Busy day guide ? Extra Magic hours

JessBlu · 22 Mar 18, 09:38 PM

So now the park hours are out for October it seems I have picked the parks with the extra magic hours for almost every day !

This has meant that the busy park guide shows the park I have picked as the busiest parks.

Should I change my plans? Is the guide accurate? Does EMH mean the park is busy ?

Any advice welcome.
Thanks

SMAX · 22 Mar 18, 09:57 PM

Depends on whether you are on site or off site. If you are on site and can get there 30 mins before EMH opening then you will be good. Hover over the least recommended park and it will give you info.

loldis · 22 Mar 18, 09:57 PM

Purely from a data point of view, being the EMH park may not necessarily mean it's the busiest of the four parks that day.

As an example, Sunday EMH is at HS. But I can almost guarantee that a Sunday in October will be busier in Epcot than HS due to F&W. And the historic data on the BDG confirms this - Sunday 1st October last year was a 6.8 crowd at Epcot, 3.1 at HS. Although that will probably change with TSL opening this year, as attendance at the park will increase overall with people wanting to check out the new rides.

The other thing that greatly skews October data is the MNSS party nights. Domestic visitors often don't have park hoppers so will avoid MK on those days since they can't use the park in the evening. So going to MK on a Friday which is morning EMH but usually also a party night can make for very light crowds. One example was a 3.5 crowd on October 20th - average crowds that week on non-party nights were double that.

But even if it is the busiest park that day, being the EMH park won't always have a HUGE impact on crowds, i.e. it won't be crowd level 10 in the EMH park and 2 everywhere else. It's more likely to be 6 in the non-EMH and maybe 6.5 or 7 in the EMH park. So I wouldn't go out of the way to avoid EMH parks if that fits best into your schedule.

IMO, it has mostly been not recommended by guides (generally, not specifically by the BDG) because on-site guests may always head to the EMH park since they think it's the park they "should" go to on that day, since they think it's Disney recommendation. Even though a lot of them don't even use the EMH themselves, but turn up mid-morning along with everyone else!

JessBlu · 22 Mar 18, 10:02 PM

We are onsite for 14 days.

Thanks for the information.

loldis · 22 Mar 18, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by JessBlu

We are onsite for 14 days.

Thanks for the information.

If onsite, I wouldn't worry at all about avoiding the EMH parks but be sure to actually use the hours where you can - particularly the morning ones, as the majority of guests don't bother to be up and out that early.

And assuming you have hoppers, you can always switch to another park if you are finding it too busy. I am a fan of hopping anyway, I'm not a stay in one park all day kind of person.

JessBlu · 22 Mar 18, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by loldis

If onsite, I wouldn't worry at all about avoiding the EMH parks but be sure to actually use the hours where you can - particularly the morning ones, as the majority of guests don't bother to be up and out that early.

And assuming you have hoppers, you can always switch to another park if you are finding it too busy. I am a fan of hopping anyway, I'm not a stay in one park all day kind of person.

Yes If it�s to busy we can leave and go to another park.
On the first few days we can make good use of EMH.

22 Mar 18, 09:38 PM	#1
	22 Mar 18, 09:38 PM JessBlu Imagineer
JessBlu Imagineer Join Date: Oct 16	Busy day guide ? Extra Magic hours So now the park hours are out for October it seems I have picked the parks with the extra magic hours for almost every day ! This has meant that the busy park guide shows the park I have picked as the busiest parks. Should I change my plans? Is the guide accurate? Does EMH mean the park is busy ? Any advice welcome. Thanks

22 Mar 18, 09:57 PM	#2
	22 Mar 18, 09:57 PM SMAX Imagineer
SMAX Imagineer Join Date: Mar 02 SMAX's Reviews Hotel Reviews: 4 Restaurant Reviews: 3 theDIBB Guidebook Pages Created: 13 Guidebook Photos: 69	Depends on whether you are on site or off site. If you are on site and can get there 30 mins before EMH opening then you will be good. Hover over the least recommended park and it will give you info.

22 Mar 18, 09:57 PM	#3
	22 Mar 18, 09:57 PM loldis Imagineer
loldis Imagineer Join Date: May 17 Location: Sussex	Purely from a data point of view, being the EMH park may not necessarily mean it's the busiest of the four parks that day. As an example, Sunday EMH is at HS. But I can almost guarantee that a Sunday in October will be busier in Epcot than HS due to F&W. And the historic data on the BDG confirms this - Sunday 1st October last year was a 6.8 crowd at Epcot, 3.1 at HS. Although that will probably change with TSL opening this year, as attendance at the park will increase overall with people wanting to check out the new rides. The other thing that greatly skews October data is the MNSS party nights. Domestic visitors often don't have park hoppers so will avoid MK on those days since they can't use the park in the evening. So going to MK on a Friday which is morning EMH but usually also a party night can make for very light crowds. One example was a 3.5 crowd on October 20th - average crowds that week on non-party nights were double that. But even if it is the busiest park that day, being the EMH park won't always have a HUGE impact on crowds, i.e. it won't be crowd level 10 in the EMH park and 2 everywhere else. It's more likely to be 6 in the non-EMH and maybe 6.5 or 7 in the EMH park. So I wouldn't go out of the way to avoid EMH parks if that fits best into your schedule. IMO, it has mostly been not recommended by guides (generally, not specifically by the BDG) because on-site guests may always head to the EMH park since they think it's the park they "should" go to on that day, since they think it's Disney recommendation. Even though a lot of them don't even use the EMH themselves, but turn up mid-morning along with everyone else! Edited at 10:02 PM.

22 Mar 18, 10:02 PM	#4
	22 Mar 18, 10:02 PM JessBlu Imagineer Thread Starter
JessBlu Thread Starter Imagineer Join Date: Oct 16	We are onsite for 14 days. Thanks for the information.