Has anyone employed an "Anti-EMH" Strategy?

[Blueliner]

We have a trip planned for March 2008, and we were trying to map out which days we'll be in each park (so that we can make dinner reservations as soon as our window opens).

On previous trips, we have taken advantage of the extended magical hours (more in the mornings than at night). For this trip, I was wondering whether we might want to try hitting a non-EMH park right at opening in hopes that all of the other resort guests are at the EMH park for that day.

Has anybody ever tried/studied this? If so, do you think it works?

 

[Gartdog]

Absolutely try the Anti-EMH plan. For EMH mornings, you have to wake up super early, get the whole family ready and moving, to be at the park at opening to get any benefit from it. Then, by mid-morning, the place is packed and stays that way all day. For evening EMH, the park fills up in early afternoon. By the time EMH starts, all fast-passes are gone, half the attractions in the park shut down, and huge crowds line up for what is left. You will spend the extra 2 - 3 hours and see maybe 2 attractions.

Go to a non-EMH park whenever possible, and try for the park that had EMH evening the night before. Sleep in and get the benefit of a less crowded park.

 

[disney magic 06]

I absolutely agree, especially the morning EMH. We went in March this year and didn't really give the matter much thought, the parks weren't too busy for the first week of our holiday.

However, the second week when the Easter build up was starting we decided to go to Epcot, arriving about 8.45. The place was heaving, fastpasses around 8 hours later and queues of over an hour for everything. We had a strawberry cake (good breakfast!) and legged it to AK where we had a lovely day with minimal waits for all the rides. The rest of the holiday we avoided any park with EMH.

 

[scole3388]

"Go to a non-EMH park whenever possible, and try for the park that had EMH evening the night before. Sleep in and get the benefit of a less crowded park.[/quote]


This makes really good sense to me. Wonder how this will work the week between Christmas and NY when we'll be there next? :xmas:

 

[DisneyJoe]

"Go to a non-EMH park whenever possible, and try for the park that had EMH evening the night before. Sleep in and get the benefit of a less crowded park.

This makes really good sense to me. Wonder how this will work the week between Christmas and NY when we'll be there next? :xmas:[/QUOTE]

It depends - I believe once or twice that week last year they almost had 3 parks reach closing states on the same day, so I would think in that instance it wouldn't make any difference at all.

Then again, it depends on what you are used to.

 

[Blueliner]

Thanks for the good advice, everyone!

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Well, you have to have someone disagree.
While any park at opening will be less crowded, after the initial surge, you can get more done in an EMH park IMHO.
I ignor EMH for evenings except in real light attendance times.

 

[wcj1968]

our last trip we always park hopped on EMH days. We went early to the EMH park until about 10-11 then hopped over to the least crowded park (guide books have lists of parks that are statistically the least crowded by day of the week) for the rest of the day. This seemed to work for us. If you have no interest in rising with the chicken to make this work, then avoid the EMH park like the plague.

 

[RiversideBunny]

Depends on whether you have a Park Hopper option or not.

For the morning EMH, with Park Hopper, we have had good luck going to the park that does have EMH. Ride the big rides and then leave after about 2 hours when the regular crowd starts building up. Go to another park.

Evening EMH do not seem to be as useful as morning EMH. The park with evening EMH can start to get crowded, but not always.
If it does, then park hopping is good to do.

Without the Park Hopper option avoiding the EMH park may actually work out best.

One other thing- The MK is most always crowded on Mondays.
People travel on the weekends and the park they want to hit first when the week starts is MK.

Good luck.

 

[natolij02]

We just went and did not do any EMH as the way our dining and certain things we wanted to see (doodlebops) worked out. We did not have park hopper as we figured with a little one we didnt need it because it would take longer to get through the parks anyway...so why pay the extra. We were there the labor day weekend and even without hitting the EMH it was still pretty busy. I didnt see where with a little one in tow the EMH would have benefited us as everything takes longer and they get tired early so we did not have too much intrest in staying later in the parks. Only time it was disappointing was we did not realize that AK closed at 5pm the day we were there so if you pick a park to do EMH for the evening do it at AK so you can stay and enjoy more as AK really is a great park for adults and children with plenty of things to do.

