Disapointed with EMH!

[pdrlkr]

They no longer pass out wrist bands for EMH! They said it is a cost saving measure. Well, this allows non-resort guests to stay in the park after hours. They do check your room key when you get in line but we saw many people just cut the middle of the line to avoid the key check. They do not check before you get on the ride. This, of course, made the lines longer and the crowds bigger. The longest line was for Peter Pan. It was 40 mins during EMH! :shake: It was the easiest line to cut. :mad: I want the wrist bands back or at least check the room keys right before you get on the ride, That may stop non-resort guests from cutting line. :thedolls:

[Ian]

I will absolutely agree that this is one of the worst cost-cutting moves Disney has undertaken in awhile.

At first I didn't think it would be a big deal, but once I tried it out ... it's really annoying having to show your room card every time you get on a ride and yeah, we saw people cutting the line, too. Or worse, some CM's who either didn't check or accepted lame excuses from guests like, "My wife has them and she's in the bathroom."

[grwoolf]

The longest line was for Peter Pan. It was 40 mins during EMH! :shake: It was the easiest line to cut. :mad: I want the wrist bands back or at least check the room keys right before you get on the ride, That may stop non-resort guests from cutting line. :thedolls:

I think Peter Pan would still have a 40+ minute wait if there were an alien spacecraft parked over the top of MK in a driving rainstorm during the slowest time of the year. I havn't been to EMH yet with the new policy (next trip is 2 weeks away:mickey:), but I've found nighttime EMH to always have crazy lines at least until the very end of the night. Particularly at MK. More people cheating the system would only make that worse and that concerns me. The wristband approach seems like a fairly inexpesive way to manage EMH guests and the roomkey creates too many opportunities to cheat the system. The problem is that the wristbands cost Disney something and there is a reverse incentive to limit the people in the park to WDW hotel guests. Disney wants more people in the park to buy food and souveniers, whether they are resort guests or not. Disney only wants the perception that EMH is something special for guests. If enough hotel guests complain that non-hotel folks are jumping in line, Disney will recognize that the costs of the wristbands are lower than the amount of revenue they are going to loose from unhappy hotel guests.

[thrillme]

I find the following solution very very simple and cost effective for Disney:

Cut this "if your a resort member you automatically get EMH" and go back to the old system where you had to PAY for it. I didn't have a problem paying the $10-12 extra for the Night time EMH ticket. Everybody got morning entry free. It was SOOOOO much better then. Even at the peak of summer there were lines WORTH paying the extra for. Disney going FREE with this really messed things up.:mad:

I'd like to see the pay plan come back even if it comes back a little cheaper and bring back the wrist bands. (Personally I thought the $10-12 was perfect...it wasn't too much but it was enough to lower the crowds...oh yes and you HAD to be a resort member to purchase a wristband).

[pdrlkr]

Disney wants more people in the park to buy food and souveniers, whether they are resort guests or not. Disney only wants the perception that EMH is something special for guests.

The only problem with that theory is that all of the souvenir shops were closed and only the snack carts were open! So, why keep them in the park? To buy more snacks? :confused:

[pink]

I didn't find the new process annoying in anyway. We bought card holders attached to lanyards and showed them to the CM's upon entering each ride and it was fine. This way we didn't have to dig for them everytime. We didn't experience any non-park guests cutting because they carded everyone and we got a lot done in one night at MK. :mickey:

[CleveRocks]

The only problem with that theory is that all of the souvenir shops were closed and only the snack carts were open! So, why keep them in the park? To buy more snacks? :confused:There was never a time when cast members herded non-wristband-wearing guests out of a park during evening EMH. There was never a rule against them being present ... it's just that the weren't permitted onto rides/into attractions.

So it's not like there would be more people hanging around because they are indistinguishable from resort guests due to the lack of wristbands, since they were never made to leave to begin with.

[Ian]

I find the following solution very very simple and cost effective for Disney:

Cut this "if your a resort member you automatically get EMH" and go back to the old system where you had to PAY for it. I didn't have a problem paying the $10-12 extra for the Night time EMH ticket. Everybody got morning entry free. It was SOOOOO much better then. Even at the peak of summer there were lines WORTH paying the extra for. Disney going FREE with this really messed things up.:mad:

I'd like to see the pay plan come back even if it comes back a little cheaper and bring back the wrist bands. (Personally I thought the $10-12 was perfect...it wasn't too much but it was enough to lower the crowds...oh yes and you HAD to be a resort member to purchase a wristband).I totally agree. The old E-Ride nights were way better than evening EMH, which seem to me to make the parks far more crowded than they are during the day!

