To use extra magic hours or not to use...

[racheleich]

that is my question.

My mom, sister, and I are heading down to WDW end of Feb/beginning of March and decided to stay on-site at OKW (rented points). One of our rationales was that we'd get at least 10 extra hours of park time over the 4 1/2 days. Now as I'm planning what parks/which days, I'm hearing that we should avoid the park that's having extra hours. Is that good advice?

We are planning on getting 5 day park hopper passes. So, should we go to another park during the day and then at night to the park having extra hours? 3 hours at night seems like a lot of time to not take advantage of it.

(I should also say that we're all adults and can be kind of night owls.)

Thanks for your advice!

 

[glencoe]

bump-I would love the opinions on this as well!!

 

[tubachick]

We are leaving shortly, and I have read advice on both sides. We could hop during the day and end up at the extra hour park -- do you still need a wrist band to stay the extra hours???

 

[GoofyBanker]

No doubt about it, use the extra hours. I think the early entry was not so great, but the late night would be really good I think if you don't have young kids with you. Most people will have the kiddies in the sack while you are enjoying the extra park hours.

 

[QueenOfCelts]

All I can offer you are some of my observations.

People with children tend to leave the parks in the afternoon/early evening BUT alot of them come back to the park that is staying open late or has some sort of parade/show (SpectroMagic) they want to see. I have noticed you think the park is emptying and then is slowly starts to build back up around 6-7.

The park that has the extra hours is likely to be the choice of resort guests who don't over analyze like we do, LOL...... for the day, thats not to say they won't leave.

Extra hours definitely come in handy! You can get alot done in three hours when there are only resort guests at the park with you.

I say try it and if it's not working out, make sure to have a Plan B schedule.

 

[glencoe]

thanks for the info, I have our trip planned around those little extra 3 hours. The morning is not my interest, but I will be one of those who drags the kids back in for the evening! since we are staying on monorail, I will bring them back mid day, let them swim, feed them, rest them a little and back we go! I hope they realize my plan and cooperate!
They better cooperate, I have PS's planned on certain days to coordinate w/ magic hours. Do I sound insane, well maybe a little, I feel like I am studying for a final! Enjoy.....I PLAN on enjoying our trip too.
Thanks

 

[turnerx5]

On our November, 2004 trip, we found the parks to be MUCH more crowded on early entry days - and we were there early at park opening. On the non EMH day we were @ MK (Wed), most rides were walk ons till 11:30am. The next day, the EMH day, we went back and there were 20-30 minute waits on the open rides by 9:30am. Your milage may vary, but we found EMH to be a negative, not a positive.

 

[kimmar067]

We are leaving shortly, and I have read advice on both sides. We could hop during the day and end up at the extra hour park -- do you still need a wrist band to stay the extra hours???

...in the answer to this also. The only day we plan on rising early is SS day, when we will be heading to AK EARLY. How do we get into the parks past the 'official' hours?? (BTW - we ARE staying on-site!)

 

[QueenOfCelts]

On our November, 2004 trip, we found the parks to be MUCH more crowded on early entry days - and we were there early at park opening. On the non EMH day we were @ MK (Wed), most rides were walk ons till 11:30am. The next day, the EMH day, we went back and there were 20-30 minute waits on the open rides by 9:30am. Your milage may vary, but we found EMH to be a negative, not a positive.

Our family stays away from the parks with the EMH's also.

 

[glencoe]

Our family stays away from the parks with the EMH's also.

EMH morning and night hours or just the morning hours kill the park? My hope is that w/ 3 hours in the eve, it is long enough to disperse people? Am I just dreaming? Have you found the parks are crazy w/ both the morning and eve EMH or just the am? thanks!!

 

[kimmar067]

...you DEFINITELY need a wristband to get in a park after it 'closes'??

 

[QueenOfCelts]

EMH morning and night hours or just the morning hours kill the park? My hope is that w/ 3 hours in the eve, it is long enough to disperse people? Am I just dreaming? Have you found the parks are crazy w/ both the morning and eve EMH or just the am? thanks!!

We avoid the early ones all together. The evening ones, if we are interested, we go THAT park later in the day. For example: Let's say Tuesday has EMH am at Epcot and EMH pm at MGM. We would go to MK or AK in the morning and then go over to MGM after midday rest at around 5-6. The thing is though, we are allowed to hop (annual passes), some people can't so they may decide that that they are more interested in MGM and just spend all day there.....

The big decision maker for us is a possibly crowded park in exchange for 1 extra hour or 3 extra hours. The 3 extra hours will win every time, LOL.....

