EMH - Yay or Nay?

[Kittones]

I've read a lot of conflicting information about whether to use EMH or not. Some people say use them, others say to avoid that park because it will become so full during the day and instead go to the park that had EMH the day before. What do you guys do? I'm not sure about park hopping (although we do have tickets for that) because my husband has never been before and is unlikely to want to dash around and instead be able to take everything in. Thoughts?

[nothingless]

For us personally, they're a nay.

I would say EMH is a yay if you only have a few park days, like 1 per park, and there are rides you REALLY want to do that you weren't able to book a FP for. Then definitely do EMH to experience rides you might otherwise miss out on.

For us, any time we go to WDW, we go for either 14 or 21 days, and we're able to book FPs for literally every single thing we would want to ride anyhow. So there's no need to rush into the parks - my daughter's only 3 and not able to ride any of the bigger rides at 36", and my husband and I have done them on previous trips. So for us right now, a more relaxed morning with riding our FPs works much better.

But like I said, if you only had a few park days, or missed out on a must-have FP, it would be a great perk.

[AliceCooper9]

I agree, we go for 14 nights+ and stay onsite and we would avoid EMH.

We have done them a couple of times and it was too busy.
The problem is all the onsite guests head to EMH making them pointless.
There are so many people eligible for EMH with all the added hotels.
Also having to get up at 6am to rush over for 8am or whatever is not fun with kids.

I would only do them if necessary or if you are there for a short period of time.

Similar with park hopping. We only park hop when necessary as it takes a lot of time out of the day. Having to get another bus and go through security again with kids is a pain.
Book FP+ for around 10am or 11am. We have until 11am to get there. If we are up for it rope drop but most days we start between 10-11.

[Guest]

I usually plan to go to morning EMH and I have even planned a couple of evening EMHs in my next trip. When I was there is September it was morning EMH every day in every park. But thus far, I have never made it to any EMH despite my plans.

DH has been to evening EMH at MK once and he lasted about thirty minutes, it was awfully crowded and no fastpasses at that time so he couldn’t get anything done and left.

I am already starting to rethink my early starts for next trip, not just EMH but I have a couple of pre park opening breakfast that I might cancel. We are there for eleven days, we are back again in December, we have already done most things, I think a more leisurely start to the day will be preferable.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by AliceCooper9

Similar with park hopping. We only park hop when necessary as it takes a lot of time out of the day. Having to get another bus and go through security again with kids is a pain.
Book FP+ for around 10am or 11am. We have until 11am to get there. If we are up for it rope drop but most days we start between 10-11.

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We have always enjoyed park hopping, not interested in the four parks a day challenge type of thing, we just genuinely like a change of park for the afternoon. However that changed when we went in September last year, it was so hot we found we didn’t have the energy to park hop with all the extra walking to and from bus stops and the double security. Plus we simply needed a break from the heat by 2pm. Previous trips have all been February, April or May and the weather was much more manageable for park hopping.

[Leia77]

The only EMH we avoid is Magic Kingdom. We’ve always found EMH work for us. However, both early and late EMH at MK were not worth the hassle. One morning EMH was a nightmare - thought we were going to get trampled by the herded crowd once they let us head up to Slpash ☺️ Said we would never do it again. Would use all the others, though.

[Jaspercat10]

We have never done EMH the early morning and holiday don't go together for us, I would stay in a park until close if great atmosphere and the queues thin down

[Kittones]

That's really helpful, thank you! I will try and plan my park days avoiding EMH. (Maybe I'll give one a go for the experience!)

On a related note do people know how far in advance park hours are released? On the Dibb page it lists up until Aug 31st, but on the Disney website it only lists up until Aug 6th.

[Kittones]

Originally Posted by Claudette

When I was there is September it was morning EMH every day in every park.

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I've never been in September before, but if that's the same this year it would spread the crowd nicely, and save me doing an extra planning spreadsheet

[AliceCooper9]

[QUOTE=Kittones;14263228]That's really helpful, thank you! I will try and plan my park days avoiding EMH. (Maybe I'll give one a go for the experience!)

Yes. HS would be worth early EMH for MMRR, ROR, Slinky etc. That would be an EMH I would consider necessary. HS with all the new rides you will need to be there early.

MK is a bit of waste of time for early EMH.
AK if you have a FOP fastpass there is no need for early EMH. Just go to Navi ride straight at opening.
Ep until the Rat ride opens there is no need for early EMH.

If you are there for 2 weeks and schedule plenty of park days and FPs
You will get most of the stuff done without the need for getting up early.

Thedibb gets the park hours a month ahead so that is what the park hours will be for August. You can plan using the Dibb hours.