the place completely emptied out.

 

[Mikie]

I think the best caveat is "avoid EMH at all costs IF you're not going to take full advantage". If you get there at early rope drop and fully use that hour, along with the next couple of hours of park time before crowds are biggest, you still get a lot done with minimal lines. IF you are running late, or for sure if you sleep in, you've picked the park that has become crowded and you weren't there for any of the benefit.

Likewise, if you're not going to be able to make it through to closing with little ones, skip that park entirely on an EMH day to enjoy lower crowds at one of the other parks.

 

[Mikie]

Re: party days, I have gone during party season but never attended a party. My october park days were level 4-6 and we were in MK on a party day. It was fairly light crowds and we got a lot done through the morning and afternoon - crowds got very noticeably larger from 4-7 as party guests began arriving. One of the days we had eaten at chef Mickey and were passing back through MK on monorail to head to our resort bus right at about 7 - the crowd trying to leave MK because they were non-party guests was HUGE. CMs were doing a lot of pedestrian traffic control so that monorail people could cross the sidewalk before letting another huge flood of MK guests head toward buses.

 

[ZoZo]

To the OP, you might want to check out easywdw.com and look through their summaries for recommended park days for when you are visiting. Those discussions go through the pros and cons of going to the park that has EMH.

This is great advice. Josh at easywdw.com lists the reasons behind why he picks the parks that are recommended (or not recommended), and those reasons are very well thought-out, in my opinion. He often (but not always) recommends avoiding EMH parks. He even tells you that if you do decide to do an EMH (against the recommendations!), there's a strategy to do that (like going to an AM EMH then leaving when it gets crowded).

And as another poster suggests, be sure to check which rides are open dring the EMH - contrary to what you might assume, not all rides are open, especially in the MK for a morning EMH. We were very disappointed with our first EMH ever - it was MK in the morning. About half the rides were closed during EMH, and most of what was open were Fantasyland "kiddie"rides, which were not interesting to our group. It was very frstrating to know we got up at 6:00 am and were limited almost exclusively to things like Peter Pan.

 

[Shaden]

The theory craft of EMH goes something like this:

EMH itself is great, especially morning EMH. It gives you, as a resort guest, and advantage over other guests and extends your total potential park hours, thus increasing the value of your tickets.
EMH's really can be an awesome opportunity to get in, ride some stuff before it gets crazy.

I think (and correct me if I am wrong) there are only 15 000 potential Disney rooms that qualify for EMH, now, you figure out the math on how many people are staying there ... but to say the least its no where near capacity for the parks (as a whole, I guess they could fill a park though )

Anyway, not everyone goes, in fact, a minority does, so, its not a TON of people. If you are there, its going to be pretty good.

THE PROBLEM with EMHs (morning in particular) and why you will be told to steer clear:

So normally, you get a bunch of people to rope drop, not too many, we all know that's the best time to go, first couple hours in the parks are the best. BUT, if instead, the parks have essentially been open for some time, with the added lure of the perk of EMH (so perhaps drawing more than a simple rope drop does for on site guests) than at what would normally be park opening, attendance jumps rather than from Zero to RD level, but From EMH level to EMH Plus Off Site RDers level. From the entire calendar of the day is thrown off, at 10am the park is as busy as it should be at 11:30, at 11 its like its 1, etc. Remember crowds, and wait times, don't grow linearly, they grow exponentially. So if there is a greater number of people earlier in the morning for any reason, the whole rest of the day is going to be worse off (well, until the crowds start thinning out, then there are other impacts of EMH I would imagine) ....

So its a bit of a mind game, sure, EMH's are great, if you are going to EMH, but the day on the whole, will likely be worse.

Which is better ?? EMH and then park hop out of there at 10:30 or 11 ?

