Are extra magic hours worth it?

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

Do you think extra magic hours, in particular the morning ones, are worth it? Do the Disney buses easily get you to the parks in time for the morning EMH? We've always used the strategy of avoiding the parks with EMH, but I'm wondering if we should try them. We will also have park hoppers so could potentially start in a park with EMH and leave after lunch. Will the parks with EMH be super crowded through the morning? We will be going 3rd week of August and have two young kids. Thanks!

 

[sharonabe]

Do you think extra magic hours, in particular the morning ones, are worth it? Do the Disney buses easily get you to the parks in time for the morning EMH? We've always used the strategy of avoiding the parks with EMH, but I'm wondering if we should try them. We will also have park hoppers so could potentially start in a park with EMH and leave after lunch. Will the parks with EMH be super crowded through the morning? We will be going 3rd week of August and have two young kids. Thanks!

I think MK early EMH is always worth it. EP doesn't have enough open to absorb even the lower EMH crowd. HS and AK can be worth it. If you're hoping to do the main headliners (FoP at AK, Toy Story stuff at HS), you'll still need to be AT the gates 30-45 min BEFORE the EMH starts. If you're willing to forego those during EMH and do some of the other things that are open, you could get to these two parks closer to EMH opening and probably have the run of the park since the majority will be at FoP or TSL.

 

[kaybird]

If you are going to do anything, do the morning EMH. That said, they are most beneficial as a previous poster said if you get there early. If you are not going to be early enough to be there at the start of EMH, then choose another park, and get there at ropedrop. You will get more done in the first 2 hours than people who arrive at 10 get done by 3. We also usually park hop out of EMH when it starts to get crowded with all of the families that intended to get there early.

 

[mamapenguin]

What about PM EMH? Is it not worth it? We will be there the last week of March.

 

[hello starshine]

I'm a fan of EMH, but we usually do the park hopping strategy of only spending 1/2 day there. We particularly love the MK PM EMH - walking around that park with such a limited number of people (unsure if this is normal or if we've just gotten lucky) is really special. We also get a ton of rides done, usually get there after dinner than just jump from ride to ride for the rest of the night with minimal waits.

HS and AK can be worth it. If you're hoping to do the main headliners (FoP at AK, Toy Story stuff at HS), you'll still need to be AT the gates 30-45 min BEFORE the EMH starts.

Not to hijack this thread but for planning to ride FOP + Na'vi at RD you would suggest getting to the park 30-45min before park opening on an EMH day? This will be our situation in March and I've been trying to figure out how early we should plan to get there because I wasn't sure if the hour before thought was for the regular opening time or not.

 

[wrestler72]

As far as morning EMHs are concerned, I think, AK EMH is really worth it. Apart from Avatar everything is a walk on for some time. We stopped doing MK EMH because the Frontier Land is closed and we can do EMM and / or Be Our Guest early breakfast on a "normal" day. Same for Epcot, queues form really quickly, so breakfast at Garden Grill gives you more chance of walk-on rides (you can do Soarin' a couple of times and still have a very short waiting time for Test Track).
And HS EMH can be pretty good.

 

[Marc D]

To answer OP’s question, the busses do start to run early enough. We rope dropped AK (for FoP of course) and arrived at the turnstiles so early that we were 4th in line at the no-bag line, coming from AoA.

I actually prefer EMH in the evening, not for the efficiency but simply to enjoy the parks in the evening with less people in them.

 

[sharonabe]

What about PM EMH? Is it not worth it? We will be there the last week of March.

PM EMH is hit or miss. The later the park closes, the better chance you'll have of getting lower crowds toward the END of EMH. If EMH doesn't go until at least midnight, then you'll likely not see any change in crowds. MANY more people see staying up late on vacation as more preferable to getting up extra early on vacation. Also, non-EMH people are allowed to stay in the park to eat and shop with late EMH, but are not allowed into the park at all for early EMH. (Yes, I know they get onto Main St at MK now, but no farther.)

I'm a fan of EMH, but we usually do the park hopping strategy of only spending 1/2 day there. We particularly love the MK PM EMH - walking around that park with such a limited number of people (unsure if this is normal or if we've just gotten lucky) is really special. We also get a ton of rides done, usually get there after dinner than just jump from ride to ride for the rest of the night with minimal waits.



