Opinions on EMH?

[Mickey's Best Girl]

AM EMH are gold if you can get there for rope drop. But we hop around 11/12 to another park or head back to the resort for a while. For us, it’s not that EMH is only valuable with Park Hoppers, it’s that our entire Disney vacation is valuable with Hoppers. We won’t visit without them or an AP.

PM EMH used to be gold, when only resorts guests were allowed to remain in the parks. Now that anyone can stay to shop, eat, or generally hang out (without riding) it’s my opinion that evening EMH are a waste. Crowds seem to remain high.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

It depends on the park and if it's AM or PM. If we do AM EMH we always leave by noon, do a break at the pool and then hop to a PM park, usually with FP+ at the PM park. Same with PM EMH. If we take advantage of PM EMH will hop there close to regular park closing. We don't spend the entire day there.

I've done AM EMH at AK in August. It's wonderful because that park gets soooooooooo HOT so being there a bit early and leaving by noon lets you beat the extreme heat of the day.

AM EMH at MK is pretty good also. PM EMH at MK is good the later it gets. After midnight it thins out. PM EMH at Epcot I've never found to be that good. TT and Soarin still have pretty high wait times. AM EMH at DHS was pretty good too.

Next trip we are only doing EMH twice. Once for AK in the morning and once for MK at night.

 

[MimiDee905]

I'm sure that logically the park with EMH is more busy because of the extra hours...but I guess I will be in the minority here and say I have never really noticed a huge difference. I'm usually at WDW during the summer or spring break, so I feel like its always high level crowds when I'm there. I appreciate the extra magic hours. We always take advantage of them. We rarely park hop. I think a solid touring plan is the best benefit of all. Even though we vacation at the busy times, we have never once complained about the crowd levels because we have a touring plan that works! So no matter what you decide...EMH or not...park hop or not....taking breaks or not....its really whatever works for your family and having a solid plan.

 

[LSUfan4444]

I am looking for opinions on Extra Magic Hours. We're going to be staying onsite, and it seems like a no brainer to take advantage of these. We normally rope drop, so while getting there for EMH rope drop in the morning will take a bit of effort, it is doable for my family. I have been reading lots of Disney stuff lately, though, and it seems like many bloggers recommend that you do NOT do the park that has EMH, or that you take advantage of EMH and then hop to another park. I understand the idea behind this---EMH brings more people into the park, so as the day goes on, the amount of people just grows and lines are longer. Do you agree that this is true? Do you still take advantage of EMH?

We generally do not tour with parkhoppers. For our upcoming trip, we plan to do rope drop, then come back to our room at the Poly when doing MK and Epcot for an afternoon break, and then going back to the same park late afternoon/evening. We are going in June, which will be the busiest time we have been at WDW, and we are concerned about crowds and heat, which is why we are planning to tour that way. It is just myself, my DH, and our 12 year old son....so we can do early morning/later evening without any troubles.

What's your opinion on EMH? Valuable only with parkhoppers? Valuable for everyone? Don't do it--it's a trap?

Thanks!

Which is precisely why I avoid morning EMH (unless it's departure day) and will only visit a park with evening EMH if thats where my FP+ are pre-scheduled and I plan to stay through the end of EMH.

 

[Jasperann]

We park hop and will do Morning EMH and leave by noon like other posters. The problem with EMH is if it is morning, people 'plan' to get there early to do them and then they end up walking in after they have ended, due to whatever reason, and they stay the rest of the day because that was their plan. We do avoid Evening EMH since they made it 2 hours long instead of 3 because it is still just very busy... way more busy than a different day. We do enjoy going to the park that had the Evening EMH the next morning because it feels like no one is around until 11am.

If you do not have a park hopper I would honestly stay away from the EMH parks. You would get more done in less hours by avoiding them.

 

[Silvermist999]

We always avoid the park when they have the morning EMH. Too early for us and by the time we get to the park at our usual time around 9:30 or 10, it's packed. We do take advantage of the evening EMH though now that our children can stay up later. We always stay till close for evening EMH, either to repeat a few favorite rides or just to enjoy the atmosphere.

 

[Shanti]

I am looking for opinions on Extra Magic Hours. We're going to be staying onsite, and it seems like a no brainer to take advantage of these. We normally rope drop, so while getting there for EMH rope drop in the morning will take a bit of effort, it is doable for my family. I have been reading lots of Disney stuff lately, though, and it seems like many bloggers recommend that you do NOT do the park that has EMH, or that you take advantage of EMH and then hop to another park. I understand the idea behind this---EMH brings more people into the park, so as the day goes on, the amount of people just grows and lines are longer. Do you agree that this is true? Do you still take advantage of EMH?

We generally do not tour with parkhoppers. For our upcoming trip, we plan to do rope drop, then come back to our room at the Poly when doing MK and Epcot for an afternoon break, and then going back to the same park late afternoon/evening. We are going in June, which will be the busiest time we have been at WDW, and we are concerned about crowds and heat, which is why we are planning to tour that way. It is just myself, my DH, and our 12 year old son....so we can do early morning/later evening without any troubles.

What's your opinion on EMH? Valuable only with parkhoppers? Valuable for everyone? Don't do it--it's a trap?

Thanks!

We love them and use them every trip. They help a lot imo. The best thing is there is no FastPass usage during them, so lines actually move.

We never use hoppers & have never needed them for use with EMH.

 

[slpeters]

We do them everyday and that tends to always be the best part of the day--especially the AM ones. We park hop though so we always open one park, take a break and then close another one.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Anyone have advice on AM EMH at Epcot? I saw posts on PM EMH at Epcot in this thread, but I don't think I saw anyone discuss the morning.

Also, I think I've read that DHS has been letting people into the park before official opening times for TSL. Anyone know if people are being let in earlier on EMH days? So if EMH is at 8am, what time would the park likely open, and what time should I get there to be at the front of the pack?

 

[fractalpotato]

I don't understand these posts, I'm surprised! We love EMH, morning and evening and always take it when we can. Morning EMH is definitely better, but evening is still great too. Sure the park doesn't clear out instantly, but it thins out quickly enough, and more importantly the ride lines do shrink, combination of closing effect and reduced time at the park. Plus it's late enough that most people run low on steam, but we take afternoon naps so we're good to go. I am sure EMH days are numbered, so I'm going to take every last one I can get.

Matt

 

[asbyrneva]

Anyone have advice on AM EMH at Epcot? I saw posts on PM EMH at Epcot in this thread, but I don't think I saw anyone discuss the morning.

Also, I think I've read that DHS has been letting people into the park before official opening times for TSL. Anyone know if people are being let in earlier on EMH days? So if EMH is at 8am, what time would the park likely open, and what time should I get there to be at the front of the pack?

EMH at Epcot is very helpful in my opinion if you want to do the big three (TT, Soarin Frozen). July 5th (Came in from International gate - we were first 50 or so at that gate) We had FP for test track. Went to Frozen first (board at 810), then soarin, stopped by nemo 8:50 all before official open. While everybody was running to big three we walked on mission space (inside capsule at 9:26). did TT with FP -photo at 9:50. Leisurely coffee break. Stopped by Baymax character followed by space ship earth FP (10:42) (figment was down and hadn't opened otherwise we would have gotten on that too.) and strolled to mexico shortly after WS opened at 11 in Norway doing photos about 11:20. Future world complete (for us) in 3 hours.

Again the idea of using AM EMH on tiered parks is a no brainer for us. (we do have AP so if things get to crazy at that park we have the option to leave and go somewhere else for evening.
In this case we had dinner at AK and wanted to see pandora at night (we scored 4th FP for Navi river after dinner).

 

[tinkerjo]

We also utilize morning EMH and never park hop. We almost always go busy times, end of February, Christmas summer. We feel like we get more done by noon than most people do all day. We go back to the resort about 2-3, have supper and if we want, go back in the evening for a show or to catch a couple rides after dark. (thunder mountain is not the same in the daylight) we never feel like we are missing out and we don’t ever wait over 20 minutes for anything. Now sometimes the kids will do the evening EMH and as a previous poster said, it used to be better. My kids used to ride the big rides over and over with no wait. Now they say it’s almost worse than during the day. Too many people and not as many rides open as they used to have. ( I think they shut down some of the tracks too which also make the lines longer)

 

[goofyintoronto]

If I didnt have hoppers, i'd avoid the park with EMH. Without question. But because im a crazy hopper lady (3 parks in one day), I do AM EMH, then hop like a bunny for the rest of the day. I do sometimes do night EMH, but i quickly regret it because its awfully crowded normally. (I go in October).

