What rides are open for Extra Magic Time? (Sept 26)

[jephyork]

Hi! I'm doing a ONE-DAY trip to DLP (both parks) on Monday, September 26. I'm eligible to attend Extra Magic Time (only offered at the main Park that day, not Studios).

However, I can't find a reliable/current list of which rides are open during that time! Does anyone know?

Also: EMT is from 8:30-9:30, and both parks open at 9:30am. Does this mean that they'll start letting regular guests in at 9 or 9:15? Will they start queuing at the rides, or does DLP hold them at the Hub?

And are there any sites out there that discuss crowd sizes and strategy? I'm attending with someone who hates roller-coasters, so my rough plan for the day is:

EMT hour: ride the non-coaster rides that are open, in priority order. (Most popular first, etc.)
Regular park open: ride all the other non-coaster rides, in priority order.
Mid-day: focus on all the stuff that never has a line, like the Curious Labyrinth or the Castle walkthrough. Walk around and smell the roses while lines are the longest.
Afternoon: my friend goes back to the hotel and takes a nap. I ride the coasters while she's gone (using Single Rider wherever I can).
Evening: she returns, back to the non-coaster rides.

Thoughts? And is it possible to pull this off WITHOUT having to pay for their various Fastpass add-ons?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Karin1984]

It's basically everything, except Adventureland, Phantom Manor, Casey Jr. and Pays des Contes Fees, and Character meets, I say by heart.
So you will have Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Buzz Light Year. These are probably the biggest.

I say they let other guests in by 9:30, but mayb sometimes a little earlier. There is no holding at the hub. It doesn't work with the lay out of the park.

And this is your site. You've come to the right place. There are a few regulars. And now that the world is opening up, plenty of Americans have come over this summer.

It's no bank holiday, schools are in session, Halloween hasn't started yet. So crowds should be okay. Better plan would be to knock out the two big coasters in the park during EMH. Big Thunder Mountain will take most of your time, Space Mountain should have a single riders line, Indiana Jones shouldn't be a problem, lines are usually short. In the other park, Crush' even with Single Riders line on a quiet day can still take 45 minutes out of your day.

 

[DisneySwede]

Just so you know Big Thunder will be closed on the 26th

 

[jephyork]

Thanks, DisneySwede. I did know that about Big Thunder -- I'm very sad, it's one of my favorites!

Karin, unfortunately coasters during EMH are out of the question. I'd have to ask my friend to wait for me, which would annoy her. Frankly I'd rather wait in long lines later or skip them entirely.

Luckily, most other people will probably prioritize the coasters, meaning even shorter lines for her and me. That's one interesting benefit of this strategy; we'll probably be "one ride ahead" of everyone else who starts with the coasters and then works through in priority order.

So if other people enter before 9:30, how do the ride operators sort the EMH guests from the rest? Or do they just start letting everyone on as soon as the crowds enter?

Strategy-wise -- what should I do once EMH is over? Is there any benefit to running over to Studios at 9:25 on the dot? I won't be first in line, but being right behind the 9:30am rope drop crowd (and not running for a coaster) might still be better than being behind everyone else who trickles in all morning.

Or should I stay in the main Park, and at 9:25 queue up for the most popular ride that *isn't* open for EMH? (Phantom Manor, I'm looking at you.)

 

[Karin1984]

The park opens nowadays right after EMH. And unless you like shows, I would skip the studios when you are with your non-coaster friend. At the moment the studios is mainly shows and thrill rides. The few kiddies rides they have I wouldnt do with 2 adults.

Go do Phantom manor or Pirates in the main park at opening. Both are quick loading and high capacity, so lines at opening are never long.

Can you do Indiana Jones, while your friend is there? It often has a very short wait and is only 90 seconds long. Your friend should give and take a bit let her explore adventureland while you do a 360 degree turn.

 

[jephyork]

For Studios, I was looking at Ratatouille or Spider-Man. Both are popular rides that aren't coasters. Would it make sense to target either of those from the back of the line at 9:30, rather than Pirates or Phantom?

"Get up super early and do Extra Magic Time with me" + "Wait around for me while I ride something you hate" is a bad way to start our day. And we don't like splitting up too often. Hmm, but maybe she can ride the Carrousel de Lancelot or something else I dislike. I can ask! Thanks for the info that both ride and line are short!

So you're sure that literally *everything* in the main park is open at EMH except for the Adventureland section, Phantom Manor, the character meets, and the Casey Jr. train/storybookland boats?

 

[DisneySwede]

I would say since Spider-Man is so new it wouldnt be good to be at the end of the 930 line. Ratatouille you could always do single rider at any point during the day. I would say conquer Disneyland Park first Phantom and Pirates are good to do when the rest of the park opens and take longer to build up lines for. In theory Fantasy Land and Discovery Land should be open at EMH but in my experience the only thing consistent with Paris is its inconsistency.

 

[B3rlingirl]

I’ve just arrived from a 4 day trip to DLP…
(I hope I find the time to write a short trip report..)

