Go by EMH or by the busy day guide..

[ILOV3DOLPHINS]

Hi all

So, I'm struggling massively with trying to plan our trip in nov '17. Here is a little info:

-We go for a week.
-18th-25th Nov (over thanksgiving).
-Staying onsite at AOA.
-Hiring a car.
-3 of us going, incl. 4yr old.

..I think that's all the main points.
What I'm struggling with is whether to plan our days by going by the park which has EMH or by going by the busy day guide. We have never stayed onsite before so the whole EMH is totally new to us! As a family we aren't great morning people and I just don't know whether to utilise our onsite perks or not. Is it worth it? Do you actually manage to get a decent amount done before it gets mental? Will we get more done by using the EMH or by the busy day guide? ...Seriously guys, I need help! Major help. Who knew planning a trip could make you this crazy

[jillyb]

I've used the Busy day guide a few times & once was over Christmas & New Year period. I've found it to be very good & has workout well for us.
I'm using it as my guide for our up coming trip as well.

[jemima2]

Hi i feel the same! Our trip isnt until May of course but in the past I got a bit mixed up with emh etc. We found mk emh to be good, particularly the morning but also very late at night in the evening ones. In saying that we also found mk on a normal hours night good later on. We dont attend the other parks while they have emh and go by the busy day guide. We have a few visits to mk planned so will also have some time there on a recommended day. At the end of day though if it fit our schedule or if we fancy it we will just go for it!

[sparklegem]

We stayed off site last time and I planned all our trip based on the busy day guide. We are staying onsite this time and I've used a combination of busy day guide and EMH to plan our trip.

The first week we will be up early due to the time difference so we've planned to visit the parks first thing and will do EMH. The plan is to be done by early afternoon to hang out by the pool and relax.

Second week I'm thinking we might be a bit more able to lie in, so I've planned the days the other way around. Relax in the mornings, pool or whatever we choose and then hit the parks in the afternoon into evening. I have used the busy day guide this second week to plan which parks to visit. We will see all the evening shows and fireworks on the second week and avoid extra evening hours. Our youngest is 5 so extra evening hours might be a step too far for him.

Hopefully this will work 😃

[AliceCooper9]

Some websites recommend doing early morning magic hours but not the late ones.

If you want to do Magic Hours I would do it. Busy days are just educated guesses.

I went to a not recommended park Magic Kingdom park on a Sat In August. We almost completed the park. The guides are just information to help make your guess.

[Guest]

I wouldn't overthink it too much. We never did EMH and I don't feel like I missed out. We did a couple of early morning breakfast on non EMH days and that was enough for us. With FP system we didn't feel like we needed to be in a park at the crack of dawn every day.

I looked at busy day guides and used them to some ext not, but was not a slave to them as you look at a different busy day guide and it might say the opposite. The only thing I did make sure of was not to go to a waterpark at the weekend.

I don think I would bother hiring a car if I were going for a week and staying onsite.

[jemima2]

Originally Posted by Bridgetx

I wouldn't overthink it too much. We never did EMH and I don't feel like I missed out. We did a couple of early morning breakfast on non EMH days and that was enough for us. With FP system we didn't feel like we needed to be in a park at the crack of dawn every day.

I looked at busy day guides and used them to some ext not, but was not a slave to them as you look at a different busy day guide and it might say the opposite. The only thing I did make sure of was not to go to a waterpark at the weekend.

I don think I would bother hiring a car if I were going for a week and staying onsite.

See more...

I am not the op but thanks for that it helped me a lot ! 😀

[IndianaMac]

We've always stayed on site and made use of morning EMH plenty - get there early, do what you want, bail out as the crowds rise.
Evening magic hours? Only did MK on our last trip, and that's because it landed on our last full day and we had a dinner reservation at BoG.

[Ridersmom]

We always have park hoopers so may do the EMH park and then leave and go to another park. If I could not change parks, I would avoid EMH unless you just want a few hours in the parks.

Over many, many trips we have always found the first few hours are the best-limited crowds and short lines. As noon approaches, the crowds do to.

[Christine_mufc]

I did EMH for the first couple of days as we are usually up early with jetlag and then used the busy day guide after that.