Will we always have EMH?

[DManRightHere]

With all of the little changes and experiments I hear going on at Disney it makes me wonder about extra magic hours.

Basically are extra magic hours that popular? When we go the parks never seem to be as crowded as they should be. With FP+ I could see Disney giving extra fast passes to resort guests and completely do away with EMH.

I do like the EMH, but it has to be a huge amount of money to run all the rides, personnel, etc. Plus it takes away from maintenance time.

It just wouldn't surprise me if EMH went away and some other perk was give to resort guests.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

You have to remember one thing - if you do away with EMH there is little incentive to stay on property (apart from saving a few bucks by parking for free, or being able to book your dining all in one go at 180 days).
Our last trip was at Christmas and boy were the parks busy at EMH time. Your observation may depend on the time of year you visit. We have to go during the busy periods (Easter, August or Christmas) as my wife's a teacher, and its busy morning and evening EMH.
What perk would you suggest if EMH disappeared ?

 

[R W B]

I don't see it going away. Unfortunely though they don't have many when I like to go in the fall or if they do its mostly morning which im not a fan of. I'm sure it's because we tend to go during a slower time so it's not really needed. Either way, like @CAPTAIN HOOK said they would need to replace it with something else big to keep guests staying on property.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

TDO would love nothing more than to get rid of EMH, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it was eliminated over time.

 

[epcotisbest]

With all of the little changes and experiments I hear going on at Disney it makes me wonder about extra magic hours.

Basically are extra magic hours that popular? When we go the parks never seem to be as crowded as they should be. With FP+ I could see Disney giving extra fast passes to resort guests and completely do away with EMH.

I do like the EMH, but it has to be a huge amount of money to run all the rides, personnel, etc. Plus it takes away from maintenance time.

It just wouldn't surprise me if EMH went away and some other perk was give to resort guests.

We go during less busy times and avoid EMH. A little research and it is easy to determine which park is less crowded on which day. EMH parks are more crowded, so we just go somewhere else. It would not surprise me if EMH went away someday. Besides, you will always have guests with the "have to stay inside the bubble" mentality, something that cracks me up.

 

[lunchbox1175]

I can see them being reduced, but I highly doubt they would go away. I think just helping with traffic flow would be reason enough to keep them, think about all the people that come or go during EMH, if you added those people to the crowds entering and exiting at the regular park hours it would stink.

 

[Mr Anderson]

We go during less busy times and avoid EMH. A little research and it is easy to determine which park is less crowded on which day. EMH parks are more crowded, so we just go somewhere else. It would not surprise me if EMH went away someday. Besides, you will always have guests with the "have to stay inside the bubble" mentality, something that cracks me up.

The bubble term is thrown around a lot on the forums, with different meanings; which one are you referring to?

 

[epcotisbest]

The bubble term is thrown around a lot on the forums, with different meanings; which one are you referring to?

Onsite

 

[Mr Anderson]

Onsite

You mean guests that only want to do things onsite, as in on Disney property? What's wrong with that? Not being confrontational, mind you... I am just asking.

Personally, my wife and I enjoy being carted around by Disney while we're on vacation, and not having to rent a car (or drive for that matter!) or pay for transportation (e.g. cab, shuttle, etc), thus we are always on Disney property. But we like it that way, as being in the bubble keeps us totally enthralled in the Disney magic and away from the stresses of the real world for a while; i.e. we can truly escape while at Disney like no place else, and come back home totally refreshed. I'm glad you get a laugh out of it. We get lots of smiles out of the Disney bubble.

 

[DManRightHere]

You have to remember one thing - if you do away with EMH there is little incentive to stay on property (apart from saving a few bucks by parking for free, or being able to book your dining all in one go at 180 days).
Our last trip was at Christmas and boy were the parks busy at EMH time. Your observation may depend on the time of year you visit. We have to go during the busy periods (Easter, August or Christmas) as my wife's a teacher, and its busy morning and evening EMH.
What perk would you suggest if EMH disappeared ?

Extra fastpasses at the least. I could see some other perks being thoght up.

 

[morningstar]

With all of the little changes and experiments I hear going on at Disney it makes me wonder about extra magic hours.

Basically are extra magic hours that popular? When we go the parks never seem to be as crowded as they should be. With FP+ I could see Disney giving extra fast passes to resort guests and completely do away with EMH.

I do like the EMH, but it has to be a huge amount of money to run all the rides, personnel, etc. Plus it takes away from maintenance time.

It just wouldn't surprise me if EMH went away and some other perk was give to resort guests.

I seem to remember EMH being awesome a long time ago. That was when the only on-site resorts were deluxe, plus maybe the CBR. So presumably the crowds for EMH were a lot less. Also, I don't remember only limited attractions being open, but of course what I do remember is going for the E-tickets anyway. Now with more people being funneled into fewer attractions during EMH, lines are just as long if not longer than normal hours. So it's nice to have a little extra time, but it seems to amount to being able to do one or two more rides, with little freedom of choice.

