Early entry (EMH) - Do you use it or aviod it?

[LadyDarling]

Do you normally use the early entry privledges or avoid parks on the days that they do open early?

I'd really love to hear from you folks who go off season (1st week in December especially).

Thanks! :wave:

 

[Master Yoda]

If I am going to that particular park I use it. If I don’t have any particular plans to go to a specific park I avoid the early hours.

 

[littlered]

most of the time we aviod them, but only because I like to sleep a little later in the mornings.

 

[NIU EE]

Do you normally use the early entry privledges or avoid parks on the days that they do open early?

I'd really love to hear from you folks who go off season (1st week in December especially).

Thanks! :wave:

My family is a power disney family. We arrive at the EMH park before its opening, ride ride ride until it starts to get busy(EMH park is typically the busiest park by late morning) and then head to another park. I haven't been since the new EMH stuff started, but when there was E-ride nights we always took advantage of that too. Its just a matter of always trying to be where the crowd isn't, while I spend a fairly large amount of time traveling between parks, I never have to just stand in line(unless i want to, some of the queing areas are pretty cool).

 

[DisneyPhD]

EMH isn't too worth it for us with little kids. Except for MK there isn't enough open to make it worth it to go. DH and friend did MGM for the last hour of the eveing hours last trip and they did TT and RR twice in that one hour. That was worth it to them, but the women took the kids to Epcot that night instead.

I would avoid it during the day and then hop over for it in the evening.

I like the MK one, especailly during times when the park closes early (we were there when it closed at 7:00, it was open until 10:00 and that was nice.)

It might be cool to be at AK in the dark once. :lookaroun

Don't do it during the day, it is more crowded. Many people are not getting the park hopping option because if cost more now.

 

[spoodles]

Don't do it during the day, it is more crowded.

We had heard this advice before, and decided to challenge it one day on our last trip -- big mistake, cause the place was mobbed. The moral is, early entry is great if you're there at the start. But plan on hopping to another park by later that morning.

Many people are not getting the park hopping option because if cost more now.

That is a great point I hadn't thought of. We're going in 3 weeks, and we did add park hopping. With this in mind, I'll be more inclined to suggest a "hop" if the park we're at is mobbed.

 

[jordanyosh]

Being from So Cal as well, we just can never drag ourselves out of bed. To get to an 8am EMH, you're getting up at 6:30am which is like getting up 3:30am West Coast time. If you feel like you want to try it, maybe wait til later in the week when your body has adjusted.

We like the late night hours better. We always go during off season and rarely get to see the parks later in the evening. So having the evening magic hours is great. We used it for the MK this last Feb. It was great.

Oh...and to answer the off season part of your question. During off peak times, it really never seems too busy. Waits never too bad. EMH is not as necessary as it may be during peak times.

 

[LadyDarling]

Being from So Cal as well, we just can never drag ourselves out of bed. To get to an 8am EMH, you're getting up at 6:30am which is like getting up 3:30am West Coast time. If you feel like you want to try it, maybe wait til later in the week when your body has adjusted.

We like the late night hours better. We always go during off season and rarely get to see the parks later in the evening. So having the evening magic hours is great. We used it for the MK this last Feb. It was great.

LOL Oh, just because we're from here doesn't mean we can't get out of bed early! LOL We're usually up around 5:30 am pacific time daily, so when we have to get up early in WDW, it's no big deal (since we go back for a nap in the afteroon usually, it helps). We estimate we log about 10-15 miles on our feet per day at WDW, so by the end of our trip, our bodies ache so bad, getting out of bed is so hard! I think most of the time, we'll end up sleeping in an extra hour or so.

 

[islandbeachnut]

Use 'em!

My family and I were just at WDW in February. We used the EMH schedule to plan our week. We went into the park that had the extra morning hour first, got on at least 4-5 attractions before the crowds got bad. Then we either headed back to the hotel pool and had lunch or went to another park. I would definitely use the morning EMH again, because that coupled with fastpass, really helps you see more attractions than you might otherwise be able to.

I wish we were able to use the nighttime EMH, but we had our three little kids with us, and they need to be in bed by 9:15pm or else we'd all be sorry! One night the MK had EMH from 12AM - 3AM. I can't imagine being in the park that late!! Those poor CMs!!!!

 

[Dwarful]

Well we have sworn by the early morning and eride nights and can't wait to use it again in May. We go early, often getting to the parks before the gates are open. The MK is especially nice with little kids. But we do hop on over to another park by late morning. Sometimes we hop to the resort for lunch and a swim or a nap for the kids. THe kids really love the late nights as well...my poor husband had to ride Buzz about 8 times in a row one night. This new listing for EMH sounds great. Seems like they will have a lot more to offer and now all four parks are doing it instead of just MK. Cant wait for may to try this out...(btw it has to be better than that Character Caravan they tried a few years back...that was a nightmare!)

 

[nibblesandbits]

EMH isn't too worth it for us with little kids. Except for MK there isn't enough open to make it worth it to go. DH and friend did MGM for the last hour of the eveing hours last trip and they did TT and RR twice in that one hour. That was worth it to them, but the women took the kids to Epcot that night instead.