Not to hijack this thread but for planning to ride FOP + Na'vi at RD you would suggest getting to the park 30-45min before park opening on an EMH day? This will be our situation in March and I've been trying to figure out how early we should plan to get there because I wasn't sure if the hour before thought was for the regular opening time or not.

YES, even with EMH, you need to be at the gates at least 30 min before and 45 is better insurance if you want to be toward the front of the EMH crowd.

 

[Klayfish]

What about PM EMH? Is it not worth it? We will be there the last week of March.

We are dedicated off site people, but booked a room at the Swolphin last summer simply because the kids wanted to try EMH. We did PM at Epcot. I won't say it was horrible, because it wasn't. But if we hadn't had the room at the Swolphin for free, it would have been a waste of money.

YES, even with EMH, you need to be at the gates at least 30 min before and 45 is better insurance if you want to be toward the front of the EMH crowd.

Not picking on you, but to me that's just something I don't understand or see value in. Waiting in what is basically a "line" for 45 minutes just so you can get on one more ride than the person who shows up right when the park opens. Isn't that the same as just waiting in line 45 minutes for that ride without showing up extra early?

 

[jeff_h]

What about PM EMH? Is it not worth it? We will be there the last week of March.

We used to always attend PM EMH a few years ago, but IMHO now in most cases it just concentrates the on-site crowds to that park and makes it as busy (or worse) than during the day. The only exception to this is if the park is open until 11pm or 12am anyway and has EMH from 11pm-1am or 12am-2am in which case the EMH is great as then most of the crowds are long gone by the second hour.

I remember reading the contrarian's view here on the forum a few years ago that the better strategy is to look at the PM EMH schedule and instead choose a different park during that time (if another is open late) and choose the other park to find the lower crowds.

Good luck!

 

[sharonabe]

Not picking on you, but to me that's just something I don't understand or see value in. Waiting in what is basically a "line" for 45 minutes just so you can get on one more ride than the person who shows up right when the park opens. Isn't that the same as just waiting in line 45 minutes for that ride without showing up extra early?

Because in the case of FoP (and only that for me), that 45 min before opening has a tremendous affect on the rest of my day. I'm on and off FoP before or just after the park opens and can then take advantage of the other attraction's lower waits for EMH and I've ridden the BEST attraction in all of WDW (IMHO). If I don't do that 45 min wait and I want to ride FoP, then I'm not waiting 45 min for FoP. I'm waiting at least an hour and probably more as the line for FoP RARELY dips below that one hour wait and THAT one hour is during park time. I can ride two or three other things during THAT hour. I can't ride anything in the 45 min BEFORE park open.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Here's our experience with EMH. First, we always have park hoppers so if we go to a park with morning EMH and it gets crowded we can leave. Since we almost always leave the park around 11-12 to spend time at the pool anyway the afternoon crowds aren't an issue for us.

Morning EMH - we like it at MK. We'll typically ride Space Mountain once and Buzz a couple of times, and can sometimes still fit in Pooh depending on the crowd. At that point we'll start walking over to Frontier Land so we can be at the front for Big Thunder and Splash Mountain when they open. Morning EMH at DHS is good if you want to ride Tower of Terror or Rock n Roller Coaster. We always ride ToT a few times and sometimes can hit the roller coaster as well before park opens, then we'll have FP for Toy Story. AK is also good for morning EMH--we usually can ride Safari and Everest a couple of times before the park opens. As others mentioned, Epcot just doesn't have enough rides to handle the crowds for either morning or evening EMH.

Evening EMH - we like it at MK. There's enough rides so that even if a lot of people stay you can usually get something done, but the later it is open the better the evening. For whatever reason evening EMH at DHS was always crowded, perhaps because it was never open particularly late. Never been to evening EMH at AK.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

Thanks, everyone! Your posts are helpful.

 

[twoolle]

I have a theory that AM EMH at HS is actually busier than other days. Or at least the rope drop crowd since the addition of TSL. Anyone been recently to share their experience?

Also we enjoy PM EMH at Epcot. TT usually has a line but while everyone is watching Illuminations we have most of FW to ourselves.

