Seeing how we have never done EMH's before here is my question. If say MK has EMH's at 8:00am and we plan on going do we just walk in after security and go on the rides? With not being behind the rope? Is the rope drop jut for the people staying OFF site? How do they seperate the people who are there for EMH and do stay on site from the people who are there and dont stay on site? Im really confused sorry first time...

I don't know how WDW does it. I know DL, if your early entery they hold reg. uest outside the gates and only let early entery in. Ive seen it when its close to opening for reg park hours, that they have the early entrance people walk on one if the side walks and hold the other guest till its time. Im would assum WDW does something simular.

I was wondering if they do hole the non site people on 1 side and hole them there until rope drop and the onsite people get to just walk by them and enter the rides. Not sure though...

They do not allow off-site people through the turnstyles during the morning EMHs -unless they are doing some sort of rope drop at the tunnels, and then they'd just let them in there a few minutes before. They are held outside the ticket gates.

How do the CM'S know if your staying onsite or not? Everyone's tickets all look the same. Do they go by your word? Thanks

How do the CM'S know if your staying onsite or not? Everyone's tickets all look the same. Do they go by your word? Thanks

You have to show your room key. If you have a package your ticket is your room key - it's just people who have APs or other types of tickets that aren't a package that actually have to show their room keys.

We have a room only reservation for Pop so I assume just showing our room card will get us in for EMH and on the rides before rope drop and the non onsite guests?

Is there rope drop for EMH or just walk in to the rides?

The times I've been at the turnstyles waiting for EMHs to start, I believe they have generally just did a count-down, at most, before they let people in - BUT they will sometimes hold you back, or walk you, from a certain location. i.e., I've been held at the fountain by Innoventions in Epcot and had a line of CMs WALK the crowd back to Soarin'.

When entering through the International Gateway at Epcot, I've been let in the turnstyle, but held by the bridge between France and England, even though we have to go all the way to Future World to find anything open. And that was being held back by one CM with a rope.

I guess it all depends on what you mean by "Is there rope drop for EMH"

How do the CM'S know if your staying onsite or not? Everyone's tickets all look the same. Do they go by your word? Thanks

At the MK, when you come in on the busses it's assumed that you're staying on site. At the TTC (parking lot) they have a gate where they check to see if you have a hotel key. It's kind of a cattle call, and they don't really look at all closely for dates, etc. I haven't done morning EMH at the other parks, so I can't comment on their procedures.

As to the rope drop, it varies. Sometimes Disney will open the front gates early and let you wander around in the front part of the park (Main Street, Future World near Spaceship Earth, etc.). They will have a rope stretched across the end of this open area, and drop the rope when they see fit, sometimes right at park open time and sometimes maybe 10 minutes or so early. And then sometimes they'll keep you at the gate right up till park open time. It just varies, depending on the crowds and the time of year. Best bet is to plan on being at the park turnstyles about 20 to 30 minutes before the official park opening time.

Ok, so as I've been studying all these posts, I'm gathering that if you are staying off site and want to "avoid crowds" (hahahaha), then it might be best to go to the park opening on days they do not offer EMH, that way there aren't a ton of people already in the park when you get there. Am I right or am I understanding this all a little backward?

I'd make a slight adjustment to that. Morning EMH's are always cool for the first few hours, as people just don't like to get up that early while on vacation. They will tend to crowd up more as the day progresses, though, and by 11am or so you can have a pretty crowded park. If you're willing to park hop, you can make morning EMH's work very well for you. But if you're going to stay in one park all day, then by all means avoid that day's morning EMH park.

If you can get so much done in the early morning at MK why do so many people say to not go for EMH? I would think that would be ideal. Please someone explain. THANKS

Umm, I sorta just did. The park that has morning EMH will get extra crowded my mid-day, and pretty much stay that way the rest of the day. If you have the park hopping option, you can do the EMH park for the first 3 or 4 hours and then hop over to another park or back to your hotel.

This works really well in the MK, where most of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open. I can do ALL of the Fantasyland dark rides in about 20 minutes, and then do some of the rides in Tomorrowland that I'd never wait in a line for, like the Astro Orbiter and the Indy Speedway. By the time the park opens for regular visitors you've already done 7 or 8 attractions in that first hour. Very very cool!

Morning EMH works based on the theory that people won't get up early while on vacation. I love my sleep, but those first few hours of the day are just critical to being able to ride without long waits.

