Will Be Avoiding Future EMM Days @ MK After This Week's Trip!

[BigAlsGal]

You can activate an annual pass at any ticket booth. MK that can be interesting if your taking a bus from the resort but if your passing the TTC, usually very little in the form of a line at a ticket window. Also if you had a travel day the day before you need it, there is guest relations at springs if you happen to stop in there..

I was aware of the springs but I wasn't aware of the ticket counter. Is that all park ticket counters?

 

[Missyrose]

I was aware of the springs but I wasn't aware of the ticket counter. Is that all park ticket counters?

Yes, you can activate an AP (or upgrade MYW tickets) at any ticket window at any park.

 

[megster1123]

I'm not convinced of it. Will keep an eye out on the boards for other 'like' experiences, which will tell the tale. Until then, won't go back on those days.

I honestly hope I am off on my conclusion, certainly don't want to cross visiting the MK in the mornings off on EMM days!

I read the posts and then re-read them and I'm honestly confused. If EMM started at 7:45 and the crowd for that event entered before that (the recommended time is 7:30,) how did that affect the crowd at the gate 2 hours later? The EMM crowd would have been in the park for two hours at that point.

 

[GPC0321]

What time did MK open that day for the general public?
I just don't follow the logic of how 250 EMM guests, who entered the park at 7:45 and went straight back to Fantasyland, somehow affected security lines at 9:30am and Guest Services lines between 10:30am and noon.

 

[BigAlsGal]

I'm going to agree with others and say it was more your arrival time that contributed to your late park entry. Im assuming this is a 9am opening. I'm sure you've been to Disney a million times but I'm always surprised in the difference 30 minutes makes. It's the difference between getting on an empty bus and getting on a stuffed bus, or heck, not making it on the bus at all. On a 9am day we usually try to get there at 8:30.

As we wait for the opening show you can just watch the crowds thicken by the minute. By the time the show starts there is no room in front of the train station and people are being held outside the ticket scanners unable to scan and waiting for the show to end. The lines start to back up even before 9am.

By the time we get into the park we sometimes get on the train to go to frontier land. As we look at the entrance from the train the crowds are daunting. So many people flowing in from the busses, ferry, monorail. And that's about 9:05. I'm sure security screening is making things worse but that's not going to get better anytime soon.

Then is your guest relations wait. I'm sure that was the longest part of your wait and definitely didn't have much to do with EMM. By 10:00 I can't imagine how long that thing is. Plus it's in direct sunlight! Oy! I have easily waited 30 minutes in that line with just a couple people in front of me. Every issue GR people have seems to need a team of GR masterminds to figure out.

I feel for you. I'm chalking it up to arriving about 50 minutes late on a busy day and having to visit GR.

 

[keishashadow]

I read the posts and then re-read them and I'm honestly confused. If EMM started at 7:45 and the crowd for that event entered before that (the recommended time is 7:30,) how did that affect the crowd at the gate 2 hours later? The EMM crowd would have been in the park for two hours at that point.

What time did MK open that day for the general public?
I just don't follow the logic of how 250 EMM guests, who entered the park at 7:45 and went straight back to Fantasyland, somehow affected security lines at 9:30am and Guest Services lines between 10:30am and noon.

Park opened @ 9 am. Last time I'll restate, have already posted in detail, but here's a cliff notes version:

My thoughts are on an EMM day 'regular' park guests show up earlier than would be their normal MO...

As in guests who wouldn't typically arrive for rope drop (their normal arrival time pre noon) but decides it's a good idea to be there at the get-go since it's an EMM day...

Effectively, increasing the # of guests @ rope drop. things snowball, backing up both security and GS until arrival times normalize later in am/early afternoon.

I'm done, expressed my thoughts and rationale from my first-hand experience. You're all adults, come to your own conclusions.

Majority here seem to think I'm blaming EMM guests for backups after their arrival for some reason, not my point at all. They're in the park having fun, it's the large number of guests waiting @ 9am for processing which I believe is the issue.

