early magic hours

[special ed teacher]

I tried EMH this trip. I would like to offer my opinion on EMH. I will never do it again. It was crowded from the start of the park opening. I will always do the park the day after EMH. I had no problem getting on the rides with EMH, but the crowds around each ride isn't as much fun as when I went with the plans that didn't include EMH. I get more done with less crowds when I don't do the EMH. I tried it, and now I believe I know that it is not as much fun as the other plans.

[faline]

I've had a mixed experience with extra magic hours. We've found that we get to do quite a lot but don't really like getting up early to do it and find that, even when we don't attend extra magic hours, we typically get to do all the things we want to do. Thanks for sharing your experience!

[mousetrapper]

I agree early EMHs aren't worth it, but evening EMHs very much are!

[Urbss]

We always avoid whichever park has extra magic hours. That works for us.

[HoosierDisneyFan]

My son & I used to go to the morning EMH until about noon and the back to our resort to cool off then to another park in the PM. This worked very well for us.

We have discontinued this touring plan because my son is now a teenager and the extra hour of sleep is now very important to him.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

EMH are definately a personal preference, depending on your family and touring style.


We enjoy the early ones, just for the number of rides we can get "done" before the bigger crowds hit, but we find evening ones just too busy.

Although, we tend to hand around DHS for the evening hours, just so DH can enjoy it all lit up!

[DNS]

We do not go to the early hours in recent years, but we love the evening hours. The first hour it is sometimes crowded, but after that, we seldom have more than a 5 to 10 minute wait for anything. We figure them into our schedule.

[Scrappy2]

We use to really love EMH. Seems like now that more people are doing this so the parks are really crowded. It also depends on the park. This past March we did Epcot EMH. We arrived about 15 min before the gates open. It was so crazy. After they opened it took us almost 30 min to just get through the gate. Then when we finally got into the park nothing my young grandson could do was open. It was spring break and the parks were very crowded!! Our trip in May we just stayed away from the park that had EMH. We have a long weekend booked in October and we will not do the morning EMH this trip.

[thesplashmountaineer]

we usually go on morning EMH at park opening for 2-3 hours than leave for another park for the rest of the day. but we usually go when it's low season, i guess it affects crowds levels on those EMH days.

[AllDisney]

We have not been in sometime for the morning EMH, but we do love the evening EMH.

[iceicebritney]

As a rule, we typically avoid whatever park has EMH that day. We just don't like the crowds

[Tink#64]

We've tried the PM EMH's twice & it didn't work for us either time! The first was in DHS & waited about an hour for ST's & the next morning, (not EMH's) literally walked on with no waits! We also tried at MK one year, by the time Wishes was over, youngest DS was in tears asking if we had to stay! Poor guy was just exhausted! WDW can be exhausting, even with a great touring plan & breaks built into each day! We go hard every morning, have very full days, including at least 2 - 3 hour breaks every day, we are usually in bed by or before midnight & I have them up by 7 to leave the resort by 8. I have learned we just can't GO any more than that! Now if we stayed more than a week and had more DOWN days,I think the PM EMH's could be really fun! But only in the parks that have lots of attractions open for the EMH's!

[kemps@wdw]

we're usually 1st @ the gate anyway, so EMHs are unnecessary for us. We do, however, tend to avoid parks /the EMHs due to the crowds.

[Daddy Mouse]

We usually like to go to the early EMH and have good experiences with them. Since normally we get up about 5:30 am we continue that while we are at WDW. We usually have time to eat a small breakfast and a few cups of coffee before we leave. We still try to be there about 30 min. before rope drop. We tried to do a late EMH once and although we liked the parks at night. We were just too tired. Once again we are usually in bed before 10 pm.

[Katzateer]

If you are going to park hop the early entry is worth it. We leave the park after a couple of hours and go to a different one since the early entry parks stay busy that day.

Evening extra hours usually are great- most people leave during the late hours.

I can't even imagine how crowded the parks would be spring break!!! We were at WDW for Christmas one year but we didn't go into a park and had a great day. The lines going into the MK were insane (we saw the crowds when we were going to the Poly to eat)

[Lizzie]

Last time we found that emh were great until about 1030 but our kids were just a year and a half so we would grab an early lunch by 11 and head back to the hotel for a quick swim and a nap.

[Tink#64]

I can't even imagine how crowded the parks would be spring break!!! We were at WDW for Christmas one year but we didn't go into a park and had a great day. The lines going into the MK were insane (we saw the crowds when we were going to the Poly to eat)

We visited during our DS's Spring Break a few years ago & it was fantastic! I was leary & had prepared everyone for worst case scenario - that we wouldn't be able to do everything that we usually do - due to the crowds! (DH was changing jobs & we knew if we didn't go then we wouldn't go that year as DH wouldn't have vaca available that summer! I booked, planned,shopped, & packed & we arrived a week later!) But happy surprise for us - our experience was wonderful! Smaller crowds than we've seen in June this year & last, and great weather! The thing is- unlike the holidays - not all Spring Breaks are at the same time! When we were there the first week of April, from the folks we talked to, it seemed that it was Sping Break for KY, MI, & I can't remember the other state that was confirmed.