EMH - How does it work ?

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

OK - Early EMH park entry is easy - if you don't have a resort identity you don't enter the park until opening time.
Here's the difficult bit (I think) - Extra Magic Hours at night - everyones been in the park and at 9pm its EMH, how do they enforce it. They can't "just empty the park" so how does it work ?
My guess is that guests without the EMH entitlement are denied access to attractions and so eventually they leave and the park. But what happens if you've been stood in line for a ride (Splash Mtn for example) before EMH started and you only get to the front after EMH has commenced, surely they won't turn you away ?

 

[HauntedSquirrel]

I believe that EMH people get a special wristband to identify that they are staying and i beleive that the attractions which are open would look for those to see that they are allowed to stay in the park and ride the rides. As for standing in line and it crosses over into EMH, I think that they give people a certain amount of time before they put it into effect so that all people who are still standing in line a chance to ride, but i'm not offically sure, never been there during an EMH before

 

[wdwmagic]

At nighttime the CMs check for the wristband on entry to the line, not at boarding of the attraction. Therefore the scenerio you mentioned will not arise.

 

[SteveUK]

But when do they start checking? On a busy night the park may close at 9 for example. If you enter the line at 8.50, you could get onto the ride at 9.30. Is this allowed? If they want everybody without a band to be out by closing time, they would have to restrict line entry significantly before closing time.

 

[Pongo]

So if people aren't resort guests, can they still stay after the park
closes" and not ride the rides? Can they stay and just walk around enjoying the atmosphere?

 

[wdwmagic]

But when do they start checking? On a busy night the park may close at 9 for example. If you enter the line at 8.50, you could get onto the ride at 9.30. Is this allowed? If they want everybody without a band to be out by closing time, they would have to restrict line entry significantly before closing time.

Wrist bands are needed to enter a line after regular closing time. That seems to be the only restriction. It seems to me that there would be nothing stopping a non-wrist band owner from remaining in the park. They just wouldnt be able to enter any lines after regular park close.

THere would be no problem for a non-wrist band holder to enter a line 10 mins before regular close.

 

[tk421-sw]

We did EMH after night at MK on wednesday of easter week, and NO cm checked our wrist bands. Not one, plus they didn't even look at our resort keys. We did have them but the way they did it was that one Cm looked at our tickets, but only looked at one of our parties, and then you wanted a little further, and three cm's put the wrist bands on. So, many people walk on other sides of us, They might have had a resort key, but what Im saying is that there was NO enforcment of the bands. Just so ya know.

 

[DisneyMarg]

We hit the EMH at night at both Epcot and MGM during our trip the week before Easter.

They distribute arm bands at various places in the park. You have to show your resort key to get one and EVERYONE has to have their key - well we don't have little kids so I can't speak to that - but adults and teens did.

No one is kicked out of the park. Everyone is free to shop, eat, and walk around.

Theoretically they check wristbands at the front of each line, but we saw a lot of people riding without wristbands. Maybe they don't check so much if the ride isn't a hot attraction.

We never got to any of the hot attractions at night, even though we tried. Even during EMH the waits were 60+ minutes! So we used our nighttime to do some other things. At MGM we saw Star Tours (where the CM on duty said explicitly, "No you don't need a wristband - we're letting everyone on"), the Great Movie Ride, and Muppets 3D. We had hoped to do ToT and RRRC, but long waits.

At Epcot we did Maelstrom, and Journey into Your Imagination, and Spaceship Earth. No go on Test Track or Mission:Space - long waits at both.

In both cases we decided to leave before closing so we could get a little extra sleep and be up early the next day. Maybe if we had stayed until the very end the lines would have been shorter.

 

[marlaymike]

If wristbands are not checked, then why they continue offering the EMH for the Disney Resorts?

I thought they checked them before entering a ride and check the resort key before placing the wristband.

 

[wdwmagic]

If wristbands are not checked, then why they continue offering the EMH for the Disney Resorts?

I thought they checked them before entering a ride and check the resort key before placing the wristband.

The wrist bands have been checked 90% of the time in my experience. There are bound to be exceptions, but they are checked the vast majority of the time.

 

[tk421-sw]

The wrist bands have been checked 90% of the time in my experience. There are bound to be exceptions, but they are checked the vast majority of the time.

I thought they would have been too, I don't know if it's because it was easter week and it was a high volume of people or what, but I always wear my Mickey Mouse jacket that appears in almost every picture we post, and I know that the jacket covered it, so..Who knows, If we do it again I'll let ya know.

Ps- steve, I'll have a new video post for the 16th, Sorin and Flower and Garden show PM me if you have the site set up yet for the video updates. Thanks.!

 

[marksniles]

Where do you get the wristbands???

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Thanks for the responses guys - it goes a long way to clearing up my puzzle

 

[BRER STITCH]

Incidentally, beginning April 15th, violators will be shot.

No exceptions...so don't even think about it.

Have a Magical Day!

:wave: :wave:

 

[Moustronaut]

Where do you get the wristbands???

There are areas set up at each park for CM's to distribute E-EMH wrist bands. They start handing them out 2-3 hours before the park's normal closing time. At MGM one area is near the entrance and another was in the courtyard in front of RnRC.

 

[CTXRover]

When I did EMH at MK and AK last month they seemed very strict about the wrist bands. Every ride I went on they were asking to see the bands. The only exception was upon entering the Tarzan Rocks show at AK, I don't think anybody checked there.

The distribution of them was another thing though. At AK, they had a line set up in Harambe and one CM would check that you had a room key and then another CM behind him put on a wristband. At MK though in Tomorrowland, it was a bit less organized. We had our room passes out to show at the MK, but the way it was organized we got bands without ever being "carded", so to speak. I imagine if somebody was swift enough to know about it they could manage to get themselves a wrist band without having a Disney room key, but that doesn't seem to be the norm (and also depends on the organization of the location you get your wristband as well).

 

[shoppingnut]

Incidentally, beginning April 15th, violators will be shot.

No exceptions...so don't even think about it.

Have a Magical Day!

:wave: :wave:

Hehe, love it, "park rage." And remember you will be pronounced dead once you cross over the WDW property line, because no body dies on disney property.