Early entry or not

[disneyplates]

We have visited WDW 3 times in the past, the last time being in 2001. We plan a week long trip in June 2008. We will be staying on site. I hear two differents thoughts about going to the park on early entry day. Some say go to the early entry park and others say avoid the early entry crowds and visit another park that is not having early entry. In the past we have always went to the early entry parks. Any thoughts? Thanks

[McGoofy]

I can't speak for how it is most of the time since our family is typically not early risers. (We tend to use evening EMH more than morning EMH.) However, this past May we went to the early EMH hour at Magic Kingdom. We stood outside the gates and saw the park opening with all the singing and the characters coming in on the railroad. We were close to the front during that, so once they let us in, we headed straight for Space Mountain. We were in the 4th rocket out of the gate for that! We also did Buzz. Then we headed to the opposite end of the park towards Frontierland. There were no crowds over there at all! We rode all the big rides as well as some others, headed to Pirates, saw the Captain Jack street show and DH and DS got haircuts at Harmony Barber Shop. We didn't do everything in the park, but by noon we had done enough that we were ready to go back to the hotel, re-fresh and then park hop! Now this was early May, so the time of year would have a lot to do with it as well. As for that particular day, I think it was well worth using the EMH. It put us an hour ahead of the crowds. We had already ridden all of the major attractions before they came into the park.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

For EMH, I'm assuming?

My preference has been not to go that early. In my opinion, it's a waste of time and you'll most likely get exhausted before the nighttime to see any of the shows.

Also, in the morning, you are only getting one extra hour which isn't that much. But at night, there are 3 hours and it's typically cooler as there is no sun out to give you sunburn. In the morning, a lot of regular families are also coming in still trying to get all the characters or the families on day visits are trying to cram as much into a few hours. At night, it's limited only to resort guests and those guests with younger children tend to leave with the day guests because the kids are passed out.

I've never gone character hunting on EMH night, but I think that Judge's tent are open for EMH as well since it really only says park closing for the time. Someone else might have that answer since I can't remember.

However, on EMH nights, the shops close at the same time the park does. It does not stay open an hour later because it already stays open 3 hours later. So if the park closes at 9, with EMH until 12, then the major shops (Emporium, MouseGears, Outfitters, and Mickey's of Hollywood) will close at 12.

[mickeymousedabomb]

Hello everyone! For us, we take advantage of the EMH (morn & eve). This trip I planned it based around the MVMCP and all the EMH. I made sure we were at a park each day that had either the morn or eve hours to get the most out of our days. Knowing that, it gives us the option to head back to CBR if we want during the day for a little R&R, that is after we get our EMH eve braclet . If you have little ones that are willing to go with that flow then I say go for it! But there may always be the 'not a morning person' in your group! Just my

[JPL]

The morning EMH's are awesome you can usually get 1 -3 major attractions out of the way before the large crowds start arriving. What I usually do is start my morning at the early entry park and then hop to another park if I notice it is getting crowded where I am at. It's definately a must do for AK since the lines for Everest can quickly reach 90 minutes. Also a must for Epcot with Soarin since the lines commonly reach the 120 minute mark.

[illini]

In general, we try to avoid EMH mornings. The parks end up packed by mid-day. When we ~do~ go to EMH, we usually parkhop around lunch time. In that case, it works well. But I'd rather get the extra hour of sleep and avoid the park hop when possible. They can be a great advantage, you just have to be smart about how to use it.

[princessM0m]

I don't necessary plan around the morning EMH. If I've already decided to do a park on a certain day and it has morning EMH then I might try to go early. I will, however, make use of the evening EMH. DD and I were there the first week in Dec 06 during MK evening EMH and it was heavenly. We had maybe a 5-10 minute wait, if any, on the more popular rides.

[TheRustyScupper]

1) If we do an EMH, it is the AM version.
2) However, we seldom do EMH any more.
3) We prefer to do the park THE DAY AFTER its EMH.
4) The big crowds seem to have move one to another park by then.

[KylesMom]

We frequently attend morning EMH at MK and AK, while we skip the morning EMH at DHS and Epcot due to the limited attractions open early at these two parks.

Crowds do develop throughout the morning, but it's nice to be able to ride a few of our favorites before the masses get to be too much. We usually leave the parks after lunchtime and either hop to a different park or return to our resort for some swimming/relaxation time on a.m. EMH days.

Make certain you are aware of which attractions are open for a.m. EMH, and plan accordingly. I will mention that we haven't had much luck with p.m. EMH, as the attraction lines have been much longer until close to park closing time (2 am)! It's really cool to be at MK at 12 or 1 am, but it's no fun if the line for SM is 60+ minutes!

[wdwfansince75]

As Yoge said, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded!" And, indeed, EMH does fill the parks...

I am an early riser, and find the parks at their best at opening.....usually the lightest crowds of all. But EMH's have, IMHO, changed WDW greatly....When I use morning EMH's, I usually park hop very early in the day. Rarely use evening EMH....last two trips, found the EMH at EPCOT a waste of time.....everything was packed! During the summer, when we usually go, the parks are open long enough for us on non-EMH nights. Can't soar with the eagles if you hoot with the owls!

I think that the change of ticket pricing (extra days for only a small increase in cost) has lead many on-site vacationers to use Disney parks every day, rather than trips off site, as was once the rule.....

EMH's seem to be successful for Disney.....large crowds with minimal extra staffing.....lines at all CS and snack locations, and late meal crowds at TS locations...and the stores are full! Suspect that average gusest spends significantly more of their time, and money, on site.....

I remember long ago (first or second trip) getting the tip that the left line was always shorter.....and 15-20 years after this was "common knowledge", it was still true....Believe that the tip of avoiding EMH's will still be true for years to come.

[brownie]

I've always avoided the early entry parks if I can; I find they tend to be busier on those days (conversely, the other parks can be lighter as a result).

[Zippy_D_DooDah]

Because my kids are so young (and are awake anyway), we have been taking full advantage of the morning EMH's. I'm sure as they get older and start sleeping in (*fingers crossed*) we will go to morning EMH less. As for right now, I really enjoy the mornings. We were there in September and went to the Little One's EMH's 3 times. Each time, we were able to ride just about everything in Fantasy Land mutliple times with the exception of Dumbo (is there ever a time when there is NOT a line at Dumbo?) During Little One's EMH, the characters are out playing games with the kids so the rides are deserted. As the park opens for everyone else, we would race over to Pirates and then back into Tomorrow Land for Buzz. We really got a lot done during the morning at MK and were heading back for an afternoon swim before the bulk of the crowd even arrived.

[TBY2225]

Our family is typically early risers, so we love EMH in the morning. When we went in Sept 2006, we were able to do all of fantasyland we wanted in just that one hour! We walked onto Dumbo, Peter Pan and Pooh, took 3 rides on the tea cups saw Philharmagic, IASW, and rode the carosel. We usually leave around lunch time and come back after naps and swim. Crowds didn't seem any heavier than the parks that we did on non EMH's!

[pook@wdw]

In our experience, EMHs in the AM are to be avoided. Too crowded, and not enough time to really make a difference. As we are early riser, we find EMH unnecessary because we get to the chosen park early enough to do all we want to do anyway! Now EMH in the PM are longer and much more beneficial. So we will sometimes take advantage of those.