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

[slpeters]

We went to an EMH every day of our trip (5 AM and 2 PM) and pretty much every day it was the best time to be in the parks. On the other hand we had park hoppers and every day but one did a different park in the morning and evening with a break in between. I was a little concerned that dh would be like "we're getting up at what time on vacation?" but in discussing maybe going back he basically said we had to stay onsite because that "extra doodad hour" was "pure gold."

 

[nickcirc]

To me, It's all about why "Type" of vacation you are having.

For example when we go for our 4 day "intense" trips, EMH is a must go get the most of our the day, and we really push ourselves and work it into the schedule itself.
Doing an AM EMH at DHS is a great way to knock out most of that park early (especially if it's a Saturday DHS EMH AM and we flew in at 6am) When FP+ came into the picture it made it so much easier to accept EMH into the plan since it meant you could easily EMH a park and FP+ another. Again not for everybody sure, but it works for some

When we do a less intensive trip (7+ days) it's often a question of "Do we need to bother?" Sure it can be fun at 2am to be on main street with a empty park in winter getting amazing photos.. and sure you can do all the rides in a short period of time, but ultimately, if you're back at that park the next day with FP+'s booked, do you need to?

 

[shocker]

If you can make it to rope drop of AM EMH, do it. If you can't get there in time, avoid it. You will do yourself no good to walk in 30 minutes late to an hour long EMH, better to make rope drop at another park. Many more people tend to stay out late than will sacrifice to get up early on vacation, so if you choose to try one, try AM. If you are not eligible for EMH or choose not to, look at the EMH schedule and the park that had late hours the night before, go to that park the next morning. The thousands that were at a late night EMH tend not to attend the same park the next morning at rope drop. So, that's where we go. If there is no late night EMH, flow opposite the EMH schedule. If MK has AM EMH on Tuesday, you should plan for MK rope drop on Monday or Wednesday. Groups are much less likely to start at the same park 2 days in a row, so this can also be a good strategy.

We also leave an AM EMH park after lunch and hop to a different park (we were leaving anyway to nap in the A/C during the busiest part of the day).

For the most part, make a plan and stick to it. Either embrace entirely EMH or run from it like the plaque. But at least be aware of where and when they are because they do indeed affect park attendance.

 

[sarahothomas]

Either embrace entirely EMH or run from it like the plaque.

So true.

 

[georgina]

We had a couple of offsite nights in Oct. Went to MK on an EMH day at regular opening time and got a lot done. EMH is only for Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, we got right on Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and HM with no wait, then started our FP, and were able to get great 4th, 5th, and 6th FP. I tend to ignore them if offsite, or use them if on. I never bother with Epcot morning EMH though.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I’m not really interested in morning EMH but enjoy the evening ones.

 

[DebbieB]

I typically avoid morning EMH except in summer. It’s good to get an early start before it gets blistering hot.

 

[Elle23]

We got up at 5am to make it to a 7am EMH. We’re crazy.

We did zero EMH on our trip in January. We ended up doing a couple in December, and I honestly didn’t notice a huge increase in crowds. Actually the EMH days were probably our better days crowd-wise (except for the Wednesday evening one sandwiched between the parties...but that was going to be a bad crowd night with or without EMH).

 

[shocker]

I typically avoid morning EMH except in summer. It’s good to get an early start before it gets blistering hot.

Time of year does make a difference. Love AM EMH for the same reason. Love PM EMH because we don't need sunscreen, hats, sunglasses.

 

[auntfrannie]

I'm a morning person anyways; I can't sleep in on vacation. So I do the morning EMH but not the evening ones.

 

[jeff_h]

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

Same here! We especially like MK when they have EMH from 12AM-2AM, by 12:30AM the place seems empty compared to daytime.

 

[disneyvoice]

When it's just me and my husband we typically avoid it. We don't really do ride-heavy trips any more and aren't racing around the park trying to do as many rides as possible. However, we did do EMH at MK last week once because we had our older son and his girlfriend with us and they are not frequent WDW guests. They only had a few days and wanted to do as many of the more popular attractions as possible. So in general it really depends on the overall goal of the trip.

