Morning/evening extra magic hours...are they worth it?

[Elonwy]

I have a listing for the morning and evening extra magic hours for each park during my stay. I haven't stayed on property before so I've never been able to take advantage. I was just wondering if it's worth it to get up early and go or to plan staying late.

I also have a few stupid questions about this program (sorry...I can hear my grandmother telling me that there's no such thing as a stupid question, but you might just get a stupid answer) :hammer:

With so many Disney resorts will it really be less crowded during this time?

How do they let the non-resort guests out at the end of the day and keep the resort guests in? (not that we're like monkeys or anything but you know what I mean)

I can only find a list of what parks HAVE the extra hours but not how early or late they will be open...does anyone know?

Thanks for your help
El.

 

[sbkline]

With so many Disney resorts will it really be less crowded during this time?

I've wondered that myself. Because if you figure out how many rooms there are in all the Disney resorts, assume that 50 percent will be occupied,and multiply it by an average of 3 people per room, you still come up with many thousands of people. So I think you could still very easily end up having to endure long lines, even during EMH.

How do they let the non-resort guests out at the end of the day and keep the resort guests in? (not that we're like monkeys or anything but you know what I mean)

I think they give out wristbands to those who are staying for EMH.

I can only find a list of what parks HAVE the extra hours but not how early or late they will be open...does anyone know?

Thanks for your help
El.

When are you going? If you are going in the next 6 months, the hours of operation for each park should be posted on www.disneyworld.com. And it will also say what days each park has morning or evening EMH. So, if the hours for Magic Kingdom are 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM with PM Extra Magic Hours, then that means it will be open until 2 AM for Resort Guests.

 

[DLAND JUNKIE]

With so many Disney resorts will it really be less crowded during this time?

It's been my experience that the parks with EMH are more crowded on those days. Unless you plan on hitting a park with AM EMH and leaving before the crowds peak, visit the parks that don't have EMH.:lookaroun

Just my 2 cents.

 

[sbkline]

It's been my experience that the parks with EMH are more crowded on those days. Unless you plan on hitting a park with AM EMH and leaving before the crowds peak, visit the parks that don't have EMH.:lookaroun

Just my 2 cents.

I read his question as asking if the parks are any less busy DURING the extra magic hours. I've never been a resort guest before, so I've never done EMH, but according to my calculations of the total amount of rooms that there are on property, the parks could easily be packed, even when it's only resort guests there. What do you think?

 

[tigsmom]

We like to take advantage of the morning EMH for the parks because you can get quite a bit done before the general public enters. We especially like to take advantage of this at the MK. We skip breakfast, grab a quick snack at the Bakery and then break for lunch about 1 or so.

We have found evening EMH to be very crowded in the summer (we'll see about next month) and will not go to the MK for them again. We enjoyed EPCOT and AK though. E Ride Nights were better because there were only a set amount of tickets available. Anyone staying on site can use EMH so its more crowded.

You will get a wristband for evening and must wear it at all times to be allowed on the rides and into the shows. Anyone else is free to wander around and shop/eat (thus adding to the crowds).

Opening is one hour before stated times ...8 am opening means 7 am EMH and evening hours are up to (I've never seen it less) 3 hours after stated closing...10 pm close means EMH are until 1 am.

 

[hrcollectibles]

I went to EMH at the MK during the Summer. I think it was July 3rd and the crowds were not that bad. the longest we waited was for BTM and that was 20 minutes

 

[TTFN-Tiggger]

I like to take advantage of the EMH. I have only done the AM EMH though. On a visit to MK with EMH we where there when the park opened. We rode BTRR, POtC, JC, and Aladdins flying carpets in the first 45 minutes. Not a bad deal - and it was over Easter weekend!

 

[tigsmom]

I went to EMH at the MK during the Summer. I think it was July 3rd and the crowds were not that bad. the longest we waited was for BTM and that was 20 minutes

We went in August and there was a 2 hr wait for BTM. It was so crowded we couldn't walk around comfortably and many places ran out food items.

 

[Princess Clayre]

Looking at the other replies it does seem to depend on the time of year as to how busy it will be. We have just returned and found the EMH very good.

AK was very handy as the park closed to the public at 5 so you really need a bit extra time. The only slight down side is that not everything is open during EMH, for example in the AK it really only dinoland and Everest but this did allow us to ride Everest twice without any queue. We also found the MK morning useful and tackled most of the fanstyland rides without any queue with my little boy, however by 11am the park was getting very busy, so we use to go back to the hotel for a swim etc and then go somewhere difference later in the day as we had the park hopping option on our tickets.

For the morning entries (1 hr before off opening) you just need to show your wdw resort id and for the evening ones (3hrs after closing) you get issued with a wrist bands again by showing your park id. You cannot get on the evening rides without showing your wristband, so this soon get sthe public leaving the parks.:wave:

 

[lpet11984]

I've also found the AM EMH to be more advantagous...We're usually up early anyway so they work well. By the time the PM EMH roll around, we might use up a little bit of the time but we're too tired to really take full advantage of them.

 

[sbkline]

I asked this question in my thread titled "Nearing Single Digits" and no one answered in several days, so I bumped it a while ago and still no answers. So I'll ask it here...

I've heard that it can take up to an hour, depending on which resort you stay at, for the WDW buses to get you from your resort to the park. So, if I get up intending to go to EMH, might the slow bus time cause me to really get there when the park opens to the rest of the public anyway? So what time should I be up and waiting for the bus if, say, EPCOT has morning EMH and I wish to get there at 8 AM (when regular opening time is 9 AM)?