Last 4 days (Sunday till Wednesday) crowds were heavy but with a good strategy it was manageable especially if you are a bit flexible and go with the flow (or against it) always keep an eye on the app…

EMT was actually more a miss than a hit… On Monday only Peter Pan, dumbo, carrousel de Lancelot, buzz and orbitron were open… (hyperspace mountain had a short 2-day refurbishment and big thunder had technical difficulties starting and didn’t open till the end of EMT…) so almost everyone was queuing for Peter Pan with an insane wait just minutes after opening… (Peter pan fills quickly during EMT)
So my advice: check the app constantly on your way to your first attraction and be flexible if the status changes… (also the attractions tend to start slow so might not be open right away…)
Also keep in mind that depending on the entrance queuing situation you won’t be in the park for the first 15-20 minutes… (queuing at the entrees was bad when I was there and those scanners are the most annoying and slow things I’ve ever experienced…)

If you want to get a feel for the attractions open for EMT just check the app a couple days before your trip during that time…(wait times aren’t that reliable because they chance to quickly but you’ll know that’s open…

Pirates and phantom manor often only had wait times between 15-30 min during the day (last hour before illuminations both were walk on’s), so are easy doable later in the day…(keep an eye on the app and the schedule of “shine brighter” because people will swarm out to the attraction with the shortest wait in the app) I don’t remember seeing star tours having a wait time longer than 15-20 min ever, usually closer to 5-10min.

You didn’t say anything about watching illuminations… if you want to do that, I don’t recommend arriving to early because you are probably able to squeeze into the crowds even shortly before the start… (or be there 2h-2h30 before the beginning and grab a “front row” spot)
if you will have a decent view, is based on luck of the draw anyways, depending on kids on shoulders and smartphone displays… if you arrive to late and everything seems packed try to gently squeeze through the first crowded rows to the hub (or wait till a rude group bulldozers their way through and follow behind). I watched it 3 times and there was always enough space in the middle because the people sat there while waiting taking up far more space than they needed when standing during the show… (and those standing on the curb and the walk ways to the hub didn’t want to step down and lose those extra 10cm height so it couldn’t fill up)
(First day I secured a spot 30 min early (waist of time), second day I was about 20 min early which was a good compromise and last day I showed up 5min till the start and gently followed in the wake of a rude group of 6 or 8 persons pushing their way through the overcrowded curb space towards the more roomie hub… and ended up with actually the best view of the 3 days…)

Ratatouille is great for SR…apart from it, I didn’t have much luck with it… space mountain didn’t offer it while I was there and the others that offered it still had long waits… I caved into buying a premium acces to space mountain because I didn’t want to wait 70+ min for it…

If you want to check out avengers campus check the calendar if it’s still open after illuminations ends than you could end your day there…(it was this week)

But most important: enjoy your time and try to make the most out of it and accept things you can’t change like wait times and ride closure’s… there is lots to see and explore even without coasters!
(They just started decorating Frontierland for Halloween…)

 

[jephyork]

Thanks for the detailed rundown!

Hmm, that's quite a range between Karin's "almost everything is open at EMH" and your "only five things were open on Monday." What was open for EMH on the other three days you were there?

How will I know, on the day of, which rides are open? Its it just the app, or do they have signs or printed schedules? (I hate having to poke at my phone all day. I'm on vacation, darn it.)

What do I need to enter for EMH? I'll have my printed-out DLP ticket and my little card from the hotel. Anything else?

How early should I arrive to be close to the front of the line? Doors start opening at 8:30, so maybe arrive at 8?

How large are EMH crowds, compared to regular park-open or daytime crowds? Just a few early-risers? The entire population of all six hotels?

We're not huge fans of parades or fireworks shows, and are hoping to hit the more popular rides during those times when everyone else is distracted. (My favorite touring strategy is: while everyone else is doing X, do Y.)

Yup, Avengers Campus is open late the day I'm there. I suppose that's a good time to ride Spider-Man, but with literally only two rides open in the entire park, at least 50% of the remaining crowd will have the same idea. So it might be the longest line of all! Argh!

Which rides offer Single Rider? And which SR lines are actually, noticeably faster?

Is this list accurate/complete?

Indiana Jones
Hyperspace Mountain
Avengers Assemble
Spider-Man
Crush's Coaster
Ratatouille
RC Racer
Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop (seriously?!)

 

[jephyork]

Can anyone answer any of the questions in my last post? I’ll be there Monday — yikes, that’s soon!

Thanks!

 

[DisneySwede]

I can only say from experience that we use single rider for Ratatouille, RC Racer and Parachute drop, they are all rides that have an odd number of seats so they tend to work well for it

 

[jephyork]

Thanks to everyone who replied.

Unfortunately, my Extra Magic situation resembled B3rlingirl's first day -- only Hyperspace Mountain, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Carrousel, Buzz and Orbitron were open. We decided to skip it, slept in an extra hour, and rope-dropped Studios instead. No regrets.

 

[villavic]

I'm going on april 25 to Disneyland and my partner already bought the Premier Access Ultimate, since we saw that week seems to be high schools holidays, it will probably be very crowded so he wanted to assure main (or some) attractions with no long waiting times.

But it seems that most of the attractions that open at the extra magic hour are those included in the Premier Access. So we will priorize those not included.

The question is, if EMT is 8:30 to 9:30 and, for example, we want to go to Pirates, or Philarmagic, Pinocchio, etc... if they are not open at 8:30, they will open after 9:30? or maybe usually open at 9, 9:15, etc.?

 

[DisneySwede]

Philarmagic usually doesnt open until 12 and closes at 5. Pirates and Pinocchio tend to open at park opening or before. There isnt usually a set pattern sometimes rides will open before regular park guests are allowed in but not always.