Extra Magic Hours: The Pros and Cons

Extra Magic Hours are usually considered a huge perk of staying in a Disney Hotel, but that may not always be the case.  While EMH are very popular, that park might not always be the best choice for you.  A lot depends on other factors, which I will go into details about.  Sometimes avoiding EMH might be your best option.  Every day, one of the four parks has an extra hour or two before or after regular park hours, exclusively for those staying in Disney owned hotels (with the exception of the Hilton in the DDRA, the Swan and Dolphin and Shades of Green).  To find out which park has the extra hours and the times, you can either go to the Walt Disney World website, or to one of the independent websites that provide crowd calendars.

These EMH are probably most advantageous with a Park Hopper ticket because you can start at the EMH designated park and then leave when it gets crowded.  Park Hopper is a ticket option, with a higher cost, that allows to go to more than one park in a single day. With Park Hopper, you could also spend most of a day at one of the other three parks and arrive at the EMH park later in the day to take advantage of the after closing extra hours. You see, the park with the Extra Magic Hours is usually going to be the most crowded, particularly if the hours are in the morning, but a Park Hopper allows you to go elsewhere once the crowds become too large, or to come later to take advantage.

In fact, we try to plan our park days avoiding the parks with early EMH, or late ones if we are planning to see an evening parade or fireworks. So you can use the EMH to your advantage by not using them at all! The other thing that you have to be realistic about is your family's routine,   Extra Magic Hours would not have worked for our family as we could never get up early enough to get there early enough to take advantage (our kids are slow moving) and the late hours are too far past their normal bedtimes.  And I have read comments by other WDW goers that they like to sleep in on their vacation, even if it means getting to the parks later.  But for some families, the EMH work well and give them access to popular rides and hard to get character greetings such as Princesses Anna and Elsa.

So in the final analysis, Extra Magic Hours are certainly worth considering, especially when combined with a Park Hopper ticket.  But, they may also be something to avoid, if you do not have a regular park ticket, or your schedule doesn't match with it, or you want to try to find the least crowded park. 

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