As for what others are saying, If I were doing the EHM, I too would do the AM EMH and consider going to another park later in the day except for AK. I would do the EMH in the PM at AK as the EMH PM hours are more time than the AM hours. All your choices will depend on the ages in your group and how willing you are to be at the parks early versus late and wether you get park hopper or not.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

I have developed a few plans for dealing with EMH...

For the morning, go to the park with EMH right at opening. Leave after about two hours though when it starts to get crowded. Usually the best places to go during the day are the parks that have evening EMH the night before. Since more resort guests were there until about midnight or so the night before they aren't as inclined to go there again.

When it comes to Evening hours you would probably want to stay away if you plan on enjoying rides. You also might want to stay away from AK EMH since it still closes at the same time or earlier than the other parks that won't be as crowded. Usually the parks with evening EMH will start to get crowded from about 4pm on which means the other parks aren't as crowded. If you are like me and want to go just to get some night pictures and wait to ride until the last hour then head over to the evening EMH park. Otherwise just skip it and go to another park.

 

[SweetMagic]

I'm really glad to have seen this topic because I'm a passholder and thus, do not usually stay over night. We decided to splurge this year and stay at AKL and as I'm planning my itinerary I was thinking that I should make use of the obligatory EMH or I was somehow missing out on something. I'm actually really happy to hear that skipping it is a better plan in some cases!!

Also, natolij02, that is the cutest avatar pic ever!

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

We avoided EMHs this summer because, particularly at night, the parks just were too packed. So we almost always planned to be at a different park.

The one night we didn't do this did work well for us, though. On July 3, it was EMH at MK and the park was packed. But - magically, you could say - the park seemed to clear after the fireworks.

My son and I spent another few hours in the park and rode many, many rides. It probably was the highlight of our trip. I'll never forget walking down an almost deserted Main Street at 1:45 a.m. with my son, eating ice cream. That truly was a magical moment.

 

[kennygman]

I think the best plan is the visit a park the morning after it had its LATE EMH. Everyone went there till midnight, so there's no way they are going back. I stopped spending extra for park hoppers years ago using this strategy. Besides "hopping" at WDW can take an hour to walk to bus, wait for bus, board bus, exit bus and enter new park.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Seems from my experience that EMH in the mornings at MK are as crowded as any opening time for MK... You can still get more time in but its not really higher quality time.... Now at night it seems that there is a surge around the time the EMH starts but by the last couple of hourse the park is noticable empty... We tend to skip trying to get the EMH at the MK at night when it first starts and go to another park and then end our night at the MK when the crowds have thinned....

 

[Craig & Lisa]

IMHO the best park at evening EMH is AK. The park looks so much different at night. Even if you don't hit any attractions just to walk around in the low light is fantastic.

 

[Kriszee1]

I am actually using the "Anti-EMH" tactic touring plan for our trip in November...I'll let you know how it works out for us.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

The more I think about EMH and anti-EMH plans, the more I think we will never really know which way works.

It seems to me that every day is different and unless someone was to have two different group attempt to do the same things on EMH days and non-EMH days and then compare the results... we are all just going on what we think.

I personally use an anti-EMH strategy for and go to non-MK parks when its a MK EMH... but it is completely possible that I'm being an idiot and not getting the best deal for myself....

Maybe the best strategy is just to go to the parks you enjoy most and not worry so much about the EMHs

 

[mary219]

It wasn't to busy while we were there,but the emh in the mornings worked pretty well for us,because even if we got there a little before actual park opening time and not right at 8 am,we were ahead of the pack,so to speak.The evening hours seemed to be ok until friday of labor day weekend,then the emh in the evening had the parks full..

 

[ClemsonTigger]

The more I think about EMH and anti-EMH plans, the more I think we will never really know which way works.

It seems to me that every day is different and unless someone was to have two different group attempt to do the same things on EMH days and non-EMH days and then compare the results... we are all just going on what we think.

I personally use an anti-EMH strategy for and go to non-MK parks when its a MK EMH... but it is completely possible that I'm being an idiot and not getting the best deal for myself....

Maybe the best strategy is just to go to the parks you enjoy most and not worry so much about the EMHs

Now that's a concept to take to the bank! :lol: