MK/Fantasyland “Early Morning Magic” (EMM) FAQ & Discussion

[ninafeliz]

I will say the Adam Driver episode was pretty good - had some solid skits and Adam was really good

I generally just watch the various sketches that I hear good things about on youtube - no idea last time I watched an actual episode of SNL

I got on a list for a daily email that always had SNL highlights on either Sunday or Monday, so if I have time I sometimes read it and click on the sketches that they liked or sound good. I wouldn’t mind checking out the Adam Driver one, I saw a couple of previews that were funny.

 

[HausofDisney]

If it rains during EMM, what rides stay open?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

If it rains during EMM, what rides stay open?

Pretty much everything as all but 7DMT is inside. If it’s really raining hard (and definitely in storms) 7DMT will close.

 

[HausofDisney]

Pretty much everything as all but 7DMT is inside. If it’s really raining hard (and definitely in storms) 7DMT will close.

Thank you! If it was raining would they possibly offer a FP for that day for Seven Dwarfs?

 

[Surgie2]

Review of EMM - 1/30/20:
My family of 7 - grandparents, parents and three children ages 7, 2.5 and 1 attended EMM on January 30 part of a one-day trip to Magic Kingdom. We had previously attended EMM in May 2018 when there were fewer rides offered, the price was lower and presumably less tickets were available.

We found the "new" EMM with 7 rides was still a good value and use of our time. It was cloudy with a light misty rain that morning until 9:00 or so but all rides were in operation. With the opportunity to only spend one day at MK on this trip, it was a no-brainer for us to add on an EMM ticket to our day. We stayed at the CR which made it super easy. We left the hotel a bit after 7:00 and easily found the sign-in people (for those with any kind of a.m. reservations) with the iPads to the left as we entered.

We were let in at exactly 7:45. We stopped to take some pictures on Main Street rather than rushing to Fantasyland. We assumed most people would be heading to SDMT and we wanted to do a ride all could enjoy so we started with it's a small world. From there we did PP several times and on then to SDMT. I did ask the CM if we could enter once through the interactive queue as we have always had a FP for this ride so have missed that aspect. It is nicely done and worth a walk-through, but this would still definitely be a FP ride for me, if not for EMM.

The Carousel was open (though not officially an EMM attraction) so the younger kids did that while others did SDMT. We chose not to do the other four attractions but we would have had time to do all.

A little before 9:00 we headed toward the path to Tomorrowland. The CMs explained that at 9:00 exactly we would walk behind them as they led us into TL and that is what happened. People were orderly and fast walking, but not running. The kids and grandparents headed to stroller park and do Buzz while the parents went quickly to SM which was definitely where the majority of the crowd headed. Both rides were a walk-on at that time.

Around 9:45 we went to Cosmic Rays for breakfast. As others have said, the breakfast food and atmosphere were much better in the "old" EMM when it was at Pinocchio Haus. But it was fine and we were efficient in using this as a restroom stop, a quick bite and back out to the park to enjoy the rest of our day.

Yesterday I received an extensive survey from Disney on my experience at EMM so it's good to know they are looking for feedback to presumably continue to improve the event. I would definitely recommend this to others. Our original plan was BOG breakfast with the hopes of a head start in FL but once EMM became available on our date, I happily cancelled BOG.

 

[jenmsmith]

Review of EMM - 1/30/20:
My family of 7 - grandparents, parents and three children ages 7, 2.5 and 1 attended EMM on January 30 part of a one-day trip to Magic Kingdom. We had previously attended EMM in May 2018 when there were fewer rides offered, the price was lower and presumably less tickets were available.

We found the "new" EMM with 7 rides was still a good value and use of our time. It was cloudy with a light misty rain that morning until 9:00 or so but all rides were in operation. With the opportunity to only spend one day at MK on this trip, it was a no-brainer for us to add on an EMM ticket to our day. We stayed at the CR which made it super easy. We left the hotel a bit after 7:00 and easily found the sign-in people (for those with any kind of a.m. reservations) with the iPads to the left as we entered.

We were let in at exactly 7:45. We stopped to take some pictures on Main Street rather than rushing to Fantasyland. We assumed most people would be heading to SDMT and we wanted to do a ride all could enjoy so we started with it's a small world. From there we did PP several times and on then to SDMT. I did ask the CM if we could enter once through the interactive queue as we have always had a FP for this ride so have missed that aspect. It is nicely done and worth a walk-through, but this would still definitely be a FP ride for me, if not for EMM.

The Carousel was open (though not officially an EMM attraction) so the younger kids did that while others did SDMT. We chose not to do the other four attractions but we would have had time to do all.

A little before 9:00 we headed toward the path to Tomorrowland. The CMs explained that at 9:00 exactly we would walk behind them as they led us into TL and that is what happened. People were orderly and fast walking, but not running. The kids and grandparents headed to stroller park and do Buzz while the parents went quickly to SM which was definitely where the majority of the crowd headed. Both rides were a walk-on at that time.

Around 9:45 we went to Cosmic Rays for breakfast. As others have said, the breakfast food and atmosphere were much better in the "old" EMM when it was at Pinocchio Haus. But it was fine and we were efficient in using this as a restroom stop, a quick bite and back out to the park to enjoy the rest of our day.

Yesterday I received an extensive survey from Disney on my experience at EMM so it's good to know they are looking for feedback to presumably continue to improve the event. I would definitely recommend this to others. Our original plan was BOG breakfast with the hopes of a head start in FL but once EMM became available on our date, I happily cancelled BOG.

Thank you so much for a recent report. Glad it was a successful trip!

 

[goofygal531]

August 2nd is now available to book.

I bought our tickets.

 

[ninafeliz]

We attended on Thursday 2/6/20. We took the first monorail over from the GF, they didn’t even let us in to go through bag check until 7 when the monorail opened and only our family and another couple got on the first one. There were maybe 50 people already in line at the MK when we got there.

They checked us in, gave us wristbands, and let us tap in and move to the tunnel under the train station within a few min, and then we waited there until they let us enter at exactly 7:45.

we had 4 kids, 2 two yr olds, a 6 Yr old, and a 10 yr old, so our priorities were different than when we went with just the older kids. This time we didn’t plan on lots of SDMT, I just wanted each adult to ride once.

Peter Pan was down the entire time, which was rather annoying. I know there’s not anything we can do about it, but it was one of the rides we really wanted to do and we didn’t make a FP because of this event. It didn’t open until afternoon that day.

We did one PP photo on main st, then did the carrousel, Pooh, teacups, little mermaid, and then split up and one group did SDMT x2 while the little ones did teacups 4x without getting off, then we switched and the other adult did SDMT while the little ones did Pooh. By then it was about 8:50, we could have done the teacups again but the kids didn’t really care so we just waited for the park to open.

Space Mt was on a delayed opening, so very few people waiting on that area, we rode the cars, then went to breakfast at 9:20.

breakfast was fine. Not as busy as it was for us last time, but still just nothing special, just serviceable to fill us up.

overall it was successful and we enjoyed it and are glad we did it. The toddlers just don’t understand standing in line, they don’t even like waiting through the ride cycle in front of us lol, so it got them on a few rides easily. I did feel like the area felt busier than I remember from previous EMMs, but the lines didn’t seem longer.

 

[ww52]

"We attended on Thursday 3/6/20. "

Wow - back from the future! (Just kidding)

Thanks for both trip reports. I'm excited that we decided to do this.

STILL wanting to get over to the Welcome if possible for the little ones. Our plan right now is this - try to avoid the temptation of pictures by the castle - get over trhere as soon as practical given 4 little ones, three grandparents and 4 parents

Must see rides are PP, Pooh. Mermaid, 7DMT We can get Small World any time later. Same with the Princess greet. Tea Cups are not something we'd do anyway. Carousel? Maybe.