 

[IceQueen182]

We are big AM EMH fans for MK, and always manage to get a ton done - especially 7 a.m. EMH. I save certain rides like Barnstormer, Dumbo, Journey of the Little Mermaid and Winnie the Pooh for AM EMH, and we always manage to ride them multiple times. We often also get in rides on Buzz and Space line-free, and then around 9 a.m. when the rest of the park opens, we head over to Frontierland or Adventureland. It's fairly easy for us because we have little kids that get up early, and we stay on the monorail loop. Our plan is usually to have a late breakfast in the park, go back to the pool for a bit, and then park hop in the afternoon.

We tried Epcot AM EMH last time, and found it more disappointing. The lines at headliners were very long, and the other rides are ones that we could ride without a wait normally anyway.

 

[WaterLinds]

How crazy is Pandora on morning EMH days now? We are still trying for a FOP FP, but had already decided if we don't get it we aren't going to do a regular rope drop to ride--we have young kids and that madness just seems too intense, we'll be back in a year or two and ride then. Is it just as crazy at EMH opening, or would that be less insane?

We have an early MK day scheduled already, so not sure I will convince everyone in our group to get up early enough to do EMH anyway, but is it worth considering?

For Epcot, my hope is to get a midday FP for FEA and then rope drop Soarin/TT, but so far all that's been available is evening FP so we have a Soarin' one. The idea of walking to WS at rope drop/EMH for just one ride is unappealing, though I'm considering it. Do most people head straight for Soarin'?

 

[disneyAndi14]

We get so much done on morning EMH, this has always been a great use of our time. We find the night ones are more crowded and harder to get things done until the last 1/2 hour. We continue to be a true fan of the morning ones. We do park hop most days so the am EMH works well for us. The only reason to avoid EMH parks is if you come into the park around 10-11am it will be more crowded otherwise I never quite understood discouraging EMH but less people makes it more fun for us, lol!

 

[Summer2018]

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!!

Traditionally we try to avoid the busier days at the parks. As the crowd is going one way, we go the other way. Sometimes circumstances make it impossible to avoid the crowds, but I always try. On this trip, it looks like we will be in MK on an EMH day for the very first time, having breakfast at CRT.

 

[SaintsManiac]

How crazy is Pandora on morning EMH days now? We are still trying for a FOP FP, but had already decided if we don't get it we aren't going to do a regular rope drop to ride--we have young kids and that madness just seems too intense, we'll be back in a year or two and ride then. Is it just as crazy at EMH opening, or would that be less insane?

We arrived right at like 6:55am for the 7am EMH and it was a decent size crowd already. People were running to the gates from the buses. Then they ran like idiots to FoP (sorry, but I absolutely despise the running chaos). The line was pretty long, but I am sure it was no more than an hour wait for those at the end of the line.

We had FP for FoP, so we walked on NRJ, grabbed coffees and then rode EE a bunch of times before 8am. Used FP at Safaris, then FoP, grabbed snacks and left.

Keep trying for the FP. I think it is a better use of time to ride the other headliners at AK during EMH.

 

[rkstocke5609]

In my experience, AM EMH matter in California but not so much in Florida. Just too many people staying on property with the privileges. We avoid it in Florida.

 

[mco65]

We typically take advantage of AM EMH parks... we rope drop anyway so it just increases our headline ride frequency. If we were the 'sleep in type' i can could see where avoiding AM EMH Parks would make sense... I think the myriad of strategy's allows any to work. Unless you just blindly walk in to any park, you should find success either attending EMH parks or avoiding them.

 

[WaterLinds]

We arrived right at like 6:55am for the 7am EMH and it was a decent size crowd already. People were running to the gates from the buses. Then they ran like idiots to FoP (sorry, but I absolutely despise the running chaos). The line was pretty long, but I am sure it was no more than an hour wait for those at the end of the line.

We had FP for FoP, so we walked on NRJ, grabbed coffees and then rode EE a bunch of times before 8am. Used FP at Safaris, then FoP, grabbed snacks and left.

Keep trying for the FP. I think it is a better use of time to ride the other headliners at AK during EMH.

That's what I suspected. Fingers crossed we get the FP, and if not I think we'll just plan on doing FOP next year! The little one is too small to ride anyway, so I'm sure we'll be back riding it one day when he's taller.