EMH: Broken Idea

devoy1701

devoy1701

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This is to continue the Broken Idea topic of threads.

While out at Disney World this weekend there were quite a few things about EMH that got me thinking about the system itself. I remember back in the 90s when the perk of staying onsite or in a DTD Resort was getting into the park an hour early. I remember being able to get PLENTY done during that hour. I know that ALL of the theme parks used to participate in this which probably helped in being able to get more done. I was absent from Disney during the early 2000s so I'm not able to comment on the system during that time.

Nowadays...this past weekend in particular, we went to Magic Kingdom EMH on friday. We chose to get our wrist bands from the CMs on the left side since their line was moving faster. We soon found out that this was because the CMs were not checking for any kind of resort ID, they were simply handing you a wrist band just for being in line. We noticed quite a few ppl who observed and got in line because of it.

In addition to those guests, of course there are those "friends of resort guests" who use the Keys to those staying on property to get an EMH wristband. There are also those who (like me and my gf just for the sake of doing it) keep all of their EMH wristbands. This probably is practiced by the locals...but we noticed that on some nights (like on Sunday nights, both green and gold wristbands were being handed out). So since no one color is emphasized on an EMH night anymore, and CMs don't put the bands on you, guests can use past wristbands of any color to stay in the park for EMH.

But then of course there are still those guests that don't even get wristbands and CMs let them on the ride after regular park hours anyway! :shrug:

So in addition to all of these slips of the wrist bands, I got to thinking about something that was brought up in the other Broken Idea thread. there are appoximately 29,000 Disney owned and operated hotel rooms on property who get to participate in EMH. Hypothetically, if there are 4 guests per room, and only HALF of the rooms particiate in EMH evening hours...there would be approx 58,000 guests in the park. If you add in all of the senerios above...we're probably talking about 65,000 guests in a park for evening EMH.

My problem with EMH is that with the size of the resort, in it's current state, EMH no longer offers a benefit to resort guests by letting them stay in the park 3 hrs later. Last night at 2:30am Space mountain still had a 40 minute posted stand-by time....Peter Pan still had a 30 minute wait. I can only imagine how bad DHS or AK can get during EMH with there being a smaller amount of attractions!

Does WDW not see this as a problem? Do you guys see this as a problem? Does anyone have any comments or ideas? Should they charge a small fee for EMH? Should select resorts get to experience different parks on different days? Should they open 2 parks instead of one?

Let me know what you guys think!
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
I have always seen the early EMH's as a benefit simply because the majority of guests do not want to get up early enough to make it to a park by 7:30-8:00. Also many of the touring plans advise non-resort guests to avoid the EMH parks. Because of that early EMH's tend to have a consistently smaller crowd and allow a guest participating in them a chance do get quite a few attractions done before the parks get crowded.

Late EMH's are really hit or miss. I have been to a late EMH that fealt like the week after 9/11 and I have been to them where is feels like the 4th of July, but as of late I have witnessed far more of the 4th of July variety. I have never seen the wristband discrepancies you described, in fact I have experienced quite the opposite. Regardless of that the late EMH's seem to be considerably more popular than the early ones and I generally avoid them.

IMHO the solution to this is simple providing of course that Disney feels that late EMH attendance is too high to still be a benefit. Keep early EMH as is but open up 2 parks for a late EMH. Theoretically the crowds will be cut in half and we will get back to the having the park to yourself feel of the old e-ride nights.
 
PurpleDragon

PurpleDragon

Well-Known Member
disney-dan said:
The management wont care if non resort guests slip the net as theyll likely spend more money during their extra hours in the park
Click to expand...

But that completely defeats the purpose of EMH. They have EMH for resort guests to be able to spend time in the parks when they are less crowded, its a benefit of staying on property. If management ignores the rules of EMH and CMs do not enforce the wristband rules, then EMH is a complete waste and a pointless endeavor. Increased sales from a few random non resort guests is hardly a reason to look the other way and ruin the experience for resort guests who are trying to enjoy the EMH experience.
 
devoy1701

devoy1701

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DisneyJoe said:
Maybe this post should be retitled to focus on EVENING EMH?

I believe the majority feel that morning emh is not broken.
Click to expand...


Agreed. Lord knows that if you're traveling with a female in your party that you probably won't make morning EMH anyway since they take so long to get ready! :ROFLOL:(I'm just speaking from experience with my gf. Don't mean to offend anyone!)

But maybe the Mods can change the title to "Evening EMH: Broken Idea"
 
AnimalMagnetism

AnimalMagnetism

Member
I do think evening EMHs are broken (if indeed they ever worked in the first place). I think you can get away with it in MK because of the number of attractions, but in the other parks it essentially means everyone is split between a couple of rides and the lines are actually not appreciably shorter than during the day. I usually try to just avoid evening EMH parks now - the other parks are generally a lot less crowded on those days, and perhaps that's the real perk of EMH!
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
DisneyJoe said:
Maybe this post should be retitled to focus on EVENING EMH?

