Seriously Big Park Hours Update 8/29-11/2 - Daily AM EMHs added for DHS, DAK, & MK

[tseitel]

Super excited to read this!!!! I had considered avoiding HS completely, even though we are staying at Yacht Club, just to avoid the massive crowds. But I can totally do a 6AM rope drop and visit the rest of the park. And if I can get a few hours of park time in that early, I'll have zero guilt about napping in the hotel room for a bit. Supper happy!!!!!!

This exactly. We will be at BWV Sept 27-Oct 6, originally hoping to avoid the madness of SW opening. I was all set to do the paid Emh at toy story land, then boom. I was so disappointed, and was really considering not going to the Studios at all. But this gives me hope, and dare I say it, makes me a little excited.

 

[cdoc29]

This both worries and frustrates me. We have 8am breakfast reservations at Animal Kingdom , Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studious first week of September and was looking forward to getting inside ahead of the crowds, now the crowds will have been there an hour (or more) before our breakfast time. For my wife who is a photographer there goes the empty park shots, and as Disney is doing this what do they know that we don't?

 

[freediverdude]

With this news, I am wondering if it might be better to wait until later in the evening, because this event insures that there will be a big stampede of resort guests early in the morning. I guess we will see.

 

[Mrspeaks]

SWGE keeps throwing me curve balls I’m planning! Lol. We arrive 8/31 and I have no interest in being part of the SWGE opening. I do want to experience toy story land, so I think this will help me.

 

[SaintsManiac]

With this news, I am wondering if it might be better to wait until later in the evening, because this event insures that there will be a big stampede of resort guests early in the morning. I guess we will see.

Honestly, I think it will be packed all day for a while. If it is important to you to see GE I think you should plan on being at HS on one of those extra early mornings.

 

[DisLiss]

I love Disney a ton and applaud them trying to accommodate guests but 6am!? I always rope drop but arriving at 5:30 for a park seems nutty.

See, I love these hours! We get up before 6am every day, so this is like Disney finally switching to our schedule.

 

[kitkat4622]

Why can’t it be PM EMH at DHS!!!!!!!

totally agree, which some of these EMH were night time hours

 

[Brett Wyman]

This both worries and frustrates me. We have 8am breakfast reservations at Animal Kingdom , Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studious first week of September and was looking forward to getting inside ahead of the crowds, now the crowds will have been there an hour (or more) before our breakfast time. For my wife who is a photographer there goes the empty park shots, and as Disney is doing this what do they know that we don't?

Same for us. We have no desire to wake up early enough to take advantage of these offerings and it just means the parks will be even more packed by the time we arrive. We also now have THREE worthless pre-park opening(not any more) ADRs.

 

[RachaelA]

I have to figure out how I want to tackle our 10/26-11/3 trip. But I’m at Disney right now so I needed to remind myself to not worry about next trip until the current trip is over!!

 

[McNs]

Count me in the group that thinks this is awesome! We always make the most of early early opening - had some 7am MK mornings on our visit in 2017 and the park was gloriously empty. 6am is a stretch but will do it at least once! We do have a 8:20 Crystal Palace no longer PPO) one morning so will need to decide if we want to keep or try and modify.

The only curve ball I have now is whether to stick with Disney transport or pay for car rental and parking...

 

[DisLiss]

and as Disney is doing this what do they know that we don't?

I don't really understand this part of your post. What do you mean "What do they know that [you] don't"?

With SWGE opening they need any and every possible form of crowd dispersal. So they're getting the early birds in really bright and early hoping that by the time the late risers/leisurely breakfast folks turn up many of the early birds will be heading back to their rooms to recharge, therefore reducing the number of people all cramming into the parks during the peak hours of the day.

But I imagine you do indeed already know that, which is why I'm confused by your question. ???


As to the rest of your post, I do sympathize. I know it's frustrating to do all of the WDW planning only to have it not work as you had hoped or to have to change it again. But with something as unpredictable as GE could be, I expect we should all expect just about anything to happen or to change. I wish you luck and a great trip!

 

[cdoc29]

I don't really understand this part of your post. What do you mean "What do they know that [you] don't"?


But I imagine you do indeed already know that, which is why I'm confused by your question. ???

Sorry It was a rhetorical question. I expected early openings for HS to occur but changing the hours to open an hour earlier and then add EMH on top of that at both MK and AK as well I found surprising and I am guessing it is because Disney (who knows things like how many tickets it has sold for September in addition to how many rooms it has booked) is expecting more than just HS and SW:GE to be crowded. I expected an uptick but not one that will necessitate a move such as this. Now I normally wouldn't mansplain this but you asked...............

 

[gorkt]

This indicates that they are expecting enormous crowds to the
point that they expect park attendance to overflow to the other parks. It’s going to be a flipping madhouse at WDW for awhile. I am thinking that if those hours extend into our trip days, we will be looking at early mornings with long midday breaks and late nights in order to minimize the crowd impact.

As an aside, I wonder if RotR will open Nov 3rd.....

 

[duffybear32830]

Pretty sure they want to encourage as best they can on site guests have the better experience to see GE and keep on site resorts as full as possible. Off site will be so far behind so if you had wanted to stay off what are you thinking now, maybe I should switch to on site?

 

[Kc0912]

I am not interpreting this as “it’s going to be SO busy, we need to increase capacity”. I genuinely still believe that hotel bookings are soft & with no FP’s being available and no reservations for onsite guests they are running out of incentives for people to stay onsite.

 

[Heffalump12]

In addition to the added EMHs, TP decreased the crowd levels at all parks today except HS which increased for the week we are staying 9/21-9/28. With that said, it seems that Disney is adding every incentive possible to attract more guests to their resorts. I guess they aren’t getting the ROI they were expecting from SWGE. I know some are thinking that it’s to disperse the crowds but that’s just the kicker, there isn’t enough crowds for Disney to disperse.

As for my family, I’m slightly frustrated as I just squared away our final touring plans (given that we get the FPs we want), and ready to start spending time towards other things in my life that needs attention LOL. Now it’s back to the drawing board again! I really like the extra time in the parks but if we want to watch the closing shows, it’s not going to provide enough rest time for my young children. Kinda over spending every spare moment (even moments I can’t spare) trying to perfect our first trip to WDW. What a time to take a first trip to Disney!

 

[rteetz]

This both worries and frustrates me. We have 8am breakfast reservations at Animal Kingdom , Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studious first week of September and was looking forward to getting inside ahead of the crowds, now the crowds will have been there an hour (or more) before our breakfast time. For my wife who is a photographer there goes the empty park shots, and as Disney is doing this what do they know that we don't?

They know crowds are gonna be nuts. That’s why they are doing this.

 

[rteetz]

I am not interpreting this as “it’s going to be SO busy, we need to increase capacity”. I genuinely still believe that hotel bookings are soft & with no FP’s being available and no reservations for onsite guests they are running out of incentives for people to stay onsite.

WDW was never going to do the DL style on-site reservations. Too many hotels for such.

 

[rteetz]

As an aside, I wonder if RotR will open Nov 3rd.....

I think they have a target date in mind but I don’t believe anything is set yet.

 

[DisneyandBeerLover]

I'm curious if this will change breakfast starting times at restaurants. It might make getting those harder to get breakfasts easier to get, or just less crowded. I know if I'm up and going by 5am, there better be someone for me to eat.

But I really hope this is extended through the rest of the year. I'm crossing my fingers since we'll be there December 8-11.