 

[epcotisbest]

You mean guests that only want to do things onsite, as in on Disney property? What's wrong with that? Not being confrontational, mind you... I am just asking.

Personally, my wife and I enjoy being carted around by Disney while we're on vacation, and not having to rent a car (or drive for that matter!) or pay for transportation (e.g. cab, shuttle, etc, thus we are always on Disney property. But we like it that way, as being in the bubble keeps us totally enthralled in the Disney magic and away from the stresses of the real world for a while; i.e. we can truly escape while at Disney like no place else, and come back home totally refreshed. I'm glad you get a laugh out of it. We get lots of smiles out of the Disney bubble.

Nothing wrong with that at all. If you are happy and content with your trip, who am I to question it? We go several times a year. This past May we stayed at the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes while some friends were staying at the Grand Floridian and said they would only stay there and would rather not go to Disney then stay off site. They paid almost three times what we paid, and honestly, there is no comparison in the level of luxury, service, cleanliness and serenity we got at 1/3 the price. No monorail at Grand Lakes though, so we did have to drive over to WDW.
Going back in Sept. and staying at AKL. I could pay less for nicer digs but want to stay at AKL. My choice. So in Sept. I'll be laughing at me for paying so much when I don't have to. The main problem with staying at the RC was I spent way too much time here early mornings in the quiet, never made it to rope drop:

 

[DManRightHere]

I seem to remember EMH being awesome a long time ago. That was when the only on-site resorts were deluxe, plus maybe the CBR. So presumably the crowds for EMH were a lot less. Also, I don't remember only limited attractions being open, but of course what I do remember is going for the E-tickets anyway. Now with more people being funneled into fewer attractions during EMH, lines are just as long if not longer than normal hours. So it's nice to have a little extra time, but it seems to amount to being able to do one or two more rides, with little freedom of choice.

Our experience of the last 4 years EMH it would not be majorly unusual to wander around and see only a couple dozen people in the general area. Almost all the attractions are open (especially this year). Btmrr and pirates are two rides that seemed to usually be closed, but this year they were open. Most rides are walk on except space mountain (could be 15-50 min) btmrr (usually 15-25) ts (30+) test track (we always single ride so idk waits).

We go towards the end of May. It just seems dead to me when we go.

 

[epcotisbest]

Extra fastpasses at the least. I could see some other perks being thoght up.

Yes, extra fastpasses would be good, but can't imagine it making up for not having EMH. Maybe special pricing for onsite guests at restaurants. Maybe something like TiW for resort guests.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I would miss the EMH's feature. I always check with the schedule and plan my park visits to correspond. I enjoy the extra time it affords me and especially enjoy the evenings because the parks empty out quite a bit as time passes and I can access rides more. We always stay on site and it does add to the incentive to do so. I wouldnt mind having more FP's given out to onsite guests also to reward our decision to stay on property and keep our money on site.

 

[bethymouse]

I like getting there early. We do our rides several times with no FP+ or anything , and are finished before 11 am.

 

[ImagineerDude]

I can see them getting rid of EMH and not replacing them with any perk, while raising resort prices annually.

I do love EMH. They have then strategically placed on certain days of the week (specifically MK) to stay longer (don't check-out until Monday vs Sunday when EMH at night were on Sundays) or check-in earlier (Check-In Wednesday for morning EMH on Thursday). Of course, this helps with guests on short (as in not week-long) trips usually. Nighttime EMH are typically more crowded for the first hour, and we haven't done morning EMH since 2010 so I really can't comment on those.

 

[disney4life2008]

It is almost with 100% certainty EMHs (at least in its current form) will be eliminated. The perk for staying on property is the ability to reserve FP+ 60 days in advance. Evening EMHs are at the highest risk for being eliminated - they have already been reduced from 3 to 2 hours. Morning EMHs I am positive will remain. Evening EMHs are why I stay on property - if eliminated - there is no reason to stay at disney. Reserving FP+ 60 days out is great for your main 3 attractions at one park but otherwise, during the busy season - the parks are impossible.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

Well they recently already shortened them by an hour and they also closed the monorail during the evening EMH years ago.
If they cancel them completely we will not stay on property any more, at least not at a Disney resort. We would save a lot of cash in this case and have better rooms with much better housekeeping and would not come back to the Disney resorts. Period.

 

[BrianV]

We love EMH. We never use them of course, but they suck guests (especially those without hopper passes) to a given park and make the others much less crowded. We'll be there in two days and planed around EMH.

As for staying on site, time is money when you are at disney world. You pay money for a convenient location to access the amusment parks.

I prefer the perk of express pass at universal but disney has too many rooms to offer that perk. And if they did, can you imagine the outcry against it here!!