A bit confused about Early Magic Hours...

[BaconAndAvocado]

... we'll be stayng onsite next year for 5 nights.

Are the parks to be avoided when there are EMH or not?

And how early do,they open?

And how far in advance do we find out when EMH are because wouldn't that affect your planning?

(As you can see, I'm an onsite newbie and need lots of hand holding and guidance! )

[Guest]

The morning EMH are generally considered a bonus for onsite guests. Personally we would avoid evening EMH as our one experience of it at MK was very negative (massively busy and no FP at this time).

Personally never paid that much attention in my planning but they are usually known long before fast pass booking and usually before ADR booking as well.

[WDWfangirl]

My general rule of thumb was to go to the park with morning EMH if I was prepared to effectively rope drop that park, otherwise we stayed away from that park. For example on our second day of our last trip when I suspected we would still be waking early we went to AK for morning EMH and didn't bother booking a fastpass for FOP as we planned to ride it first thing. We got to the park about 7.30am for an 8am EMH opening and joined the queue straight away for FOP which was already massive and half way back to Africa (I don't think they had opened the queue at this time). By the time we got off the ride it was approaching 9am (from memory) and the queue on MDE was 180 minutes for FOP.

As for evening EMH, we used it twice. The first was at Epcot and pretty much a disaster partly as we were too tired and partly because it was so busy. Walking round World Showcase wasn't pleasant with the crowds and with hindsight we all wished we had gone back to the hotel. Perhaps Epcot isn't the best of parks to do EMH because given the limited number of rides and the fact that World Showcase is essentially somewhere pleasant to walk around which you can do regardless of whether you are staying onsite or not it probably attracts lots of offsite guests as well. We may have had a better experience had we tried to stick with future world.

We also did evening EMH at MK but again didn't have the best of experiences. I mistakenly thought that some rides woudn't be open for the EMH just as only some rides are open for morning EMH but the cast member I asked couldn't confirm this and told me to look at MDE which didn't have the evening EMH opening times on them. The queues for the rides were still really quite long considering the time of night (after 10pm) and we ended up queuing for 40 minutes for the Tengled lantern photo. It hadn't been there earlier in the evening (even though it was dark) and it was by then our only opportunity to have the photo taken. (I'll save my rant about the photo pass photographer and the organisation and lack of involvement from the 2 other cast members who just stood there and did nothing for another post.)

In summary, I think EMH are great in theory but you may not end up using them as much as you think you might. But considering you are only there for 5 days and probably want to maximise your park time then I would definitely try and plan your trip around morning EMH on at least a couple of days. Oh and also try not to get screwed by visiting parks on the same days that have the paid for early morning access openings - this completely negates the advantage of rope drop and would be akin to an offsite guest visiting a park at opening when it was already open for onsite guests

[vampiress88]

As I am an offsite person I avoid EMH.
If I was onsite I would be going to those in the morning then leaving late morning or maybe going to a different park later on

[BaconAndAvocado]

Thanks all.

... so, to be clear, if we visit the park on an early EMH day and get there for when it opens (8am) we would be better off leaving our fast passes till late morning?

(Just realised I never actually asked this question but I would like to know!)

[vampiress88]

Originally Posted by BaconAndAvocado

Thanks all.

... so, to be clear, if we visit the park on an early EMH day and get there for when it opens (8am) we would be better off leaving our fast passes till late morning?

(Just realised I never actually asked this question but I would like to know!)

See more...

When I plan mine, and I am offsite have never been onsite, we always go for rope drop if going in morning and I will usually schedule in 11,12,1 or as near as. This gives me time to do the quickest rope drop rides before the park gets ridiculous. So I do it 2 hours after the park opens. If your EMH started at 7 then I would do fp from 9am for example.

This is just how I work it and I do this with my touring plans too so that I can try and get the best out of it with the least lines.

Also I try and modify fp as soon as I have used the first.

[AliceCooper9]

Magic Hours are not what they used to be because they are available to so many hotels now. We did an extra magic hour in MK 16th August and it was rammed. We could not believe the amount of people. A lot of websites advise to avoid EMH days and I agree with them. Avoid EMH

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by BaconAndAvocado

... we'll be stayng onsite next year for 5 nights.

Are the parks to be avoided when there are EMH or not?

See more...

If you are staying onsite then I would recommend using EMH if you can (some people don't like the early start). There will be less people in the park during this time meaning queues are usually lower.

Originally Posted by BaconAndAvocado

And how early do,they open?

See more...

Usually EMH means that the park is open for onsite guests an hour before the regular opening time. For example, if the regular park opening time for offsite guests is 9am then EMH will start at 8am.

Currently, Hollywood Studios has Extra Extra Magic Hours (EEMH) in the morning. It is open 3 hours before the regular opening time. However, this is purely due to the recent opening of Galaxy's Edge and is unusual.

Originally Posted by BaconAndAvocado

And how far in advance do we find out when EMH are because wouldn't that affect your planning?

See more...

Disney releases their park hours and EMHs just over 6 months beforehand. This is before you can book any dining reservations so you show have enough time to plan things.

However, Disney can, and does, change park hours and EMH days sometimes. So they are not set in stone.

Originally Posted by BaconAndAvocado

... so, to be clear, if we visit the park on an early EMH day and get there for when it opens (8am) we would be better off leaving our fast passes till late morning?

See more...

It's up to you but, yes, I would usually suggest you book fastpasses from about 10:00am onwards (3 FPs covering 3 hours from 10am to 1pm - ish). The first two hours - one hour of EMH and one hour of regular park opening - will be relatively quiet. After that, crowds start to increase.

[BaconAndAvocado]

Thanks all for your expert tips.

This will be our 3rd family Floriday but our first onsite so I've got lots to consider!

[BeJimmieDaw]

Pictures online and the area looks great... Wonderful attention to detail... THIS is the Disney we all know and love.. Now, why cant we get this in the attractions?