Help needed with planning - EMH or no?

[lucky978]

We are visiting March 7-12. Every crowd calendar that we look at recommends that we go to any park besides that one with EMH. We were planning on taking advantage of EMH since we are staying on property, but now I'm wondering if that is a bad idea? I realize they probably make that recommendation since most people staying on property will go to the morning EMH park?

Thoughts on this strategy?

 

[mom2rtk]

The thought is that the park will be busier that day because of the draw of the EMH. Many will recommend going for the EMH then hopping to another park. We never get hoppers and always did fine going to the EMH without hopping. But crowds are higher than ever before so we are trying the other approach on our upcoming trip and skipping the EMH park, in spite of staying onsite.

I just think the benefit has been too watered down with some offsite now being included.

If you do decide to go on EMH days, just make sure you are there for the full EMH time. And morning EMH is much better in general than evening EMH.

 

[Disnsyncey]

I agree with mom2rtk , we always have APs (agh worried about the ticket options next year!!) so we can hop. The thought is that so many people "blindly" go to the EMH park that the park is more crowded (and that they don't have park hoppers, so they are stuck there). We have always gone to the AM EMH, and then hopped. Recently, we have been at times that have had more crowds than we like, so after doing the EMH, we hop to another park (we discovered the scariness of a later October trip a few years ago, agh!). Many times, in my mind, its not that the park we are in is too crowded, but the others might just be a LITTLE less crowded, just because there is nothing extra "drawing" people to the park. Also, its fun to mix up the parks a bit.

 

[yorkieteacher]

I think avoiding EMH parks has changed somewhat unless you are staying off site. I certainly think the advantage of early entry outweighs other things. All parks are the most crowded between 11-3 from my experience, and what I have read from others' points of view also. We still go to the parks we want to on the days we want to, and always rope drop if EMH are not in effect. A good percentage of people will not arrive at parks early, no matter how sound the advice to arrive early is. And I continue to count on this!

 

[gharter]

If you are going to go to an EMH park, just be sure to be there before the park opens.
If you get there late, like 30 minutes after EMH starts, you lost the advantage.
Then after the park opens, you can decide if its too crowded and hopping elsewhere makes sense.
In the past, we were one of those who went to apark the day after EMH and it used to be less busy on those days.
Now, it doesn't seem to make as much difference.

 

[evlaina]

We are visiting March 7-12. Every crowd calendar that we look at recommends that we go to any park besides that one with EMH. We were planning on taking advantage of EMH since we are staying on property, but now I'm wondering if that is a bad idea? I realize they probably make that recommendation since most people staying on property will go to the morning EMH park?

Thoughts on this strategy?

I'm with the old school avoid EMH parks (and we always stay onsite with hoppers). The exception to this was our October 2019 trip when every park had EMH thanks to Galaxy's Edge. I truly was not a fan of this at any park, but maybe I'm just set in my ways. I will agree with others that any park is less busy in the few 2 hours no matter what, but I still prefer avoiding EMH and doing PPO breakfasts to get in instead.

 

[loves to dive]

We never pay attention to it. Most of the time if you asked us, we wouldn't be able to tell you which park had which morning or evening extra hours. We just go to the park we want to go to. We do always have park hoppers so if a park is too crowded for our taste, we do just hop over to another one. It's all a crap shoot, crowd calendars are just guesses, granted in some cases pretty good educated guesses, but guesses none the less.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

I used Morning EMH on my past trip the first week of December for DHS, AK, and EPCOT (in that order). I felt i worked out pretty well for me but bear in mind the DHS & EPCOT EMH's were 7:00AM and the EPCOT day was also the day Rise of the Resistance debuted. So EPCOT was relatively dead, until mid-morning as I think a lot of people were coming in from DHS.

Some things that worked for me (but YMMV because of the different times, time of year, and circumstances):

-I had an FP for SDD so opted not to follow the crowd to either GE or TSL. Sunset Blvd was practically dead and I think there were maybe 20-30 people heading to RnRC and/or ToT. TSMM was my next ride and practically a walk on. ASwS was about a 15-20 min wait.

