DHS/Toy Story Land "Early Morning Magic" (EMM) FAQ & Discussion

[crazycheryl]

Does anyone know if you can go through the handicap line at TSMM during EMM? My son is in a wheelchair though he can ride in a normal car (he is mobile for short distances) but it is easier for him to use the button rather than the pull string on the ride. The continual motion for the string is much tougher on him than the button. It is one of his favorite rides and last time we were there we waited about 15 minutes while they cleaned up an accident on the car so that we could ride it with the push button rather than go through the fast pass line. Thanks!

My mom can’t do stairs so we went through the handicap line and they were using the handicap cars. I didn’t realize there was a push button option, but it was fully staffed.

 

[pal6860]

yes thank you@pal6860
I was looking at MDE this morning and looks like right after event TSM went down for quite awhile if the app is to be believed! Also love the photos. Looks like tons of people heading to event but your report makes it seems like it wasn't a problem.
RD crowds yikes.
Our plan for 3/27 is same as yours heading over to RnR and ToT before RD
I have your plan written down to follow!

I think as long as leave TSL by 0840 (before the massive RD crowds descend upon TSL) you should be good to ride both Tot and RnRC at rope drop. Good luck!
Oh, and by the way, it seemed ridiculously crowded on the slow CM guided walk to TSL, but once there, it really didn’t seem too crowded for us.

 

[pal6860]

Thanks for the info. We are doing it on 7/1 and I was planning on skipping breakfast too

Thanks to the wonderful advice of many here, that one nugget of gold was a valuable one. In skipping breakfast, and being in line early, it really saved us a bit of time to do TSL more leisurely and to our liking.

 

[pal6860]

Thanks for such detail! I’m using your methods for our EMM in May!

Good luck! Have fun!

 

[Kimberly Fogarty]

@Kimberly Fogarty i can’t PM you because you don’t have enough posts, I think? But you were the first one who had asked me about the Wednesday date. Are you still looking for tickets? I know it’s last minute and you’re probably in the parks now, so I hope you see this.

I’m hoping the Friday slot opens up first thing tomorrow so I’ll tentatively plan to cancel my Wednesday tickets at 7 am tomorrow if that happens...if it’s not open tomorrow it’s going to be too late for me to cancel!

Thanks for reaching out! I found tickets about 2 weeks ago, so I’m all set. Thanks again!

 

[Suejacken]

Thanks to the wonderful advice of many here, that one nugget of gold was a valuable one. In skipping breakfast, and being in line early, it really saved us a bit of time to do TSL more leisurely and to our liking.

awesome

 

[anricat]

I think I will get a pastry and a drink in time to get over there around 7:20.

I was thinking the same thing. I just want a quick pastry to hold me over and then I'll be golden. Has anyone done a quick pastry grab and been back over there in time to get right on?

 

[ninafeliz]

I was thinking the same thing. I just want a quick pastry to hold me over and then I'll be golden. Has anyone done a quick pastry grab and been back over there in time to get right on?

We’ve done that twice, always at ABC Commisary. We were let in at 6:45, went and had a pastry and cereal and ran to the batheroom, and back out to wait by 7:10. There were some people already there but not a ton, and we were always led to TSL at 7:15 on the dot. However it seems that the more recent reviews were not being led down until after 7:20, so maybe things have been pushed back a few minutes.

 

[dachsie]

I was thinking the same thing. I just want a quick pastry to hold me over and then I'll be golden. Has anyone done a quick pastry grab and been back over there in time to get right on?

I did that in Dec when it was at ABC. A croissant and coffee and waited in line.

 

[DWFamilyof6]

Wow SDD 7 times! That is amazing! I will be doing EMM next Monday. I can't wait. I have been noticing the Land has been opening around 7:20ish. I think I will get a pastry and a drink in time to get over there around 7:20.

So amazing! I had decided 4 times on SDD was our goal but 7 was really cool.

 

[WaterLinds]

Woohoo! Friday was open for booking! So there are now five tickets available for tomorrow morning if anyone is looking. (And also more spots for Friday if anyone else is trying to dodge the cooler weather tomorrow...)

And reviewing my FPs I think we might be ok leaving most things as they are, so not too much stress caused by swapping days. I’ll be glad we got hoppers for this trip, though!

 

[michelepa]

We were there on Monday and did just that. We left TSL just before the rope drop crowds arrived and made our way over to RnRC area. We were held for just a moment by the Pixar store until the main RD crowd was let in. Straight to RnRC where we were probably the 3 or 4th car on the ride. Then went to TOT and rode with basically no wait. Headed to breakfast at that point. There was plenty of food and everything was still being prepared at 9:45-ish.

Were you let go to go toward RnR and ToT before the RD crowd was released toward those two rides?

My fam can’t stand the rope drop savagery so I need to know what to expect to plan accordingly.