 

[Randomsoulshine]

We always avoid the park when they have the morning EMH. Too early for us and by the time we get to the park at our usual time around 9:30 or 10, it's packed. We do take advantage of the evening EMH though now that our children can stay up later. We always stay till close for evening EMH, either to repeat a few favorite rides or just to enjoy the atmosphere.

What are your thoughts on a day that MK has EMH but we don’t plan on getting there until around 4-5pm and staying to close. Will most of the extra people maybe be leaving the park around 8 due to being there all day already?

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

OP, click the link below and decide for yourself. It's a long post with lots of numbers but it's totally eye opening and took a lot of anxiety out of my planning.

https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/d...e-week-you-visit-disney-worlds-magic-kingdom/

 

[lisa cameron]

AK EMH is awesome if you have a FOP FP, because everyone else is running to FOP you will have the rest of the park to yourself - especially on days when EMH is posted go start at 7am. For now, they are actually letting people in 30 min before posted time. Over Presidents’ Day weekend, we arrived at 6:20am on a 7:00am EMH day and were in at 6:30am. We walked into Navi River, they let us stay on a second time without getting off. We then walked into Dinosaur x1, triceratops spin x2, primeval x2, EE x1 all by 8am and had time to get some coffee. 8 rides all before the park opened to all guests! We then saw Its Tough to be a bug before walking into Kali River when it opened. Then we had FP to ride EE again, FOP, and KS. We saw Lion King and has a ADR at Tusker a house, picked up a 4th FP for Dinosaur then left park at 2pm when getting packed. I would totally recommend AK EMH is especially if you do have a FOP FP. Highlight of our trip!

 

[disneycat321]

AK EMH is awesome if you have a FOP FP, because everyone else is running to FOP you will have the rest of the park to yourself - especially on days when EMH is posted go start at 7am. For now, they are actually letting people in 30 min before posted time. Over Presidents’ Day weekend, we arrived at 6:20am on a 7:00am EMH day and were in at 6:30am. We walked into Navi River, they let us stay on a second time without getting off. We then walked into Dinosaur x1, triceratops spin x2, primeval x2, EE x1 all by 8am and had time to get some coffee. 8 rides all before the park opened to all guests! We then saw Its Tough to be a bug before walking into Kali River when it opened. Then we had FP to ride EE again, FOP, and KS. We saw Lion King and has a ADR at Tusker a house, picked up a 4th FP for Dinosaur then left park at 2pm when getting packed. I would totally recommend AK EMH is especially if you do have a FOP FP. Highlight of our trip!

I am so glad you posted this. We're planning to do AM EMH only for AK in July, and what you've said here confirms our decision. We're also hoping to be done with AK in the early afternoon. Thank you for sharing your success!

 

[Remy is Up]

If used properly morning EMH it is not a trap. In fact, if you are willing to get out of bed and get there, you can clear a ton of stuff out, have FPs set for an hour after park open if necessary and then use them up to get to refresh. Ive never gone on a morning EMH and not completed pretty much everything and been out of the park by 1030 or 11. And I find the early mornings in the parks relaxing. I am a person who hates waiting in lines and between EMH, Refresh, and if After Hours are available, I rarely am in a park more than 3-4 hours for rides. Other times I am in the parks is just to walk around, explore, and enjoy the atmosphere.

Even riding FOP at open on EMH, we usually can still get Everest and Dinosaur done and be on Safari before the day guests are let in. Ill set FPs for Navi, another Everest, and Lion King back to back to back and use refresh to move times up. Ive never spent a morning in that park that has kept me there beyond 1030/11. And Ive done everything.

MK is the same but sometimes will take till about 12 if you want to get more stuff done, Epcot is easy to close out by 11 and have lunch in World Showcase, Studios are easily done by 10/1030.

 

[Silvermist999]

What are your thoughts on a day that MK has EMH but we don’t plan on getting there until around 4-5pm and staying to close. Will most of the extra people maybe be leaving the park around 8 due to being there all day already?

We usually leave the park around 3pm to head back to our resort for rest/swimming. We don't ever stay the entire day, usually returning after dinner to the same park (if we don't have hoppers). Even with morning EMH, in our experience it wil still be pretty busy in late afternoon/early evening at MK with people sticking around or just arriving -- waiting for the parade and/or fireworks. Crowds tend to thin out after HEA is over, with people dispersing throughout MK or actually leaving for the night.