I totally agree. I think that MK is the best place for it and has the most to do probably b/c it used to be open for e-ride nights. I mean looking at the schedule of what's open, especially at night, MK is the only one that really has a lot of stuff to do. As you can see below: At the MK there are 18 rides open at night, Epcot has 8 open during the evening, MGM has 7, and AK has 7. MK wins hands down because it just seems like there is WAY more to do at MK than any other park during evening EMH. Now, when looking at the mornings, MK still wins. At the MK there are 11 attractions open, Epcot has 4, MGM has 4, and AK has 4.

Magic Kingdom® Park
Mornings:
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Cinderella's Golden Carrousel, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, "it's a small world", Mad Tea Party, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Space Mountain®, Stitch's Great Escape!, Tomorrowland® Indy Speedway
Evenings:
Includes attractions listed above and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Country Bear Jamboree, The Haunted Mansion, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain®

Epcot®
Mornings:
Mission: SPACE®, Spaceship Earth, Universe of Energy, Test Track
Evenings:
Includes attractions listed above and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, Journey Into Imagination with Figment, Mexico-El Río del Tiempo, Norway-Maelstrom

Disney-MGM Studios
Mornings:
Muppet Vision 3-D, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster® Starring Aerosmith, Star Tours, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™
Evenings:
Includes attractions listed above and The Great Movie Ride, Playhouse Disney-Live on Stage!, Voyage of The Little Mermaid

Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park
Mornings:
Discovery Island™ Trails (AM only), It's Tough to be a Bug!®, Kilimanjaro Safaris (AM only), Pangani Forest Exploration Trail®(AM only)
Evenings:
Includes attractions listed above and The Boneyard®, DINOSAUR, Festival of the Lion King, Primeval Whirl®, Tarzan™ Rocks!, TriceraTop Spin


So do I think it's worth it, yes, but probably only at MK. (or if it's really super busy on the day that you go)

 

[Siege898]

this has to do with EMH, but late magic hours. whats with the EMH of 12am to 3am at MK tonight, i wouldnt except ANYONE to be there at all!

 

[nibblesandbits]

this has to do with EMH, but late magic hours. whats with the EMH of 12am to 3am at MK tonight, i wouldnt except ANYONE to be there at all!

Well, it is spring break, so there might be more people than we'd think. Plus, with such late hours, I would actually rather go then, than say during the day b/c as you said...there probably won't be anyone there. More rides for me!

 

[Laufschneller65]

Use it!

I personaly sugest to anyone going to Disney to find out what mornings or nights the EMH take place and use them. I just got back from Disney and when there was a park open an hour early we went to that park then transfered when the crouds came in to the park we wanted to go. The best ones to use are Magic Kingdom in the morning, me and my friends where able to ride all the rides in fantasy land before the park even opened. we just walked on all of them with no problem. this gave us a chance to beat the parents pushing the 8 year olds in those treturouse strollers (Urgh...).
In Epcot and MGM the EMH give you the chance to go on the high traffic rides a few times before the crowds.
I highly sugest this to anyone who is young and love to ride those fun thrill rides and to anyone who hates long lines as much as I do.

++The night hours are good too to also ride with short lines and to get a whole new experience on rides like tower of terror. But make sure you get a bracelet early. because people can turn to animals when they try to get one and don't understand when the attendent tells them they are not Resort Guests.++

 

[DisneyPhD]

As far as the evening EHM form 12:00 am to 3:00, I would guess there would be enough people to do it, but empty enough to make it worth being there at that time. I think it would just rock to be there at 2:00 am. I think I would need a lot of coffee thought. Interesting that MK doesn't sell any beer or anything like that.

Sadly we have kids (not saddly really, we are happy about it.) but EMH any time after 10:00 or so are off limits for us now. If we didn't have kids I would take nap and so be there!

 

[surfsupdon]

We avoid Early Entry at all costs. It pumps way too many people into one park. This is my experience with traveling during any peak/holiday time.

 

[Laura]

I definitely don't do morning extra magic hours. Vacations are for sleeping in!! I would not have an enjoyable trip if I had to set the alarm clock every day! I am a night owl, and will absolutely be taking advantage of the evening extra magic hours!

 

[nibblesandbits]

Laura, I totally agree with you! Although a lot of people wouldn't (I have gotten some flack for saying that you should relaxing and sleeping in during a Disney vacay) I am such a night person and I am so on board for those late night EMHs.

 

[epcotfan]

I avoid it. The only time I've recently used it was to get into the Magic Kingdom for a pin release.

 

[LadyDarling]

:snore: One thing I do have to admit - I am the QUEEN of ignoring the alarm clock. It's just so much easier to get up in Disneyworld and MUCH harder to get to sleep. Remember that "I'm too excited to sleep" promo? That's me.

The only reason I get up at 5:30 am now is becuase of that cutie in my avatar. He has exactly an 8 hour bladder. His whining to go out is my wake up call. (Usually it's after I've hit snooze a couple times.)