 

[OKC Disney Fan]

Were you let go to go toward RnR and ToT before the RD crowd was released toward those two rides?

My fam can’t stand the rope drop savagery so I need to know what to expect to plan accordingly.

Yes. We were in a smaller group of about 10 people separate from the main "mayhem" rope drop. They were held on Hollywood Blvd between the Starbucks and Keystone Clothiers, while we were held around the bend between the side door to Starbucks and the Beverly Sunset boutique. No issue at all. They let both lines go about the same time, but only about 25 more people joined our group up Sunset. The rest headed toward TSL.

 

[michelepa]

Yes. We were in a smaller group of about 10 people separate from the main "mayhem" rope drop. They were held on Hollywood Blvd between the Starbucks and Keystone Clothiers, while we were held around the bend between the side door to Starbucks and the Beverly Sunset boutique. No issue at all. They let both lines go about the same time, but only about 25 more people joined our group up Sunset. The rest headed toward TSL.

Thank you so much!

 

[smallsy]

My ADR window opened today but I can’t book for the first week in September yet. Is it not on the 180 day schedule?

ETA I can book MK EMM but not TSL
Maybe I’m getting my EMM experiences mixed up and TSL is a little delayed? Anyone able to book Sept yet?

 

[minnie-may]

We went to TSL EMM on Monday, February 25, 2019.

When we decided to make reservations for this event, there was no availability for the 4 of us. I kept trying off and on with no luck. One day I decided to try for 2 people, and it showed up for 2 people. I booked it for 2, then tried for 2 more, and it came up as available for 2 more people. As others have stated, keep trying.

We left Pop Century at 6:30 am by car. I don't have exact times for arrival and entering, but cast members were encouraging everyone to go to Backlot Express which was 6:50 am when we got at that point. We did go and got a pastry and coffee/soda. Went to line up at 7:10am. As soon as we got in front of Chinese Theatre, 7:10 am, we were let into TSL.

We were able to ride SDD 5 times, Alien SS 2 times, and TSM 1 time, with a restroom break somewhere in there. At 8:50am, while on SDD, we saw the massive crowd being led in TSL. The line extended all the way up to The Little Mermaid. The cast member told us we could ride SDD another time since it wasn't yet 9:00 am, but we passed and went back to Backlot Express for a brunch. I know there are mixed reviews on the food, but we found it to be pretty good.

We thoroughly enjoyed the event. The rides were literally walk-ons. This was our first time experiencing TSL.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

I'm debating our post-EMM strategy for July 1 (It'll be a VERY busy day).

My original plan:
Leave TSL by 8:40 to line up for Sunset Blvd rope drop
RNRC
TOT
Back to breakfast (but maybe have 1 parent go with kids to sign up for JTA while other parent orders food, or sign up after breakfast)
This will leave us 3 FP to use after breakfast, one of which will be Star Tours

But, we'll have to walk back down Sunset for Beauty and the Beast show, as well as the new Cars show.

I'm wondering if we should instead get FP for RNRC and ToT, and then:

Stay at EMM until the end (1 or 2 extra rides, maybe), but not have to watch the clock
2 rides on Star Tours
Breakfast and sign up for JTA
All 3 FP will be after breakfast, but two will be RnRC and ToT

I'm hoping we can arrange things so that we can do RnRC, ToT, B and the B, and Cars with one trip down Sunset. We plan on staying at HS from EMM through Fantasmic (and Star Wars fireworks if they are an hour apart). So it'll be a very long day. Cutting down on walking back and forth is a must.

 

[NJlauren]

Has anyone done the meets during EMM?

My daughter loves meeting characters, and assuming that stays the same for our trip, our priorities will be SDD (2-3 times), TSMM, AS2 and both meets. Trying to figure out the timing, do we do Woody/Jesse first then AS, then TSMM then SDD then buzz? Thoughts opinions?

Or do we do the rides and meets later?

 

[rtdiva2006]

First, a quick thank you to everyone on this thread! I have literally read every post and while I think our party would have enjoyed the event either way, having a thorough understanding of the event and using all of the advice on this board made it that much more successful!

On to our experience...

We attended the event on Monday, February 25 and had 7:00AM tickets (although as noted many times on this thread, the time does not matter). We were a party of 6 adults staying at Boardwalk Inn.

The night before my party asked me what time we needed to leave and I told them to first answer me whether they wanted a pastry and coffee first (since breakfast is all you can eat) or if they just wanted to arrive in time for the opening of the rides and eat once after. We all agreed on skipping the first coffee/pastry in favor of a little extra sleep. With that decision, we agreed to leave the hotel at 6:40AM to make the walk over. (I gave that time preemptively knowing full well we would all be running 5-10 minutes late!)