So I figure if we can do those 4 within say 45 minutes that should get give us time to get back to the castle for the welcome. Not all of us would go so others can get on the Mine Train another time or two.

 

[KateKJ]

We attended on Thursday 3/6/20. We took the first monorail over from the GF, they didn’t even let us in to go through bag check until 7 when the monorail opened and only our family and another couple got on the first one. There were maybe 50 people already in line at the MK when we got there.

They checked us in, gave us wristbands, and let us tap in and move to the tunnel under the train station within a few min, and then we waited there until they let us enter at exactly 7:45.

we had 4 kids, 2 two yr olds, a 6 Yr old, and a 10 yr old, so our priorities were different than when we went with just the older kids. This time we didn’t plan on lots of SDMT, I just wanted each adult to ride once.

Peter Pan was down the entire time, which was rather annoying. I know there’s not anything we can do about it, but it was one of the rides we really wanted to do and we didn’t make a FP because of this event. It didn’t open until afternoon that day.

We did one PP photo on main st, then did the carrousel, Pooh, teacups, little mermaid, and then split up and one group did SDMT x2 while the little ones did teacups 4x without getting off, then we switched and the other adult did SDMT while the little ones did Pooh. By then it was about 8:50, we could have done the teacups again but the kids didn’t really care so we just waited for the park to open.

Space Mt was on a delayed opening, so very few people waiting on that area, we rode the cars, then went to breakfast at 9:20.

breakfast was fine. Not as busy as it was for us last time, but still just nothing special, just serviceable to fill us up.

overall it was successful and we enjoyed it and are glad we did it. The toddlers just don’t understand standing in line, they don’t even like waiting through the ride cycle in front of us lol, so it got them on a few rides easily. I did feel like the area felt busier than I remember from previous EMMs, but the lines didn’t seem longer.

Thank you so much for the report. We're doing EMM in March and since our kids are older, 7DMT and PP are the two key rides for us. Did they offer you a FP or allow you to come back and ride PP when it came back up? I would be extremely upset if we weren't able to ride it given the cost.

 

[ninafeliz]

"We attended on Thursday 3/6/20. "

Wow - back from the future!

Oops, I’ll edit it haha!

 

[Surgie2]

[QUOTE="ww52, post: 61540157, member: 24679"
So I figure if we can do those 4 within say 45 minutes that should get give us time to get back to the castle for the welcome. Not all of us would go so others can get on the Mine Train another time or two.
[/QUOTE]

It sounds like you know what you want, but have you seen the welcome show before? Ever since it changed from the "old" welcome show a few years back, I would have to think really hard about all of that backtracking just to see the current show. That's great if you realize what it is, but if not, I'd encourage watching a YouTube video of it. Would your kids rather get on to Tomorrowland and ride Buzz or the Tomorrowland Speedway? These would both be walk-ons at 9:00.

 

[ninafeliz]

Thank you so much for the report. We're doing EMM in March and since our kids are older, 7DMT and PP are the two key rides for us. Did they offer you a FP or allow you to come back and ride PP when it came back up? I would be extremely upset if we weren't able to ride it given the cost.

As far as I know, they didn’t do anything. I had toyed with the idea of stopping at one of the GET umbrellas and asking for a FP for PP since it had been down the entire time and we hadn’t made a FP for it because of this event. But at the time I was going to ask it was still not open. Then later the kids were asleep in the stroller, we had a 3:30 adr, and we had haircuts for the 4 kids at 5 and 5:40, and we left after those- so we ran out of time anyway. Plus, honestly I was afraid they might say no (since it does say nothing is guaranteed) and then I would end up being upset about it. We have ridden it many times before.