Haven't seen any mentions (yet) of other non-participants recounting their experience on EMM days (good or bad) via reviews here. Plenty have offered their thoughts, always good to hear different viewpoints, but I'm sticking to mine until I hear from others who have had actual real life experiences on these days to share.

Many here have mentioned it can be rough on a non-EMM day. Since I typically only do one rope drop per trip, not sure if I have the best handle on it, but haven't had any substantial issues @ MK thus far...another reason why I was so surprised as to the length of time it took to get into the park. At this point guess I should be grateful I've been lucky up to this point as to entrance times @ the MK.

 

[Missyrose]

Majority here seem to think I'm blaming EMM guests for backups after their arrival for some reason, not my point at all. They're in the park having fun, it's the large number of guests waiting @ 9am for processing which I believe is the issue.

Nope, no one thinks you're blaming EMM guests (at least by my reading of the replies). Even on EMM mornings, guests who arrive before rope drop are processed through security and the tapstiles as they arrive. The welcome show happens before rope drop and the guests are let in. None of that is delayed by the EMM process. None.

Feel free to think you got gipped by a Disney event. But for anyone reading along, getting to MK before 9 a.m. would have prevented dealing with such huge crowds.

 

[Accident]

I was aware of the springs but I wasn't aware of the ticket counter. Is that all park ticket counters?

If I remember correctly, all ticket windows/booths (where you can buy a ticket) can activate an annual pass, renew an annual pass and replace a lost annual pass card. Guest relations is only needed if it's something else like upgrading to an annual pass. You may need to use guest relations if your doing something putting a ticket purchase towards a renewal fee and not just a straight renewal.

 

[cmarsh31]

I'm not sure I'm following - you're saying: people know there's EMM, therefore think more people will be there earlier, so they decide to go earlier too? I think that's just the opposite - EMM people will already be in there, no reason for me to go before 11:00 or whenever bc by then they will have finished and hopped to another park. Why would I rush earlier to where more people are (if I thought that 200 people were going to make a difference one way or another)? I just don't get that rationale.

 

[Missyrose]

Guest relations is only needed if it's something else like upgrading to an annual pass

Ticket windows can do that too.

 

[GPC0321]

My thoughts are on an EMM day 'regular' park guests show up earlier than would be their normal MO...

As in guests who wouldn't typically arrive for rope drop (their normal arrival time pre noon) but decides it's a good idea to be there at the get-go since it's an EMM day...

Effectively, increasing the # of guests @ rope drop. things snowball, backing up both security and GS until arrival times normalize later in am/early afternoon.

But this is the part that doesn't make sense. Why would people think getting to the park at rope drop is more important on EMM days? I'm not understanding the motivation. What do they think getting there for RD will achieve?

 

[keishashadow]

I'm not sure I'm following - you're saying: people know there's EMM, therefore think more people will be there earlier, so they decide to go earlier too? I think that's just the opposite - EMM people will already be in there, no reason for me to go before 11:00 or whenever bc by then they will have finished and hopped to another park. Why would I rush earlier to where more people are (if I thought that 200 people were going to make a difference one way or another)? I just don't get that rationale.

Yes that's my thought that I'm holding onto tightly.

Everybody doesn't have the flexibility to park hop or pick another park on shorter trips, especially when they have other ADRs planned.

Missy rose - Believe your interpretation is a bit off in general lol. I never stated I was gypped by Disney. I do believe I made a bad choice arriving at the time I did on a EMM day. Going to assume (correct me if I'm wrong) that you haven't tried to visit MK on EMM as a non EMM guest. If you have done so, please post back and share your opinion so we can have another first-hand account.

If anyone does have links to their own or other's TRs specifically as to attending MK as a non EMM guest, I'd love to see them posted here as I haven't found any thus far. It'd be nice to see that my experience was a fluke based upon overwhelming reports otherwise and I wouldn't worry about working around the days in the future.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I concur with others who stated that arriving at 9:30 was the problem, not the existence of EMM. Most people probably don't even know that EMM exists, and those who do know, also know that it's restricted to a very small number of guests, who won't impact anything at all.

Arriving at the same time as...everyone else...to a crowded theme park can most definitely cause issues with entrance.