Ok, so as I've been studying all these posts, I'm gathering that if you are staying off site and want to "avoid crowds" (hahahaha), then it might be best to go to the park opening on days they do not offer EMH, that way there aren't a ton of people already in the park when you get there. Am I right or am I understanding this all a little backward?

That's it exactly. If you are staying offsite or otherwise NOT taking advantage of EMH (either morning or evening) it's best to go opposite the EMH parks!

A lot of people plan to hit the morning EMH when they make their ADRs and other plans - and then decide to sleep in or just aren't moving very fast, so they don't take advantage of the extra time, but their plan was to hit that park, so that's what they're going to do.

Ok I get it now, we are staying onsite at Pop so we will be there for EMH right when they open and head to Space Mountain then on to thunder mountain, Haunted house, splash mountain and then after that I dont know but at least we got the big rides done.

Not all attractions are open during Extra Magic Hours - so make sure and review the official WDW list before you go. (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/calendar/extraMagicHour?id=CalendarExtraMagicHoursPage) There may be last-minute changes, though too.

oh man I didnt know that. Thanks for the tip Cathy. I will defiently look into it before leaving.

we made great use of morning EMH on our trip; we were there right at rope drop, and the first two-three hours were just a joy. but by mid morning (around 10.30 - 11am) as the crowds were arriving, we hopped to another park where EMH were not happening that day. worked a treat for us - the benefit of no queues early in the morning, and then a slow park in the afternoon/evening. but beware - if you do not intend to hop, I would recommend staying away from EMH parks - the crowds arriving mid morning were phenomenal.

I must be missing something or dont understand how this works. If were staying at 1 park for the day with EMH why wouldnt we want to do EMH to avoid the crowd coming in at regular hours? That way we can get in as many rides as possible before it really gets busy. I dont understand why we would not do EMH. Please someone explain. Thanks

The only people who should avoid the EMH parks in the mornings are the people who are staying off site. You said you are staying on site so you should go and enjoy the smaller crowds of EMH. Then when it gets wicked busy at that park you can decide if yo want to leave for another park, DtD or your hotel assuming you have done most/all of what you set out to do there.

Thank you, that makes sense now.:)

KJSJpipe is correct. To put it another way, if I was staying offsite and didn't have permission to use morning EMH, I would be dumb to go to that park anyway, when the crowds have already been building before I could even get through the gate. I'd only have a couple hours of moderate crowds before things got too crowded for me. I'd be wise in that case to go to a non-EMH park, where I'm through the turnstiles at the same time as everyone else. And with larger onsite crowds going to the EMH park of the day, smaller crowds will be going to the other parks. Make sense?

Good! Thanks for the help - We (staying OFF site) will go to the parks on their NON-EMH days. . . . now I just have to wait for the official WDW calendar to update to know when those are.

The only people who should avoid the EMH parks in the mornings are the people who are staying off site. You said you are staying on site so you should go and enjoy the smaller crowds of EMH. Then when it gets wicked busy at that park you can decide if you want to leave for another park, DtD or your hotel assuming you have done most/all of what you set out to do there.

Some people who stay "on site" also avoid EMH parks.

Disney advertises the EMH as an exclusive benefit to each resort guest. But the resorts have 70,000 guests, and after the Extra Magic Hour is completed the morning EMH park tends to get extra crowded.

Many of the resort guests arrive *after* the Extra Magic Hour ends. This doesn't make sense. They don't get the extra hour, and they deal with larger crowds. (For similar reasons, this also doesn't make sense for non-resort guests; when non-resort guests enter the EMH park at the regular opening time, the EMH attractions will already have lines.)

The morning Extra Magic Hour is wonderful (without a doubt, as long as you don't mind waking up early), but the rest of the day in the EMH park can be "wicked busy," and that's why some people always or usually avoid the EMH parks.

For them, the "wicked busy" crowds are worse than the "wonderfulness" of the EMH hour. They're of the opinion that they can do the Rope Drop at a non-EMH park, and even without the extra hour they can actually do more and have more fun because they are going to a park that is relatively less crowded. They also like their Extra Magic Hour of sleep. And by staying in one park, they have more time to collect and use FastPasses.

If you like to park hop, then IMO going to the morning EMH makes sense. You can enjoy the low crowds, and then you can hop when it gets "wicked busy." But after you hop, if you want to go to major (FastPass) attractions at your next park, then the downside is that you enter the next park without any FastPasses in hand, and collecting FastPasses doesn't work as well when you start collecting them later in the day.

If you don't like to park hop, then it just depends on what you think about the tradeoff between having lower crowds in the morning and dealing with larger crowds during the rest-of-the-day.

HTH :)