Unofficial Guide Best days or EMH park?

[BlueFairy]

Do you have better luck with crowds by following the Unofficial Guide's recommendation for the best day to visit a certain park? Does it make that much of a difference? I notice that most times they say to "avoid" a park when it is scheduled for EMH that day because most resort guests will go to that park. Or do you find that doing EMH (esp. in the mornings) is worth it and a better bet than the "best days" calendar?
Thanks!

 

[CM Tinkerbell]

I know most people say to avoid the EMH parks, but we love taking advantage of the early openings. Especially at MK. We have always been able to get most of the Fantasyland and Tomorrowland attractions done before the big crowds begin pouring in. We just plan on leaving around 10:30 or 11:00 AM and head to another park for the day.

 

[Goofy Rulz]

I do try to avoid the days of the week that the guide books suggest (don't do MK on a Monday) but that is of little use during their busy season as it is crowded every day of the week. The best advice out of those books is which rides to hit first, which part of the park to go to first and which rides/shows to use the Fast Pass on. If you follow that, you'll see as much as you can on any given day. That helped us during our last visit.
P.S.: If you are doing Fantasmic @ MGM tie that in with a dinner package at Hollywood & Vine or Brown Derby and you can avoid waiting in line for 60-90 minutes to see the show.

 

[dizcrazee]

I have been researching this topic for the past several weeks. It's more complicated than you might think...and I've attempted to analyze and summarize what I've read to develop our itinerary. I've tried to combine all the best advice from the boards with what the Unofficial Guide says, and this is what I've come up with:

1. Morning EMH is worth using at MK if you can hop to another park around 10:30 to avoid the extra crowds AND if you are particularly interested in the attractions in Fantasy Land and Tomorrow Land (these are the only ones open).

2. Morning EMH is not worth using at EP, MGM, and AK unless you are particularly interested in the few attractions available. Again, it is advisable to hop to another park when the crowds arrive.

3. If you plan to use morning EMH, you need to be there when they open the park (actually, this applies even when you're not using morning EMH and are visiting on a regular day).

3. If you are not interested in using the morning EMH at a given park, don't want to leave at 10:30, or don't have the hopping option, go to another park - preferably one that is not having evening EMH either. However, some people have said that evening EMH doesn't seem to affect the crowd level in that park in the a.m.

4. Evening EMH is only worth using at MK in the slow seasons OR if you can stay until the last hour (crowds thin substantially then). Apparently, at peak times evening EMH can be packed at MK.

5. Evening EMH is always a good option at EP. Evening EMH at MGM or AK is "iffy" depending on the season.

6. A good time to visit a park appears to be the morning after they've had evening EMH.

So based on these principles, when we go in May we will do the following:
1. Go to MK on morning EMH days and hop to a non-evening hours park at 10:30.
2. Visit the other parks on their Unofficial Guide "best day" or on "morning after" days and be there at open.
3. Stay for evening EMH at EP only.

Of course, our plan is based on our particular needs with a young child. We want to do Fantasy Land extensively but we don't care about riding most of the "big draw" attractions that are open at the other parks on morning EMH.

Big Disclaimer: This is based only on what I've read in the Unofficial Guide and in the discussion boards. Although I've based this on what it appeared that the majority of posters were advising, I may have something wrong! Please correct me if anyone sees that one of my conclusions is in error. I promise I won't be offended...this obsessive/compulsive project of mine is a work in progress! I know I'm a big nerd for being so detailed and meticulous, but I can't seem to help it...

 

[BlueFairy]

Dizcrazee - Thanks!! That pretty much describes exactly my strategy from past experience, the Unofficial Guide and these boards. I thought maybe someone who's put it to the test can tell us what they think. We too have a small child (infant) so early mornings at MK are tops on our list. Unfortunately there won't be an EPCOT evening EMH during our trip. I'll have to put MK evening EMH down as a "maybe" for the grownups.

Goofy Rulz - I guess I need a touring plan. We've never used one before, but we'll give it a shot with the little one. Also, thanks for the reminder about Fantasmic.

