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Thread: Extra Magic Hours [schedule]

  1. #1

    Extra Magic Hours [schedule]

    I am planning a trip for December and we will not be staying on property. Everything that I heard is to avoid the parks with EMH. How far in advance do they publish which parks have EMH on which days or is it always the same?

    I don't know and I don't care if It's a Small World. It's a nice day when you wake up in Disneyland.


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  3. #2

    Usually you can find EMH hours 2 to 3 months ahead. Go to disneyworld.com, select any park, and select Calendar on the left side. It will give you the option to look a few months ahead.

    As to your basic premise, I don't agree that all EMH hours are bad. There's a big difference between morning and evening EMH - here's how it plays out. I really like morning EMH. You have that extra hour that most people just don't want to get up early for while on vacation. The park will be really empty, only getting busy late in the morning or early in the afternoon. And once it gets busy you just bounce to another park, or do like I do - go back to your hotel for a nice vacation nap!

    The evening EMH is a bit different. Since a lot of people who are staying on site will want to take advantage of evening EMH, that park will build in attendence all afternoon. By the time EMH starts you have wall to wall people. Usually this crowd will taper off after 90 minutes or so, leaving you the final 90 minutes of the day with relatively low crowds. But for me, a guy who likes to be at rope drop each morning, staying later in the evening just isn't all that attractive. So yeah, I'll tend to steer clear of evening EMH. But those mornings are incredibly valuable to me!

    The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
    - James Taylor

  4. #3

    Actually Dan, EMHs are usually listed on the calendar when it comes out 6 months in advance. Like everything it's possible they may change as it gets closer to the actual dates.


  5. #4

    But the OP is staying off property so will not have access to EMH so they should definitely avoid the parks that have them.

     

    If no-one out there understands, start your own revolution and cut out the middle man (Billy Bragg)

  6. #5

    Ahh - I missed that. Then yes, if staying off property there is no advantage to going to an EMH park, either morning or evening.

    The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
    - James Taylor

  7. #6

    WITron
    You may want to invest in Touring Plans. You can use their park crowd estimates to plan your trip. If you join through mousesavers (.com) you get a nice little break on the fee. I used them for the first time on my most recent trip this past Jan. It really helped me plan which park on which day, but be prepared, when they say expect a crowd level of 8 or 9 that means wall to wall people LITERALLY.They also have something called "cheat sheets", it's a spreadsheet with suggestions on when best to do a certain attraction. Use the fastpass system it's really your best shot at getting into anything. Since you'll be there during the holiday season take the time to visit the resorts all decked out in their best. It's a great time to be in the World! Happy planning!

    TulaBelle
    Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever.

  8. #7

    Another resource for crowds is easywdw.com. They do the same thing as Touring Plans, and a lot of people think they do a better job at predicting crowd levels. And it's FREE!

    The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
    - James Taylor

  9. #8

    Since you are staying offsite - this is a very important tip:
    Go to the official Disney website the week before you go - and again when you get there - and double check the regular and EMH hours.

    The reason that you are doing this is because if Disney (based on the number of onsite room reservations) decides that there will be a fair number of guests in a given week, regular park hours might be "extended". They most often do this at MK (but they have been known to do it at the other parks as well, but usually only by an hour). Extended hours are always added on to the end of the day, they are never added on to the beginning of the day and most importantly, extended hours of operation are NOT EMH hours.

    I stayed onsite at the beginning of December 2011 - and there were a few extended hours of operation, but I didn't write them down (because I was staying onsite, so it didn't matter to me).

    However, in early March, I stayed offsite (because I also went out to the Gulf Coast) so I made sure that I checked the week before I went and there were some extended hours at the parks. The bad news is that I only made note of the MK extended hours, because I was only interested in the MK extended hours - but the good news is that I kept the notes.

    On Monday, March 5th, AK was the morning EMH and DHS was the evening EMH so only onsite guests could be at those parks for EMH. However, the MK hours of operation on Monday, March 5th were extended until midnight, so all guests (staying both on and offsite) could be at the MK until midnight.

    On Tuesday, March 6th, Epcot was the morning EMH, so only onsite guests could be at Epcot for EMH. However, the MK hours of operation on Tuesday, March 6th were extended until 11 PM, so all guests (staying both on and offsite) could be at the MK until 11 PM.

    On Wednesday, March 7th, AK was the morning EMH, so only onsite guests could be at the AK for EMH. However, the MK hours of operation on Wednesday, March 7th were extended until 10 PM, so all guests (staying both on and offsite) could be at the MK until 10 PM.

    “When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.” - Roy Disney

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