 

[AprilRenee]

Your last line about the Canadian goose made me laugh hysterically. DH was like "what?? What?!?" Haha. I think it's late and I need to go to bed. But yes, that's exactly how I feel at some point during my Disney planning. Lol

 

[Zhaan]

We always do EMH. I think the key to making it work for you is to be there before rope drop so you get that entire extra hour when it's less crowded and there are no FP lines slowing down stand-by. If you can't get up and out on time then it's not really worth it. Second, having a parkhopper or AP is also a good idea so that if it does get crowded later you can move to a less crowded park.

We happen to be early risers so getting there on time is trivial for us and you can get a lot done in that hour!

 

[PoohsFan1]

I normally don't schedule our plans around EMH, the only exception is when MK is open late (love evening EMH at MK). So with that said, for our upcoming trip we are only going to a park twice where there is EMH and both days are at MK. Our first full day MK is opened until 1am and on our last full day there is morning EMH, but I figured since we are going there at the end of January, the crowds won't be as bad as if it were going during peak time periods.

 

[TXTransplant]

We also always take advantage of am EMHs. It works well for us because we are early-morning people (although the 7 am EMH at AK on our last visit was a bit difficult, even for us!). Very rarely do we take advantage of evening EMHs because we are usually pretty tired by 9 pm or so, and I like to avoid the mad-rush out of the park at closing. I've provided my thoughts below, but I will admit, our visits have all been pre-FP+

We also don't park hop, and I have still found that am EMHs work for us, especially at MK and AK. Our visits have been during mid-May (moderate crowds) and at spring break in mid-March (heavy crowds). When my son was younger, am EMHs worked great at MK because we could get the low-capacity rides/long line rides (like Dumbo and Peter Pan) out of the way early. Once he got a older, we used them to head straight to Splash Mtn, where we were able to ride 4 or 5 times in a row with no wait (and could have done more). Even during a heavy-crowd time like spring break, I didn't feel the crowds got overwhelming until after lunch, and we used that time to see shows, play SotMK, and do a little shopping.

I think the am EMHs work well at AK because you can usually be one of the first riders on the safari. The ride itself is quite long and if you couple it with a long wait, it can really eat up a good portion of the morning. You can achieve a similar result, though, on a non-EMH day by booking an early breakfast at Tusker House (before the park officially opens for the day). You could use this same breakfast strategy at MK, too. We love AK, and since it closes much earlier compared to the other parks, I like to do am EMHs there just so I can get in as much park time as possible.

I can't recall whether or not DHS had am EMHs during any of our visits. I know we were there at rope drop, and I remember the crowds being quite large. Our strategy there was to head straight for TSMM, grab a FP, ride stand-by, and then use the FP for a second ride. With FP+, that's not really applicable anymore. I would think am EMHs here would be advantageous if you have a child who really wants to do the Jedi Training Academy.

I also can't recall if we ever had am EMHs at EPCOT. However, this is the least advantageous park for arriving early (whether it be for EMHs or regular rope drop). Because there are only two headliners in FW, there was always a crazy-mad rush to Soarin' or Test Track. We always hit Soarin' first and the length of the SB line vs the FP return time determined whether we rode SB or got a FP. Regardless, there was always a wait...never walk-on. By the time we got over to Test Track (our second ride) we were typically relegated to FP, which meant we had to kill time by walking BACK over to the Living Seas or doing Universe of Energy. The whole process was very inefficient. I'm not a fan of the FP+ system (mainly because it forces you to buy non-refundable park tickets 60 days in advance to be able to use FP+), but I can see where it would be a huge advantage in EPCOT. I don't think am EMHs are all that helpful here.

In summary, I found am EMHs very useful at MK and AK and not as much at EPCOT and DHS. Also, since our visits typically include two days at MK and two days at AK (with one day each at EPCOT and DHS), we can tour a little more "leisurely" at those two parks (ie, any crowd increases in the afternoon don't really affect us).

 

[eXo]

Thank you to everyone for your input. A lot of variable advice (but I expected that), more importantly though was advice on the best ways to make it work.

It seems that those who go all the time shy away from it. Those who don't get to Disney on a constant basis do use it, however they often use park hopper to bail between 11 and noon.

