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View Full Version : Anyone with "Little Ones Magic Hour" experience?



deva
09-04-2007, 09:51 PM
Hello,

Please respond if you've been at MK for Little Ones Magic Hour.

We will be going to the parks with 2 little ones (6 and 2) on Saturday, 10/27 & Sunday, 10/28. I recently read about the Little Ones Magic Hour on the Disney web site, stating:

Little Ones Magic Hour
Add extra magic to your Little Ones Travel Time visit by being one of the first in the park during Little Ones Magic Hour. Guests staying at a Walt Disney WorldŽ Resort hotel can visit FantasylandŽ an hour early on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from August 26-October 28. Many of your favorite rides will be open, and you may even get the chance to play "Peter Says" with Peter Pan or ride with Stitch on Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

Does anyone have experience with this? I have 2 questions:

1. How crowded was Fantasyland during the LOMH?

2. How did it affect the attendance at the rest of the park relative to other non-EMH days that don't have LOMH?

Please advise.

bcornette
09-05-2007, 12:07 AM
We went last year in the middle of August and it was not very busy at all. We may have waited 10 minutes for Peter Pan and that was our longest wait.
It was also one of the last things we did. We arrived almost when it began and for the first 30 minutes practically walked onto everything.
As long as you don't mind getting the little ones up it is great.

JCDarzi
09-05-2007, 12:09 AM
We enjoyed Little Ones Magic Hour last September. We found that the crowd was the same as usual in Fantasyland for first thing in the morning. We were able to immediately get on Dumbo and rode it three times back to back. Dumbo is usually one of the longest line in Fantasyland. We took advantage of the light crowds to ride the rides rather than interact with the characters (which were out in full force). We rode pretty much everything in Fantasyland during that first hour.

Of course, with the advertising and more experience, there's bound to be more people than last year. I didn't think that Magic Kingdom was more crowded as a result of the Little Ones Hour. It was a lot of fun and we plan to do it again on our trip in 4 DAYS!

Hope this helps.

spinnerf
09-05-2007, 08:39 AM
Maybe a dumb question, but do they really limit it to families with toddlers or is it all resort guests?

deva
09-05-2007, 08:40 AM
According to everything I read, any hotel guest can do it.

Gottaluvgoof
09-05-2007, 09:24 AM
Maybe a dumb question, but do they really limit it to families with toddlers or is it all resort guests?

We were there for LOEMH and I wondered the same thing. I called down to our desk at the POR and the CM said, "Everyone's a toddler at Disney World." We went and loved it. It was not crowded at all and it was fun seeing all the little ones going on rides with the characters. Dopey played games with the kids and the characters were very plentiful.

Maleficent's Dad
09-05-2007, 09:31 AM
We did it twice in the past week and a half.

A few things - they did not check for WDW roomkeys on either day - probably because only WDW transportation is running that early!

The characters mainly do two things -
1. Ride on rides (carousel, Dumbo, etc) with kids; can get a bit trying when your child wants to ride with Stitch, but only ONE kid can do so at a time.

2. Play games (we saw a fun version of Duck Duck Goose - but they change the names) with kids. This is fun, but our kids were interested in getting on the rides more than the games.

We did NOT find it overly crowded AT ALL. I thought it would be a mob scene, but it was very manageable. We did all of Fantasyland before the park was opened to the public.

I do wish it would be more than 1 hour. That hour goes by very quickly and the hordes of humanity come in... :( (;))

bcornette
09-05-2007, 10:07 AM
Last year we drove to the LOEMH. Have they changed the transportation schedule to not run from the TTC to MK that early this year?

Lucyrella
09-05-2007, 10:07 AM
:mickey:We did this on the 31st of August and had a blast. Our girls are 4 and almost 3, the 4 year old thought it was the best thing ever. She got to play hide n go seek with Peter Pan and Wendy and Capt. Hook, then played games with Mickey Mouse and Pluto. Stitch was riding Dumbo with kids, and we also got to see Mary Poppins, and Alice in Wonderland. The crowd was not bad, and it allowed us to get right over to see Ariel before any major lines formed. We loved it.

magicman
09-05-2007, 10:32 AM
I copied & pasted my previous thoughts on Little Ones Extra Magic Hour below. Obviously, I'm a huge fan of it.

The Little Ones Extra Magic Hour does not have an age limit. Basically, Fantasyland attractions are open 1 hour before the scheduled opening time.

We participated in Little Ones Magic Hour this last Sep AND IT WAS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL.

I have a 7, 10, & 12 year old & the older ones even loved it. Characters played hide-and-seek & got into mischief. The rides had no lines (we watched Philharmagic with 10 people in the theatre). Fantasyland was fresh, clean, & totally uncrowded. This was probably the most magical hour I've ever had at the World.

You do have to be an on-site guest, but there is no age maximum to be allowed to participate.

I highly recommend to anyone who has the opportunity, utilize the Little Ones Extra Magic Hour, it is INCREDIBLE.

Zippy_D_DooDah
09-05-2007, 10:44 AM
We can't wait to experience it. We leave Saturday Morning (Staying one night at All-Star Music & then moving over to OKW... been doing the Disney Dance since I booked my ADR's 6 months ago). My 3 year old DD has been talking about it since I told her about LOEMH. I know my almost 2 year old DD will love it as well.

For those who have been before, do you try to take advantage of each one (Sunday, Wed, & Friday)? Is it pretty much the same thing each time or are there different characters/experiences on the different days?

Goes4FastPass
09-05-2007, 12:31 PM
We went last year.

No age requirement but must be resort guests.

Character interaction is great but please note: this is NOT a 'meet and greet' with a queue of people getting a picture taken with a character. In fact, the character interaction during LOEMH will remind you just how Stuh-ructured those meet and greets are.

We were able to 'check off' many Fantasy Land child 'gotta dos' during that hour.

Because it's SO early our strategy was:

1. 6:45am (yep) alarm.
2. Quick dress, breakfast bars & milk/juice. This is NOT the am for sit down eggs!
3. Resort bus to MK.
4. LOEMH
5. Be sure to hit what will be long lines later:
Teacups
Dumbo
Winnie the Pooh
Peter Pan
6. We worked our way toward IASM, and by the time we had done the previous attractions and IASM it was 9am - general park opening. On to...
7. Haunted Mansion
8. Splash Mountain
9. BTMRR
by then it was almost 11am Pecos Bill was open but all but empty. Remember, we had a 'breakfast bar breakfast' so early lunch NOW.
10. By the time we left Pecos Bill it was FULL and when we exited the restaurant the MK was full-on crowded

but

We had most of Fantasy Land and the Frontier Land headliners done. EVERYone in our group thought it worked well for us.

deva
09-05-2007, 03:35 PM
Thanks for the advice everyone.

It sounds like its a good deal & doesn't add much to the crowds. I'm toying with whether to stay on property or not & this could be a factor in the decision.

mjaclyn
09-06-2007, 10:02 AM
I can't wait to try it! We'll be taking DD in 8 days!!

Do you think it's better to take advantage of the shorter lines or the characters?

magicman
09-07-2007, 01:47 PM
I can't wait to try it! We'll be taking DD in 8 days!!

Do you think it's better to take advantage of the shorter lines or the characters?

Honestly, last Sep there were so few people in Fantasyland during LOEMH that we were able to ride EVERY Fantasyland ride AND interact with characters.