Going Opposite of Extra Magic Hours

My husband and I are having discussions about when to go to each park. I have been loyal to the TP way from the start. I believe in getting there early and riding the big gets and then taking a break at the room after lunch. I’m also huge on following the plan exactly and crossing back and forth.

My husband is not an early riser in the least (opposites attract). He thinks we should go to the parks without the early morning hours to avoid the crowds in those areas. To his point, when we went on our last trip the week between Christmas and New Years, the EMH in the morning were very disappointing. At MK the funneled everyone in through Fantasyland and you couldn’t get into the other lands. There was a CM to check every magic band and it was just a mess. Same kind of situation at DHS.

I have always used the EMH, but are they too much hassle now? Our trip is May 30, 2020 to June 7, 2020.

I wouldn’t judge EMH based on the week between Christmas and New Years. Everything is going to be nuts that week. The general advice I’ve received - and I just posted this in another thread - is to go to the park that had EMH the previous day. I just looked back over our December 2018 trip and realized that’s pretty much what we did (not by design, just worked out that way). Unless we were Rope Dropping (first part of trip), we arrived around 10am most days and the crowds weren’t awful, although they built as we got closer to Christmas.

3 Likes

This is your biggest reason EMH were disappointing. The park is too crowded for EMH to have any positive effect. :crazy_face:

I prefer to avoid the park with EMH as they draw more people to that park. You can get more done in a park not having EMH because it’s less crowded.

However, if you want to go to EMH it should be much better in June.

1 Like

I think that is a really good idea. The only morning I might push to use the EMH on is DHS for Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. I’m sure it will still be wall to wall a year(ish) later and it would be a good way to do that and then head over to Toy Storyland with FPP.

Thank you!

I know right. I probably could have just copy & paste my last answer. I’ve debated keeping a Word document of my most common responses to FAQs.

1 Like

I’m not an expert, but my experience is that unless you want to sleep in, EMH is worth while.

  • I don’t like heat, so there’s more “less hot” time in the park if you can get in early
  • There are no regular fast passes during EMH, so the stand by lines move faster
  • While it might get more crowded later on, you can get a lot done in the first two hours

My touring plans go like this for an 8am EMH:

  • set up my FP times for 9:30, 10:30, & 11:30
  • get there close to rope drop and do standby rides until 10am
  • visit my first two FP attractions
  • visit something that doesn’t get long lines and grab lunch
  • use the last fast pass
  • get out of park and consider pool time or visiting another park that is less crowded

But if you are going to arrive after 9:30am, then sure, you should strongly consider visiting a different park.

4 Likes

If you do want a “park to yourself” feeling I highly recommend either the EMM or the DAH events. So far I’ve only done EMM but my (Disney crazy) friend has done DAH events a number of times and raves about them. And I am not the early riser in my family (meanwhile my husband is out of the house daily by 5am). He thought I was nuts to spend more money on EMM our first trip and now he’s all about the EMM and DAH.

3 Likes

We have thought about the EMM and DAH, but I have a hard time with spending more money (ironic for Disney lovers like my husband and I).

I do love the empty park feel though…

1 Like

I feel like morning EMHs have become more crowded over the years and so we tend to avoid them (plus my teenagers don’t like to get up early). We still enjoy evening EMH especially at MK.

I agree with @AlyQ–EMM and DAH events are amazing. We have accomplished so much during these. I love the feeling of an empty park too @Sweet3heart.

1 Like

We stayed offsite so we avoided the EMH park every day but one that we couldn’t avoid. If you won’t be able to take advantage of the full EMH hour since your husband would rather have a little bit of extra sleep, I would plan around them. If you have a good morning TP, you’ll still have a great time.

2 Likes

My husband and I ran the numbers this evening and I might (fingers crossed) have him talked into doing an EMM for Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. He is a huge Star Wars guy and this would give some relief for planning.

Now Disney just needs to come through on having the EMM for Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge…

May/June 2020 is a long way from now. Disney seems to be adding more and more special ticket events. Anything is possible!

1 Like

I reviewed the last couple weeks of crowds and I didn’t see EMH having a tight correlation with higher crowd levels. Weather & ride outages seemed to play a bigger role, and those things are difficult to predict. Having a good touring plan with optimal fast pass placements plays a much bigger role in your total wait time than whether or not the park has EMH that day. So don’t scrap a good plan with desirable fast passes just because you realize that EMH is that day.

Looking at yesterday, the park with the EMH (Epcot) had the lowest crowd levels.
https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-calendar/date/2019-07-11

1 Like

Try an EMM or DAH. Please, make the splurge.

We’re early risers, so EMM is easy for us.
Early EMH has always been our friend as well, but we are usually front of the pack since we are early risers.

Our m.o. is am emh, break, hop to diff park.
If AM emh is not an option, we’ll make it a point to try to get to the park that had emh the previous day.

I have no interest in crowds, and during the hottest part of the day, I wanna be in the pool I’m paying for, instead of waiting in lines during the busiest, hottest, part of the day. We go HARD in the am, then chill later, but the downside is that usually, we are toast by 9pm.

1 Like

I think we are ready to go on the EMM if they offer them for Star Wars. I love a good plan, but May/June is still a long way off. We don’t have official EMH days and parks yet, but I did go back the last three years and tally parks, days, and AM/PM. So as long as that holds steady…

Then again, if EMM and DAH is going well, do you think Disney would reduce or do away with EMH?

We have two days semi-planned already. The day we fly in which is always our Disney Springs day, but we are thinking of trying to get some later FPP for Magic Kingdom. And my son’s 8th birthday which he has planned and will consist of Blizzard Beach (his first time going to a Disney water park because we have avoided the hot months) and Magic Kingdom.

Since going with our son we have always done EMH AM, lunch in that park, then back to the hotel (used to be for a nap and now for a little swim time), then back to a park, and bed early. This has worked really well for my son and I as we are early to rise and early to bed. My husband is a night owl and I think he misses the days (when were in our 20’s!) and we would get up early and stay up late.

We just got back, and I enjoyed the parks we went to without extra hours SO much more. They felt less crowded, and I found with a touring plan and the modify trick that I didn’t need the extra hours.

3 Likes

That is great to know! Especially since you are going around the time we are going as well. Thank you!