MK/Fantasyland “Early Morning Magic” (EMM) (Thread Now Closed, See New MK EMM FAQ Thread)

[kat_lh]

That is a lot of time spent walking from one side of the park to the complete opposite side. I might be more inclined to hit BTMR, Splash, eat, then Space. You can always use the 15 minute buffer and hit Space up until 10:15am.

But if you stick to your plan I'd love to know how it works out for you!

Moved my Space to 9:10, so gives a bit more breathing room to ride it after breakfast if we can't manage it before

 

[Pdollar88]

What priority should I place the rides in? Does everyone still do a mad dash to 7DMT, even in EMM?

My current plan is for 9/9:
7DMT
PP x 2
Pooh x 1
7DMT
Then head over to Jungle Cruise and Pirates at 9, back for breakfast at 9:40. My fastpasses are then for BTMRR and Splash, 9:40-10:40 and 10:40-11:40, respectively.

Super excited to try this - reading about it, it sounds so worth it to me! A breakfast buffet alone at Disney would be a fair chunk of the ticket price.

 

[summerskye]

What priority should I place the rides in? Does everyone still do a mad dash to 7DMT, even in EMM?

My current plan is for 9/9:
7DMT
PP x 2
Pooh x 1
7DMT
Then head over to Jungle Cruise and Pirates at 9, back for breakfast at 9:40. My fastpasses are then for BTMRR and Splash, 9:40-10:40 and 10:40-11:40, respectively.

Super excited to try this - reading about it, it sounds so worth it to me! A breakfast buffet alone at Disney would be a fair chunk of the ticket price.

No first hand experience but from what I have read... 7DMT is easier after the initial start. Most have said starting with PP & WtP gets you to less people on 7DMT. Sounds like you could do 7DMT more than just 2 times and still keep with your other plans.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

What priority should I place the rides in? Does everyone still do a mad dash to 7DMT, even in EMM?

My current plan is for 9/9:
7DMT
PP x 2
Pooh x 1
7DMT
Then head over to Jungle Cruise and Pirates at 9, back for breakfast at 9:40. My fastpasses are then for BTMRR and Splash, 9:40-10:40 and 10:40-11:40, respectively.

Super excited to try this - reading about it, it sounds so worth it to me! A breakfast buffet alone at Disney would be a fair chunk of the ticket price.

The last two times I’ve done EMM the 7DMT line was kind of close to that “annoying” mark at the very beginning of the event. Think line back to around the entrance to the cave. Takes 3-5ish minutes to board from that point which isn’t bad - it just “feels” like a lot when the clock is ticking. I’d get your fill in of other rides first then circle back to 7DMT.

But if you aren’t trying to max ride counts and don’t mind a few min wait, going to 7DMT first is just fine too.

 

[Pdollar88]

No first hand experience but from what I have read... 7DMT is easier after the initial start. Most have said starting with PP & WtP gets you to less people on 7DMT. Sounds like you could do 7DMT more than just 2 times and still keep with your other plans.

The last two times I’ve done EMM the 7DMT line was kind of close to that “annoying” mark at the very beginning of the event. Think line back to around the entrance to the cave. Takes 3-5ish minutes to board from that point which isn’t bad - it just “feels” like a lot when the clock is ticking. I’d get your fill in of other rides first then circle back to 7DMT.

But if you aren’t trying to max ride counts and don’t mind a few min wait, going to 7DMT first is just fine too.

Perfect. Thank you both for the responses! I’ll resist the urge to RD 7DMT.

 

[CGB]

Super excited to try this - reading about it, it sounds so worth it to me! A breakfast buffet alone at Disney would be a fair chunk of the ticket price.

That was one of my deciding factors. Honestly, it wasn’t that much more than the cost of four adults + tip at our usual Crystal Palace breakfast.

 

[shezlep]

I went to EMM with my family (DW, DS8, DS4) on Tues 8/7. It turned out to be a blast and totally worth the money in my opinion.

We scheduled the EMM on our departure day, so our plan was to be in the park until noon. We had been in MK three other times during our 5-day trip and already ridden everything we wanted to at least once, so for EMM we focused on riding our favorites. Already having ridden PP and WTP this trip and only one ride of SDMT under our belts, we chose to focus the time before 9:00 solely on SDMT.

At 7:45 they unleashed the crowd that seemed pretty large to me. Our plan was for me and DS8 to fast walk to SDMT while my wife and DS4 (in the stroller) would come at a more leisurely pace. Me and DS8 would ride once or twice before joining up with the rest of the family.

I was very proud of DS8 for keeping up with me at the start of the event. There were other people that were moving faster than us but to our surprise they appeared to be headed to BOG. DS8 and I were shocked that we were the first two on the ride! I think there were only two others on the train with us at that point. As it turned out, DW and DS4 were only two minutes behind us so they rode in between our first two rides.

In total DS8 and I rode SDMT 13 times (!!!), DS4 12, and DW 7. We loved the ride so much and there are so many fine details throughout that it never got old to us. Taking different pictures for the PhotoPass was also highly entertaining. For more than half of the rides there was absolutely zero wait time. I would say that after about the first two rides the queue started filling to the point that they closed off the shortcut at the mine entrance and we had to walk all the way back to the FP entrance. As you can see from our PhotoPass timestamps, we never waited more than 10 minutes in line.