I'd gladly pay $20 if it thinned the herds out and kept out the non-park guests.

[Daisy712]

We also loved the e-nights. When we think back, those were some of our best memories of Disney. You got to ride many rides over and over. We had a blast!

[Iluvpooh]

Anothr vote for e-nights:thumbsup: I never go to evening EMH it is always a zoo. I do enjoy morning EMH.

[pdrlkr]

There was never a time when cast members herded non-wristband-wearing guests out of a park during evening EMH. There was never a rule against them being present ... it's just that the weren't permitted onto rides/into attractions.

So it's not like there would be more people hanging around because they are indistinguishable from resort guests due to the lack of wristbands, since they were never made to leave to begin with.

But the wrist bands did prevent people from sneaking on the rides. The whole point is that EMH is suposed to be something special for resort guests. Incintive for staying at a Disney resort.

[Tinkermom]

E-ride nights were AWESOME! :thumbsup:I too would gladly go back to paying extra to not deal with all of the crowds!

[SurferStitch]

That's why DH and I passed up the evening EMH's on our last trip.

The very first trip they were offered was great! Hardly anyone really knew about EMH, and we almost had the park to ourselves. Once the word got out....evening EMH's were insane. We experienced really large evening crowds in May '08, so decided to skip those EMH's in October.

Despite crowds being somewhat decent this past October (not too big, not too small), we heard people complaining about how large the evening EMH crowds were. I'm glad we spent our evenings in DTD or just relaxing at the Flo. Made for a much more enjoyable and relaxing trip!

I think E nights should be brought back. They were WELL worth the money!!

[Ian]

We avoid evening EMH pretty religiously, too. Ever since our trip last September when the lines during the day were 10 minutes long and 60 minutes long during EMH we figured it was just pointless.

Maybe if you can hang around for the final hour it might not be too bad, but with two little kids that's not going to happen.

[pamickeys]

Totally agree--my DH and I were there for the very first night of EMH--it was fabulous--no lines, no strollers hitting you on the ankles, it was great. After the first 2 years it wasn't as much fun--everyone stayed and there was no difference between regular hours and EMH. Doing away with the wristbands made it even worse--we never were asked to present our room card.

[disneyworld55925592]

I only like it becasue you dont have to be to that particular park two hours before it opens to get a wristband. However its not easy to do ride during EMH. There are still alot of crowds. Its fun to still roam around though. Save the rides for the morning when you can get fastpasses.

[KylesMom]

We, too, are a family who tries to avoid evening EMH these days due to the crowds. The absence of the wristbands and the original post comments in this thread just make me want to avoid them more.

I remember a few years ago DS and I took a nap & got up at 11 pm (DH was too tired to get up), walked to EMH at MK from CR, and had an absolute BLAST since we were able to ride so many attractions. The past few years, we've not seen crowds dissipate until 1 am or longer - and we're just too pooped to party at that point.

We definitely see lines just as long for evening EMH as you would during the day in the summertime. Cost savings or not, we'll be extra-careful to avoid evening EMH this next trip - even if we are paying resort guests and this is supposed to be a "benefit" of staying on site. :(

[princessgirls]

My DH are NOT fans of the EMH at night.
It's a joke. Parks way too overcrowded, and not very productive.
I hear the morning ones are better, never make it. We kind of avoid all EMH!

Julie:mickey:

[jaredkari]

I have posted on this topic numerous times and I agree 100% that evening EMH are worthless. We went to an evening EMH a couple of weeks ago at HS and waited in line for Rockin Rollercoast an hour and a half. I do however believe morning EMH is worth it, it gives you about 2 hours to get stuff done before the mob really sets in.

What frustrates me the most is how WDW advertises EMH. "You virtually have the park to yourself." If that isn't false advertising I don't know what is??

I too vote for E-nights to come back!! Even if they just charged a flat rate when you check in and give you one wristband to use for the duration of your visit. That would save them a little with the cost of wristbands. :mickey:

[tyandskyesmom]

I was just going to post about this...but with a different angle!

