Unofficial Guide Best days or EMH park?

[GucciGirl]

What is open for kids to see in the evening at EPcot. Next Friday when I am going to Disney EPcot will be open till 12am. What can the kids do up until that late? Is it too dark to see anything?

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

Guys I'm missing something, what the heck is EMH????

 

[johnvree]

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.

Thanks for the analysis dizcrazee. The only thing that I would add is that, in May, you can definitely stay at MK on EMH morning longer than 10:30 and still avoid long wait times.

May is not a very busy time so crowds will never get that large. At 10:30 crowds will be building but most rides will still not have long waits. I would say grab a fast pass at 10:30 for a headliner attraction (like Splash Mountain). At 10:30, your return time will only be about an hour to 90 minutes away. While waiting for your return time, hit a couple of minor attractions in the area, which will have no lines yet. Then use your fastpass around noon. Make a ADR for around 1:00 and then leave the park around 2:00. We did this in May 2004 and had very little wait time.

 

[MICKEEP]

Guys I'm missing something, what the heck is EMH????

Extra Magic Hours which are extended park hours for WDW resort guests. Different parks, different days sometimes in the morning sometimes at night. Schedule is available many places including the official WDW site.

 

[BlueFairy]

AAcck! Now Unofficial Guide has changed their Best Days calendar. There are many changes Mardi Gras week. Back to the drawing board!
Calling - Len Testa - I wonder if you could shed some light on the changes. I see that ESPN weekend moved. Can I go with my original plan using the old calendar if I avoid MGM on those days? Or do the changes in the recommendations reflect other issues I need to consider. (BTW we are avoiding all "avoid" parks on those days.)

 

[MICKEEP]

The UG Best Days keep changing. I would print out an updated copy from their site just before you leave.

 

[dismom9761]

The UG Best Days keep changing. I would print out an updated copy from their site just before you leave.

That is why it is so hard to make ADRs so far in advance.

 

[BlueFairy]

I think so too, but then we're only 4 weeks away. I thought hours, EMH and so on would be pretty tied down by now.

 

[dizcrazee]

I agree, it does make it hard to plan when they keep changing the EMH days!

johnvree - thanks for your suggestions. I like your ideas, I think that would work very well for us.

 

[BlueFairy]

Well, EMH days are the same for my dates, but touringplans.com has ESPN Weekend moved to 2/25, which contradicts the official WDW page. I think I need to sit tight for a little while on my original plan.

 

[lentesta]

Yeah, sit tight on ESPN The Weekend - let me check that out. I'll verify them tonight. Sorry about that.

With respect to the Best Days calendar, we tried to greatly simplify the logic used to make recommendations. This iteration of the Crowd Calendar uses something like 6 rules, and they're all listed on our Crowd Blog page (sorry, can't post link), along with why we use the rules. They're largely based on the recent data collection we've done in the parks, especially the whole "which day of the week is best" research that took up most of 2005.

I'm perfectly happy having a public discussion on any aspect of these rules, including the how's and why's. I'd love to hear everyone's input on them, too. If someone wants to start a separate thread, I think that's the best way to go.

BlueFairy, your idea to park hop to Epcot is great, and follows the park hopping rules we recommend in the book. Also agree with others who speculate 10:30 am is too early to leave MK. 11:30 to noon-ish might be a better estimate, but see where you are in the plan and how everyone is feeling. If it's 10:30 and you think you're an hour away from leaving, I wouldn't panic.

For the best days recommendations, let me get the ESPN thing updated, and I'll post back with any changes. Again, I'm sorry for missing that.

Len

 

[Mom2AAA's]

Last summer was our first experience with the evening EMH. We used it a MK and it was great!! We went to dinner at Whispering Canyons and then headed over to MK, once the park was officially closed to non resort persons it really cleared out ( it was late the park stayed open util 2 am) so the families with small kids were gone too. We walked on Splash Mountain three time with no wait! It is worth it, but there is nothing like being at MK when it opens and to see the characters ride up on the train to welcome you in. ( although I do miss when we could stand on main street and look up at the castle and wait to be welcomed in )

We also head back to the resort around lunch time ( if we go early ) relax have a swim and then head back to the parks later.

 

[BlueFairy]

Thanks Len. I'll wait to hear back about the calendar.
I think no matter what that calendar will help us tremendously.

 

[lentesta]

Here's the update for March 3-5 for ESPN The Weekend:

March 3 Best: MK AK Avoid: EP DS

March 4 Best: MK EP Avoid: DS

March 5 Best: EP Avoid: MK DS

Good days for DS in that timeframe are Feb 27, 28. "Neutral" days are March 1st and 2nd. I'll post a corrected calendar this evening.

Hope this helps.

Len

 

[BlueFairy]

Thanks Len.
That info helps a lot. I was actually more interested in the effect that change will have on the 2/24 - 2/26 weekend. I'll refer to the calendar tonight.

 

[labdogs42]

Thanks for the analysis dizcrazee. The only thing that I would add is that, in May, you can definitely stay at MK on EMH morning longer than 10:30 and still avoid long wait times.

May is not a very busy time so crowds will never get that large. At 10:30 crowds will be building but most rides will still not have long waits. I would say grab a fast pass at 10:30 for a headliner attraction (like Splash Mountain). At 10:30, your return time will only be about an hour to 90 minutes away. While waiting for your return time, hit a couple of minor attractions in the area, which will have no lines yet. Then use your fastpass around noon. Make a ADR for around 1:00 and then leave the park around 2:00. We did this in May 2004 and had very little wait time.

Thanks for this info. I'm going in May as well and I like hearing that it won't be crazy crowded!!

 

[traciedee]

We go from June 5-12. How do I find the calendar that shows me the best days/times to go to certain parks?

 

[lentesta]

Calendar has been updated online. Sorry for the inconvenience. If anyone sees anything else, please drop me a line: len@touringplans.com.

Thanks again for the help!

Len Testa

 

[MICKEEP]

We go from June 5-12. How do I find the calendar that shows me the best days/times to go to certain parks?

Here you go:

http://www.touringplans.com/BestDays.htm