DHS/Toy Story Land "Early Morning Magic" (EMM) FAQ & Discussion

[SaintsManiac]

Yep. a 20 min wait would be great for anytime during a regular park day, but not during a paid event that only lasts an hour and 15 min!

Yes if this keeps up I just might cancel. It's a chunk of money we could spend elsewhere. Time will tell!

 

[marisas1011]

Yes if this keeps up I just might cancel. It's a chunk of money we could spend elsewhere. Time will tell!

Same here.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

With the exception of the other day when it sounds like SDD was down for a bit, I have seen very few reports of 20 min ride waits. My own on a very busy Columbus Day were all 8 mins (posted 20 or 25). While I agree 20 is extreme and not grounds for a good event / good value in my book, there is little evidence of those kind of wait times occurring so far in the very few “double time” dates that have occurred.

 

[SaintsManiac]

With the exception of the other day when it sounds like SDD was down for a bit, I have seen very few reports of 20 min ride waits. My own on a very busy Columbus Day were all 8 mins (posted 20 or 25). While I agree 20 is extreme and not grounds for a good event / good value in my book, there is little evidence of those kind of wait times occurring so far in the very few “double time” dates that have occurred.

I certainly hope things settle down. We really want to do this!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

so, if I can fastpass this can I skip the EMM? Or is this the best option to ride those rides?

All three rides in TSL are Tier 1, so you can only pre-book one. You can of course try for same day searching for the others and likely have OK success (esp if you pre book SDD and same day TSM and AS2). It might take some work and time, but it can probably be done. Or just do standby, rope drop, end of evening, or whatever strategy suits your style best.

In my opinion EMM is a good option to ensure multiple rides on all three in a compressed time period and minimal effort.

But if that or the breakfast aren’t important, it could be an easy pass.

 

[Jasperann]

Two questions...

1-If they open a second time slot, is there any chance TPTB will open the rides at 7 instead of 7:30am. This would make for a really early morning but might give more opportunity to ride?

2-What do you do the afternoon of EMM at TSL. I am thinking of saving all my FP for another park. Maybe hop to MK? Thoughts?

1- It seems the rides/being let into TSL has not started until 7:20-7:30

2- We are hoping to Epcot for lunch around noon at the latest and then spending the evening at MK with our FP's

 

[KrazeeK120]

I’ll be there this coming Monday (22nd), so I’ll make sure to report back!

 

[mini mouse 2]

I’ll be there this coming Monday (22nd), so I’ll make sure to report back!

Have an awesome trip! Can't wait to read your report!

 

[Maine Disney First Timer]

On instragram someone with "earlymorningmagic" tag wrote this with their pic from early morning magic: "It does'nt have the same feel as the EMM at MK. There were way more people there than I expected. But it's still so much better than waiting in the crowds at rope drop! We had to wait 10-15 minutes for Slinky Dog. We didnt even do the character meet & greets. The line for Woody & Jessie were pretty long in my opinion. The Buzz line wasn't bad. You can pretty much walk on Aliens & Midway Mania."

 

[Eve & Wall-e]

What do you do the afternoon of EMM at TSL

DH and I will be spending all day at HS. This will be our only day at HS during our 10 days at WDW. We have 3 FP's scheduled, an ADR lunch at Sci-Fi, and the JBJB Dessert Party in the evening.

 

[RachaelA]

If it’s crazy crowded, my husband (who never complains about anything) said he’ll complain at guest services. $320 for our family of 4 to sit in a ton of lines and now they added more spots? Um no, Disney.

 

[SaintsManiac]

2-What do you do the afternoon of EMM at TSL. I am thinking of saving all my FP for another park. Maybe hop to MK? Thoughts?

Our plan is to hop to AK after.

 

[Tigger in a kilt]

I do remember that! I love meeting others (ran in to another Dis'er at Epcot during that trip) Even though we didn't officially meet, hi back at ya!

That’s so funny! I said to my sister “I think I know her from my board but I don’t want to go and ask her, just in case I’m wrong”! Now I wish I had said hello.

 

[kat_lh]

On instragram someone with "earlymorningmagic" tag wrote this with their pic from early morning magic: "It does'nt have the same feel as the EMM at MK. There were way more people there than I expected. But it's still so much better than waiting in the crowds at rope drop! We had to wait 10-15 minutes for Slinky Dog. We didnt even do the character meet & greets. The line for Woody & Jessie were pretty long in my opinion. The Buzz line wasn't bad. You can pretty much walk on Aliens & Midway Mania."

The crowds feel heavier even though I don’t think they really are. TSL is much more compact than the MK one so you’re just going to see more people than you would at MK. Having done both, I think TSL is a better value and just more fun than MK. Particularly given the changes they have coming to MK, I think TSL will end up being a better experience.

 

[jwolfpack]

Ok thank you. Just makes me nervous spending so much money & having to rely on someone else to get me there!

We drove to EMM, but pre-booked a Mears taxi for an early ADR at Epcot during our trip last week. We wanted zero stress that early in the morning. You can request carseats, booster seats, scooter lift, etc when you book. Our driver texted when he was on his way and arrived 15 minutes early and was waiting for us in front of our resort. It was $19 from Poly for a luxury SUV (suburban) for my family of 5, and he had the carseat for my son installed and ready to go. Super easy.

