Where to Stay - The Easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit 2015 - page 39

• Wednesday : Animal Kingdom morning
• Thursday : Magic Kingdom morning
• Friday : Epcot evening
• Saturday : Hollywood Studios morning; Magic Kingdom evening
Seasonal or special events may alter the schedule slightly, so always check the park cal-
endars. Most notably:
• During Star Wars Weekends from the middle of May to the middle of June, Holly-
wood Studios offers morning EMH on Wednesday instead of Saturday.
• During the Food and Wine Festival from mid-September to early November, Epcot
offers evening EMH on Wednesdays, and Animal Kingdom moves its Wednesday
morning EMH to Fridays.
• During the Mickey's Party Season from early September to mid-December, Holly-
wood Studios evening EMH nights often shift to Sundays, and Mondays are com-
monly Animal Kingdom morning EMH days.
So why is the park with such a great benefit so rarely recommended? Over 25,000 rooms
on property have the opportunity to “take advantage of EMH” and every guest checking
in will receive a Times Guide with the Extra Magic Hours schedule for the week clearly
listed. “Up to two exclusive hours inside the park” sounds so overwhelmingly positive that
the majority of the 75,000+ resort guests staying on property choose the park with the
“extra magic”. In turn, the park(s) with Extra Magic Hours are usually the busiest from
10am-7pm because they attract so many extra people. Simply choosing a different park
avoids these resort guests.
In addition, Morning EMHs begin at 8am or even 7am, and it's awfully hard to get the
family up, bathed, clothed, fed, and on the way in time to actually take advantage of the
extra time. Arriving late to the park with EMH completely negates any benefit. Evening
EMHs are often late at night, making it more difficult to arrive at a park the next day before
open when waits are often much shorter. Because Hollywood Studios and Epcot offer so
few rides during EMH, wait times at them are usually just as long during evening EMH as
they are during the day, negating much of the benefit.
There are a few ways to make Extra Magic Hours work:
• If you actually arrive in time to take advantage of the full morning EMH and can
park hop away from it in the afternoon, then you can have a tremendous amount
of success during the extra hour, particularly at Magic Kingdom and Animal King-
dom. The morning EMH park will be busier than other days from 10am-7pm, and
staying in the park during that time will lessen the benefit of the extra hour.
• Evening EMHs are less busy in the final hour, particularly at Magic Kingdom
where numerous attractions are operating. Those able to park hop to the evening
EMH park at night and stay through close often enjoy themselves if they begin
with the “anytime attractions” we identify in Chapter 6.
It's easier to simply avoid the park with EMH and instead visit the less busy parks.
You'll also be better rested and better able to enjoy the parks in the morning during a regu-
lar day.