Question about extra magic hours

[marianne]

My family is taking a trip to WDW the last week of June. We've been there many times before but this will be our first time staying in a Disney resort so we'll be able to take advantage of extra magic hours. My question is-- how much smaller can we expect the crowds to be? We did extra magic hours at Disneyland a few months ago and it was awesome! We practically had the place to ourselves. But then, they only have 2 hotels. With so many resorts at WDW and only one park offering EMH on a particular day I'm concerned that everyone will flock to that park. Some members of my family are not early risers so we will probably only do the late night EMH. This will be a short trip and I'm concerned about being able to see and do everything. Any advice?

[D2000lands]

The EMH will be busy, especially with the morning EMH. For the nighttime EMH, it will be busy for about the first 90 minutes or so of it, but then it starts to thin out. However, an extra equation to that is how late the park in question will be open. Epcot is one of my favorite evening EMHs. By the time it gets to the last hour so so, I've been able to get on Soarin' multiple times with little to no wait (and even shut the park down with the very last ride of Soarin' for the night too, just as an example. Parents/families with younger kids tend to leave after about an hour or so of evening EMH (at least what I have seen anyways).

Because most will come to the evening EMH and go to the "hot spots" in each of the parks, it may be wise to do some of the other lesser popular rides/attractions for the first hour or so. After most of them have done that, people will start to trickle out and the lines get smaller. If you have Verizon, I would also recommend having the Disney Parks Mobile App. It gives you attraction wait times, etc. when in that park, so that can help you make your next moves.

Remember to keep your Key to the World card visible (such as on a lanyard) as they will check for it each time when you go on a ride (and also at the start of it when they make sure you're eligible when they try to kick the rest out).

[TinaMouse]

I think the morning EMHs are especially good if you get there RIGHT away and storm through. We can hit a lot of the biggies before the park opens to everyone else. Then I bail out of there.

If I go for evening EMHs, then I go on the later end of it. It is quite busy when the park first closes to everyone else. Peter Pan NEVER gets a short line, and I've never been able to do what Drew said above, ride Soarin' multiple times. It could have been one of those YMMV things. One thing is to NOT stay up super late on an evening EMH just to turn around and do a morning EMH (or TS) the next morning. I usually will take my time getting out of an evening EMH park but rarely stay to the bitter end. I find I do better just being at rope drop at ANY park and doing the E-rides the first hour.

[Drince88]

I'm with Tina.
My sister and I generally hit morning EMH or rope drop at a park, and usually avoid the park with evening hours, because we tend to be more morning people AND generally you can do a TON in the first hour in the morning.

It wasn't EMH, but the park opened at 8 when I was there a few years back with a different sister and her family (3 boys + my BIL). We hit the MK and were there right at rope drop. Was it hard being up and ready so early? Sure, but it sure did pay off! I hustled to Space Mt to get fast passes, they hustled to Dumbo. By the time I'd gotten the FPs, they were getting onto Dumbo (so they had someone to wave too. Then we were walking to BTMRR and it was pretty dead in that part of Fantasyland, so much so there was no wait at all for Peter Pan. So we switched it up, and rode PP before hitting BTMRR. This is about the only time you will have a minimal wait for Peter Pan, even if you do use a FP!

I just went back and looked at my trip report. We did Dumbo, Peter Pan, BTMRR (both parts of a kid swap), Splash (both parts of a kid swap), train (it was right there), Space Mt (with the fastpasses from earlier), Indy Cars, Buzz (with fastpass), ice cream break, Teacups, Pooh (with a fastpass) all by 11:30. Just demonstrating that hitting the parks early does help. We did a couple more things, had a lunch with Pooh, and back to the resort for a break to 'make up' for the early morning, and it worked great for us.

[GusMan]

I echo most of what was already said. Early EMH is great if you get there at rope drop and storm as much as possible. Evening EMH is better if you are more of the nighttime type and the last hour or so of the park is pretty thinned out.

Dont worry about not seeing it all during a short trip - because you you be able to anyway. (Please read that with some humor.) Just try to make a plan with your must-do's, hit them, and then anything else is just frosting on the cake. Consider subscribing to touringplans.com to help with planning on hitting which park and attraction at which times. It really does help - especially during the busy summer months.

[stan2u]

Last year when we were there it wasn't very busy, but the night there was Epcot EMH, Soarin was crammed right till the end. I have no idea why - certainly not what I expected. Maybe there was a breakdown, but it was very busy every other day, too. The only time we got relief was in the morning right after opening.

[ourtrip]

here's the echo: if you plan to do the morning EMH; be there for rope drop and it's well worth it. i'm not a great morning person, but at disney world those first couple of morning hours are awesome if you are there to open the park. so i'm always up and ready to go.

evening EMH are a bit tougher to gauge. remember in the morning the park is already empty; so only the EMH people are in the lines. however, during the EMH the lines are already formed at the start of the "bonus" time. this makes the evening version less "valuable" in a sense. for instance; if an attraction has a 60 minute wait and the park starts evening EMH there is already an hour long wait in the queue that must pass through before the resort quests can get the value of the extra magic time. if the attraction is soaring or rock-n-roller coaster with 90+ minute wauts you can see the problem with evening EMH.

[marianne]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone. We'll have to have a family meeting and develop a plan of action. Although we only have 4 days to do the 4 parks we have been to Disney (both Land and World) many times and are pretty good at making to most of our time. We do use the Verizon app and we know how to best use the fast pass system- although this will be our first trip since the enforcing of FP return times so that will be a bit of a challenge. Myself, I'm good at getting up early and could manage to be there for rope drop but it's much more difficult for my husband and 2 teenagers. But maybe they could manage it if we have an early night the night before. The good thing is, I'm mostly looking forward to fun family time together and we've already done all the rides so no pressure to ride absolutely everything.

[danyoung]

A lot of people aren't "morning people", especially while on vacation, so you can really enjoy that morning EMH. Remember, in Epcot this summer The Land pavilion is open for an hour after park closing at 9pm, because of Test Track being closed. They haven't advertised this at all, so you can go ride Soarin' multiple times with little or no wait. And I agree that the evening EMH doesn't work so well, as people are coming into that park all afternoon and the crowd really builds up. And for me I'm ready for some sack time anyway, so the evening EMH doesn't much matter to me.

[scoobydooby]

If they can't manage x4 early EMH I really advise at least trying it at MK as it makes a huge difference at this park I think. Less of an issue at Epcot now Test Track is closed although when that's open it's really useful there too.

[danyoung]

Agreed. At the MK most of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open, and you can get in a lot of rides in just a couple of hours. I wouldn't wait in a 30 minute line for rides like Pooh or the Astro Orbiter, but with no line I just zip right in and zip right out!

[LarryfmScotland]

One thing to remember is that because more people go to the EMH park on that day, it's worth leaving after a few hours and hopping to another park, as it should in theory be quieter.

Also if you have a lie in, don't go to the EMH park that day pick one of the other three, for the same reason above.

Have a great trip.

[danyoung]

Is a lie in the same as sleeping in?

[scoobydooby]

Is a lie in the same as sleeping in?

Yes it is