Wow, your MK day sounded just like ours on this last trip.
It wasn't EMH when we were there though! That bites that they added EMH after you had already made your plans. I hate it when they make calendar changes after they are released. Glad you were able to change your FPs around though, but that is why I think 3 a day just isn't enough. I really hope they are going to make some changes to that rule.
As for the glow ears... my DD bought some back in October and we could never figure out what the 'glow with the show' part was??? They didn't look any different when the show was running than they did at any other time. I still don't know if we got a messed up pair or if I'm just missing something???
Did your DS every get any? If so, did yours do something different during the shows?
That crane was there during our trip too.
Sure doesn't make for pretty castle pictures. It looked like they were retiling the roof or painting it or something like that. I think that's a pretty common thing in Jan/Feb. I've seen that crane in many other TRs during that time of year. I have to say the many refurbishments that were going on during this last trip made me not want to go back to WDW in the winter anymore. We've never experienced that much of it in the fall.