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MrPeetrie
03-01-2012, 10:49 AM
Hey guys, the park hours for our upcoming trip this September were just posted. (Yeah!!!) :) Now, the fun starts.

When you are planning your vacations, do you attend parks that have EMH? Or do you avoid them like the plague?

I ask because last October was our first trip since 2007. It was much more crowded than I remember from previous Octobers. (The secret about that being a great time to visit is out.) As luck would have it, we had ADRs in parks that were having the EMH almost each day. Those parks were packed!!! However, we had a breakfast at Cinderella Castle on a night when there was a MNSSHP. Because the park's regular hours closed at 7:00 p.m., the park was empty all morning.

So, now I'm starting to mentally build our vacation. Do I go to Chef Mickey's for breakfast then Epcot on a day when Epcot has extended hours until midnight? Or, is that THE park to avoid that day?

What do you guys do?

cuteduck223
03-01-2012, 11:04 AM
we get a hopper. :) Typically, if its morning EMH and everyong can get moving early enough, we go, and then take a lunch break and head to a less crowded afternoon park.

If its evening, we dont typically get to that park until close to regular closing. That way, we still get to take advantage of the hours, but avoid some of the crowds that build up by mid-day in those parks.

joonyer
03-01-2012, 11:08 AM
We almost always take advantage of evening EMH hours, cause we love the parks after dark and like to stay as late as possible. Yes, they are crowded then, but we don't let them slow us down much. As to the morning EMH hours, I have found that if you arrive before park opening, so you are there at rope drop, you can just about do everything in the park before lunchtime. We usually leave and go to a different park for that evening (one that's open late) The first hour of from 8-9 is not very crowded at all; even with EMH, it still takes most WDW guests a while to get going in the mornings, I guess. you can get a lot done in that first hour.

wiltsan
03-01-2012, 11:43 AM
We always avoid the EMH in the morning - used to be because of crowds, not it is because of kids and not being able to get the act together in the morning (DH/44, DD7 :). Always take advantage of the EMH in the eve - just seems more manageable and slower pace.

TOTALLY agree that the word is out about October being a slower time of year :(. We have gone in the fall the past 10 years and have seen it get busier and busier. Too bad as that is our favorite with the F&WF, our WDW honeymoon date and Poly vow renewal date.

mgmnut
03-01-2012, 12:43 PM
We don't do morning EMH at MK or AK, Just DHS and Epcot. As others posted, when we do Morning EMH we head to another park as the crowd level goes up and we go to Evening EMH Parks late in the day /evening to take advantage of those.

If you work them wisely they can be of great advantage. It Helped last July when crowd levels were high and we could stay at MK til 3am when crowds were really low and temps are cooler (although we lucked out on low humidity all week). Plus I love being out in the parks so late at night.

MrPeetrie
03-01-2012, 12:50 PM
Thanks for the advice. I will plan accordingly.

jans2kids
03-01-2012, 12:57 PM
We have been to WDW each of the last 7 summers so we have had much discussion about this question. It all depends on if your a morning person or if you like to saty up late when your on vacation. We have 2 boys who were 15 and 16 last year an although they complained about getting up early they still enjoyed the EMH in the morning more than the night. There is nothing better than being at the park at opening and enjoying the lower crowds for the first couple of hours. We always hop so we would leave and do another park later in the day. When AK had evening hours we would always go there but als they are no more. I did MK last June by myself and I still waited in line for Space Mnt for an hour at 1:15am so this park stays crowded weel into the night. At HS besides the big 3 rides there is not much else to pull us to that park for extra night hours.

MickeysBestPal
03-01-2012, 01:36 PM
Hey guys, the park hours for our upcoming trip this September were just posted.

Just to make sure the correct info gets out, the Sept. park hours have been posted for over two weeks, now.

But, where they have not been up, is on the infamously poorly-maintained and far-too-slow "official" WDW site calendar.

If guests had to wait for the listings to appear on the main Disney calendar, many could miss their early-in-the-month ADR's for upcoming trips.

Very sad.

MrPeetrie
03-01-2012, 04:17 PM
...There is nothing better than being at the park at opening and enjoying the lower crowds for the first couple of hours. We always hop so we would leave and do another park later in the day. When AK had evening hours we would always go there but als they are no more. I did MK last June by myself and I still waited in line for Space Mnt for an hour at 1:15am so this park stays crowded weel into the night. At HS besides the big 3 rides there is not much else to pull us to that park for extra night hours.

Very true, Jans2kids. I am an open-to-close guy. I LOVE being in the parks the second they've opened, as well as being one of the last to leave. I also like to visit more than one park per day. It breaks things up. Unfortunately, my wife does not enjoy waking up that early. (She's on vacation. That means a vacation from early mornings, too.) Moreover, we have two children (2 & 8) and we have to be mindful of them. So, generally on a 10-night stay, I will plan two or three early mornings and the rest will be casual starts.

Janmac
03-01-2012, 10:26 PM
We used to be the early EMH folks too. My sister said it was like getting away with something.

Recently - last couple trips - we have felt that we were better off avoiding the early EMH parks, due to our perceived increase in crowds (don't know if crowds have increased or not).

To preserve that nice feeling of being in the parks early, before everyone else, we have begun having breakfast in the park as early as we can get an ADR - hopefully 8:05 am. On a non-early EMH day.

Many years ago we formed the habit of doing Epcot in the evening. This was back when MK and DHS were closing early. As Epcot is so big, we don't pay any attention to whether or not Epcot is an evening EMH we just go there for supper anyway.

We must be morning folk. When we had several teens and early 20s we tried a trip of closing the parks. It didn't suit as well as being in the park early.

On one MK morning, regular 9 am opening, on our January 2010 trip we were the first folks into the park at 8 am - such a great experience we probably won't get a chance to repeat again. Good photo opportunities, too.

Jan

disneynarula
03-02-2012, 06:06 PM
It really depends on if you want to get up early or not. I like to use the EMH in the mornings but we have small children that are already up early.

If you are not going to use the morning EMH avoid that park in the morning!

Kenny1113
03-03-2012, 06:29 AM
I often wondered this same thing as well. Because some say avoid the parks with EMH While a crowd calendar I was using to plan our trip seemed to recommend parks with EMH on those days.:confused:

paragon
03-03-2012, 08:07 AM
We have a ten day trip coming this September.
When I start planning, I look at the park hours, and EMH. Then I plan ADR's based on park hours, to reduce travel times. We always get hopper tix, but I have to allow for a group of 6, including 2 children, to make our way out. ( one adult is harder to get out of the park than the kids! )- Only use MK EMH at night if we really want to go.
By doing it this way, we have always been able to get the most out of our parks, and also our down time after the parks. So far, in the past 4 trips, its worked out perfectly for us, never missing a park, attraction or an ADR, and often have a free day when we just pick something random. We usually get to hit each park at least twice-and last year, three of us did three parks in one day and still made our ADR!