Extra Extra Magic Hours! Post Your Experiences Here!

[KTR]

Nice. Worth noting that if you got in the line for MF at 8:40 and were off by 9:05 the actual wait was somewhat shorter than the posted wait, which probably was 35-40 minutes.

It was much shorter than the posted wait. We thought it was fast on Monday (and it was faster than posted). Today we walked much further along into the queue before we encountered the line.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Disney is intentionally reducing capacity in the morning to create a line? Don't tell the "SWGE is a massive failure" people about this...

(or better yet stay away from those threads entirely!)

If they really are doing the bolded above, that`s an extreme disservice to their guests, and quite inexcusable.

 

[Dawn Peterson]

We go next week. Planning HS on Thursday. I was gonna do opening but now thinking I will just wake up at 6 make my way over then check app for wait times once there and wing it. As a planner this is hard but it seems and hopefully stays next week waits are unpredictable but low enough I can sleep for a bit

It kills me but that is our plan next Wednesday.

 

[diztigerrr]

I went this morning. Got to HS at 5:30. Gates were open up to Hollywood Blvd. At 6am, I went to Slinky Dog first, then toy story mania, and then went to MFSR. I waited about 30 minutes (645-715) for MFSR- Posted wait time was 60 minutes. I was leaving the park at 7:30 (departure day).

Edited to add: Characters in toy story land started meeting at 7am. Lines were long for all of them, about the same or longer than what I saw on Friday evening.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

Hope the trend holds. I go in 2 weeks, although I think it will be busier.

 

[Louie7080]

If they really are doing the bolded above, that`s an extreme disservice to their guests, and quite inexcusable.

The intention of reducing capacity is probably to reduce costs. It has been happening a long time. Many rides are not at full capacity at park opening even if there is a 30 minute plus wait. It happens at DL and WDW all the time and I hate it too. I think about how much extra it would cost them to have a few more cast members to double capacity and it kind of makes me angry I guess.

 

[mixmastertoy]

9/13 Hollywood Studios
Walked in park at 6:20am
- straight to TSM x2 (walk on and let us stay on twice)
- SDD - just opened at 7am 15 minute wait
- Aliens (just opened 2nd side) 5 minute wait
- snack
- walk through Star Wars
- single rider Millennium Falcon 5 minutes
-TOT x2 walk on both times (had to sit through preshow)
-ROR x2 walk on and no preshow both times

Exit park 9:02am

 

[osufeth24]

Has anyone tried to do Savi's during EEMH? If so, what was the process? I know they don't do reservations during that time

 

[CastAStone]

9/13 8:02 AM (yes after EEMH at MK/AK but I think still indicative):

DHS:
SDD:45
MFSR:30
TOT, TSM, RNR:10

MK:
PP:25
7DMT, Speedway:20
Meet Mickey, Meet Cinderella, Meet Ariel, Mansion, Belle: 15
Space, Philharmagic, Meet Tink, Jungle, Dumbo:10
(italics: would not have been open during EEMH)

AK:
FOP:55
Navi:10

All other rides and attractions 5 or 0 minutes.

It continues to be true that TSL picks up somewhat during EEMH but RNR and TOT never do (unless one goes down), nor does Star Tours. It's a bit of a haul from TSL/SWGE to Hollywood Blvd so maybe not totally surprising.

It also remains true that if you get to DHS at 6 AM with the intention of only riding rides you'll run out of rides before EEMH runs out of time. I imagine a lot of FPs are getting dropped at DHS right now.

MK and AK remain pretty darn magical on a daily basis.

For those looking at their stays in Sept/Oct I would say that Disney is not at hotel capacity right now. Rooms were available this week in almost all categories at all Deluxes as well as CBR and CSR. Values and Port Orleans were booked solid. I assume the offsite EEMH hotels weren't fully booked either. So there's certainly more room for attendance growth. But even if crowds double (which seems unlikely), most of the parks are walkons right now, which means waits for those rides will grow to at most 5 minutes. At the end of the day Disney is still splitting the limited number of people willing to get up by 6AM on vacation across 3 parks. I would only worry about waits growing meaningfully at very low capacity rides (AS2, Peter Pan) or the rides already drawing a steady wait (SDD after 7:15, 7DMT, FOP).

 

[evlaina]

For those looking at their stays in Sept/Oct I would say that Disney is not at hotel capacity right now. Rooms were available this week in almost all categories at all Deluxes as well as CBR and CSR. Values and Port Orleans were booked solid. I assume the offsite EEMH hotels weren't fully booked either. So there's certainly more room for attendance growth. But even if crowds double (which seems unlikely), most of the parks are walkons right now, which means waits for those rides will grow to at most 5 minutes. At the end of the day Disney is still splitting the limited number of people willing to get up by 6AM on vacation across 3 parks. I would only worry about waits growing meaningfully at very low capacity rides (AS2, Peter Pan) or the rides already drawing a steady wait (SDD after 7:15, 7DMT, FOP).

We head down on 9.28 and I have been checking onsite resort availability every week or so (for the past 9 months since I booked, lol). Today's check shows 11 resorts available. I'm truly hoping the wait times we're seeing now stay similar in 2 weeks.

I think 6 and 7am EEMH are doing exactly what they're supposed to - spread out crowds so everyone has a nice experience.

Also - I appreciate you posting daily time checks!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

My mind is blown that all my concerns over how we were going to handle DHS and getting a morning SDD FP may have all been for nothing, and we may find ourselves killing time until our lunch reservation.

Who knew DHS would become an even stronger candidate for a half day park after SWGE opened.

 

[emilymad]

We are going the last week of October and for parts of the week there is barely any hotel availability. I really hope these low wait time holds but I am going to be watching carefully as we get into October.

 

[georgina]

I'm going Oct 7, and will keep watching this thread also. It's a great resource for planning!

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

We decided on a last minute trip from October 13th - 17th. When I tried to look online for availability for rooms I couldn't find Anything that wasn't a deluxe (and only 1 or 2 of those would give availability). But when I called Disney they got us a value room with no apparent problem. I say that to say, I wonder what the resort capacity is really like right now and currently for October dates. And I wonder how that will affect the crowd levels when we are there.

I am very excited to take advantage of these Extra hours and hope that they are at least half as magical as the current Extra hours are being! Thanks Castastone for your daily updates! I will be following them as we get closer to our dates!

 

[yorkieteacher]

My mind is blown that all my concerns over how we were going to handle DHS and getting a morning SDD FP may have all been for nothing, and we may find ourselves killing time until our lunch reservation.

Who knew DHS would become an even stronger candidate for a half day park after SWGE opened.

We arrived at 7,did SDD, Saucers, TSMM, met Woody and Bo Peep then Jessie, mobile ordered from Woody's Lunch Box, rode ToT, and met Olaf by 915. Then we rode Star Tours, saw the Cars show and Muppets 3D before our 11:20 H&V lunch. We went back to the hotel for nap/swim break and ate dinner there before heading back at 7 for our 8pm Oga's reservations. We had plenty of time to shop, look around Galaxy's Edge, enjoy a drink at Oga's , and ride the Falcon by 9. It was a very pleasant, laid back day! And we didn't use ANY of our fast passes!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

We arrived at 7,did SDD, Saucers, TSMM, met Woody and Bo Peep then Jessie, mobile ordered from Woody's Lunch Box, rode ToT, and met Olaf by 915. Then we rode Star Tours, saw the Cars show and Muppets 3D before our 11:20 H&V lunch. We went back to the hotel for nap/swim break and ate dinner there before heading back at 7 for our 8pm Oga's reservations. We had plenty of time to shop, look around Galaxy's Edge, enjoy a drink at Oga's , and ride the Falcon by 9. It was a very pleasant, laid back day! And we didn't use ANY of our fast passes!

This sounds awesome! Fingers crossed October EEMH crowds aren’t changing this a crazy amount.

 

[a11ie]

If they really are doing the bolded above, that`s an extreme disservice to their guests, and quite inexcusable.

This is definitely happening. The crowds this week make it not such a big deal. But it still sucks watching empty boats go by on purpose.

My mind is blown that all my concerns over how we were going to handle DHS and getting a morning SDD FP may have all been for nothing, and we may find ourselves killing time until our lunch reservation.

Who knew DHS would become an even stronger candidate for a half day park after SWGE opened.

We went to DHS on Monday and were out before 9am having ridden everything but MFSR. We cancelled our HS fast passes for later that day and also Wednesdays and just did EEMH and booked new FPs at the park we were visiting that night.
My step son was on and off the star wars ride in about 15 minutes using SR on Wednesday morning. We visited last night as well and it was definitely not crazy then either. MFSR was a 40 minute wait.

 

[Kc0912]

Question- we’re going late October & into November, so will have a couple of days of EEMH, including one at HS before we plan to go back to the hotel and nap before MNSSHP.
Are there buses going back to the hotels during these EEMH? We just want to ride the 6 HS headliners once & we MAY be done by 9am if these accounts continue.

 

[CastAStone]

Question- we’re going late October & into November, so will have a couple of days of EEMH, including one at HS before we plan to go back to the hotel and nap before MNSSHP.
Are there buses going back to the hotels during these EEMH? We just want to ride the 6 HS headliners once & we MAY be done by 9am if these accounts continue.

Which of the 7 rides is the one you consider not a headliner?

The buses will be running in both directions. More buses will be coming then going, of course, but if the park is open, buses will run back to the resort.

 

[Kc0912]

Which of the 7 rides is the one you consider not a headliner?

Hahaha. Good point. Star Tours. But I might find myself with time to ride that too.