Sooo . . . EMH: Do you avoid or take advantage??

[littlejewel]

I've always been told to avoid EMH days at any Disney park. How many of you heed this advice? If so, are you convinced that non-EMH days are less crowded? If not, do you feel like you get more done on EMH days? Until now, this hasn't been an issue as my kids have been little and staying up later hasn't been in the cards. This year, my kids are finally old enough to handle staying up until midnight or later at a park. Trying to decide if going on an EMH day would be beneficial to getting more things accomplished. In truth, I'd rather have fewer hours if it means less crowds, but maybe I'm misinformed about the whole thing. Any advice is appreciated!!

 

[Robo]

Never attending EMH's because they will be "too crowded or overly-stressful,"
is like never eating grapes because they will be "too sour."

CAN be that way.
Doesn't HAVE to be that way.

Each EMH experience can be different.

We always go to AM EMH (virtually every day of the trip
that we did not do a PM EMH late the night before)...
never ONCE regretted an AM EMH... they are amazingly
empty and easy to ride the open attractions.
If that park then starts to fill 2 to 3 hours later...
We're happy with "doing" that park for the day and we
can HOP elsewhere or do lunch and take a rest until
later.

PM EMH's are a mixed bag. I've been when they were
"packed"... but on other nights (sometimes within the
same trip), the crowds were basically so low that it
was like "free rides" on all the open attractions.

The rule seems to be, it is far easier for guests to
STAY UP at the end of the day, than it is for them to
GET UP at the start of the day.

Generally speaking:
Expect a PM EMH which begins before 10PM to be much busier than one that begins much later.
Expect the first hour of PM EMH to be busier than the last hour.

Those who have attended PM EMH's and say that "they
are too crowded" are right... but that may have been only on the nights
they have attended.
I can say from personal experience that EMH's CAN be
virtually empty, or overly full... or somewhere in-between for attendance,
often within the same week.

The crowd situation at PM EMH can change so much (either way,)
that saying it was "like X" on a given night, can have little relation
to another night in the same time-period. So, you
simply "won't know unless you go."
It's similar to saying
that you attended on a given night and it rained, so
guests should never go on that night because it will
probably be rainy.

But, it can all boil down to your particular timing.
If you just consider that EMH's are FREE to attend...
You might just take a chance.
If it's too busy, just people-watch... or hit the exit.
(Where ELSE are ya gonna go at 10pm, anyway?)

But, if its not busy... you'll be ALL SET for EXTRA FUN!



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[Dumbo777]

Never attending EMH's because they will be "too crowded or overly-stressful,"
is like never eating grapes because they will be "too sour."

CAN be that way.
Doesn't HAVE to be that way.

Each EMH experience can be different.

We always go to AM EMH (virtually every day of the trip
that we did not do a PM EMH late the night before)...
never ONCE regretted an AM EMH... they are amazingly
empty and easy to ride the open attractions.
If that park then starts to fill 2 to 3 hours later...
We're happy with "doing" that park for the day and we
can HOP elsewhere or do lunch and take a rest until
later.

PM EMH's are a mixed bag. I've been when they were
"packed"... but on other nights (sometimes within the
same trip), the crowds were basically so low that it
was like "free rides" on all the open attractions.

The rule seems to be, it is far easier for guests to
STAY UP at the end of the day, than it is for them to
GET UP at the start of the day.

Generally speaking:
Expect a PM EMH which begins before 10PM to be much busier than one that begins much later.
Expect the first hour of PM EMH to be busier than the last hour.

Those who have attended PM EMH's and say that "they
are too crowded" are right... but that may have been only on the nights
they have attended.
I can say from personal experience that EMH's CAN be
virtually empty, or overly full... or somewhere in-between for attendance,
often within the same week.

The crowd situation at PM EMH can change so much (either way,)
that saying it was "like X" on a given night, can have little relation
to another night in the same time-period. So, you
simply "won't know unless you go."
It's similar to saying
that you attended on a given night and it rained, so
guests should never go on that night because it will
probably be rainy.

But, it can all boil down to your particular timing.
If you just consider that EMH's are FREE to attend...
You might just take a chance.
If it's too busy, just people-watch... or hit the exit.
(Where ELSE are ya gonna go at 10pm, anyway?)

But, if its not busy... you'll be ALL SET for EXTRA FUN!



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Really good advice

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

We always hit AM EMH and then hop.

PM EMH isn’t as important to us as the crowds don’t really thin out enough IMO. Unless the EMHs go beyond midnight.

 

[JerseyJanice]

We love EMH at night. Haven’t done a morning one since 2000.

 

[BDemps7]

If it were me, I’d take advantage of AM EMH and then stay there for a couple hours then park hop.

 

[MainMom]

We do a few morning EMH every trip and can knock out a whole land at MK in that hour. It’s worth it to us. We are trying an evening EMH in March even though it’s only until 10. This one might not be worth it, but my kids really want to do it.

 

[revdon64]

In the past I've avoided them, but crowd dynamics have changed so much that they don't even factor into my planning anymore.

 

[disneyguy07]

For me an important factor that hasn't been mentioned is the length of the trip and what my goals are. I have a trip planned for Feb 4-8 where I want to cram in as much as I can in a relatively short trip. Because of that, I'm planning on taking advantage of AM EMH at AK, PM EMH at Epcot, and PM EMH at MK. For the evening EMH, I will probably not stay the whole time but it helps me to get more time in the parks. This is particularly helpful because most of the parks close at 8pm while I'm there.