 

[lisa cameron]

As far as I know, they didn’t do anything. I had toyed with the idea of stopping at one of the GET umbrellas and asking for a FP for PP since it had been down the entire time and we hadn’t made a FP for it because of this event. But at the time I was going to ask it was still not open. Then later the kids were asleep in the stroller, we had a 3:30 adr, and we had haircuts for the 4 kids at 5 and 5:40, and we left after those- so we ran out of time anyway. Plus, honestly I was afraid they might say no (since it does say nothing is guaranteed) and then I would end up being upset about it. We have ridden it many times before.

My sister attended this same event. They were allowed to ride PP later in the afternoon by simply showing their EMM wrist band. But, since the ride had been down most of the day, the FP line was all the way to the carousel.

 

[ninafeliz]

My sister attended this same event. They were allowed to ride PP later in the afternoon by simply showing their EMM wrist band. But, since the ride had been down most of the day, the FP line was all the way to the carousel.

That kind of stinks, I wish they made things like that known to everyone. How did they know? However, if the line was that long I’m not sure we would have done it anyway.

 

[lisa cameron]

That kind of stinks, I wish they made things like that known to everyone. How did they know? However, if the line was that long I’m not sure we would have done it anyway.

They asked a CM

 

[ww52]

It sounds like you know what you want, but have you seen the welcome show before? Ever since it changed from the "old" welcome show a few years back, I would have to think really hard about all of that backtracking just to see the current show. That's great if you realize what it is, but if not, I'd encourage watching a YouTube video of it. Would your kids rather get on to Tomorrowland and ride Buzz or the Tomorrowland Speedway? These would both be walk-ons at 9:00.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts!

We discussed this over the weekend and we decided not to stress about it - just go with how it plays out. There is certainly an advantage to skipping it and doing some other attraction that normally would have required a fast pass. That's sort of an added bonus for the price of the EMM ticket

We saw the welcome in summer 2018 and I assume it's the same. You know, it's one of those corny "magic" things that hits you just right depending on the mood you're in. At that time it was just my older son and his family. Now it will also be my younger son's family. He wants his daughter to see it so as of now we're thinking at least some of us will go back to see it.

And yet - it kind of loses the point being "welcomed" when we were already riding things!

As I posted on another thread, the worst part of planning is the tendency to think of the things you'll miss instead of the things we're doing. And yet I never felt I missed ANYTHING after any of our eight family trips.

We managed reservations for the Cinderella dinner - which was a "must" for my younger son's family. So if we think of THAT as the trade off (Cinderella vs Welcome show) it's an easy choice for them.

 

[ddog171]

"We attended on Thursday 3/6/20. "

Wow - back from the future! (Just kidding)

Thanks for both trip reports. I'm excited that we decided to do this.

STILL wanting to get over to the Welcome if possible for the little ones. Our plan right now is this - try to avoid the temptation of pictures by the castle - get over trhere as soon as practical given 4 little ones, three grandparents and 4 parents

Must see rides are PP, Pooh. Mermaid, 7DMT We can get Small World any time later. Same with the Princess greet. Tea Cups are not something we'd do anyway. Carousel? Maybe.

So I figure if we can do those 4 within say 45 minutes that should get give us time to get back to the castle for the welcome. Not all of us would go so others can get on the Mine Train another time or two.

We did the first date of the new format back in December 2018. We rode the carousel, met all the princesses, rode the teacups multiple times, winnie the pooh and a couple rides on 7DMT. We were able to be in front of the castle for the welcome show just prior to opening. We came from the side of Cosmic Rays. After the welcome show we hit up barnstormer and Dumbo and then did breakfast around 9:40

 

[Isabelle12345]

Seems like this morning is the first of the special Cinderella EMM
Cinderella’s line is 40 min!?!?!?
Do you get to meet more Cinderella characters?

 

[ninafeliz]

Seems like this morning is the first of the special Cinderella EMM
Cinderella’s line is 40 min!?!?!?
Do you get to meet more Cinderella characters?

If that’s true either nearly everyone is in that line or they sold a lot more tickets!! Although meet and greets move sooooo slow, so I guess that doesn’t have to be too many people. Either way, that’s most of or all or your EMM, no way would I do that!