How to tackle the parks with EHM?

[CMouse]

Heya guys. I have a trip planned for Spring Break 2015 with a couple of friends. This will be our first time staying on-property but we are a bit unsure of how to plan our park days. We wanna arrive at the parks for early EMH and were considering staying in that park for the rest of the day. However, I read on a couple of sites that it's best to do early EMH and then head to another park (we purchased the Hopper option) with no EMH because it'll be less crowded. What do you guys think is an effective way of visiting the parks considering the EHM and the high amount of people in the parks?

Also, I need a bit of help with MK. I'm used to visiting the park with my whole family, including a couple of kids, and heading straight for Fantasyland. There's only adults going this time, but we do wanna do all the 'kids' rides as well. What are some of your tactics for visiting MK? Should we head for another land instead? We'll probably do early EMH hours for MK as well, so we are getting there and doing as many of those high-demand rides first.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

However, I read on a couple of sites that it's best to do early EMH and then head to another park (we purchased the Hopper option) with no EMH because it'll be less crowded.

If every on site guest did that then the other three parks would be packed, while the EMH park would be almost empty (relatively) as there would just be non resort guests.

 

[CMouse]

If every on site guest did that then the other three parks would be packed, while the EMH park would be almost empty (relatively) as there would just be non resort guests.

That's what I figured, just wanted to see what more experienced people had to say about it

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Congrats on your upcoming trip!

It's just my husband and I, but how we do things is we avoid Morning EMH. It's only an hour extra and it usually leads to a lot of crowding. We chose a park without that and we stay at that park usually until around dinner or a bit later.

With MK, the way we usually tackle it is by going to the rides we hate to wait the most for first (unless we have FP+ for it later) so for us that would be rides like Mine Train and Peter Pan. So I guess we do what you have do everything-get to Fantasyland first. It frees up the day for us as Fantasyland tends to get too crowded with kids and strollers for our liking. After doing a few rides there, we usually go to either Tomorrowland or Frontierland. Sometimes we will return to Fantasyland during the parade if we want to do things again.

Whatever you choose, have a wonderful trip!!

 

[brifraz]

The EMH question depends on what kind of people you are! My wife and I are morning people so we always do morning EMH and stay in that park until about lunch time, then go enjoy our resort (pool, drinks, etc) and into a very different park for the evening. We usually book our FP+ to fall between 3-6pm at whatever our second park is.

When we are there without a kid, we usually do 1.5 days in MK. One EMH morning is all of Fantasyland and as much of Liberty Square and Frontierland as we can hit before lunch. Another EMH morning is Tomorrowland followed by Adventureland. Then we do one evening we do FP+ the mountains and do everything that we might have skipped. If we stay for a late night EMH, during that last hour you can do a LOT of things!

 

[Dwarful]

We can never sleep in at Disney...just too excited. We have always done the morning EMHs and find them very beneficial. If you have hoppers then you can decide if the crowds get too busy to hop to another park.

 

[Kate Alan]

Heya guys. I have a trip planned for Spring Break 2015 with a couple of friends. This will be our first time staying on-property but we are a bit unsure of how to plan our park days. We wanna arrive at the parks for early EMH and were considering staying in that park for the rest of the day. However, I read on a couple of sites that it's best to do early EMH and then head to another park (we purchased the Hopper option) with no EMH because it'll be less crowded. What do you guys think is an effective way of visiting the parks considering the EHM and the high amount of people in the parks?

Whether or not we park hop after early EMH has a lot to do with the offerings at the park. I will tend to use EMH hours at Animal Kingdom, for example, to hit up the few attractions that are of interest to me and then hop over to EPCOT, which isn't very ride heavy. By using the early EMH hour we can save our Fastpasses for the second park. We don't tend to park hop from Magic Kingdom, using the early EMH instead to get through as many attractions as we can before non-resort guests start filing in.

Also, I need a bit of help with MK. I'm used to visiting the park with my whole family, including a couple of kids, and heading straight for Fantasyland. There's only adults going this time, but we do wanna do all the 'kids' rides as well. What are some of your tactics for visiting MK? Should we head for another land instead? We'll probably do early EMH hours for MK as well, so we are getting there and doing as many of those high-demand rides first.

I tend to go through Fantasyland first, going right to Peter Pan (which gets very long lines in the course of the day), then the rest of the rides in that area, ending with Small World. We save Philharmagic for later in the day when crowds are higher, since it's a large capacity theater. Usually in the case of EMH hours we are completely finished with Fantasyland before the hour is up, already off to Tomorrowland.

Our reasoning for this is that most of the attractions in the other lands are constantly moving/loading (Haunted Mansion, Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse) or have large loading capacity (Pirates, theaters like Philharmagic or the Tiki Room). Plus mid-morning to late afternoon, Fantasyland is choked with strollers and small children, which isn't nearly as bad in the early hours. We'll Fastpass three of the four coasters (we used to FP Space, Splash, and Thunder, but with Seven Dwarfs now there it's pretty much a Fastpass must unless you want to stand in line for two hours). Whichever one we didn't Fastpass tends to be the first ride after Fantasyland that we'll head towards. Buzz Lightyear and Astro Orbiter also can get some hefty lines at times, so we tend to knock them out early in the day too if we can.

It's a system that has always worked well for us, regardless of time of year we travel.

 

[wdwtopten]

The system that has best worked for me is this: If that park has EMH yesterday, then go today.

 

[KLinder7]

Some people will tell you to stick to the park without EMH. I like to go to the park that has it. Even more so with late MK hours. I literally can go on rides as many times as I want in a row with no wait. But you have to be willing to stay past midnight.

 

[Weather_Lady]

We've often taken the advice about hopping to a non-EMH park after visiting the "morning EMH" park, and in our experience, it works very well. We split our day into two touring segments anyway (visiting a park in the morning for some hardcore touring, returning to our hotel for naps and pool time, and going back to a park from about 4pm-9pm for more leisurely touring and a table-service dinner). In our estimation, the morning EMH park does always seem to be a bit more crowded by the time we leave, compared with whatever other park we later "hop" to for our evening visit. That being said, rope drop arrivals, a good touring plan and effective use of FP+ will always have far more impact on your touring efficiency than whether you decide to visit (or hop to) a non-EMH park. In other words, visit the parks you want to visit, when you want to visit them (so long as you visit early and with a good touring plan), and you'll be fine. Also, keep in mind that if your party wants to consistently use morning EMH (which will be a great help, particularly at high crowd times of the year), try to avoid touring late at night so you're not burning the candle at both ends.

 

[wdizneew]

Some people will tell you to stick to the park without EMH. I like to go to the park that has it. Even more so with late MK hours. I literally can go on rides as many times as I want in a row with no wait. But you have to be willing to stay past midnight.

If you're a morning person, do the morning EMH and park hop to a non-EMH park later. Just like what others have been saying.

If you're not a morning person, take advantage of evening EMH, especially at the Magic Kingdom. What I've often seen is that most people (especially families with kids) will join in a mass exodus out of MK after the parades and fireworks have ended. Then you will experience exactly what KLinder7 has said. Rides like Space Mountain and Big Thunder might have 30 min waits but Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Little Mermaid, Philharmagic will be walk ons.