So I’ve read that EMH can be a blessing and a curse. Blessing in that you get in the park an hour earlier with lower crowds initially. Curse in that EMH can sometimes drive up crowds later in the day as everyone stays in the park.
Just wondering if I’m better off avoiding EMH all together. Wondering if it’s realistic to get DS’ 5 and 7 out the door by 7 to arrive at a park by 7:30 for EMH opening.
Hoppers negate the issue of the higher crowds because the ppl without hoppers HAVE to stay.
If you can get to the park for EMH access, it’s worth it. Many ppl TRY to get there, but life happens. Those who make it point to get there, should reap the benefits. If you have hoppers, then you get extra benefits. If you are early risers, it’s a no brainer. If you are going to be miserable trying to get there, avoid it - you’re on vacation.
My personal opinion is to avoid EMH if I don’t intend or can’t park hop. I also have a young son (7 now) and making him get out of bed that early is a sure way to screw up the day so that’s another argument against EMH for us (plus we don’t like to do PM out-of-park breaks).
I build my initial “which park which day” plan around AM EMH parks; the first couple of hours makes for great touring, and I don’t have kids that I have to get out of bed. I know that in theory parks with EMH may become more crowded later in the day, but based on my personal experience, I have never hopped out of a park because it became too crowded; my hopping is always based on pre-determined plans. I place less emphasis on PM EMH; I may hop to a park with PM EMH from a park that is closing earlier, but I rarely, if ever, factor PM EMH into my broad planning strategy.
But as others have said, if you can’t make it to the park 15-30 minutes prior to the EMH RD, then the efficacy of AM EMH declines rapidly.
We always do EMH. I have three children that are up early every morning no matter what. So, we make it a point to get up and get there early. We will usually stay in that park until sometime between 12 and 2pm and then hop over to another park for the evening or head back to the resort. If my kids weren’t already early risers I don’t know that I would do it though.
DD7 and DS12 always get up at 6 to get ready for school so it works for us, plus they know they are going some where fun. Hasn’t been an issue yet for us to get to regular park openings about an hour prior to open. Haven’t done EMH but plenty of 8am openings. If you think they will be cranky I wouldn’t do it. If you are not sure be willing to go with the flow and scrap it and go back and take a nap. LOL
It’s funny. I have hopper tickets but don’t actually have a plan for hopping around the parks. Wanted just in case.
Not really that odd. I always have hoppers (Military Salute tickets “come that way”), but out of 5 park days, I rarely hop more than once; I plan a full day in each park and the 5th day I use to revisit 1 or 2 (occasionally 3) parks. But it’s nice to know you have it if something unexpected comes up…