I also was excited to see this because I was planning on EMM at HS as well. My question is since they let you come in at 7, it seems like a great idea for 10:00 closures. But the day I am looking at, HS closes at 8 and then they have Fantasmic! and the Galactic Spectacular at 8:15 and 8:30. So, instead of potentially 6 hours, it seems like you’re getting a lot less…Wonder if they will let people in earlier if they close earlier that day??
I agree!
@Alewis678 and @disneygirlmama, I don’t think DAH is going to change that at MK. You can still ride BTMR right before closing and take your time leaving the park while taking pictures and shopping. Everyone with a DAH lanyard will be riding rides, since that is what people are paying for in my opinion. I personally don’t think people with the lanyards will be shopping or taking pictures at the beginning of DAH, it just doesn’t make sense. At 12:30am after 2.5 hours of straight walk on rides and character meets, sure. That’s when I will be looking for the empty Main Street and Castle pictures, not at 10pm when the masses are leaving. I could be wrong, but rarely am (Ha Ha!!). We are going on 12/10, it is worth it for me at MK for 25 rides, the jury is still out on whether AK and HS are worth it with so few rides.
Agree with you, these events are meant for those of us who want less crowds and are willing to pay for them. In this age of just about everyone can afford a Disney trip, the only way to get the low crowds is to book these extras. Especially at MK, the appeal is high!
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I wonder if they will change the park hours (at least for December), which usually happens around the middle of the month (conveniently, when the AK and HS After Hours go on sale). Our HS day is 12/8 and we have the Jingle Bell dessert party with the show at 8:30 with park closing at 8. If After Hours is from 8-11, that would make the After Hours thing a terrible waste of money for us as we would spend the first hour at the party and watching Jingle Bell. But, if they move closing to 9 and After Hours is from 9-midnight, I am seeing the appeal a bit more. Though still not sure there is enough to do there for 3 hours straight. Even though we ride all the rides there, I am not sure 10 rides in a row on Rock Coaster will be that fun. I am going with girlfriends and have an AP, so $95 might be worth it.
This is my argument for basically all the extras. It looks so fun, but if I just added an extra day, we could still do all those things and we’d get another 3 FP to help with it.
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One thing this has definitely affected is Evening Extra Magic hours. There are now no EMH evenings for my January trip. All the parks are showing closure at 8 (Epcot at 9) with the firework shows at closing time.
We are not early risers. In fact, our strategy for the upcoming trip was to plan on going to all the evening extra magic hours available. Oh well…
The loss of EMH, both morning and evening, to EMM and DAH, really bugs me. The on-site perks seem to be diminishing regularly.
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I’ve not been to WDW in a number of years, and my impression is that they are increasingly catering to those who are willing to pay more for a premium experience.
Not unlike the airlines, there are now more ways to upgrade than I can even keep track of.
Which would be fine if the economy experience hadn’t declined, but in both situations, it has.
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I tend to go at least once a year. I cannot disagree with any of your assessments.
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I have to agree, that I am getting tired of feeling like we have to keep spending more and more to get what used to be included. We loved the evening EMH because DH and DD who love thrill rides could go and ride to their heart’s content while the little ones and I caught up on sleep. Some of her best memories from past trips are these times with her dad. I guess we will have to find a new way for them to get their thrill ride fix.
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We are going to be down for the Star Wars Run weekend in April. What are the odds they release a few more dates between April 3 and April 9th?
When are you going in Jan? It still lists every Tuesday for EP and Wednesday for MK as Evening EMH. Nothing seems to have changed.
Honestly, those were not listed this morning.
We’ll be there 1/19- 1/28.
My family will be attending After Hours at Hollywood Studios in February. My question is whether resort busses will still be running? I thought they only ran until 11:00 or 2 hours after park closing (which ever is earlier). If the After Hours event does not end until 11:00, will we still be able to get a bus back to our resort?
Yes, there may be a CM there calling buses but there will be buses.
Yup, boats were running until midnight, buses will be the same!