Howe long are extra morning hours

[Gezzs]

Interesting thread. We're also onsite for the first time next year and are (were) planning to try and get in some parks on EMH days. I can see the busy day guides show the parks as busy on these days. It sounds like the morning EMH is not worth doing. What about evening EMH at MK...is this also a bad idea?

[Nimbus]

The thing is not everyone staying onsite will head for morning EMH. In fact, the majority of the onsite guests won't get up early enough to get to morning EMH. For many people, getting up at 7am to get to an 8am EMH is not their idea of fun. So it's not like you will have 90,000 people heading to the EMH park - more like 9,000 people!

Morning EMH is a good time to visit for two reasons:

1. There are no offsite guests there at that time. Therefore the park will have less than half the guests for that hour than it normally gets in the first hour (there are more offsite guests than onsite guests).

2. The first hour or so is usually quieter than the rest of the day even without EMH. Crowds build up during the morning and peak around midday. Therefore that early EMH hour (which is an hour earlier than the normal opening time) will have significantly less crowds than at, say, 11am.

That's not to say there aren't queues and crowds. As Geoff says, many of the onsite guests will head to the same ride in the park during EMH, which can lead to a long queue at that ride. To maximise your EMH time, I would recommend going to the secondary rides during EMH and have a fastpass booked for the popular ride later in the morning instead.

Last time we visited we went to morning EMH at AK and Epcot. Both parks were very quiet for the first hour or so.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Gezzs

Interesting thread. We're also onsite for the first time next year and are (were) planning to try and get in some parks on EMH days. I can see the busy day guides show the parks as busy on these days. It sounds like the morning EMH is not worth doing. What about evening EMH at MK...is this also a bad idea?

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The busy day guide actually says the following if you hover over the park:

"If you are staying on-site at Disney then please make use of the extra morning hours. Get to the park before EMH opening, as you will get on a lot of the major rides with minimal queues".

The busy day guide is aimed more at offsite guests. However, it is recommended that on-site guests are best park hopping to a different park (or to Disney Springs or back to their hotel) once the park gets crowded around mid-to-late morning.

Morning EMH is very much worth it. It's a onsite benefit after all!

[dav220588]

Extra morning hours is 100% worth it.

If you manage to get a fastpass for Flight of Passage (which you should if you book at 60 days) then DO NOT use morning EMH for FoP. If you use it to do everything else then you'll feel like you have the park to yourself for nearly the first hour! A few weeks ago I walked on Navi, Everest 3 times (the train was only 1/4 full each time) and Dinosaur twice.

[nquart]

Do people anticipate HS opening earlier once TSL opens like AK did this year when Pandora first opened (8am instead of 9am)?

If so, how does that affect EMH? Do they even have EMH before an 8am park opening?

We're onsite for the first time next year and will definitely be happy to get up early to beat the crowds as much as we can!

[0420wilmut]

Last year I utilised the morning EMH's to sign my youngest DS up for Jedi Training - there is no way he would have got a morning slot without us being there so early. We then rode Star Tours 4 times after we'd registered. DH and eldest DS rode TOT continuously while we were standing in the line to register.
We had an ADR at Mama Melrose for lunch, so after that we headed back to the resort pool and enjoyed the remainder of the afternoon.

[dav220588]

Originally Posted by nquart

Do people anticipate HS opening earlier once TSL opens like AK did this year when Pandora first opened (8am instead of 9am)?

If so, how does that affect EMH? Do they even have EMH before an 8am park opening?

We're onsite for the first time next year and will definitely be happy to get up early to beat the crowds as much as we can!

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AK opened at 7am earlier in the year so it's a possibility for sure.

[blades]

MK opened at 7am this morning for EMH and we smashed it, seven dwarfs first with 5 mins wait, then on to big thunder, haunted house, jack sparrow, buzz light year and space mounting. We cancelled our fast passes for buzz and space mountain as there was minimal wait. We were out for 10:30 and into Epcot for a dabble at the food and wine - it’s 3pm now and were at the pool at the yacht club chilling after the early start

[hawki]

Originally Posted by blades

MK opened at 7am this morning for EMH and we smashed it, seven dwarfs first with 5 mins wait, then on to big thunder, haunted house, jack sparrow, buzz light year and space mounting. We cancelled our fast passes for buzz and space mountain as there was minimal wait. We were out for 10:30 and into Epcot for a dabble at the food and wine - it’s 3pm now and were at the pool at the yacht club chilling after the early start

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We do the same, make sure you're there early - have fastpasses for the popular rides later & we get several rides done in the 1st hour, especially on the 7am openings. Then back to the pool rest & out later usually Epcot with a couple more fastpasses.

[WDWMAD]

Originally Posted by loldis

This isn't normal according to various wait time trackers. The observed wait time for SM in EMH yesterday was under 10 minutes, rising to 20 minutes at standard open. The peak wait time was 80 minutes at just after 11am, with an observed moderate (6/10) crowd level.

If I was to guess, I would say the ride was down during EMH on the morning that poster went but they hadn't closed the queue.

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It definitely wasn't closed, we went straight to Space Mountain when we got there and it was at 50 minutes, in fact if you got to the Dibb Wait Time History for Space Mountain on Friday 25th August 2017 it will show you that it was the busiest time of the day. Also, if you check the other times out for that day between 8am and 9am they are nearly all over 30 minutes for the main rides.

I noticed somebody mentioned they managed to do Big Thunder Mountain and Haunted Mansion in EMH, but, on the day we went Frontierland, Liberty Square and Adventureland were closed during EMH so perhaps that's why it was so busy?