Is Extra Magic Hours worth it?

[eventamy]

What rides are open during EMH? Especially morning... especially AK? Thanks!

 

[mco65]

Rope dropping at a park with am EMH is a must IMO. Of course rope dropping is a must for us regardless but you can get sooo much done at rope drop then coupled with EMH in the AM... sweet.

 

[DisneyFive]

We try to avoid them, but it's just because of our touring style. We don't get up super early. We also don't want a busier park due to PM EMH. We are typically park open to close people so we get enough time in during normal park hours without use of EMH.

They can be really useful and an added value for sure. We just don't get up that early, but if we did, AM extra magic hours can give you a massive head start during busy seasons. During slow times it's not as big of a deal, but still helpful if you get up early.

PM magic hours are up to you. They can be nice if you want more time and are night owls. It can be nice to hop to a park that is open later.

Dan

 

[tlmadden73]

I'm a rope drop person (even without EMH or fast passes, you can get more done in the first two hours of a theme park being open than the next 4-5 hours after that).

So, I've used it morning EMH at MK .. and it was good since it is such a big sprawling park with lots of attractions.

While we could have rushed to some big rides, we just enjoyed the less crowded main street and walk-ons for rides in Tomorrowland. By the time the park opened at 9:00 am, we were in Fantasyland and doing rides there. Just nice to have an extra jump on the crowds since I am normally a rope drop person.

I did it at DHS in March (before GMR was closed) and frankly it wasn't worth it if you don't go on the "thrill" rides.
The boys of the other families we were with spent half the hour waiting in line for jedi training and while Star Tours was a walk-on .. TSMM (since it is only 1 of 5 rides at the park) was still a 30 minute wait during the extra magic hour. It probably would have been worth it if my family wanted to go on RnRC or ToT.
We hopped over to MK at lunch as the park was just crowded with not much to do (at its current state).

I would do it at Epcot probably just to enjoy the emptiness of the park and hit one of the Tier 1 rides. AK? probably not as probably 75% of the guests would just beeline to Pandora anyway and it would probably be a mob.

 

[TLM2015]

Evening EMH at MK are the best! One of my favorite memories from WDW is doing MK at like 1am and just riding the rides that you would never probably waste time on during the day because of trying to maximize time in the park like the Carousel of Progress (sorry to anyone who likes that ride). My younger sister loved that ride, she was 11 at the time, and the song from that still makes me laugh at the memory of riding it with her, my younger brother, and mom at like midnight. We also rode the People Mover and did some other rides.

Morning EMH are a bit different for me because I try to be more productive and get to the headliner rides before the crowds. I try to do rope drop but I'm always there about 10 minutes after rope drop, I've only rope dropped once and that was for Pandora. I always have park hopper tickets so to me doing EMH is a must do. The park may get crowded later in the day because of all the people coming for EMH that remain in the park.

I think that if you have a park hopper then there is nothing to lose from trying out the morning EMH if you are already a morning person. My kids wake up early anyway and so do I and DH so we might as well be at the park. If you don't have a park hopper or you are staying off site, then I would say avoiding those parks might be a good idea. I'm not sure how the addition of Disney Springs hotels will do to the EMH crowds. My guess is that most people will not take advantage of the morning EMH. Most people don't rope drop either so going to the park early regardless of EMH makes for a few hours of comfortable touring.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

Evening EMH at MK are the best! One of my favorite memories from WDW is doing MK at like 1am and just riding the rides that you would never probably waste time on during the day because of trying to maximize time in the park like the Carousel of Progress (sorry to anyone who likes that ride). My younger sister loved that ride, she was 11 at the time, and the song from that still makes me laugh at the memory of riding it with her, my younger brother, and mom at like midnight. We also rode the People Mover and did some other rides.

Morning EMH are a bit different for me because I try to be more productive and get to the headliner rides before the crowds. I try to do rope drop but I'm always there about 10 minutes after rope drop, I've only rope dropped once and that was for Pandora. I always have park hopper tickets so to me doing EMH is a must do. The park may get crowded later in the day because of all the people coming for EMH that remain in the park.

I think that if you have a park hopper then there is nothing to lose from trying out the morning EMH if you are already a morning person. My kids wake up early anyway and so do I and DH so we might as well be at the park. If you don't have a park hopper or you are staying off site, then I would say avoiding those parks might be a good idea. I'm not sure how the addition of Disney Springs hotels will do to the EMH crowds. My guess is that most people will not take advantage of the morning EMH. Most people don't rope drop either so going to the park early regardless of EMH makes for a few hours of comfortable touring.

Carousel of Progress and PeopleMover are good attractions to hit when you have 40 minutes until your next FastPass window opens and need something to do until then.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I guess the discussion is more about morning EMH, but I want to say that we love night time EMH at Epcot. It’s so atmospheric there after dark.

For me, nothing beats getting a Grand Marnier slushie in France and hanging out there in the dark.

 

[Jessica Messina]

Morning EMHs are great... if you're willing to get up that early. Because we're night owls and love to play at Disney as long as possible like little kids, we end up getting back to our room pretty late. So if you're not a morning person, or if you're a night owl, maybe the late EMHs are more for you. If we do intentionally take advantage of evening EMHs, we'll start our day at another park and go to the park with the EMHs in the evening. Hope this helps!