 

[dizcrazee]

BlueFairy, you've helped to confirm that my research and planning is leading me in the right direction...thanks! My DH thinks it's so funny that I treat a trip to WDW like a scientific research project, but I'm convinced that there's a "best game plan" out there, and I'm determined to find it! Of course, once you get down there, there's always those "unforeseen factors" that put a monkey wrench in all the careful planning!

Hopefully, we'll get some more valuable feedback from this thread!

 

[firefly72]

Can I make a suggestion to you both? Check out www.tourguidemike.com. There is a fee to join-you can get a discount code at www.themouseforless.com and it will cost around $18. I joined a couple of weeks ago and I am so glad I did. He had SO much information on his site and lots of tips on planning your itineraries...right down to specifically which parks you should go do on your vacation dates.

I have planned my entire trip using his site, my DH thinks I'm having an affair with Tour Guide Mike!!!

Happy Planning!

 

[dizcrazee]

Thanks for the tip on the "Tourguide Mike" site. I'm definitely going to check it out! It sounds great!

I just love the planning part...it's just the actual WAITING that I find hard to deal with!

 

[firefly72]

Thanks for the tip on the "Tourguide Mike" site. I'm definitely going to check it out! It sounds great!

I just love the planning part...it's just the actual WAITING that I find hard to deal with!

I'm right with you! To me its all part of the magic!!!

 

[dizenthusiast]

I know a lot of people think it works well to do the morning EMH at the MK and then hop someplace else later in the morning, but to me this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, unlelss you're just going to Epcot to visit the World Showcase.

If you think about it, during the busy season the FP's for Soarin can be gone by 11 or 11:30, Rock n Roller Coaster FP's can be gone early as well, and it's probably certain that once Expedition Everest opens, its FP's will run out early too. By the time you hop from the MK to one of these other parks, you risk not being able to ride some of these attractions without a significant wait!

It seems like you're better off just sticking with one park the entire day, and visiting that park the day after it's EMH.

 

[airtime]

Wow - I'm glad I almost always visit WDW in January! These descriptions of park activity in peak times seem frightening.

Tim, who is painstakingly waiting for January 19, 2007!

 

[dizcrazee]

A good point, dizenthusiast. I think on the two days that we plan to go to morning EMH at MK, we will take the mid-day break until late afternoon and then go to Epcot and tour WS for the evening. During the time we'll be there, EP evening EMH is paired with MK morning EMH twice, so we will plan to use both morning & evening EMH on both of those days. That way we won't have to worry about arriving late at the second park and missing out on the fastpasses, since we'll be focusing on WS on those evenings. We'll do futureworld on a Unoff. Guide "best days" morning, I think.

Have you been to WS during an evening EMH, by the way? I've heard the crowd level is generally ok, but I'm always looking to hear another person's opinion.

 

[dizenthusiast]

Have you been to WS during an evening EMH, by the way? I've heard the crowd level is generally ok, but I'm always looking to hear another person's opinion.

I haven't been to the WS during the evening EMH, but when I visited FW during its evening EMH last June, it was incredibly crowded. There was a HUGE line just to get FP's for Soarin', and its standby line was LONG as well. You could basically get a FP for Soarin' and ride it later in the evening, but of course that meant that you would have to wait for Test Track. In other words, you could get on ONE ride with the FP, but would have to wait for the others. It seemed like an awful lot of work for just one ride.

To me it seemed to work better to just do FW in the morning, as you suggest, when you can get on all of the popular attractions with minimal waiting, assuming you're using a decent touring strategy.

Given that the EMH's also impact how much "rest and relaxation" you can fit in between park viisits, to me they're just not worth it...

 

[dizcrazee]

Airtime, I've been there when the crowd was so thick I literally couldn't move three inches in any direction! Right there on Main Street! It did scare me...I kept thinking about this Who concert I remember hearing about where some people got trampled to death when the doors to the building were opened. That's what it felt like trying to get to the monorail to leave!

I don't mind crowds, I don't mind waiting in lines (too much), but I don't ever want to feel TRAPPED like that again! Thus, I'm making darn sure I avoid the worst times of year and worst days so that I don't get in that situation again. I'm taking my child out of school a week early just to try and avoid some of the summer rush!