 

[AFwifelife]

We are morning people so AM EMH always makes sense for us. Get nearly everything done in the first 2ish hours, have an early lunch once restaurants open for it, and we are back at the hotel for pool and chill out time before hopping elsewhere. I've heard PM EMH is good if you are hitting the last few hours but we can never stay up that long.

 

[queenofthehive]

I do take advantage of the evening EMH at MK. We always have been able ride a lot of rides during this time.

 

[mamamelody2]

The rule seems to be, it is far easier for guests to
STAY UP at the end of the day, than it is for them to
GET UP at the start of the day.

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SO TRUE!!

 

[SaintsManiac]

7am EMH at AK was the best decision we made on our last trip.

 

[Disneylover99]

I usually avoid it. If I'm going Christmas week, I may take advantage of it though.

 

[HydroGuy]

We almost never do EMH and I do eat grapes ( @Robo)

First, I am of the opinion that parkhopping at WDW is generally a huge waste of time. Not all agree of course. But for those who do agree, then EMH has a different value because you are "stuck" with the EMH park should you go.

With that said, on some occasions we only plan a partial day at a park. When that happens EMH may be a better option for us.

I am a high energy person but DW is not. So when I am with her, then the normal park hours are almost always more than we can handle. Adding more hours (EMH) to that offers little value to us if we can rope drop (RD) a non-EMH park (which is what we normally do).

I have become accustomed to the time needed for transportation at WDW but, being a DLR vet, know how awesome it is to have a hotel where my hotel room door is only 5 minutes to the parks. You cannot really get that at WDW except for certain hotels at certain parks. It is why we usually opt for the Swan - close to two of the four parks. With that said, it means doing RD at WDW is a lot harder than at DLR. Plus EMH AM is even harder still. EMH PM usually goes so late that DW would never make it as her gas tank has run dry by that time.

If you are a young couple or group with high energy, and do not need to deal with kids (unless the kids themselves are high energy teens) then EMH has more to offer IMO.

There are lots of other views on this around here that involve grapes and other things.

 

[kwdw]

We really try to do morning EMH - especially at MK and AK. That one hour is just totally worth it to us - you can get so much done and hit headliners without FPs booked.

For evening EMH - if they are LATE (and run until 1 or 2 am) - or if it's in winter and the night is cold - they tend to thin out by the end of the first hour - and the second hour is walk-on. Otherwise - they are less predictable, IMO. I've had great nights - everything walk-in - and nights where waits are still 45 minutes plus on a lot of rides.

We rarely park hop. So - if its a morning EMH - we hit the big rides, then usually there are some lesser rides with short waits still as regular guests enter so we hit those, then we hit "non-wait" attractions in the parks - an early TS lunch - and have FPs for the afternoon/early evening when the park will be full. And then heard back to the resort usually for dinner/pool in the evening. Now - this last trip we did spend the WHOLE day at AK - morning EMH through the late ROL show. But often on am EMH days - we aren't planning to close the park that night.

 

[anomamatt]

It depends. I often avoid the park with morning EMH, but I like to take advantage of evening emh. Especially late night MK EMH.

 

[MudQueen22]

We have two small children and I have to be at my job (when not on vacation) at 7am, so we turn into pumpkins long before the clock strikes midnight.
We do AM EMH, and that has worked well for us. Short waits at rides that first hour, fast passes start for us after everyone else gets there and gets in line, and we leave when we get tired or stay if we think we can handle it. (So far, the latest we've stayed has been 6pm.)

 

[sarahothomas]

During my last trip, we did evening EMH at Epcot and MK and found they were still very crowded. This was early to mid December, before the huge holiday rushes but still fairly crowded. 1.5 hour+ wait times for 7DMT and Soarin' up until midnight. 7 am EMH at MK on our last day was so amazing, though! Definitely worth getting on a bus at 6:15 am.

The crowds were very thin and the only ride not operational (that usually is during EMH) was 7DMT. As soon as everyone found out that 7DMT was down, they immediately raced to get in line and wait for it to open up, which shortened the lines even more at the rides my husband and I were aiming for - Peter Pan, Dumbo, Tea Cups, Barnerstormer, and then Space Mountain and Buzz. Our favorite part though was just strolling through Fantasy Land with virtually no one there. We weren't rushing to get anywhere or constantly checking the app for the shortest wait times. It was the first time since arriving that we were able to fully relax in the parks themselves. MK is always magical, but especially so when you don't have to zigzag through masses of people. I know not everyone finds that important, but we truly enjoyed that morning.

 

[loves to dive]

We don't pay attention to it one way or another. We rarely plan our days so it's just all a matter of are we up and ready to go for a morning EMH. I almost always know the days they are so if we are up and ready and we weren't at that park the day before, we will go. We have always had PHs, I have had an AP for the last 3 or 4 years, so if it's crowded we just move on. If we are up and not too tired we will go to a park for the evening EMH but it really just is a matter of chance. We were there the week before Christmas and MK was open to around 1 or 2 with evening EMH so we did take advantage of that but just because MK is a half day park for us and we were on a short 4 night trip so it worked for us.