How much does EMH affect the crowds?

[TheHD]

We are planning our trip in July and in the past, we used to go the the park with the early EMH and finish at the park with the late EMH.

Our last trip was a little different, since there were maybe one or two days that had both early and late EMHs, so we mixed it up and went with the park having the EMH as well as parks not having EMHs. I didn't really notice a difference in attendance, but I've read before that the days after a park has early EMHs, it is usually least crowded the following day.

I'm planning for our upcoming trip to stay away from EMH completely and see if it might be slightly less crowded. Also, this will be less exhausting as we'd get to sleep in each morning (a big plus).

So, my question is; for those who plan EMH and those who plan against using EMH, have you noticed a difference in attendance or not?

[DisneyDawgette]

Ever since I was little, I remember my dad planning around EMH because of crowds. That being said, it's what we've always done! If a park is having EMH that day, we try and avoid it... Or if they were only having morning EMH, we go at night and visa versa.

Hope it helps.

However, if we really wanted to ride something that we had missed or if we expected crowds to be heinous later, we would go JUST for the EMH and then switch parks once we had ridden what we wanted.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We find that the morning EMH's are quite good. Even with so many people heading to the park, crowds are generally quite good, and you can get a lot done in a short time.

However, once the park opens to everyone, the crowds jump and we usually leave and head to another park for the rest of the day.

We've tried evening EMH's a bunch of times, but it just isn't worth it ... the crowds are way too high, and they start climbing in the afternoon! We always avoid evening EMH's.

[Aurora]

We did EMH's all the time except for our trip in June 2011. To me that was a big strategic mistake, and we will never do it again.

On that trip in the mornings we arrived at a non-EMH park right at or before opening along with throngs of other people, and there didn't seem to be a time when the crowds let up.

On the other hand, in the past when we would do morning EMH days, there were a lot fewer people and it was much more manageable. We would get more touring done in that first hour than another three hours at any time the rest of the day at any park.

We will definitely be doing as many morning EMH's as we can manage on our next trip. That bonus first hour is golden.

[andypooh]

So it seems like morning EMH is a definite advantage and evening EMH not so much.

I have found in the past everything seemed empty when we would do morning EMH. By 10am things were picking up for sure, but those first 2 hours were always great. We could get 8-10 rides done during that time (before we had kiddies!!).

With kids now things move a little slower (both getting to the parks and at the parks) and we have started to avoid the park with EMH both in the AM and PM

[DisneyDINK]

We find that the morning EMH's are quite good. Even with so many people heading to the park, crowds are generally quite good, and you can get a lot done in a short time.

However, once the park opens to everyone, the crowds jump and we usually leave and head to another park for the rest of the day.

We've tried evening EMH's a bunch of times, but it just isn't worth it ... the crowds are way too high, and they start climbing in the afternoon! We always avoid evening EMH's.

Totally agree. Park during morning EMH - good. Park after EMH - not as good. But I think the opening hour at all of the non-EMH parks is pretty good too and the crowds are also generally lighter in those parks later in the day.

[bruin1344]

So it seems like morning EMH is a definite advantage and evening EMH not so much.

I have found in the past everything seemed empty when we would do morning EMH. By 10am things were picking up for sure, but those first 2 hours were always great. We could get 8-10 rides done during that time (before we had kiddies!!).

With kids now things move a little slower (both getting to the parks and at the parks) and we have started to avoid the park with EMH both in the AM and PM

I agree for the most part. EMH Evening is only worthwhile at MK because most of the attractions are open and crowds thin out as the night goes on. DHS and Epcot are too crowded at night.

[tjstrike]

DHS and Epcot are a must do for early EMH (because the FP goes so quickly) and MK is a home run for late EMH !!

[Katzateer]

MK is great for EMH - the crowd builds up by 11 but the first hour or so is great. We normally switch parks by 10:30. And the evening EMH at MK is good also- haven't seen much of a benefit at the other parks in the evening. I am sure in the summer it is nice being able to visit the parks after the heat of the day.

[FenwayGirl]

We have always had good luck with both EMH.
We get there and do things we want to do in the morning. The everning EMH are my favorite...especially at MK...the crowds thin out after the parades and fireworks. Most rides are usually walkons

[TheHD]

Thanks for your input everyone.

We have always done EMH in the mornings except for maybe one out of our 30 days or so at DW since our first trip (did not stay on-stie), and we usually switch to the park with evening EMH after a mid-day break back at the resort.

I'm looking into this question, planning for our upcoming July visit, because I am going to try not purchasing the park hopper for the first time. On our last trip, we didn't park hop maybe 1/3 of the time, and found it beneficial mostly. We had fast-passes saved up for the evening, whereas before, they would either go to waste, because we left the morning park, or we just didn't grab them, because we knew we'd be gone by the return time.

So, I'm trying to get an idea of what parks to plan for in July. We've always done morning EMH and found we can do a lot before it got crazy busy. But I imagine we would be able to do roughly the same at a park opening w/o early EMH and also not having evening EMH.

Right now (before hearing everyone's discussion), we plan to find a single park for the day, be there for rope drop (we've done this 98% of the time), take a mid-day break at the resort, then finish the same park until closing. Not doing the early EMH will allow us to sleep in since we've closed the park the previous day, and maybe, just maybe, the crowds would be lighter having avoided both early and evening EMHs.

Thoughts?

[TheHD]

Any body with further input? I'm leaning toward planning to go to the parks after having EMH the day before.

[buzznwoodysmom]

Here is a run down on how my family deals with EMH.

We NEVER do morning EMH because we just aren't morning people. We can't even make it to the parks on time for regular park opening. Lol

We only do evening EMH if there is a park we enjoy getting extra time in at night. Epcot and MK are the only two parks we ever do EMH, and even then only once in a while.

What we tend to do most is visit a park the day after that park had evening EMH. In theory most people who do late hours at a park probably won't return to that same park the next day, especially the next morning. We have found this to work for us. When we do a park following an EMH night it really does seem to be light on crowds, at least for the first half of the day, and sometimes crowds stay light for the whole day.

[TheHD]

When we do a park following an EMH night it really does seem to be light on crowds, at least for the first half of the day, and sometimes crowds stay light for the whole day.

Thanks for your input. That's what I'm trying to figure out; if people actually notice a park is lighter following EMH, or at least evening EMH.

[eandrsmom]

I agree. We have also found that there are lighter park crowds the mornings following evening EMH. We try to plan our visits accordingly.

[KylesMom]

Another family here who takes advantage of the park which had evening EMHs the night before. We also hit morning EMH at AK and MK and find it beneficial. At one time, we took advantage of both EMH like crazy when they first came up with the perk, but not so much anymore.

Last family trip (July 2011) the evening EMH at MK were so choked with general guests and tour groups that it was less than magical.

[TheHD]

Thanks for the info.

That's exactly what we used to do as well, but since they cut back, I want to try staying away from EMH and see how different the crowds seem.

Glad to hear everyone's take on this.

[SBETigg]

This is one of those questions that you can't properly answer in poll format. Yes, crowds are heavier during EMH days, but not necessarily during the EMH themselves. This is why it pays to hop, for us. Morning EMH is seldom crowded and you can get so much done. But by 10-11 am, that park is jam-packed compared to other parks. Evening EMH, starts out with a packed crowd and that park might be busier during the day, but the crowd thins considerably after regular closing time. So it really depends.

Also, on my last trip, I noticed that that the park recommended by other sites as being the predicted least crowded (typically a park not having EMH) was often the most crowded. So I think a lot of people might be avoiding the EMH park now and it's no longer as easy to predict.