 

[jlowejd5]

I whole-heartedly recommend the evening hours. The last time we were there (this is back when the extra hours cost you $10 a person) we were able to bypass the MK "biggies" during the day we were there (Space, Splash, and BT Mountains, Haunted Mansion, Buzz, etc). Just that saved us probably four hours of just standing in line. Used that extra time to do a lot of things that I had never been able to do before, because I was always worried about not getting onto Space Mountain.

We then went back two nights later for the extra hours, and did all of those and more in just a couple of cooler, much less crowded hours. Just be aware that if you go back to MK towards the end of the day, there's a good chance you're going to be faced with the daunting task of getting past 30,000 people sitting in a three block area waiting for the parade. CMs try their hardest to keep the walkways clear, but there's only so much they can do. My best tip? All those shops along Main Street are interconnected. Get inside, and you'll end up coming out on the other side unscathed. Won't take you as long, and much less chance of stepping on somebody's kid.

 

[BigAl]

My experience has been that it does pay off to go to the park that opens an hour earlier for resort guests, if you are an earlier riser and arrive at that park 30 to 60 minutes prior to its opening time for resort guests, i.e. if the park opens at 9:00 regularly and 8:00 for resort guests then be there no later than 7:30. It especially pays off at AK, go first to the safari ride because the animals are more active in the morning and you will see more of them.

If I am running late I avoid that park, and if I have gone early to that park I leave at about 10 or 11 that morning as it begins to get busy. By that time I've pretty much done most of the big rides anyway.

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

I don't know about late hours but early entry days are awful. The plan was to get there early so that DH could ride Space mountain right away. We only got to do this as we were given a front of line pass as the CM realised it was our honeymoon. When he came out of the ride, everywhere was so crowded and we couldnt move - NEVER AGAIN!!

 

[kimmar067]

...are the EMH posted for February??

 

[beequeen]

My DS (age 20) and his girlfriend like to stay up late (unlike the rest of the family). They REALLY enjoyed being at the parks after regular hours. We were there last Thanksgiving and MK was open till midnight and they had a blast. They were able to walk on all the rides. I recommend it if you are a night owl.

 

[Polly Juice]

The problem with early entry is that folks think they can get to the parks before 8:00am and then show up late and they are done for. We just came back 2-12-05. The early entry days had changed from what I had planned and I already had all my priority seatings and so had to go with the flow. We did one early entry at MK. Tomorrowland and Fantasyland were open. We did Buzz first, then space. Counterintuitive I know, but it really worked. We did Buzz twice in a row by the way. Then off to Winnie the Pooh as that ride is a pain later in the day without fast pass. We were at Frontierland at 9:00 when it opened. We did Thunder about 3 times then headed to Splash which was empty because it was cold and no one wanted to get wet yet. After about 12:00 Fantasyland was very crowded but by then we had done all the big rides and wandered quite leisurely. I wasn't aware of the late park hours before we left - how did I miss that?! We didn't need the late hours. In the off season if you are there at park opening and tour efficiently you'll be ready to go back to the room and stay there and you will have ridden and watched everything. Also consider weather and temperatures. It was down right cold last week. When the sun went down and the wind picked up I wanted to be inside even with hat, gloves and scarf! I would imagine during the warm months it would be just the opposite. Have a wonderful trip.

 

[Golf4food]

What if you aren't a thrill seeker and don't ride Space Mountain, Mission Space, etc?

Would you still recommend avoiding the EMH parks on their early days? DW and I will be down end of March staying at CBR and had planned on doing EC on Monday for their early hour, then MGM on Tuesday for their early hour and MK on Wednesday for the late hours. Should we switch EC and MGM to avoid the crowds? Are the crowds really that much smaller on non-EMH days or is it only an optical illusion?

 

[EthansMom]

in my opinion, if you can get to a park before it opens for Early Entry, it isn't too bad. Get on a few of the more popular rides with little to no wait. If the park gets crowded (usually closer to lunch, when I go in the off-season), we get out then, take an afternoon break and head to a different park after dinner.

We loved E-ticket nights, when WDW had those (pay $10 extra and stay 3 hours more). No lines and plenty of rides to go on.

Now that we have young children, there's little probability of making it to a park for Early Opening and they won't last for Late Hours, so we'll be avoiding those parks on the next visit.

Be forewarned, ONLY CERTAIN RIDES/ATTRACTIONS ARE OPEN for early entry and late hours. Check out www.allearsnet.com for a list of which parks have which attractions open for special hours. The list really drove home what a waste it would be to take young children -- little to nothing open for the toddler set.

I believe that site also has information about where you get your wristbands to stay late.

Enjoy your trip!

EthansMom