This week I spoke with several clients that have been doing their research on what parks to hit on each day of their trip. It seems to be the consensus that most experts will tell you that in order to avoid crowds you should skip the Extra Magic Hours(EMH). I am going to tell you about an alternative to skipping these precious hours, especially the Early Extra Magic Hours.
My family and I travel to Walt Disney World at least once per year and stay at least 9 nights while we are there. We always stay on Disney property because we like all of the extra magic that comes with staying on property, including EMH. I feel like the EMH are key to us getting everything accomplished while we are at Disney World. But I do know that with EMH comes heavier crowds which is why sites like Touring Plans suggests that you avoid those hours. While I agree with them, because their job is to tell you what parks have the lowest attendance on each day, I have an alternate strategy.
*Before we go on please note that this strategy will require a park hopper.
Hit the parks for Early EMH and stay there until the park crowds begin to thicken. Then follow Touring Plans (or your preferred touring site) suggestion for which park to hit on that day. I promise you that you will hit more attractions from 8AM-11AM then you could if you stayed all day. I just suggest to have a plan. For example, if you are going to Magic Kingdom and you have small children that want to experience Fantasyland, then make that your area of choice that morning. Once you do everything that is on your to do list then you can move on to the next area of the park you are interested in. The main focus being Fantasyland (if that is what your plan was).
Tips for success..
- In order to maximize your time arrive at the EMH Park by 7:45 AM. You will also get to see rope drop.
- Spend 10-15 minutes the night before looking over the park map. Make a general plan of what order you want to see each attraction in. This will also help new travelers with navigation.
- If you have an extra adult in your party designate one as the runner. This person can run and get Fastpass for an attraction while the others head on over to the attraction you are currently going to wait for.
- At around 11AM the EMH park will begin to get crowded this is a good time to pick up some lunch. Then head on over to the Touring Plans best park of the day.
- Now that you got a ton accomplished for the day you can relax at the least crowded park of the day!
As you can see this plan takes a little bit of planning but the benefits areh worth it. This is the strategy that my family has been using for years and it works. Do you take advantage of Early EMH and park hopping? If so, how does it work for you?
See ya real soon!
Kelly