Which Early Magic Hours are the most beneficial?

[donalds friend]

I have to force my family to do rope drop so we have always avoided Early Magic Hours parks. This they are usually willing to do around 3. I thought I would attempt to do Early Magic Hours in May (5-11). Which parks do you think are more worthwhile when doing early hours?

I have decided this trip I may go to rope drop on my own and let the rest sleep in. Kids are adults now so we can go four separate times if needed and meet up when everyone gets there!

 

[Robo]

AM EMH?
All of them.

But, I'd say, in approximate order...
DAK
DHS
MK
Epcot

(And, that order can change based on your individual
preference in "must-do" attractions.)

I need to point out for those who don't know
that not ALL attractions are open during EMH.

 

[chris benton]

The most beneficial emh, imo is the am emh that you are on time for, and not late. If you get there late, you get what's coming to you. If you get there early, your reward is a chill day while everyone else is waiting in long lines in the heat. Works nice for same day fp's, too. It depends what you'd like to get done, too. If you have no interest in the attractions open for emh, then who cares? A decent number of ppl do like most of them, though. I'm also a hopper, early riser, and I stay epcot area, so am emh, and then hopping is an absolute must. Travel time for dhs and ep is like 15 minutes, so hopping is simple for us. Am emh is pretty much mandatory for us, but PM EMH on the other hand - generally a no go.

 

[pooh2001]

We like AM EMH -then FP some rides after 9:30 AM - have a TS lunch, then go back to the resort to use the pool / relax.
Maybe go back out in the evening (with a new set of FP's) same or different park .
It all depends where you are staying - off site may be a bit more difficult for our plan.

 

[shocker]

To answer your thread question...the one you'll go to

AND, the earliest of them. So if a park opens at 9 & EMH is at 8, then you'll have several (but still fraction) of the eligible people show up. If a park opens at 8 & EMH is at 7, you'll hit a proverbial jackpot. Not many willing to board a bus around 6 am to make rope drop for that. Same is true for late night EMH, if EMH ends at 11pm you'll have a lot more attendance than an EMH that ends at 3am.

 

[DisVegas]

Animal Kingdom @ 7am helped with getting into Pandora. However, I got there at 6:30 am on January 2 and the line was insane to get into the park. I find early extra magic hours aren’t much fun. I suppose it really depends, what is your goal in utilizing extra magic hours?

 

[Laura's Dad]

We really like morning EMH for the AK. I am an early riser and you have to get there early to get toward the front. But you can knock out FOP and Navi River Adventure quickly. Then do a morning safari ride (usually not opened until an hour after ENH) and get FPs for Everest and Dinosaur and anything else you want. Really works well.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I know you're asking about am but if your group splits up or your kids want to hit a pm EMH, we really like the Epcot pm EMH in May. We go the week before and we've really enjoyed it. Since the crowds are moderate it does clear out quickly. Soarin was walk on right after illuminations (TT was a longer wait, for the record). And if you're going to stay for Illum you're going to be waiting for a bus or monorail anyway, might as well wait by doing a ride or two.

We've only done MK and AK EMH a couple of times. We liked both and found both useful but the AK EMH was during the time last year when May had morning EMH every morning so it was probably not typical of what crowds look like normally.

 

[cakebaker]

Unless you park hop, I’d avoid them all. Any park that has EMH morning will be more crowded than one that doesn’t. We use EMH’s, but leave the park no later than lunch time.

I don’t think one is better than the other, it’s how you use them that counts. Most importantly, don’t get there late. If you can’t be there a half hour before park opening, don’t go. We mostly do EMH’s to ride secondary rides. You can knock out SDD or FOP, but it’s likely that’s the only thing you might get done. If you get FP’s for those, you’ll get a ton of rides in during EMH while everyone else stands in line to ride the new ride.

 

[donalds friend]

Thanks! I will definitely be getting to them before the park opens. Thinking about doing AK and MK. The Toy Story Land isn't that important to us. We will get a fp and do Slinky one day and TSM another day we go there and do the rides outside of TSL at Rope drop.

 

[chris benton]

Thanks! I will definitely be getting to them before the park opens. Thinking about doing AK and MK. The Toy Story Land isn't that important to us. We will get a fp and do Slinky one day and TSM another day we go there and do the rides outside of TSL at Rope drop.

You might reconsider DHS, if possible. EMH is pretty great for RNR, and TOT. While the mad dash for TSL happens, turn right, and crush them during EMH. You might be able to do both twice, and then fit in a TSMM, or star tours before 9am rope drop. Makes for a chill day, just to be at the park an hour earlier. Benefits may include:

Getting 4th, 5th, and 6th (etc) fastpasses for rides while you are chilling at one of the shows and checking mde.
Hanging out in the pool during the hottest part of the day.
Hopping to a different park that's less crowded, because it didn't have emh.
Getting to chill at your resort (or another resort, that you'd like to check out)
Having time to travel to a restaurant you'd like to try after you CRUSH DHS.

 

[donalds friend]

Hmmm if I could get in TSMM after RNR and TOT I may consider it. If only my family would get up early!

 

[indoshakespeare]

I actually prefer PPO breakfast on a non-EMH day than EMH

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

If you have park hoppers..................freestyle a park with a.m. emh and then hop over to a less crowded park and book your 3 FP's for that park.