I went to EMM with my family (DW, DS8, DS4) on Tues 8/7. It turned out to be a blast and totally worth the money in my opinion.
We scheduled the EMM on our departure day, so our plan was to be in the park until noon. We had been in MK three other times during our 5-day trip and already ridden everything we wanted to at least once, so for EMM we focused on riding our favorites. Already having ridden PP and WTP this trip and only one ride of SDMT under our belts, we chose to focus the time before 9:00 solely on SDMT.
At 7:45 they unleashed the crowd that seemed pretty large to me. Our plan was for me and DS8 to fast walk to SDMT while my wife and DS4 (in the stroller) would come at a more leisurely pace. Me and DS8 would ride once or twice before joining up with the rest of the family.
I was very proud of DS8 for keeping up with me at the start of the event. There were other people that were moving faster than us but to our surprise they appeared to be headed to BOG. DS8 and I were shocked that we were the first two on the ride! I think there were only two others on the train with us at that point. As it turned out, DW and DS4 were only two minutes behind us so they rode in between our first two rides.
In total DS8 and I rode SDMT 13 times (!!!), DS4 12, and DW 7. We loved the ride so much and there are so many fine details throughout that it never got old to us. Taking different pictures for the PhotoPass was also highly entertaining. For more than half of the rides there was absolutely zero wait time. I would say that after about the first two rides the queue started filling to the point that they closed off the shortcut at the mine entrance and we had to walk all the way back to the FP entrance. As you can see from our PhotoPass timestamps, we never waited more than 10 minutes in line.
7:51 (DS8 and me)
7:53 (DW and DS4)
7:57 (DS8 and me)
8:04 (family all together)
8:14
8:22
8:28
8:32
8:38 (DW last ride)
8:43
8:47
8:50
8:54
8:59
At around 8:30 the crowd died down again to the point that they opened up the shortcut again outside the mine entrance. One thing I thought was entertaining was that they measured DS4 about every other time to make sure he was tall enough. I would have thought either the CM would remember him after 12 rides or at least he should be measured each time. I guess if your child is within a few inches of the height requirement you have about a 50:50 chance of them actually being measured.
After our last ride at SDMT we walked onto SplMtn with less than a 10 minute wait. It was nice to go on this ride to cool down after an already busy morning. After the ride we walked at a much slower pace back to PVH at 9:40 and had a nice breakfast. Then it was FP for BTMR, People Mover (one of DS4 favorites), and two FP SpcMtn rides for DS8 and me while DW and DS4 shopped. Honestly, we could have squeezed another FP and/or another ride or two but it was actually nice to be relaxed at the park for the last few hours of our trip.
I can’t think of how our trip could have ended on a more positive note than with going to EMM. Thanks to everyone on this board for providing so much information on this event, which encouraged me and my family to give it a try. We will definitely be repeat customers! Hopefully, I have been able to add a little bit more details in case there are others reading that may be on the fence. On the flight home I asked DS4 why he wasn’t tired like the rest of us. He said it was because he got a lot of energy from all the rides on the mine train! We definitely had a blast and sincerely hope you do too.
Best regards,
Scott Hezlep