Any ideas WHY Animal Kingdom added so many EMH days in May/June?

[sachilles]

They've been opening an hour early anyway for the avatar area unofficially. Maybe now they are just making it more official.

 

[Aron1012]

They should be extending them in the next month, June 1st and 2nd are both 10 pm closes. I'm hoping it gets pushed to 10:30 since that's when the second Rivers of Light showing will be.

Hopefully that is the case. We normally try to avoid parks with EMH in morning. We are rope drop people but that just makes it an hour earlier we have to get up and normally they are more crowded. I'll be curious if that is still the case with doing it daily?

I would much prefer some later closings as we are huge fans of the late night riding when the temps and crowds both drop significantly. To us at least the morning EMH aren't really a benefit.

 

[Roxyfire]

Hopefully that is the case. We normally try to avoid parks with EMH in morning. We are rope drop people but that just makes it an hour earlier we have to get up and normally they are more crowded. I'll be curious if that is still the case with doing it daily?

I would much prefer some later closings as we are huge fans of the late night riding when the temps and crowds both drop significantly. To us at least the morning EMH aren't really a benefit.

Yeah I prefer the later nights in AK as well. I feel like people tend to go there in the morning and bail out by 3 or 4 pm. But overall, I don't think it'll change much since it's every day. But who knows, I'll probably be looking at wait times due to personal curiousity. I'm sure people will be posting here as well.

 

[rstevens333]

Obviously, pent-up demand for Chip n' Dale dressed up as Chester and Hester the dinosaurs necessitated an extra hour of time to manage the queues

 

[Waiting2goback]

I saw that morning EMH were added every day of our June trip. I thought it was odd considering that the predicted crowd levels at AK were pretty low for every day of that week.

I think that is why they are doing it. I think they are trying to draw people away from the busier parks and they might think people would be more likely to hit AK if there is EMH.

And I agree, I like my EMH at night as well.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Morning EMH makes more sense. You can get a lot more done vs night. What’s the use in having EMH at night when people get in line for headliners 5 minutes before official park close. Still a 2 hour wait for FOP.

 

[MrInfinity]

Yay! Just got an extra hour in the park. Now have to figure out how to get from a Treehouse Villa to the AK by 8am... Am I going to run into problems here or will the SSR loop bus be going by 7am?

 

[Doberge]

Morning EMH makes more sense. You can get a lot more done vs night. What’s the use in having EMH at night when people get in line for headliners 5 minutes before official park close. Still a 2 hour wait for FOP.

Exactly. One can do more with a morning EMH than an evening EMH. Mornings are a bigger benefit.

Some of it also probably has to do with kids. Anyone can benefit from morning EMH but mostly adults and older kids benefit from later hours.

That said, it'd still be nice to see it mixed up to include more evening hours for people who don't wake up at 7 to make it to parks by 8 (or earlier).

 

[msufan]

As an overseas visitor, EMH in the morning are always great. I can't stay awake long enough to take advantage of EMH at night. (I'm a wimp, I know!)

That aside, I always thought that the hours at AK were shorter because of the animals. I cannot remember exactly what was said, but there seemed to be an indication that long hours stressed out the animals. Anybody else every hear that?

If that is indeed the case, they could always close the Safari early and just leave other rides open. Just a thought.

 

[Helvetica]

As an overseas visitor, EMH in the morning are always great. I can't stay awake long enough to take advantage of EMH at night. (I'm a wimp, I know!)

That aside, I always thought that the hours at AK were shorter because of the animals. I cannot remember exactly what was said, but there seemed to be an indication that long hours stressed out the animals. Anybody else every hear that?

If that is indeed the case, they could always close the Safari early and just leave other rides open. Just a thought.

That's my understanding as well. They do close the Maharaja Jungle Trek, Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and Rafiki's Planet Watch early already. Since they have animals as part of the trail going into the park, they can't close those sections to visitors. It would be nice if they could do late hours, but it wouldn't be best for the animals. Animal Kingdom may be a theme park, but it's also their home.

Morning hours are better for the animals since that's when everyone is awake and most active.

 

[JETSDAD]

The park was open late for the DVC events. It was great to be there until 1AM. Just shutting down the areas where the animals are should make that possible.

 

[No.1000]

I just got a survey in my email regarding the AK EMH for my upcoming trip June 22-24. It was definitely asking if I booked my onsite stay based on these EMH hours, how I first heard about them, and if it changed my plans for number of days in AK. I think reservations and attendance are down and they are trying to increase them with this and with opening the Silver AP for June.

 

[closetmickey]

Waiting to see if the later hours are extended into July. Here’s to hoping!

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I just got a survey in my email regarding the AK EMH for my upcoming trip June 22-24. It was definitely asking if I booked my onsite stay based on these EMH hours, how I first heard about them, and if it changed my plans for number of days in AK. I think reservations and attendance are down and they are trying to increase them with this and with opening the Silver AP for June.

I was about to post the same thing. I got the survey and it was entirely focused on whether the extra hours had enticed me to spend more time at Disney and/or AK.

I thought about making up my answers because I do like EMH, but I had to be honest and admit that I will not be using the EMH and they had no effect on my plans.

I’m in the evening EMH Fan Club. In my experience, I get so much more done at night. There seem to be more crowds during morning EMH. I can’t do both because I have a small child and we have to either sleep late or go to bed early. We can’t do late nights and early mornings. It’s also so much more pleasant to ride the buses at 10 am or later than to fight rope drop or EMH morning bus crowds.

That being said, you don’t really need evening EMH at AK other than for FOP and NRJ. The last regular operating hour of the park, everything else is walk on. We were there Easter week in April at a massively crowded time and we rode KS with practically no one else on the ride, then EE seven times in a row with no wait.

 

[Lesverts]

I was just checking the hours for my upcoming trip. Not one natural 12am closing at MK and something I have never seen, nor ever thought I'd see. Animal Kingdom having longer hours than Magic Kingdom.