We spent this past weekend with about 20 family members for a belated Christmas party. My SIL and her kids and mother go to the World often but they stay off property (mother owns a condo down there). I always listen to a bunch of complaints about bad food at Disney and too expensive and lots of complaints, which actually lead me to wonder why they keep going back. But anyway...shortly after we arrived on Friday, while waiting for everyone else to arrive, the subject of Disney comes up and she tells me about their collection of EMH wrist bands in various colors that they have and how they would like me to save mine for them so that when they want to stay longer in the parks they can. I told her I would not do that because they are only for resort guests and that is part of the reason we pay to stay on property. She told me they usually only use tham for MK and to ride a few rides like Peter Pan, Dumbo, and Snow White and then they leave and they probably spend more money anyway...and I think she was going to say than we do but caught herself and said "than most people". Don't people realize that things like this are what ruins things any time there is an exclusive benefit to something??? And then she said the times they have stayed, they were NEVER asked to see the wrist bands anyway.

Now, I know when we have been at EMH whenever we were going into a ride or attraction or heading into sections of the park, we have been asked to show them.

I did not mind the wrist bands and now, after reading posts about it, I like it even more! I wish they'd bring the bands back...I never went to thenm when they were e-nights but I don't think I'd like that as much because with two kids (one too small to ride the big rides and one to chicken!) we do a lot of the little things or just hang out later and it I had to pay for them (even $10-$20) it probably would not be worth it. But it is a benefit of staying on site I enjoy and is one of the things i consider when pricing a vacation.

[Hammer]

I did not have any problems with Evening EMH either in October or December, but we stay to the very end and don't have any kids to tow.

I love extra evening hours at any of the parks (I'm a night owl, so not a morning person, so no morning EMH for us). Would be willing to spend $10-20 per night!


I think Peter Pan would still have a 40+ minute wait if there were an alien spacecraft parked over the top of MK in a driving rainstorm during the slowest time of the year.

:laughing: :funny: So true! We went to ride Peter Pan on December 21st at evening EMH. The lines were less than 10 minutes for everything else (BTMRR was a walk on) but it was 30 minutes for Peter Pan at 1:15 AM (EMH was until 2 AM).

[Tinkerbellaella]

When we went we were told to AVOID the park that has the EMH in the evening. We were warned that that park would become busy in the afternoon and CROWDED in the evening. Due to our poor planning of our ADR we did experience the crowds and by no way would I find this a benefit of staying on property. Now without the wristbands to quickly identify the guest who can ride the rides, I can imagine the crowd is even worse. People who can find a way to cheat the system will (as stated above with those who have every color wristband saved).

I do love the morning EMH. We find that the park time is most valuable in the morning.

I agree with charging for the evening, but keep the mornings as a benefit for staying on property. Much easier for keeping people out of the park if their ticket doesn't let them through the turnstile.

[JPL]

I did notice larger crowds in December at Epcot and the CMs were not checking room cards before allowing guests to enter rides.. I think the wristband deterred more off-site guests from staying and attempting to ride since they were actually checking them and very visible especially during warmer evenings. I mean it would be very easy to scope out which attractions are not checking and ride those.

[g8rgirl29]

I Love evening EMH!! We are more night people and really enjoy it. I haven't experienced horribly long waits on anything except PoC. I feel it is one of the extra benefits of staying at a disney resort. Is it a perfect system?...No. Would I pay the extra $10-20?...nope. I did find that the lack of wrist bands was a pain in the butt. Having to pull your card out at every ride, time consuming. We had 2 universal keepers for our (3 of us) key to the kingdom cards and they didn't hold up well having to pull them out each time and ripped. I don't know why the CM's couldn't look at them through the clear pack but they wanted them out every time. For our next trip I purchased retractable ID keepers ($.97 at WalMart) that hopefully they will be able to see fine and each of us will have our own.

[Imagineer1981]

sounds like Disney needs to do a better job with the CMs. The Managers need to be out on stage walking their areas for the first hour or so, ensuring that the CMs are hardcore in checking resort ids and making sure that people who are still in the park are asked kindly and gently guided towards the front of the park.

[thumperbug]

I've made many posts on this topic.

My 2 thoughts are 1-bring back wristbands or 2-bring back e ride night.

26 days until we arrive at the Happiest Place on Earth...

