Use EMHs or not?

[Logan]

Hiya folks

In planning our itinerary and deciding what days to visit each park, I'm just a little confused about advice on Extra Magic Hours.

We will be staying onsite the second week and so can take advantage of EMH for Disney parks. Some advice is go on a 'Quiet' day, some is to take advantage of EMHs, while other advice is to avoid these days as they will be very busy. It sounds like a catch 22 as they say, on the one hand you can get 3 or 4 extra hours in the park, but on the other hand it could be really busy.

I hope you can understand where I'm coming from! :erm:
Basically, is it better to go on EMH days or avoid them and go on 'Light' days? :cry:

[Helen uk]

Ive had the same kind of replys as you so i know how you are feeling.I have just gone off the unofficial disney guide and touringplans.com and hoping for the best.:wave:

[TandCmum]

we stayed onsite and as we are useless at getting up early we tended to go to parks that didn't have EMH that morning, that way the park we were at was really quiet. However we did use the evening EMH which were great even if we only stayed an extra hour.

I think we would probably do the same next time as I can't see us getting up and being at a park for 8am....LOL

[buttons]

Can someone clarify EMH for me :blush: I know it 'aint Rocket Science but ......

I have looked at this table and can see when the EMH are etc but I take it the hours shown on this table are the 'normal' hours.

Is this right - if a park is on Early EMH it opens at 8am instead of 9am??

What about evening ones??

We did EMH in the MK when we were there 4 years ago (july) and I think it was open until midnight or 1am???

Also we paid extra to do this, but I can't see any mention of cost anywhere?

Does the above make any sense to anyone :confused2

[TandCmum]

EMH are perks for onsite guests only. On the disney park hours page (which is where you are linked to from here) the opening times are the official times for onsite and offsite guests. If there is EMH in the morning then the park opens 1 hour earlier than the stated time (8am instead of 9am), if the EMH is in the evening you add another 3 hours onto the stated time (so if park closes 10pm, emh is 10pm -1am)

What you probably did last time was what was called the E ride nights. This was a special admission you paid for and you got an extra few hours in the park after closing. This was replaced last year with evening EMH's

hope this helps

[buttons]

Cheers Suzanne - Crystal Clear now. Tis a long time since we have been so LOTS of changes :)

Many thanks :wavey:

[Sue]

When we stay onsite we never stay in one of the parks too long. We are morning people too, so trot off to EMH parks, do what we want to and then go elsewhere, as a lot of EMH people tend to stay there all day and generally once past lunchtime, it is exceptionally busy as people wait for parades etc.

[BONZO]

Hi,

We tend to stay on-site and are early risers so we always take advantage of EMH and late nights where possible.

We like to arrive for rope drop, bag all the big rides and leave the park at lunchtime and head off to a waterpark.

Ok - we are dedicated commandos but it's not a tactic that will suit everyone - you need to find your own pace. This suits us better than a 90 min plus wait for each attraction with kids in tow getting ratty.

[jojj]

Hi
I would definately advise taking advantage of the EMH if you are going to the animal kingdom for the kilamanjaro safari. The animals are fed in the morning and will be more lively - especially also as it is very hot in the summer and it would be a bit cooler in the morning so you are more likely to see some activity rather than animals laying down asleep. That is what we found anyway - you would also avoid the queues. We were on the safari at 7.45 am and it was really good!

Early magic hour is also good for the magic kingdom - fantasyland in particular if you have young children as this area gets extremely crowded and have seen queues later on in the day for peter pan for 1 hour 45mins!

hope this helps

Jo

[Jay66UK]

I agree with just about everything everyone's said. We do morning EMHs wherever we can and get the hell out of there by about 11:30. Go to a water park if it is not the weekend, go back to the resort pool if it is (we usually get it to ourselves) or go grab a nap for a couple of hours. Shower and go hit another park (possibly the one with evening EMH).

The advice in the guidebooks is really aimed at the American's whose standard ticket does not include park hopping. I still don't understand why our tickets are so much better (and better value) than the American ones....

[loadsapixiedust]

We found in July that the morning EMH park was busy all day. The reason being that lots of US guests don't have the hopping option on their tickets, so tend to go for early opening and stay in that park the whole day.
We didn't find evening EMH as crowded even in July and were able to enjoy that extra time in the parks even more as it was relatively cool and more pleasant for walking around. We barely queued for any rides.
Be aware that only certain attractions are open for EMH, but there are more things open in the evenings than the morning EMH, although not all attractions stayed open for the whole time. For example the safari at AK was only open for a short while after the normal closing time then the whole Africa area was roped off.

[Jay66UK]

Be aware that only certain attractions are open for EMH, but there are more things open in the evenings than the morning EMH, although not all attractions stayed open for the whole time. For example the safari at AK was only open for a short while after the normal closing time then the whole Africa area was roped off.

That just saved me making a big mistake at AK this time....thanks!

[DisChap2002]

My advise is go for the early mornings in the parks, but forget the evenings unless there not too late. Dont stay past 11pm, just get an early night instead cus there not run that well and nearly all the resturants are shut, so you carnt get nothing to eat anyhow.

[Logan]

It seems that there is a lot of confusing and conflicting advice.

www.touringplans.com lists virtually all the EMH days as the worst to visit those particular parks. (Hardly rocket science despite their claim of using all sorts of variable factors.)

However, on the other hand, some of those same days are listed in www.askdaisy.net (The Britt's Guide) as the lightest days for a park. Similarly, some days listed in touringplans as the best days to visit are the busiest in askdaisy's guide! :confused2

I can see the logic in getting to a park with morning EMH for rope drop, but the only trouble with this is that you have the down-time of changing parks, if you want to head to a quieter one.

Would it not be a better tactic to be at rope drop for a quieter park, get the main rides in and stay there for parades, etc, maybe leaving late afternoon to eat, refresh and perhaps hit a park for evening EMH?

[loadsapixiedust]

Would it not be a better tactic to be at rope drop for a quieter park, get the main rides in and stay there for parades, etc, maybe leaving late afternoon to eat, refresh and perhaps hit a park for evening EMH?

This worked well for us in July, we found the evening EMH much more useful than the mornings. Our kids are older so able to stand late nights, there are a lot less families in the parks the later it gets as it is just too late for many little ones.

[Scrap_Vamp]

Would it not be a better tactic to be at rope drop for a quieter park, get the main rides in and stay there for parades, etc, maybe leaving late afternoon to eat, refresh and perhaps hit a park for evening EMH?

This is what we are planning as well, although we are just the two adults and don't have the needs of any children to take into consideration :)

[Logan]

This worked well for us in July, we found the evening EMH much more useful than the mornings. Our kids are older so able to stand late nights, there are a lot less families in the parks the later it gets as it is just too late for many little ones.

That makes sense, our 'kids' will be 17 and 20, so I think they could stand a late night or two. ;)

I don't think we could stand a morning and evening EMH in the same day, especially if we plan to hit another park the next day! :erm:

The only morning EMH I'm certain about doing is at Animal Kingdom, to catch the animals early on Kilimanjaroo, after feeding and before the heat.