How many resort guests use EMH?

[kkendle]

Most touring plans say to stay away from the park that has EMH....and I generally stay offsite. For our upcoming March spring break trip however, we will be staying onsite so was planning on going to the EMH parks and also hopping for the first time.

For those of you that stay onsite and go to the EMH parks, does this work well for you? Thanks.

 

[dismsn]

We used them in September at a few of the parks but that was not a busy time to visit.

 

[Jessica14]

We love them! I schedule my day for the park that has the morning one. It worked great at AK- We were able to walk-on some rides by doing that. It worked well for the tiering at EPCOT. Walk -on Soarin' and TT and FP TT later in the day.

 

[Raenstoirm]

We do! We go to a non-meh park during the dinner then hop to the late EMH park for dinner and emh. Works great. The later the emh the less the crowds.

 

[kkendle]

Thanks...I was planning to go to the EMH park...when there is one in the morning and not use FP....but book the fast pass for the park we will hop to...the EMH one if there is one that evening. It is spring break so crowded and I am so used to avoiding the EMH park that I am not sure.

 

[100acreHiker]

For us, a family with grade-school kids, EMH do not work for us, as my kids still need to be in bed around 9pm. We don't like waking up at the crack of dawn to go to early EMH, so we stay away from the parks that have EMH, even though we always stay on-site.

 

[DebbieB]

Except for summer trips, we typically avoid EMH. Morning EMH is good in the summer to beat the crowds and the heat.

 

[ChristineOH]

Just be sure you get there before park open to really take advantage. If you show up at 8:30 instead of 7:45, you lose much of the benefit. If you end up running late, I'd have a recommended park in mind as back up and head there so you make make RD.

I think some of the spring break EMH can be at 7:00-- early! No experience with those, so I can't offer advice.

 

[PSUTraveler]

I used the evening EMH during my November trip and loved it! DH and I hopped from Epcot to Magic Kingdom our first day and did a bunch of rides with little or no wait. I think the best part of that night, though, was visiting Gaston's Tavern when it was completely empty.

 

[kkendle]

I am finding it a bit strange that there isn't a morning and evening EMH every day. We will be there March 13-18 which is spring break.The days there is a morning EMH it starts at 8am.

 

[mellyf]

We always stay on site, and we use morning EMH. We're always there before rope drop. We go during busier times because I'm a teacher, but we've always been able to get quite a bit done during the first few morning hours. We typically take an afternoon break and then go to a different park in the evening. I do have to say, the last time we went was 2011, so it's been a few years.

 

[nighttowll]

The morning EMH work well for me as far as helping me to experience the greatest number of attractions with the shortest possible wait times.

The evening hours I like for the fact that they allow me to extend the amount of time I can spend in the parks, especially when the parks close early. However, I don't find them very useful for rides. I find them more useful for providing extra time for meals, shopping, shows, parades, and fireworks.

On short trips I like to hop, on longer ones we usually pick a park and stay there all day.

I've never had an issue staying all day at a morning EMH park. I think this is because in general,
1. Fewer people take advantage of the morning hour because they don't want to get up early. People tend to stay up late on vacation, not get up early.
2. Half of the ones who do come hop away by lunch.
3. The planners staying offsite seem to follow the advice given to them of avoiding the EMH parks.

This all seems to sort of even out the whole crowd thing to me. Yes, it is more crowded than the non EMH, but not ridiculously so. By doing all the headliners in the morning, the crowds don't really affect me in the afternoon because by then we have moved onto meals, shows, and other low wait / no wait attractions anyway. I'd say if the crowds are going to be high to begin with, hop away because every little bit helps, but if not, I wouldn't feel like I had to hop if I didn't want to.

However, I'd never stay all day at an EMH evening park. No advantage. I'd only hop there at the end of the day, and then I wouldn’t expect to get a lot done or to walk on rides unless the park stays open after midnight and you are willing to stay until 2 or 3 am.

 

[henrylovespooh]

We stay onsite, and always get park hoppers. We do EMH mornings and love them. In most cases, we hop to another park around lunch, especially MK.

 

[ohiotodds12]

We love the EMH in the AM, but again, we are morning people. I wouldn't miss it, we get to ride so much before the general population gets there, just adds to it for us. We break in the afternoon and hop to another park. We really avoid the EMH for evening parks. Those tend to be crazy unless it is MK and after 12! WE did go to one last September at MK and had a great time just riding some things at night and walking down Main street while they were cleaning the street. Met some great CM's that stopped and took our picture for us. We always stayed offsite until 2006 and stayed on site one time and now we can't avoid it! I will also add we are park hopper type of people so we can leave if it is a crazy busy day. I think it can be busy later around lunch at those parks as there are a lot of non park hoppers that came in and could not leave to go to a less busy park.

 

[kkendle]

Thanks for all the replies. So do most of you that do the EMH parks and hop book your 3 fast passes for the park you hop to later in the day and just hope by getting to the first park early that you will get to do some stuff? This seems like it would be the best strategy because if I prebook for the first park, by the time I get to the second park later afternoon...there will be no good ones available.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

we tend to go to the morning EMH park and then hop to a 'recommended' park (via easy WDW) for the afternoon. IMO it is the best of both worlds

 

[twinnersmama]

While we do bothe am and pm emh. Our preferred emh is the pm We usually don't go at super busy times of the year but still love the emh

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

We always use early entry. Get so much done just in the first hour. The crowds don't seem bad after regular park opening. It's either because we have already done the big rides and now going to 2nd or 3rd tier rides. Or, it's because all the offsite guests stay away from that park.

We do not do late hours because we don't like to stay up that late. The one time we did it, it was horrible. Crowds just as bad as during a regular day. We figured more people probably like to stay out later then get up early.

 

[Mikie]

We always use early entry. Get so much done just in the first hour. The crowds don't seem bad after regular park opening. It's either because we have already done the big rides and now going to 2nd or 3rd tier rides. Or, it's because all the offsite guests stay away from that park.

We do not do late hours because we don't like to stay up that late. The one time we did it, it was horrible. Crowds just as bad as during a regular day. We figured more people probably like to stay out later then get up early.

I've never done morning EMH and wanted to check on this point - are you saying that a morning EMH park is good for short waits for TWO hours (the EMH plus the first regular hour) or just that the one great hour has moved from 9-10 to 8-9?

 

[chartle]

Just be sure you get there before park open to really take advantage. If you show up at 8:30 instead of 7:45, you lose much of the benefit. If you end up running late, I'd have a recommended park in mind as back up and head there so you make make RD.

I think some of the spring break EMH can be at 7:00-- early! No experience with those, so I can't offer advice.

This ^

I have always read that the reason the touring sites say stay away is that many people say they are going to do EMH but don't but still then go to that park which makes it busier.

So as posted above if you are going to do EMH get there when it opens.