[jennyd]

Hi there! I need some advice from the pofessionals here! I understand what extra magic hours are- but I don't understand how exactly it affects the crowds at the parks. Somewhere I read to avoid parks with them. Is that for both morning and evening EMH? Is there any advantage to going to one park without EMH during regular hours and then going to the park with evening EMH just during those extra hours?
OUr current plans are to go to AK on a day they have evening EMH. Is that crazy?
Thanks so much for any help!

[Boss Mouse]

I think the idea is: When the park has early EMH get in early; but get out by 11.

When they are in the evening, allow non-property guest time to leave as the park they will begin to fill up in the afternoon.

[keljen]

The EMH can work for or against you. It's great for people that want to get to the park early and miss most of the crowds for the top rides and those we may like to be there later and sleep in it can work for them also. Most of it will depend on what time of year your there and the crowds. We go during the value season and don't seem to run into crowd problems

[TaraRae82]

I think I remember reading in the Unofficial Guide that the morning EMH's are a better "value" if you insist on going since you can get more done in that early hour than you can in the 3 hours in the evening EMH. Also, you might check to see what attractions are open during the EMH to make sure it's worth your time. For us, EMH isn't that great because we don't do the "thrill" attractions and that's most of what's open. Good luck!

[palmickey]

We have never been able to make it to the evening EMH at AK but I hear it is worth staying for it just to see the park lit up at night. I keep wanting to see it but it just never works out for us.

[yankeevttch]

Originally Posted by palmickey

We have never been able to make it to the evening EMH at AK but I hear it is worth staying for it just to see the park lit up at night. I keep wanting to see it but it just never works out for us.

We did it our last trip and it was really neat. All the rides are pretty much open with the exception of all the animals are already up. I like seeing EE at night too.

[rjbarnhart]

Remember that fast passes still work during extra magic evening hours. We were in WDW for 2 late nights in July and the crowds were very large in some places in MK, like Tomorowland, but almost deserted in frontierland and adventureland. The line for space mountain was longer than during the daytime!. Fortunately, we got fastpasses and breezed thru the line twice, probably to the annoyance of people who were stuck waiting in the regular line. On the flip side, we walked right onto Splash Mountain and BTM w/o fast passes and even stayed on for an extra ride. Just remember that you're going to be very tired the next day if you stay up until almost 3 a.m.

[packerbeth]

We went to MK for evening EMH in January and it was packed! We were mostly in Fantasyland, but the line for Peter Pan was 40 minutes! I couldn't believe it!

The nice thing about going to AK for evening EMH is that it ends at 8 p.m. and you still have time to go to a different park if they're open later, or out to dinner, or shopping at DTD.

[Dana]

Morning extra magic hours are from 8am to 9am at select parks. This enables WDW resort guests to get in the parks an hour before regular guests and hit those headliner attractions. You should avoid said park if you don't intend to be there for the actual extra magic hours. It is best to go to the EMH park and tour until lunch....high tail it out of there right after or before lunch, cause the crowds get insanely busy esepecially at MK.

[Soundgod]

As someone pointed out, the morning EMH offers fewer rides than the evening version, mostly because it's easier to keep a ride staffed and open once it's up than it is to get one more ride operating an hour early. So, consider the list of rides that are available to you. And again, for the mornings, be there at 8 sharp, and be done by 11 and hop on out.

[Caseys Corner]

Try the link below.



Extra Magic Hour

[DayDreamer]

I've only gone to EMH at night and it wasn't bad at all. I think it just depends on the time of year that you go. We normally go in May and one night Epcot was packed during EMH and the night we went to MK you could walk on to anyride you want.

[Jennatrz]

We have always gone to the parks when there are EMH's never had a problem with crowds.

[PrincessPooh]

I also use evening EMH everytime we go and we love them. We only ever travel in value/off peak season though. AK evening EMH is OK, but you definately don't need the three hours they give you. There is usually one showing of the Lion King show and one showing of th Pocohontas show. Then the only think left to really do is the rides in Dinoland and EE. It was very beautiful to look at at night, but not much to do.