Were Early Hours worth it for your family?

[Huntava]

There are only two days during our upcoming trip that we would be able to do the "Early Hours"...at Epcot and MGM. How does the early admittance work? I think I have read you get in at 7am instead of 8am, is that correct? We are planning on spending one whole day each at a park, so I don't know if an extra hour is really worth it for us, since we have toddlers and won't be able to take them on many rides. What has been your experience with taking advantage of the early hours?

 

[helenk]

Normally the parks open at 9:00, this means the the EMH would start at 8:00.
I like to use the hour, but then I do not have young children.
We like to get to the park, ride the rides that are open and then take a break.
If the attractions that are open are of interest to your family then I would say use the extra hour.
If your children can not ride what is open, the I would say sleep in a bit those days.
Here is a link to the attractions that are open in each park for EMH
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/earlyentry.htm

 

[AngieWin]

We did the early hours at Disneyland in March. My ds was 21 months old at that time. We took advantage of the non-existant lines in Fantasyland for that hour. It was very worth it to get to do those rides (Dumbo, Peter Pan) and not have to wait in the lines. As much as he loved Dumbo, I don't think I would make a toddler wait in that line if it was long. Check out what rides are available and what rides your toddler will be able to go on. If you can save time by riding in the morning and not waiting in the line, you will have a much happier toddler!

 

[beattyfamily]

It's worth it if you can get there right at opening but it gets busy within two hours.

We did EE at MK and got a lot done that first hour. We went to Epcot EE Monday but at around 10:30a and it was PACKED and very busy. At 11:30a the Fastpass return time for Soarin was 2:15p! All Fastpasses were gone by 3:15p.

The wait for Test Track was 30 minutes and 20 minutes for Mission Space. It just got busier and buiser as they day went on. At 2:45p the wait for Soarin was 70 minutes...at 11:30a it was 60 minutes.

I say do it if you can get there at opening, if not avoid that park.

 

[allie&mattsmom]

Oh yes, the early hours were great for us. It made a huge difference. Now the late extra hours on the other hand were an absolute nightmare in our experience. The crowds were unbelievable!

 

[HappyMommy2]

Are your kids normally early risers? Mine usually are so the early hours are a natural fit for us, and they DO make a big difference in how many rides you can go on with minimal wait times.

I just noticed, though, that your early EMHs would be for MGM and Epcot. There isn't a whole lot for toddlers at those parks during EMH, so that might factor into your decision. With our toddlers we have had the best success with early EMH at Magic Kingdom (don't forget babies and toddlers can ride almost every single ride there) but we generally skip early EMH at the other parks except for maybe MGM where we babyswap for Tower of Terror and RockNRollercoaster.

Have fun! Disney with toddlers is truly magical.

 

[goodferry]

If you are planning on staying in the same park all day, I would avoid EMH. We take advantage of them, but we leave before lunch and move to another park or back to the room, it gets soooo crowded a couple hours after opening, and it you aren't there at the very begining of EMH, it's not worth it at all.

 

[susykt4]

DD5 and DS2 are early risers. Our last trip was during a fairly busy spring break week. We went to MK before open on a NON early entry day and walked onto everything in Fantasyland, were done by shortly after 10 (when ToonTown opens) and got multiple rides on Goofy's roller coaster and short waits for character lines. We ate at Cosmic Ray's about 11:15am and by the time we were done eating the park was PACKED and we left until evening. We went back to MK before open on an early entry day and while we did walk onto several rides, the park was REALLY PACKED before 10am.

I avoided early entry at the other parks but had great luck at Epcot and MGM by going the morning after their late hours. We went before opening to Animal Kingdom on a late hours day and had a wonderful morning, but the place was packed by noon.

My next trip is in early January. Crowds will likely be lower than they were last April, but I still plan to avoid ALL extra hours parks when possible. With little kids and two strollers it just wasn't worth it for us.

 

[egoldber]

I think the MK EMH days are well worth it since most of Fantasyland is open. EMH at AK is good too to get the safari out of the way early. But at Epcot and MGM none of the attractions for small children are open during EMH, so I don't think they are particularly worthwhile.

Here's a link to what's open during EMH:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/calendar/extraMagicHour?id=CalendarExtraMagicHoursPage