The breakdown that Shaden provided made complete sense, and I can definitely see how it impacts the rest of the day at the park.

In my case, I'll be there with a 5 year old and a 2 year old, so the fact that only 'kiddie' rides are open is perfectly fine with me (this may be an unpopular opinion, but as a roller coaster enthusiast, I find all the rides at MK to be 'kiddie rides').

That said, I do plan on doing ADR's for Cinderella's Castle and The Crystal Palace for breakfast, so I will have to do those on days that MK is not allowing EMH, otherwise we'll be eating during the one hour that makes the most sense to be enjoying the park.

EMH at AK does seem to make a lot of sense to me. As it stands, I think we may do a half day there at most. The kids will enjoy the safari ride, but beyond that - there isn't a ton left for them. The animal exhibits aren't much better than what we have here at our local Dallas and Ft Worth zoos honestly. And neither of them will be up for Everest or Dinosaur (I remember Dinosaur being pretty intense when I went to AK 4 or 5 years ago). So that just leaves the triceratop spinner ride and maybe the lion king live.

I also agree that EMH at Epcot doesn't make too much sense for us. The World Pavilions don't open until 11am I believe, so that just puts you in the front of the park for 3 hours or so with nothing to really do for this age group other than the sea pavilion and the land pavilions boat ride. Originally I had considered skipping Epcot totally with the kids, but decided later it would be fun to take my 5 year old "around the world". I may consider doing an EMH AK morning with a park hopper to Epcot that evening. I have a feeling that we would be able to see everything we want to see at a fairly leisurely pace in one day at both parks with that age group.

DHS appears to be the variable here. Other than TSM, most of the other stuff appears to be live shows, and I'm guessing EMH doesn't benefit those much as I doubt they run extra showings in that first hour. Might be good to look at shops and stuff though in order to keep more available time for the shows. DHS is the one park I've never been too, so it is a lot more difficult for me to plan that one out. I look forward to getting within a year of my trip, as then I'll be able to look at crowd calenders and other resources and actually start planning some of this.

Thank you again for all of your input!

 

[fnm]

when i go, it's usually two of us in our 20s so we're not really up for the morning emhs. the evening ones though are amazing, and like a lot of people said, everything clears out especially the parents with young kids. that said, we still waited about 90 minutes in line for soarin' one night on emh at epcot and that was nowhere near worth it

 

[stephm0188]

We hit up morning EMHs and then hop to another park when we feel like it's getting a little more crowded than we'd like.

We don't do evening EMHs often because I do feel like they tend to draw a crowd. If we're up for it, we'll go, but evening EMHs are just not something I factor into our plans.

 

[soniam]

We love AM EMH at RD Really we do; just thought all of the acronyms looked funny. Anyway, we try to do it at MK, DHS, and Epcot. DS is 8. We often stay until closing, especially at MK. We get a lot done and have the afternoon free to go to another park, repeat rides, get more FP+, shop, snack, or go back to the hotel and swim. We always avoid hopping to a park in the afternoon that had AM EMH.

 

[aubeone]

We rarely use EMH...but FP+ and my upcoming trip is changing that!

I am traveling with my "buds" over MLK weekend. I have a solo day on Thursday and plan to hit Magic Kingdom morning EMH for rope drap. I will use my FP+ for late monrning/lunch time...eat lunch and head back to my resort. I anticipate that I will be able to get quite a bit done and be in the pool or getting massage by 2 or 3 PM.

My buddies arrive late Thursday night...Rope Drop "anywhere on Friday" will not work. Epcot has EMH Late hours on Friday. After a nice late breakfast we will do the afternoon and evening at Epcot. I will FP Soarin or Test Track and Mission Space...we will then use those extra hours to do "Drinks Around the World."

The boys really want to do Hollywood Studios on Saturday which has morning EMH. Still working on the plan.

Sunday will be reserved for Football and the ESPN Zone...Hoping for a VIP Package.