 

[mdsouth]

Do you think extra magic hours, in particular the morning ones, are worth it? Do the Disney buses easily get you to the parks in time for the morning EMH? We've always used the strategy of avoiding the parks with EMH, but I'm wondering if we should try them. We will also have park hoppers so could potentially start in a park with EMH and leave after lunch. Will the parks with EMH be super crowded through the morning? We will be going 3rd week of August and have two young kids. Thanks!

If you are going to do anything, do the morning EMH. That said, they are most beneficial as a previous poster said if you get there early. If you are not going to be early enough to be there at the start of EMH, then choose another park, and get there at ropedrop. You will get more done in the first 2 hours than people who arrive at 10 get done by 3. We also usually park hop out of EMH when it starts to get crowded with all of the families that intended to get there early.

I, agree, morning extra magic hours are great if you get there at the start. I love MK ones and hit Fantasyland. We get all the main rides at Fantasyland done (Peter Pan, etc.) before the crowds hit. It is amazing what a difference in crowd size and how much you get to do in Fantasyland in that short amount of time.

I'm a fan of EMH, but we usually do the park hopping strategy of only spending 1/2 day there. We particularly love the MK PM EMH - walking around that park with such a limited number of people (unsure if this is normal or if we've just gotten lucky) is really special. We also get a ton of rides done, usually get there after dinner than just jump from ride to ride for the rest of the night with minimal waits.

I, too, love the evening magic hours at MK. It is fun to be in the parks at night.

To answer OP’s question, the busses do start to run early enough. We rope dropped AK (for FoP of course) and arrived at the turnstiles so early that we were 4th in line at the no-bag line, coming from AoA.

I actually prefer EMH in the evening, not for the efficiency but simply to enjoy the parks in the evening with less people in them.

Yes, we had good experiences with the busses for the morning extra hours.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Because in the case of FoP (and only that for me), that 45 min before opening has a tremendous affect on the rest of my day. I'm on and off FoP before or just after the park opens and can then take advantage of the other attraction's lower waits for EMH and I've ridden the BEST attraction in all of WDW (IMHO). If I don't do that 45 min wait and I want to ride FoP, then I'm not waiting 45 min for FoP. I'm waiting at least an hour and probably more as the line for FoP RARELY dips below that one hour wait and THAT one hour is during park time. I can ride two or three other things during THAT hour. I can't ride anything in the 45 min BEFORE park open.

I'm with Klayfish on this one. There have been a lot of recent reports of 20 minute actual waits for FoP near the end of the evening. That strategy doesn't take up any park time either and also avoids the stress that seems to come with the early morning crowds.

 

[sharonabe]

I'm with Klayfish on this one. There have been a lot of recent reports of 20 minute actual waits for FoP near the end of the evening. That strategy doesn't take up any park time either and also avoids the stress that seems to come with the early morning crowds.

To each his own. We're early risers and like being in the parks early. We'd also take two or more rides on FoP over sleeping. So an early rope drop ride AND a late, just before closing ride works for us.

 

[GeneralTso]

We only do the PM extra hours events. We refuse to get up and suffer (cuz it is suffering for us) a super early morning while on vacation. It's just not that important to us.
Staying up past midnight-easy peasy. We don't have little kids with us, it works.

Nothing worse than hearing an alarm go off at 6am and have to get up and get ready. Even though it's for Disney, it's still miserable.
When we had kids with us and that schedule worked better, sure. But now that we have a choice--we are never doing that again!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

To each his own. We're early risers and like being in the parks early. We'd also take two or more rides on FoP over sleeping. So an early rope drop ride AND a late, just before closing ride works for us.

That sounds like a good plan too. Fortunately for us, many early risers don't stay out too late which leaves the parks nice and calm for the night owls.

For FoP, our latest plan got us on it 3 times in one day. We had an pre-booked FP around noon, refreshed for another later in the day then jumped in the short line just before closing time. Unfortunately I never could get a FP for Navi no matter what I tried and we ended up waiting in a 70 minute standby line for that one.

 

[clm10308]

In August you will want to get in as early as possible and probably take a break mid-day anyway.