-If you use AK EMH and you're on-site, go to the left. That is where they check-in on-site guests for EMH. Also note, if you are not at the very front of the tapstiles, the crowd builds really fast for FoP. As our line got held up in the tapstiles I saw any early advantage slipping away & since I had an FP for later in the day, opted not to use EMH for FoP (wait time when we got to pandora was over an hour). Walked onto NRJ instead and did other attractions after. Got to KJS just as the park opened. Posted a 40min wait but line moved fairly continuously so was about maybe 20min tops.

-EPCOT - The world is pretty much your oyster for EMH choices. I would save Soarin' for when the park is just about to open to everyone else. Use EMH for whichever other ride (FEA or TT, assuming you have interest in either) you don't have an FP for. I actually got through the gates just a few minutes after EMH open due to a relatively late start, but the park was still pretty dead. I got through my FP's really quickly as I was able to move both my second and third and finished everything with any major lines by 10:30 (Anna & Elsa had a 50 min posted wait and I think we only waited half an hour).

As others have said, make sure to get there before EMH, at least an hour early. Particularly for DHS & AK. EPCOT I think you technically have a little more leeway but security there right now is a pain and can delay your entry. I lucked out getting into the park just as it opened, but as mentioned that was also the day RotR debuted. I think Morning EMH is actually a good strategy as long as you can get up & arrive early enough. No experience with Morning MK EMH or any evening EMH.

 

[kwdw]

IMO, EMH only makes sense if you are really going to use the whole time.

In the morning - that means you need to be through security and waiting at the tapstiles before they let folks into the park at all. That usually means trying to arrive one hour before the EMH start. I think morning EMH means the park is a bit fuller than average about 1-2 hours after the regular guest opening time - so I schedule FPs to start then. As someone else said - arriving after the EMH begin - worthless.

In the evening - staying for just the first hour of EMH is pointless unless you are just trying to hit one more ride after fireworks at MK because lots of folks are still there. You really need to be trying to sprint to rides in the last 45-60 minutes of it. I think evening EMH makes a park slightly more crowded in the late afternoon/early evening - so I either plan FP's for then, plan for things that don't have long lines, etc.

It also depends on YOU. For me - EMH hours at EPCOT mean nothing. I ride TT single rider and don't ride Soarin and usually skip FEA. I don't need to take advantage of them.

In a 4-5 day trip - I probably use one morning EMH, and maybe one evening EMH.

 

[lucky978]

Are you saying that if we use AM EMH we need to be there 1 hour before EMH starts?

 

[xipotec]

We are visiting March 7-12. Every crowd calendar that we look at recommends that we go to any park besides that one with EMH. We were planning on taking advantage of EMH since we are staying on property, but now I'm wondering if that is a bad idea? I realize they probably make that recommendation since most people staying on property will go to the morning EMH park?

Thoughts on this strategy?

Its the literal truth in my experience. we never goto a magic hour park for the day.
1 exception. If you go JUST for the magic hours , then leave that park and goto another.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

Are you saying that if we use AM EMH we need to be there 1 hour before EMH starts?

You have some leeway on that advice. However, if you have MUST DO popular attractions (Flight of Passage, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, etc.) and you don't have FP's for them, it is best to arrive at least an hour early.

 

[mullysisters]

I personally love EMHs and prefer evening to morning because I love Disney late at night. The morning EMH are very helpful to get 2 or 3 or 4 rides in before the crowds. I have never arrived an hour before opening but I haven't been in the last three years, that is, pre Pandora and SWGE. I do the EMH park then stay until 11a or 12 noon using FP's. Then lunch, rest and swim, go to an evening park and just ride stby. If I am going to MK(my one exception) for the evening park I use my FP's then, around 5-7pm. Then late supper, then ride stby. Just what I do but it has worked for me.

 

[yorkieteacher]

You have some leeway on that advice. However, if you have MUST DO popular attractions (Flight of Passage, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, etc.) and you don't have FP's for them, it is best to arrive at least an hour early.

Totally agree with this-many people go to EMH or rope drop to try to get the "biggies" without long lines-those being Mine Train, Flight of Passage, Slinky Dog Dash, and possibly Smuggler's Run can be added to those now. Since most of the people are headed to those, if you aren't at the front of the pack your wait times will still be long. A better strategy for me is to ride those at park closing if you can't get fast passes. All the other tier 1 rides/headliners generally have low wait times during EMH and at rope drop.