I believe the majority feel that morning emh is not broken.
Click to expand...
I agree. About the only thing broken about morning EMH is that none of the TS restaurants are open early enough. The earliest ADR you can make is 7:30 which if you are lucky you might be able to make it to a park by 9:00
 
CAPTAIN HOOK

CAPTAIN HOOK

Well-Known Member
EMH isn't broken - according to the OP its the slack CMs handing out wristbands to everyone :mad: If that's the case then something should be done.

Or, did the OP just not see them asking for ID :shrug:
 
Dwarful

Dwarful

Well-Known Member
I agree 100%. We were at WDW from July 26- August 9th. Stayed on site. We got far more done on the Early EMH than the evening ones. One morning at Early EMH at the Studios before opening the turnstiles they had CM's out checking for room cards...not just park tickets. They were escorting those who didn't have room keys to a roped off area to wait until 9AM (that was at 7:30 AM!).

We found the benefits for evening EMH's at Epcot to be pretty much worthless...long lines for main attractions like Test Track and Soarin'...(70 mins. for Soarin' one night). We did have fun at the MK, stayed until the 3 AM closing and slept in the next day before heading to the water parks. But even at 2:45 AM there wasn't any walk on ride again and again. Everything from Indy Speedway, Pooh and PPan to SMountain had at least 15 - 20 min. wait times.

I thought with two different parks having EMH's each day it would have split the crowds (one park had morning, different park had evening)...but we didn't really see that. I'd gladly go back to the Eride nights..now you could really get a lot done then.
 
devoy1701

devoy1701

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
CAPTAIN HOOK said:
EMH isn't broken - according to the OP its the slack CMs handing out wristbands to everyone :mad: If that's the case then something should be done.

Or, did the OP just not see them asking for ID :shrug:
Click to expand...

I might have bad eyesight....but no I didn't miss them asking for ID

On Friday the CM that was supposed to be asking for an ID was just using a clicker to count ppl as they passed her. The other CM was handing out the wristbands (they used to put them on you so you didn't put them on too lose so you can take them off). On Sunday, the CM just asked to have the Key card out...though like I said (this applies to AP holders and such) I commonly find that I leave a KTTW card in my wallet for quite awhile after my trip. There's usually always one in my wallet when I visit.

And I said it's a combination of both....29,000 hotel rooms! 58,000 guests if only half of the people staying on property attend evening EMH! That is ALOT of people! I attributed the slacking CMs to produce a total of approx 65,000 ppl in a park during evening EMH. That's just about a normal day's attendance. There are just too many resorts and attendence numbers have been so high over the past 2 yrs (or so) that I feel there is no longer a benefit of a On Property guest attending evening EMH!
 
RiversideBunny

RiversideBunny

New Member
Morning EMH are good.

Evening EMH are not so good; the park gets too crowded, at least until about 10 pm.
Other parks may sometimes be a better choice that evening.

Tks.
:)
 
M

musicmaniac522

New Member
EMH use to work well when it was only Early Entry. Now that it's more publicized it isn't that great anymore. We rarely go to the evening ones anymore. The only ones we go are in the morning. Those really work the best. No lines and it isn't that crowded, can't say the same about evening
 
E

EmOhYouEssE

New Member
musicmaniac522 said:
EMH use to work well when it was only Early Entry. Now that it's more publicized it isn't that great anymore. We rarely go to the evening ones anymore. The only ones we go are in the morning. Those really work the best. No lines and it isn't that crowded, can't say the same about evening
Click to expand...

I totally agree with this and the OP (as well as pretty much everyone else) that the evening EMH are just too busy to bother with. Nine times out of Ten, we will utilize morning EMH, but we rarely bother with evening hours. As a rule, we generally try to avoid the park with evening EMH starting late afternoon when people are starting to come in to jump start their now expanded time at the park that evening.

We used to enjoy a beverage or two, or three, or..(well, you get the picture :ROFLOL:) at Adventurers Club <sigh> in the evenings, but soon that option will be taken away as well. We are early risers as a rule, so it's probably for the best for us to not be hitting the bars at night anyway (yeah, I know, I'm just justifying a Disney "wrong" in my head, lol).

I really like Slappy's idea of having two EMH evenings at two parks and see how that works out.

Em
 
captainkidd

captainkidd

Well-Known Member
I haven't bothered with EMH is a long time. The evening version is a joke as, like was posted, CM's just hand them out to anyone.

The morning is useless too because only a select few rides are open.

I just wish Disney would bring back E-Ride Nights, or whatever it was called. I was more than happy to pay an extra $13 to have the Magic Kingdom so empty.
 
durangojim

durangojim

Well-Known Member
I like them all, but morning EMH are great, especially the "Little Ones Magic Hour" (do they still have that this year?
I like evening ones too if for no other reason that it lets me ride some rides at night while it's dark that I might not get to otherwise.
 

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