 

[grinner]

We drove to EMM, but pre-booked a Mears taxi for an early ADR at Epcot during our trip last week. We wanted zero stress that early in the morning. You can request carseats, booster seats, scooter lift, etc when you book. Our driver texted when he was on his way and arrived 15 minutes early and was waiting for us in front of our resort. It was $19 from Poly for a luxury SUV (suburban) for my family of 5, and he had the carseat for my son installed and ready to go. Super easy.

I've pre-booked Mears too, I figured it's one less thing to worry about if we don't have to rely on the buses or chance getting an Uber/Minnievan!

 

[MelOhioDis]

Hi there! We went to EMM on Wednesday 10/17. Just wanted to give me report I’ll put a cliff notes version at the bottom! I didn’t think this would be as long as it turned out!

It was myself and my DD8. This was our 7th day at Disney so we were dragging a bit. My daughter was pretty sick of getting up early so I knew that getting there at 7 was out of the question. We were also going to do a 4 park in 1 day day (spoiler- we did it!). However, I was still hoping to at least be through the gates by 7:30.
When I woke up I was keeping an eye on the bus wait times just to make sure buses were in fact arriving. We are staying at Caribbean beach. I saw one pop-up right at 6:30 so I thought we wouldn’t have any issues. Unfortunately after that it just said “every
20 minutes” we went to the bus top around 7. Buses for magic kingdom had wait times but HS still didn’t. When the bus for MK arrived I asked if they knew if a bus was coming. They were wonderful and called dispatch for me. A bus was leaving HS for CBR right then.
Boarded our bus at 7:19 at park at 7:30 through gate at 7:40. Person who checked us in said the rides would be opening in 5 minutes and I could either eat or go ride. One of the CM’S directing traffic outside the ABC said she recommended we ride first and made sure to let us know the crowds would be let in at 8:45.
Straight to TSM AT 7:45 was a walk on. Off ride by 7:55. The ride did seem to stall a few times. Twice the games popped up with 0 points. That was a bit annoying, especially since I knew we already lost some ride time.
Went to SDD posted wait of 15 minutes we waited 10 minutes. Walked around to ride again waited 10 minutes again, went to Alien’s just had to wait for the previous ride to stop basically a walk on.
My daughter didn’t want to do SDD again so we went to TSM walk on again. When we were getting off it was 8:45. The CM asked if we wanted to ride again. Of course! We stayed in the same car and rode again. Off around 8:52. Walked out to a mass of people!

We wanted to ride RRC so headed that way. Stopped to get Toy Story entrance phot pass. It’s hidden behind the RD line for SDD but there wasn’t a wait.
Got to RRC at 9:04 posted 15 minute wait but was a walk on. The preschool wasn’t even going. Boarded at 9:10 was off at 9:15. When we left posted wait was 20 but I’m guessing actual was 10.
My daughter hates ToT so we didn’t go on. I looked at the wait time though, it was 5minutes at 9:18. I would guess you could easily do both at least once if not twice. Especially if you head over there right at 8:45.

Headed to breakfast at 9:25 ordered! Got pastries and sat by 9:32. Food was good. I got the chicken and donuts DD got the scrambled eggs and tots. She ate probably 3 or 4 pastries too! I also ordered the charcuterie tray at the same time as our meals without any problems. It was ok. I think most people would like it. I’m not fan of spicy meat, the salmon was yummy.

I did enjoy this but I felt a bit rushed to get in as much as we could during a short time. I’m guessing if I’d arrived earlier I probably wouldn’t feel rushed. My daughter seemed to enjoy it too. If it was any more expensive I wouldn’t think it a good value. Comparing this to some of our dinner costs, we definitely got more for our money here! Lines for characters were just as long as during the day. We didn’t have any interest in meeting characters

I’d also recommended driving or getting a taxi/Uber. Waiting for the bus really killed us.

We headed to Epcot after. Word of advice DO NOT TAKE THE WALKWAY. With the construction it took me 30 minutes to walk there. I was so thankful I had a stroller and that my parents weren’t with me. We never would have made it otherwise. With the heat and the distance I was exhausted by the time I got to Epcot. Mommy definitely earned that beer!

Quick summary:
TSM x3, SDD x2, Aliens x1
7:19 caught bus at CBR at park 7:30
7:40 through gate
7:45 TSM off at 7:55am
7:58 SDD off at 8:10
8:11 SDD off at 8:23
8:26 aliens off at 8:31
8:33 TSM done at 8:45 CM let us stay on
8:52 off of TSM
8:55 TSL entry photo pass no wait
9:04 RRC out of building at 9:15 (we waited for our pictures to show up but they never did)
9:25 breakfast

 

[detroitdad]

We're schedule for Feb 18th! Looking forward to it but will keep an eye out for trends in people's reports that may indicate that WDW is overselling the event.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Feeling pretty annoyed about these 10 minutes waits for SDD. I was hoping this would be more like the AP events or MK EMM.

 

[ninafeliz]

Feeling pretty annoyed about these 10 minutes waits for SDD. I was hoping this would be more like the AP events or MK EMM.

Last time I did the MK EMM we had to wait 5 min for SDMT the first couple of rides, then it settled down to a walk on. But with the changes happening in December all bets are off... We'll have to wait and see on those reviews to see what that does to SDMT waits, since I still think most people ill be doing it with that as their primary goal, but more people will be allowed to book.