EPCOT evening EMH: how long are wait times?

[El Guapo]

Hi,

We are looking at park-hopping to EPCOT for the late afternoon and EMH (to midnight). Wondering how long the waits are for the headliners like Soarin' if we do this instead of going first thing in the morning like we usually do.

Thanks!
:slurp:

 

[dreamscometrue]

Hi,

We are looking at park-hopping to EPCOT for the late afternoon and EMH (to midnight). Wondering how long the waits are for the headliners like Soarin' if we do this instead of going first thing in the morning like we usually do.

Thanks!
:slurp:

In my experience, the evening emh tend to really be quite crowded since there are already lots of people in the parks when they begin....and then more people arrive.The last 2 times we tried Epcot emh, the lines were really long at the start (ie: Soarin'...90 min.). Perhaps they thin out later, but we never stick around to find out. The only really good evening emh experience we tend to have is New Year's Eve at the Studios emh: midnight to 3am). By 2am or so, you can ride R 'n Rc and ToT frequently with little wait.

I've always found morning emh awesome! Unlike the rest of my family, I'm not a 'morning person', but I always get up for every morning emh that's offered. I get to ride a lot, and can grab a Fastpass after opening for another quick ride before going for breakfast.

 

[Philo]

I've always found the times to be pretty good and get better as the night goes on.

Generally we will stay in a park all day right through to EMH which means that the crowds will generally drop through the early evening into the night making for a pretty pleasurable experience (although there is a small peak a couple of hours before EMH kicks in)

If we are heading to a park just for EHM, we will probably arrive after EMH has started so as to avoid the bigger crowds and again, watch them decrease.

 

[durhay]

How does EMH work in EPCOT? If Future world closes at 7:00, does it reopen for EMH? Or is World Showcase just open longer?

 

[Dwarful]

We have never had much luck for the evening EMH's at Epcot, espcially where Soarin' is concerned. We have stayed til the very end and it still had 60 minute waits. We arrive on Saturday and we always do the early entry. We are planning on doing some of the evening EMH's, but most likely not Epcot.

 

[DisneyGator]

How does EMH work in EPCOT? If Future world closes at 7:00, does it reopen for EMH? Or is World Showcase just open longer?

Durhay:

I copied this from the WDW website--these are the rides that are open for EMH (morning and night):
Epcot
Mornings:

Living with the Land, Mission: SPACE, Soarin', Spaceship Earth, Test Track
Evenings:

Includes attractions listed above and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, Journey Into Imagination With Figment, Mexico - Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros, Norway-Maelstrom, The American Adventure

At night, all of WS stays open for the EMH (we often take advantage of this time to stroll around the 'world' with a cold beer)...as well as the 'big' attractions in FW.

Hope that helps...have fun!!!

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

How does EMH work in EPCOT? If Future world closes at 7:00, does it reopen for EMH? Or is World Showcase just open longer?

It doesn't "close". Close is a term utilised by Disney to imply that "not everything is open" Thus when Joe Average attends Future World and finds that his favourite show, shop or attraction isn't open he cannot sue Disney as they've already posted that FW is closed. You'll find that the majority of things are in fact open

 

[Pioneer Hall]

It doesn't "close". Close is a term utilised by Disney to imply that "not everything is open" Thus when Joe Average attends Future World and finds that his favourite show, shop or attraction isn't open he cannot sue Disney as they've already posted that FW is closed. You'll find that the majority of things are in fact open

Also, attractions that normally close at 7 but are open for EMH are kept open on those nights. For example, Imagination would normally close at 7 but it will stay open until 9 and then throughout EMH.

 

[raven]

On certain days coming up, the first 200 guests or so outside of Epcot around 8:15am will be led into the park to experience Soarin' and LWTL. These are only for certain days and isn't published (that I know of) but I don't have the exact dates. This is a test to lessen the load on The Land pavilion at the start of each morning.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We've never had good luck with Epcot's evening EMH's. There's only a handful of rides that are open then inevitably one goes down making the waits for the operating ones that much longer. We don't waste our time even trying it anymore. :wave:

 

[raven]

We've never had good luck with Epcot's evening EMH's. There's only a handful of rides that are open then inevitably one goes down making the waits for the operating ones that much longer. We don't waste our time even trying it anymore. :wave:

Also good to note, Future World is the most popular place diring evening EMH while World Showcase site nearly abandoned. It's a great time to see all of the countries when the stores restaurants are still open.

 

[Dwarful]

On certain days coming up, the first 200 guests or so outside of Epcot around 8:15am will be led into the park to experience Soarin' and LWTL. These are only for certain days and isn't published (that I know of) but I don't have the exact dates. This is a test to lessen the load on The Land pavilion at the start of each morning.

Ah, this is nice to know. We arrive Saturday and are always at the gates at least half hour before opening. May need to adjust our schedule to try our luck at this early opportunity. We generally head straight to Soarin', grab FP's and then jump in line so we can ride at least twice.

 

[MarkTwain]

When we were in Epcot for EMH in December, we were leaving the park shortly shortly before EMH closed, and the wait for Soarin was STILL almost 2 hours. :dazzle:

How does that even work? Do they keep the park open til 3 am for those people? :shrug:

 

[dreamscometrue]

Good question. I've always wondered how that works too.

 

[protiius]

In my experience, almost every time I've been during EMH the majority of attractions have been walk on (if not a very short queue). For example, this year I went to EPCOT and MK for morning EMH and my longest wait was about 10 minutes for Soarin'. As for the evening EMH, I did DAK, EPCOT, MK and DHS and my longest wait was less than 20 minutes for E:E and TT. Maybe I've just been lucky in the past :shrug:

 

[raven]

When we were in Epcot for EMH in December, we were leaving the park shortly shortly before EMH closed, and the wait for Soarin was STILL almost 2 hours. :dazzle:

How does that even work? Do they keep the park open til 3 am for those people? :shrug:

Everyone will be able to ride if they are in line by the time the park closes. Even on EMH nights The Land pavilion is cleared, by the latest, 1:30AM. MouseGear will stay open for an hour after the park closes as well but everything else is closed. They will not "push" you out of the park per se but there is nothing to do.

Just remember that there are about 300 or so CMs waiting for the "all clear" from security in order to start cleaning the park. Utility vehicles and cleaning equipment, painters, maintenence, etc. can't beging working until the last guest has left the park. More that too often there are guests that stay in the park, often intoxicated, that cause a late start to the nightly crew.

Easter week Epcot will be opening 15 minutes early to relieve crowds at the gates. The morning "official opening" stuff will be by the Communicore Fountain.

 

[ABigBrassBand]

During off-peak season, you get pretty good wait times. Don't expect anything from Soarin' though, that ride is always a monster wait.

 

[Rob562]

My sister actually just rode Soarin this evening (Epcot EMH night). Entered the queue at 10:20pm with a posted wait of 40 minutes, at 11:05pm (45 mintues) they were exiting the attraction.

-Rob

 

[George]

My sister actually just rode Soarin this evening (Epcot EMH night). Entered the queue at 10:20pm with a posted wait of 40 minutes, at 11:05pm (45 mintues) they were exiting the attraction.

-Rob

I think she lucked out. That's not a bad wait time at all.