 

[dizcrazee]

I got cha, disenthusiast. This is basically what the Unofficial Guide advises, stay away from EMH altogether if you can. Point well taken and is under consideration...thanks!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Well I am just starting to put together our July trip. Since I am a teacher and DD#1 is taking summer gym, we are limited to that busy month, although after the 4th.
We will have a whole week. My plans include doing each park for at least one morning EMH--mainly to do the "commando" thing--get Soarin, TT and MS our of the way at Epcot, Fantasyland and frontierland at MK, R&R and ToT at MGM, and Everest at AK (in fact my itinerary for our 2nd day starts with "EMH AK--Everest 1st thing"--I'm guessing the lines will be so ridiculous that we'll have to head there to get a decent FP or wait). After a few hours we will take a break and hop to a less crowded park. I don't know if I have any evening EMH parks, maybe MK because I LOVE MK and we are at the Poly anyway.
This way we can "commando" the hot ticket rides, but have another few hours on another day to get on the other attractions and soak up the atmosphere without panicking that we didn't get on one of the big ones.
BTW any feedback on the evening EMH at typhoon lagoon? Is it wall-to-wall? They close at 7 normally, so I am wondering if they are open until 9 or 10 on that day.
Robin M.

 

[jann1033]

we go to emh at each park at least once but we go off season so the difference in crowds on emh day is negliegable. the only time/ place i wouldn't go is weekends we steer clear of MK unless we have to in order to to see wishes or something

however...unless you are going peak season imo it's kind of a waste to leave at 10:30. you always lose in travel time so if you are going when the parks are not busy( didn't notice anything saying when you are going) i'd just stay till you are done. we hit the most popular things first then by afternoon when it is getting busier go to attractions that hold tons of people or are not so popular. however it is totally different peak and off peak ( we'd never go peak again, to hot & to crowded) and unfortunatly tour books don't seem to take that into account a lot of times. it you are going to leave mid morning i'd try to go nearby like epcot and mgm if at all possible since you will probably have a moderately long wait for a bus. our longest wait last time was after am emh at epcot...we very nearly missed our boma breakfast adr due to the bus not coming for well over 20 mins.( took us close to an hr to get to akl from epcot) i think a cm actually called a bus eventually or we might still be waiting for one
the only time we leave mid day is when we are redoing attractions for the second day. then we leave mgm after tot and rnr and usually head for epcot.

 

[mybgirl]

Evening EMH is always a good option at EP. Evening EMH at MGM or AK is "iffy" depending on the season.


HI, how would OCT, BE FOR EMH night at MGM AND AK


THANK YOU

MARY AND DS

 

[MICKEEP]

We followed the UG Best days on our recent trip the week before Christmas. never waited more than 15-20 minutes for anything and thought the parks were relatively empty, even on Christmas day. On Chrismas Day the UG said to stay away from MK and Epcot. We went to MGM in the evening and found it pretty empty. Fantasmic was only 1/3 full.

This is the same week where I have read others post on the dis that the parks were packed. Maybe they didn't us the UG.

Stayed away from all EMH's that week except EMH evening for AK and that worked out real good.

 

[BlueFairy]

We followed the UG Best days on our recent trip the week before Christmas. never waited more than 15-20 minutes for anything and thought the parks were relatively empty, even on Christmas day. On Chrismas Day the UG said to stay away from MK and Epcot. We went to MGM in the evening and found it pretty empty. Fantasmic was only 1/3 full.

This is the same week where I have read others post on the dis that the parks were packed. Maybe they didn't us the UG.

Stayed away from all EMH's that week except EMH evening for AK and that worked out real good.

That is exactly what I needed to hear. We are going for 2/24-3/3. That is the weekend after Pres. Day. Didn't have a choice on our dates. So I think if I use Best Days that will work nicely.

We will probably have to park hop simply because DD is so young and we plan to break for naps, though it will more likely be around 1 or so. Then our evening park is always EPCOT on the nights we go back out (we are at an EPCOT resort) except one night back to MK for Spectro.