We ended up heading out at 6:45AM and were at the park right about 7. We are fast and able walkers, though. If you have children or take a more leisurely pace, I would give yourself closer to 20-25 minutes for the walk vs 15 and definitely a bit more if on the other side at Yacht/Beach Club.

Check in was very easy and we were through the gates by 7:05AM. Walked slowly up street and arrived at the Chinese Theatre. They directed us to breakfast (as I expected), but we ignored them and went to wait with the small crowd behind the stage. At about 7:10AM a CM came around and told us that TSL would not open until 7:30AM, again pushing us to go get coffee, etc. My party got antsy and didn't want to wait for 20 minutes if that was true, but I assured them that they were just saying that and we had a good chance of getting in a bit early if we just waited! Luckily I convinced them as we were let back at 7:20AM!

The crowd was very pleasant and kind to one another and we had an easy walk back in to the land. One thing we got lucky with was being on the right had side of the crowd. If you are headed to SDD be on the right side, as that is where the push people going to SDD. The crowd was so small it didn't really matter, but being on the correct side already got us on the VERY FIRST RIDE of the event!

With my knowledge from this board I felt we could ride once more and still have a short wait, so we did. We ended up getting off our second ride just after 7:30AM. At this point the wait had "ballooned' to 15 minutes so I suggested we move on to a quick ride on AS2, then TSM and then back to SDD at the end. Luckily everyone agreed and we moved on! (I will say skipping breakfast and being at the "rope drop" is key to maximize rides, it definitely helped us get those two extra rides on SDD and our count may have only been 6 rides total if not for these key 10 minutes at the start.)

AS2 was a true walk on. We go through the queue and they just had us go pick any seat we wanted. We rode it once. It was fun, but didn't need to ride again. For anyone who is worried about it being like Teacups/making you motion sick, my DH hesitantly rode it and said he was pleasantly surprised and that it was definitely not as bad as other spinning rides. It more swings you back and forth than around in lots of little circles.

We then went to TSM. Rode once and almost could have stayed on to ride again, but couldn't get the group to agree and stay seated fast enough, so out the long exit we went. At that point everyone needed a quick bathroom break and some grabbed coffee in the land.

Our group then wanted to ride SDD again, but I saw the wait was still 15 minutes and knew it would go back down eventually. One couple really preferred to ride again over TSM, so we split up and met back up exactly at the same time! (So we ended up both getting a ride in in that time frame, but TSM is a longer ride and has a longer exit, so we definitely waited less.)

Then we all road SDD back to back two more times with about a 10 minute wait and then a 5 minute wait.

At that point it was 8:44AM so we rushed to TSM to get one last ride it!

My MIL wanted to get another coffee and relax so she waited outside and saw the mass of humanity that was the rope drop crowd come in! She said it was at about 8:50AM. This line for SDD was INSANE as we left the land. Extended all the way out past One Man's Dream/The Mike and Sully M&G.

We had gotten a 4th FP for TOT the evening before when we were at HS for dinner and fireworks, so we only were looking to ride RNRC. We walked to RNRC and it had a 5 minute wait at 9AM. It took more like 15 though, so I think the sign had not caught up to the line. We emerged to a 35 min wait at TOT so we headed back to breakfast. (Had we needed/wanted to ride TOT I think you need to cut your time in TSL a bit short and leave the land closer to 8:40AM. Especially with TOT sometimes running at half capacity now for maintenance it looked like the waits ballooned a lot faster.)

We really enjoyed breakfast and all of our party got multiple entrees and thought it was really fun you could try all of them. I know some people wish it was a little more basic of dishes, but we liked the variety and those that wanted plain eggs just got the kids meal.

In summary our ride count was:

Party #1: 9 Total (8 in TSL)
SDD - 4
TSM - 3
AS2 - 1
RNRC - 1

Party #2: 9 Total (8 in TSL)
SDD - 5
TSM - 2
AS2 - 1
RNRC - 1

We loved the event and honestly could have probably hustled to do a bit more, but we took a bathroom and coffee break and enjoyed having those moments to experience the land with low crowds.

Thank you everyone again!

Thank you for this! Love the detailed information. Very helpful....I have a question I am hoping someone can answer. If the park doesn't open until 9am and EMM is rides from 7:30-9:00, why are they letting rope drop people back to TSL as early as 8:40 or 8:50????? I have seen many posts on this saying the massive rope drop crowds were coming back at 8:50 and a few that even said as early as 8:40... That's cutting people who paid for this event time by 10-20 minutes of rides that they could and should be getting. We will do the EMM as long as it is offered when we go this year, just trying to understand why they are doing that and if it is the normal now.

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

Stay at EMM until the end (1 or 2 extra rides, maybe), but not have to watch the clock
2 rides on Star Tours
Breakfast and sign up for JTA
All 3 FP will be after breakfast, but two will be RnRC and ToT

This is our plan!