Oh and to anyone who may try to cut lines and avoid getting room cards checked...If I see you do it...I will trip you...lol..ok, maybe I'll just tell a CM...(though based on hundreds of posts on this topic it seems not too many will care)

[minnesotafreeze]

A postive is guests will not have to stand in line waiting for wristbands anymore. Maybe this is a one-off situation but on my last trip the line for wristbands at DHS was about 45min long. They only had two lines which I thought was strange since I had never had to wait more than a couple of minutes in the past. :mickey:

[cindchan]

When I went a few years ago, I got a wrist band for the night at Epcot (just waited a couple of minutes for the band). I got it just before closing time. I had a great time and it was a lot of fun! Now to read what I've been reading here, I think I'll avoid the EMH, except maybe at Epcot (I can use the time to wander World Showcase). But it just doesn't sound worth it, if they aren't being diligent on the room cards.

[betteratmk]

I didn't find the new process annoying in anyway. We bought card holders attached to lanyards and showed them to the CM's upon entering each ride and it was fine. This way we didn't have to dig for them everytime. We didn't experience any non-park guests cutting because they carded everyone and we got a lot done in one night at MK. :mickey:

OOH! where did you find them? What a good idea!

[SubNET3]

9$ for a burger and fries (not including drink) I think they can swing some plastic wrist bands :secret:

[iadarolas]

I found EMH to be fine, although the last time we were there in 2007, they were still using the wrist bands. I don't think they should charge extra, and believe that it should be a WDW resort only benefit. That said, I do think that they need to enforce the checking of the room keys before entering a ride. I found that standing in line at the parks for a wristband was a hassle. You have to carry your key card with you anyway so this makes sense, and makes the process easier, in my opinion, of course!!!! I do think that the parks that offers the EMH is always more crowded for the day, so we always try to visit just for EMH and spend the remainder of the day at another park.:D

[dteed]

Bring back e-ride nights. I would love to pay for a few hours of bliss. It was so nice to have the park to ourselves. Double the price if necessary it was so worth it.

[starflyer59]

Disney has pretty much priced us out of enjoying the Disney magic anymore. We used to go 6-8 times a year and now we go 1 time every other year.

We just cannot afford it anymore.

I cannot imagine having to pay $10-$20 X 4 just to get a little extra time in the parks.

[mrmcgiv]

We went in Dec 08 and loved the EMH. We went in May 07 and did not use the EMH and looked back and wished we had.

We walked on rides, it was great. We went to MK for Mon EMH . AK for Wed EMH and DHS for Sunday EMH. All were great, low crowds.

All CMs checked for cards at every ride but honestly you they never looked at the name or dates, we just flashed the card. Well, at AK they did look closely atthe cards.

Never used the wristbands, but i htought the cards worked fine. I did not care that others were in the park..it is the ride lines that were great! Peter Pan was 10 minutes for us.

[jonahbear2006]

I was disappointed but I was there for the first night that they initiated this process. THAT was aggravating. We left cause we couldn't handle the crowd. It was the busiest I've ever seen it, even for normal hours. There was a long line for the manmover even and that is usually not an issue at all. If it stays that way I am not sure that I will use EMH anymore unless its morning but Im not a morning person so it is a great big, we might learn how to like off property. Cause with 4 kids, we can get a great house for $150 a night. I am just disappointed. I wish Disney would have kept the wristbands.

[SillySymphony]

I have to heartily agree with so many of the previous posters. Beginning back in the late 1990's, the program called E-Night was a solid success and reason enough for many, many people to stay on property. I fondly recall my first E-Night with the kids (then 12 and 6) as we "stayed on" Splash for a second or third ride at nearly ONE in the morning ! ! The notion then was that E-Night (available ONLY in the MK) was a... get this... "Private Party" for Resort Guests of WDW. The additional cost (then just $10 pp) was a true bargain as only some 4000 - 5000 tickets were available.

I've experienced today's EMH at night... I'm no fan. The Host Park becomes overly congested and you'll often encounter lines LONGER than mid-afternoon for attractions...

Do I understand WDC reasoning for the current form of EMH ? Well... of course.... Does it compare to the original concept... No. How have WE dealt with it???

Simple.

We Park Hop to the Theme Park which allows us the latest evening of fun OTHER than the EMH Park. Then... off to the pool !