EMH...Yay or Nay??

[karpy111]

Looking at next May. We usually take advantage of morning EMH. However I've been reading your guides that say stay away since most guest take advantage of these hours.
My thoughts are you are still in the park without all the guest offsite ...

What's everyone's thoughts on this ??

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I (mostly) avoid them, so I can’t legitimately tell you if that’s as a good strategy or not! Ha!

One exception for us would be the rare times when MK has really early 7-8am EMHs. We get up with the birds anyway and those can be gold. But you're not likely to see those in May.

 

[sharonabe]

Looking at next May. We usually take advantage of morning EMH. However I've been reading your guides that say stay away since most guest take advantage of these hours.
My thoughts are you are still in the park without all the guest offsite ...

What's everyone's thoughts on this ??

We like the early EMH, but we usually have hoppers and can hop somewhere else if the park gets crowded. Also, we make sure we are up and at the park when it opens so we have the full hour.

 

[chris benton]

What sharonabe said.
We also stay EP area to minimize travel time to 2 parks. EMH at 8am? Leave the room at 7:40!

I wonder what the threshold is for similar threads to make a sticky?

 

[jhoannam]

Yes for morning EMH... get there for RD and we’ll stay until early lunch (11ish), go back to the resort for some pool & rest time, than hop to a non-EMH park.

 

[cakebaker]

We use them, more morning than evening, but we park hop out of the EMH park by lunch. If I didn’t hop, we wouldn’t go to an EMH park.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

We avoid morning EMH. Getting DD16 to a park at their regular opening is a challenge enough, I can't imagine an hour earlier. But we will stay for evening EMH if it fits our schedule. I do avoid parks with morning EMH.

 

[wvjules]

I’m going for 4 Park days in May and I’m avoiding EMH and EMM Parks, except for my last day. It is a 9-11 pm EMH at MK. I have nothing to do the next day but hang out before heading to the airport.

I will not have Park hoppers.

 

[chiisai]

We use morning EMH if they happen to fall on the day we plan to be there.

They are amazing. Our touring style is that we stay until mid-day and then go somewhere in the evening after a pool or room rest. The rides are walk on for EMH and it takes time for the others to build.

We are going twice to a few parks when we head down and will get much more done on our EMH morning.

 

[mrsap]

I love evening EMH! We actually plan our nights around them! I love the extra time in the parks. Might be more crowded, but for us, it’s worth it. Especially Epcot EMH where we’ll book our 4th FP, get the ride out of the way, and after walk around the countries and have an adult beverage or two. Definitely a fun night!

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I prefer the evening EMH! But we are night owls and never make rope drop

 

[kaybird]

Our rule of thumb for morning EMH is yes if you are early, no if you are going to be there much after it starts.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Actually more guests tend to do the evening EMH and then can't get themselves out of bed the next morning.
Personally I use the morning EMH when possible. I can get as much or more done in that 1 hour than I can in the 2 hours at night.
My next trip I'll be doing an evening EMH but we always get ourselves up for RD the next morning.
I say if you are staying onsite then why not take advantage of the perk?
If you are staying offsite then sure yeah you're gonna want to avoid the EMH parks if possible.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

Morning EMH at any park is the only thing I actually plan for.

The rest of our vacation is fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants.

We usually stay in the EMH park until around 1030/11 and then hop to wherever.

 

[angierae]

We are evening EMH people, but we've never been to disney with small kids. There's something amazing about heading into the park as everyone else is streaming out post-fireworks.

 

[*I'msoooBelle*]

I'll share my experience this past January. Got to MK before it opened, but the lines to check bags coming from the buses were insanely long. At that point, we decided to divide an conquer. My DH stayed with the backpack making the line while my kids and I went through the no bags entrance. Our goal was to hit Space Mountain first, so we went straight to the area where everyone was being held off while they checked magic bands and allow the resort guests through. That meant that whether you were staying at a resort or not, you were let into the park. At the pathway to get to Tomorrowland was a complete mob scene, there was an insane amount of people trying to get through. It was so packed that the CMs decided to open the way for everyone, resort guests or not. When we got to Space Mountain the line was very long and we waited about 45 minutes for it. Got off the ride to meet my husband who had been in line for bag check for a WHOLE HOUR. So there, EMH was a complete waste of time for us. We eventually hopped to Epcot where I had made our FPs. Granted this was on Friday, January 4 and the Christmas crowds were still there. So it all depends on how packed the park with EMH is. Best of luck!

 

[wdw&sonny]

Whether it is EMH or just the first hour of regular park opening, it is still worth it to be at RD. To reiterate, we have gone to many non-EMH for RD and to many EMH park for RD. I don't really notice much difference in the crowd level for the first hour or two in either situation. BUT, I do notice that the first 1-3 hours are less crowded than any time later in the day...except for later in evening EMH, which can be the lowest of all. SO, by going to the EMH in the morning, it's one more hour in the park with lowish crowd levels.

 

[BK2014]

We generally only worry about morning EMH if it is at MK. There are just so many more rides and less distance between them to take advantage of. The other parks we just go on non-EMH days and get there before rope drop.

 

[cmwade77]

Generally speaking I tend to avoid the parks with EMH and then if after I am done with a park there are still evening EMH at a park I may park hop over to it.

We are from the west coast, so getting up that early for morning EMH isn't our idea of a vacation, I just wish they would do more evening EMHs.

 

[Elephantay]

Why is the park more crowded on early EMH mornings, when most people don't actually get there early?