 

[JillC LI]

Early Hours

I would definitely say that Early Hours are worth it although I'm not so sure about evening hours. We just spent Feb. 2-6th at DW, and we hit AK, MGM and Epcot on EMH mornings, and during that one hour the parks were empty. In fact, although more people arrived at official opening time, the lightest time of the day was before 11am. We stayed for evening EMH at MK one day, and found it to be no less crowded than it was when the park closed to non-guests. So I'm a fan of the early hour.

 

[tigsmom]

I asked this question in my thread titled "Nearing Single Digits" and no one answered in several days, so I bumped it a while ago and still no answers. So I'll ask it here...

I've heard that it can take up to an hour, depending on which resort you stay at, for the WDW buses to get you from your resort to the park. So, if I get up intending to go to EMH, might the slow bus time cause me to really get there when the park opens to the rest of the public anyway? So what time should I be up and waiting for the bus if, say, EPCOT has morning EMH and I wish to get there at 8 AM (when regular opening time is 9 AM)?

We've never had to spend an hour with wait time/travel time to any park from any resort we have ever stayed in. Even the trip from the WL to AK took only 20 minutes and that was with a wait, we missed the previous bus because we were a bit pokey. :lol:

If EMH starts at 7 am you want to be there at 6:30-6:45 the latest. So I would be up and ready to go by 6am. Double check with the front desk as to the exact time transportation starts.

 

[hokielutz]

I asked this question in my thread titled "Nearing Single Digits" and no one answered in several days, so I bumped it a while ago and still no answers. So I'll ask it here...

I've heard that it can take up to an hour, depending on which resort you stay at, for the WDW buses to get you from your resort to the park. So, if I get up intending to go to EMH, might the slow bus time cause me to really get there when the park opens to the rest of the public anyway? So what time should I be up and waiting for the bus if, say, EPCOT has morning EMH and I wish to get there at 8 AM (when regular opening time is 9 AM)?

Transportation usually starts around an hour before the morning EMH opening time. So it makes the most sense for you to catch a bus 30-45min before the official EMH opening time.

I believe that it is true some busses will attempt pickups at 2 or 3 resorts on its way to the park of your choice because of the proximity of other resorts to the one you decide to stay at. This would only add another 10 miniutes of travel time... so you are looking at 30min max of travel time with no traffic in the early AM.

Hope this helps

 

[hokielutz]

With so many Disney resorts will it really be less crowded during this time?

How do they let the non-resort guests out at the end of the day and keep the resort guests in? (not that we're like monkeys or anything but you know what I mean)

I can only find a list of what parks HAVE the extra hours but not how early or late they will be open...does anyone know?

Thanks for your help
El.

It will be less crowded in the early AM hour. About 1-2 hours after the general public opening... the park will start to get full and the headliner rides will get their 30-40 min waits.

Rule of thumb is to pick your top 5 attractions that you really want to ride (and are not as sensitive to crowds), and do those in the early morning. Then pick around to some of the other wants while the crowds fill in. Have an early lunch and then escape to the resort pool for the early afternoon.


Evening EMH requires a wrist band in order to stay. There will be CM's stationed around the park during the 2-3 hours before general public closing time that will fit you for a temporary band for the night... as long as you have your valid room key. Then CM's prevent those without wrist bands from going on any attractions. I guess someone without a wrist band could stay, shop, eat, and wander as much as they want.

Morning EMH usually is one hour before the normal park time
Evening EMH usually runs 3-4 hours after a normal close - depending on the seasons.

 

[eastvillage]

When parks have evening EMH, how are the crowds in the early morning?

Does the park get elevated crowds all day or is there a chance the crowds will be lighter in the morning if people anticipate being able to stay late?

 

[Ms. Tinkerbell]

We went last spring break and used the evening EMH and loved it. The lines weren't bad to us at all. After the first hour, especially at Magic Kingdom, the crowd thinned out quite a bit in my opinion. We're going spring break again this year and have planned our days on evening extra magic hours times.

 

[frazierle]

The early morning EMH seems to be worth it - if you can get everyone up. Which every park is offering the evening EMH we do avoid during the day because of the increased crowds at the park anticipating the EMH. Our experience has been the crowds are less at all parks except MK for the evening EMH after say the 1st hour into it. But only a few rides are actually open at the other parks. MK it seems everything is running and folks hang out for it. We have been avoiding MK all together the last few trips during evening EMH. We feel that we can get around the park better the on a day that its does not have EMH.

 

[n2dizney24]

We always do the Extra Magic Hours. They are well worth it. We were there during the Christmas Season (Dec. 25-Dec. 31) and were able to ride/see almost every attraction at the Magic Kingdom by 11:30 am. We are frequent Disney Park guests and have a routine down pat. We always start in Tomorrowland and make our way around the Lands. We do everything. The key is do all rides 1st and save character greetings and shopping for later in the day. Extra Magic Hours at night tend to thin out after about 1 1/2 hours after they begin. Most people have been in the parks all day and are exhausted by the end of the night. You must obtain a wrist band to ride the attractions during the nightly Extra Magic Hours. You also have to show your Key to the World Card to take advantage in the mornings. Just remember, it is well worth it.:wave:

 

[bradandsarabr]

Any time that you can get to the park early is worth it. ALL parks get crowded by 11 a.m.

As to bus transportation, if you have to wait more than 20 minutes, let somebody know. We did & the CM gave us a fast pass to 1 attraction.