EMH worth going?

[Keacc]

Is it worth going for EMH? Can you get on some of the bigger rides during the hour?

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Is it worth going for EMH? Can you get on some of the bigger rides during the hour?

Most absolutely! Unfortunately the park AM EMHs don't work out with my park visits when I'm there in June, but the evening ones do, so I'll take advantage of those. Back in either 2011 or 2015, my family did a couple of EMH at MK and I believe AK....the rides we knocked out at MK before park opening was awesome! I believe we did 4 of them. One we rode twice! AK we didn't get as many rides done, but it was so nice walking around the park without all the people. That was pre Pandora days though! This year my son and I are going to do rope drop. That works out just as nicely for us even with the offsite and onsite guests in the parks. I'm setting our FPs up for around 10 or 10:15 everyday except our arrival day. We're hitting AK at noon since we're coming in at 11. We're going to hang out till about 5 or so. Some will say hop to another park after a morning EMH as the park starts to get busy later in the day, but for me, we are leaving the parks around 1 anyway. We don't do hoppers as the transition time eats into my park time, so it's one park a day for us. And this year my son and I will be returning in the evenings!

 

[glocon]

Many on the dis will say avoid parks with emh, or go for a few hours in the morning then hop to another park when it starts to get crowded. We like to go and then hop to another park.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I think the specifics of the park, AM or PM (where applicable), and the actual times are important (in my opinion).

For example, an 8am-9am AM EMH at MK doesn’t get me all that motivated. But if it’s 7am-8am EMH, yeah, that’ll get us a heck of a running start on the day.

Same thing on the other end. A 8pm-10pm MK PM EMH is not something I’d go out of my way to do - but if they are, say 11-1 or 12-2, those are more appealing. In my opinion.

 

[mrsap]

I think the specifics of the park, AM or PM (where applicable), and the actual times are important (in my opinion).

For example, an 8am-9am AM EMH at MK doesn’t get me all that motivated. But if it’s 7am-8am EMH, yeah, that’ll get us a heck of a running start on the day.

Same thing on the other end. A 8pm-10pm MK PM EMH is not something I’d go out of my way to do - but if they are, say 11-1 or 12-2, those are more appealing. In my opinion.

Very appealing... unfortunately, not as often as they used to be.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I think the specifics of the park, AM or PM (where applicable), and the actual times are important (in my opinion).

For example, an 8am-9am AM EMH at MK doesn’t get me all that motivated. But if it’s 7am-8am EMH, yeah, that’ll get us a heck of a running start on the day.

Same thing on the other end. A 8pm-10pm MK PM EMH is not something I’d go out of my way to do - but if they are, say 11-1 or 12-2, those are more appealing. In my opinion.

THIS! I've done a 7am EMH....it was AWESOME! both in AK and MK you can get SO much done before leaving the park at 1pm. I have never done an evening EMH, but my son and I are going to do one at EPCOT and one at MK on our June trip. EPCOT closes at 9, so I'm assuming the EMH will be from 9-11. I'm good with that one. MK closes at 10, so we're talking 10-12. Son and I will definitely be sleeping in that next day. It's our checkout and Disney Springs day, so that works out nicely anyway.

 

[Bullseye]

We don't avoid them, in fact we generally plan our park days around them. We use the AM ones to get in more rides and the PM ones just to be in the parks later.

 

[Suejacken]

Many on the dis will say avoid parks with emh, or go for a few hours in the morning then hop to another park when it starts to get crowded. We like to go and then hop to another park.

I agree with you. You can get several rides during the EMH hours without fast passes. Then we do a couple more thengo back to the hotel and to a different park at night

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I love AM EMH.
I find that I get a lot done in that one hour especially at MK but I can also get a couple of bigger attractions done in that one hour at the other parks as well.

 

[Keacc]

Is it possible to get on FOP during AM EMH without waiting forever?

 

[elsbit]

Is it possible to get on FOP during AM EMH without waiting forever?

