Today's tip is more of a discussion. I'll give you a topic: Extra Magic Hours. While some families love to take advantage of this time when the Disney Parks are open only to Resort guests, others find them not worth the effort. I'm going to share my strategy for finding--in the words of Disney's own Hannah Montana--"The Best of Both Worlds." Hint: it involves Park Hopping.
If you have young children, you know that getting up early isn't usually a problem (my youngest is still up by 6:00 a.m. most days), so you're family is a perfect candidate for enjoying morning EMH. If you're in the Magic Kingdom, head straight to Fantasyland, and you could have your top attractions under your belt by the time the gates open to the general public. But by around mid-morning, you might find that those lighter crowds have become unbearable. No worries--you have a Park Hopper, right? Just hop on over to one of the less crowded Parks for the rest of the day.
But let's say you have teenagers who are NOT getting out of bed an hour early...even for Mickey. Your family might prefer evening EMH. Basically, use the reverse strategy as above: start your day in a less crowded Park, then Hop over to the Park with EMH just a bit before it closes to the general public. Enjoy the late night light crowds!
Many of the Parks with EMH stay open into the wee morning hours, so evening EMH are not always a great option for families with small children. (Although, with a hefty afternoon nap, some kids are good to go a lot longer than you might think.) And if you don't have the Park Hopper option on your tickets, I recommend scheduling your Park days to avoid EMH, since you could end up in heavy crowds and be stuck without the option to go elsewhere.
Extra Magic Hours can be a great option if you learn how to navigate them in the way that best works for your family.
UPDATE: OK, so obviously, I put the date in wrong and posted this a day early. Ooops...totally my mistake (can't blame the machine). So, enjoy Thursday's Tip a day early!
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We have planned a trip for Sept. and the CM who helped me book our trip suggested added all 10 days to our tickets and using the extra days we are not scheduled to be there to "park hop" the difference in price was about $80 and we would have four days to "hop" We haven't decided to do this yet but it is good to know the option is there. Love you site
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I'm not sure I get what you're saying, since adding the Park Hopper option is only around $60--less than the $80 you mentioned. Also, I'm honestly not sure that works. I've heard previously that using multiple days of tickets on a single day wasn't allowed. I would check and double check with multiple sources before purchasing extra days to "hop."
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