EMH vs. "busiest days"

[phillydorn]

I'm going in January and the EMH for each park seem to correspond with what are traditionally considered the "busiest days" for each park, according to intercot's info central and other websites. So are the EMHs worth it? Or is it wise to stay away from these parks on these days? Or will it even matter in January?

[Gregandmel]

You'll be visiting at one of the slowest times of the year anyways, but emh in the a.m. seems to pull in more visitors - however - from what I"ve heard, you can get a LOT done those first couple hours and a lot of people on these boards love them. We have not done the emh in the morning yet but will try them out on our next trip. If you are trying to avoid crowds, you might want to visit a different park other than the one offering the a.m. emh, but try to get there at rope drop to take advantage of the lower crowds. Again though - you are visiting at one of the slower times of the year so they shouldn't be tooooo bad regardless. Have fun!!

[Gator]

I've never been to a park on time much less for EarlyMH. I don't know what difference EMH makes for crowds, but I can tell you that parks with EveningMH empty out and leave space for you. Especially the MK. When Wishes is over, we would hit a lot of rides, and would walk right on to some of them. Don't go by those "busy days" graphs. I've found them to be of little help and at times inaccurate. Especially in the off-season. Most people going that time of year read thses sites and follow their advice. It ends up balancing everything out, IMHO.

[phillydan]

Hello Phillydorn (from phillydan!)

I can't speak for off-season, but during the busy season, I have not had much luck with the evening EMH. I found the lines were much longer right after Wishes. I never really saw the crowds drop until after the first hour or so.

I also agree with Gator - the "busiest days" charts are not much help.

Best advice - have a plan, but stay flexible.

[bkfree]

We always go during value season. There are a few EMH that we have found quite worth it,

Early Magic at Epcot is well worth getting up for. In that one hour we have been able to ride Soarin, Test Track, Mission Space several times each. We never miss Early MH at Epcot.

Early Hours at Disney Studios is also well worth it. Head straight to Toy Story Mania to ride, then get Fastpass for RRC and go ride Tower of Terror. By getting these under our belt, we have time for the shows later in the day as well as FP to ride these over again.

AKL EMH really have not seen any real benefit from.
We do like to do the MK LateMH and have been able to ride lots of things our kids like because most young ones are not out late so it has benefitted us.

[Imagineer1981]

EMH during Jan will be like having the park to yourself...have a great trip!

[seanyred]

I've also visited WDW in January, and the Evening EMH were always empty. We typically would go to a different park in the morning and then go to the park that has the Evening EMH later in the day. It works out to your benefit.

Never did the early morning ones...can't seem to get up early enough

[bruin1344]

Ive never been in january but this is my experience during my trips in May and August. Ive found the parks to be busier on EMH AM days so now i avoid those parks if i dont take advantage of the EMH. EMH PM is only worthwhile at MK. MK crowds die down after an hour. Epcot and DHS are very crowded at EMH PM and found none of the major attractions under a 30 min wait. The crowds really dont let up. Even Spaceship Earth and Great Movie Ride had long waits.

[ajpa]

Oh man! Now I am rethinking my plan of avoiding emh.

[fanofdisney]

Now several of you mention the EMH during the "low season" as being a good option. How about during MLK weekend? We will be there at that time and according to the crowd chart on another web site that weekend should be quite busy, would you still go to EMH or avoid it?

[Twinkletoes77705]

I go for MLK weekend too! I found MK to be EMPTY on the pm EMH...I mean EMPTY! As far as everything else...when they say more crowded you have to realize it is not CROWDED...just more than other Jan. weekends. I can say the Sat. at Mk was INSANE during and after Wishes...NEVER again...NEVER! But we did EMH for all the parks and it was wonderful. My son is autistic and we have a GAC to wait where there is no crowds, yet during these hours we did not have to...the lines were so short anyway.

[fanofdisney]

Thank you so much. I was going to avoid these but am going to give it a try this time. We have never been to EMH nights because of the recommendation to avoid them. It sounds fun to be at MK for the EMH on the first Sunday of our trip. I never put MK on the itinerary until Tuesdays to avoid the crowds. It will be nice to get to that park the day after we arrive.

[kemps@wdw]

We rarely go to a park w/morning EMHs. We take advantage of less crowds @ the other parks on those days. Park hopping and FPs pretty well allow us to do all we want w/little or no wait. That being said, however, we ALWAYS arrive @ our designated park at least 45 min to an hour before opening to be 1st @ the gate. This allows us to cover all we want to do and be back @ our resort by lunch, and possible get chosen for "Family of the Day". The perks for this honor are defintely worth the wait!