7:51 (DS8 and me)
7:53 (DW and DS4)
7:57 (DS8 and me)
8:04 (family all together)
8:14
8:22
8:28
8:32
8:38 (DW last ride)
8:43
8:47
8:50
8:54
8:59

At around 8:30 the crowd died down again to the point that they opened up the shortcut again outside the mine entrance. One thing I thought was entertaining was that they measured DS4 about every other time to make sure he was tall enough. I would have thought either the CM would remember him after 12 rides or at least he should be measured each time. I guess if your child is within a few inches of the height requirement you have about a 50:50 chance of them actually being measured.

After our last ride at SDMT we walked onto SplMtn with less than a 10 minute wait. It was nice to go on this ride to cool down after an already busy morning. After the ride we walked at a much slower pace back to PVH at 9:40 and had a nice breakfast. Then it was FP for BTMR, People Mover (one of DS4 favorites), and two FP SpcMtn rides for DS8 and me while DW and DS4 shopped. Honestly, we could have squeezed another FP and/or another ride or two but it was actually nice to be relaxed at the park for the last few hours of our trip.

I can’t think of how our trip could have ended on a more positive note than with going to EMM. Thanks to everyone on this board for providing so much information on this event, which encouraged me and my family to give it a try. We will definitely be repeat customers! Hopefully, I have been able to add a little bit more details in case there are others reading that may be on the fence. On the flight home I asked DS4 why he wasn’t tired like the rest of us. He said it was because he got a lot of energy from all the rides on the mine train! We definitely had a blast and sincerely hope you do too.

Best regards,
Scott Hezlep

 

[goodeats]

Can any recent attendees tell me how they handle the BOG ppo guests? I was able to snag an 8am BOG ADR, but it's the same day as EMM. We have to check into BBB at 9:30, so I thought it would be nice to get a few FL rides in before we check in. We have a 7DMT FP for later in the day, so I'm not trying to cut in line. A few years ago we got to ride 7DMT before park opening after dining at BOG. I'm guessing that doesn't happen on EMM days anymore.

 

[Babs1975]

Can any recent attendees tell me how they handle the BOG ppo guests? I was able to snag an 8am BOG ADR, but it's the same day as EMM. We have to check into BBB at 9:30, so I thought it would be nice to get a few FL rides in before we check in. We have a 7DMT FP for later in the day, so I'm not trying to cut in line. A few years ago we got to ride 7DMT before park opening after dining at BOG. I'm guessing that doesn't happen on EMM days anymore.

On EMM days, they hold PPO BOG guests outside of 7DMT in a line until right before the rope drop crowd comes in. You'll see a CM holding a sign. They do this to give EMM guests every minute of their time they paid for on the rides.

 

[MIAMouseketeer]

Please let this be true. I had posted about this months ago and hoped they would do this.
http://blogmickey.com/2018/08/rumor-early-morning-magic-returning-to-disneys-hollywood-studios/

 

[MIAMouseketeer]

Can any recent attendees tell me how they handle the BOG ppo guests? I was able to snag an 8am BOG ADR, but it's the same day as EMM. We have to check into BBB at 9:30, so I thought it would be nice to get a few FL rides in before we check in. We have a 7DMT FP for later in the day, so I'm not trying to cut in line. A few years ago we got to ride 7DMT before park opening after dining at BOG. I'm guessing that doesn't happen on EMM days anymore.

Yes, they will hold you. You will get a head start to get in line, but it's not as beneficial as a non-EMM day

 

[SaintsManiac]

Please let this be true. I had posted about this months ago and hoped they would do this.
http://blogmickey.com/2018/08/rumor-early-morning-magic-returning-to-disneys-hollywood-studios/

I would love to do this in March.

 

[jennab]

Please let this be true. I had posted about this months ago and hoped they would do this.
http://blogmickey.com/2018/08/rumor-early-morning-magic-returning-to-disneys-hollywood-studios/

That would be AWESOME!

 

[otten]

On our EMM day they did start letting PPO people ride Peter Pan before the park opened. This was actually really annoying because we had horrible luck and both Mine Train and Pooh were down for our entire EMM time.

 

[disneyworldsk]

does that happen often at emm events? rides are down?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

does that happen often at emm events? rides are down?

Often? No.

Has it happened over the 136 EMMs that have occurred to date? Occasionally.

Certainly not the norm but stuff happens.

When it does happen, the normal recourse has been that they’ll let you in the FP line on an unlimited basis through noon with your EMM wristband.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Please let this be true. I had posted about this months ago and hoped they would do this.
http://blogmickey.com/2018/08/rumor-early-morning-magic-returning-to-disneys-hollywood-studios/

I’d definitely be interested in this...hoping to see more details (if there are any) soon as my FP date is quickly approaching!

 

[RuaLizbeth]

I’m hoping to get EMM tickets for February but they still haven’t released any for December or January yet! So nerve racking. I know releases are unpredictable but does this seem normal?

 

[SilSprBea]

I’m hoping to get EMM tickets for February but they still haven’t released any for December or January yet! So nerve racking. I know releases are unpredictable but does this seem normal?

They were releasing them at 180+10 and then abruptly stopped after November, which made everyone think there was no December dates at all. The October and November dates that they released were messed up, so maybe they are taking a pause to make sure they release the dates more accurately, LOL. I'm still hoping for some December dates!

 

[Woody412]

My gut says if that Hollywood Studios rumor is true it will mean the end of EMM at MK, temporarily at least. Unless they’re going to start treating EMM like morning EMH, picking different parks on different days.