We rope dropped at EMH and were able to get right on FOP. I was actually surprised by our success.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

The value of EMH is a bit variable in my experience. Sometimes, say PM EMH and MK can be quite crowded, other times we cover quite a few attractions.

A BIG thing to keep in mind though is that EMH is only helpful if you are actually in the park for that EMH. Sometimes we have PLANNED to be in the parks for EMH, but in reality, we ended up missing most the AM hour or didn't have enough energy to last those extra PM hours.

One downside of FP+:
Used to be, if you didn't make it to the park in time for the EMH hour, you could often just swap that park for a different one unless you had a dining reservation. These days it is harder to swap around FP plans. One can always do it, but swapping likely = sacrificing an e-ride FP for a less valuable attraction or FP time.

 

[TravelingTotMom]

EMH at MK was worth it for my family this past week with Spring Break crowds.

We were there Thursday afternoon, and it was so busy (40 min for the Peoplemover and a line for Carrousel of Progress!) that we ended up using our three FP+ that we had for some of the more popular rides and left.

The next morning had 7 am EMH. We were able to do 8 Fantasyland attractions in 1.5 hours: Peter Pan, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Little Mermaid, Winnie the Pooh, Tea Cups, Carousel and Small World.

I have two younger kids, so this was a perfect way to knock out some of their favorite rides without being stuck in long lines during a busy time.

We were heading towards the busses at 8:30 to head over to DHS (9 am opening) to sign up for Jedi Training.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Which park and morning or evening? EMH at Magic Kingdom is pretty good both in the morning and evening, but probably better late evening. Morning EMH at AK is good for Safari or Everest, but FOP is probably really tough.

 

[anna_m]

I have a couple of follow up questions if that's okay?
I'm going to be at WDW on a day where MK has 7-8am EMH. What time can I get into the park?
The plan is to get there as early as I can, ride Seven Dwarfs, stay until lunchtime, then get the heck out of dodge for a couple of hours and head back to another park for the evening...

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I have a couple of follow up questions if that's okay?
I'm going to be at WDW on a day where MK has 7-8am EMH. What time can I get into the park?
The plan is to get there as early as I can, ride Seven Dwarfs, stay until lunchtime, then get the heck out of dodge for a couple of hours and head back to another park for the evening...

Plan on being let in 6:45ish-7am.

 

[TravelingTotMom]

I have a couple of follow up questions if that's okay?
I'm going to be at WDW on a day where MK has 7-8am EMH. What time can I get into the park?
The plan is to get there as early as I can, ride Seven Dwarfs, stay until lunchtime, then get the heck out of dodge for a couple of hours and head back to another park for the evening...

When we did 7 am EMH this past week, they kept everyone in the area past the turnstiles/in front of the train station until right before 7. No early access to Main Street.

For the initial opening, they were checking to make sure you qualified for EMH after security/before the turnstiles.

 

[Unca’ Donald]

We don't avoid them, in fact we generally plan our park days around them. We use the AM ones to get in more rides and the PM ones just to be in the parks later.

Same here. We only make it to WDW once every few years, so we like to pick the days that will give us a couple of extra hours in the park. If it turns out to be a little more crowded so be it. We've never actually done a morning EMH day at a park, but we will be doing two of them on our next visit, so I'm looking forward to seeing what that will be like.

 

[gharter]

EMH are generally much more crowded then they used to be.
If you are going to do EMH, get there early so you are toward the front of the line.
You can get a lot done in an hour. If we do EMH, we usually stay for a few hours in the morning , then hop to another park.

 

[sharonabe]

Is it possible to get on FOP during AM EMH without waiting forever?

Yes, but for FoP, you still want to be AT THE GATES of AK 45 min to an hour before the EMH hour begins. They are still opening the gates early and letting people into Pandora and on the ride before official opening. If you arrive at opening, you'll be waiting forever. If you arrive even 30 min before opening, you'll be in a long line and probably wait an hour.

There is a recent report of someone arriving at 6:40 for an 8:00 EMH and they were in the preshow area around 7:35 and off FoP by 8:05.