 

[keishashadow]

But this is the part that doesn't make sense. Why would people think getting to the park at rope drop is more important on EMM days? I'm not understanding the motivation. What do they think getting there for RD will achieve?

Ummm

X # of people already in the park, better get there ASAP to grab possible 2nd set of MB FP, etc. or just get a head start on standby lines before the throng hits.


I believe I've covered all the bases here.

As stated earlier, please post any actual accounts here or elsewhere if EMM disrupted your MK arrival/experience as a non EMM guest please!

 

[KrazeeK120]

Ummm

X # of people already in the park, better get there ASAP to grab possible 2nd set of MB FP, etc. or just get a head start on standby lines before the throng hits.


I believe I've covered all the bases here.

As stated earlier, please post any actual accounts here or elsewhere if EMM disrupted your MK arrival/experience as a non EMM guest please!

I don't think most people know that EMM exists. I wouldn't have, except that I obsessively read Disney websites. There were even people in this very thread who didn't know it existed. And, as I said before, those who know it exists, know it's very limited and doesn't affect anything. The number of guests who would alter their plans would be incredibly minimal.

I also want to point out that anyone who did make the decision to get to the park early to get a jump on things due to EMM would have already been through the turnstiles and out of your way by the time you arrived 30 minutes AFTER park open. They admit people through the turnstiles and into the courtyard prior to park open.

I bet if you go to MK tomorrow at 9:30, you'll run into the exact same issue.

I also think there was some discussion when EMM first started (a couple of MONTHS ago) on this board and rumors were dispelled back at that time about EMM affecting touring. I don't have time to go searching, but I feel fairly confident that there was discussion on this very topic.

Also, by human nature, people are more disposed to come and report a negative experience (this thread is a perfect example) rather than a positive one (unless it was over the moon amazing). I think that if EMM were really affecting people, there would be multiple reports of it by now, a couple of months after the introduction of the event. I doubt anyone's going to come back and think to start a thread to say "Hey guys! I went on an EMM day and nothing happened!"

You say you want someone to report that their experience on EMM day was fine. I want to see more reports that EMM day WASN'T fine. I assume all is fine unless I hear otherwise.

 

[Missyrose]

Missy rose - Believe your interpretation is a bit off in general lol. I never stated I was gypped by Disney. I do believe I made a bad choice arriving at the time I did on a EMM day. Going to assume (correct me if I'm wrong) that you haven't tried to visit MK on EMM as a non EMM guest. If you have done so, please post back and share your opinion so we can have another first-hand account.

You know what they say when you assume...

I was at MK on July 24, a Sunday and an EMM day and we had no issues getting through security and into the park. We arrived just as the welcome show was finishing (8:50ish), waited behind two other people in bag check. And then behind three people at the tapstiles.

 

[KrazeeK120]

You know what they say when you assume...

I was at MK on July 24, a Sunday and an EMM day and we had no issues getting through security and into the park. We arrived just as the welcome show was finishing (8:50ish), waited behind two other people in bag check. And then behind three people at the tapstiles.

We found one!!!!!!!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

You know what they say when you assume...

I was at MK on July 24, a Sunday and an EMM day and we had no issues getting through security and into the park. We arrived just as the welcome show was finishing (8:50ish), waited behind two other people in bag check. And then behind three people at the tapstiles.

I was at EMM that day. I hope we didn't ruin your day at the MK.

(I kid, I kid)

 

[Missyrose]

I was at EMM that day. I hope we didn't ruin your day at the MK.

(I kid, I kid)

Totally ruined my day. So much so, I won't return ... until October 15.

 

[yulilin3]

The hours between 9am and 10:30am are the worst to arrive at MK. I've experienced it being EMM, not being EMM, being EMH not being EMH
People just try really hard to get to the entrance at 9am, they are delayed by many thing so the huge bulk arrive between 9 and 10:30
For anyone going, and wanting to get there early enough to avoid the mess be at the entrance no later than 8:30am and you will avoid the crowds.
They also just installed more metal detectors so that's sure to help.
Also avoid using the outside the park GS window at MK. There are just not enough windows to help that line