About Extra Magic Hours at Disney World (and why you should skip them)

Extra Magic Hours were a perk available to people staying onsite at Disney World resort hotels. We didn’t usually recommend them, and now Disney has announced that they will not be returning.

If you’re trying to figure out what they were, here’s an overview of how they worked.

Important Update:
Extra Magic Hours are no more

Extra Magic Hours have not been offered since the reopening, and now we know that Disney is getting rid of them completely and will soon offer Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Theme Park Hours

To help with planning, be sure you check the applicable crowd calendars regularly:

Read more about what you can expect at Walt Disney World after the reopening.

What were Extra Magic Hours?

Extra magic hours were among the many free benefits that guests staying onsite at one of the Disney World resort hotels could receive.

However, since the reopening, we’ve seen several of those benefits not return.

Extra Magic Hours (EMH) were times that the parks would open to onsite guests outside of the normal operating schedule. Sometimes it would be a morning EMH (where a park would open 1 hour early), and sometimes it was an evening EMH (which usually lasted for 2 hours).

The parks offering EMHs would vary from day to day. This is how it would look:

Were Extra Magic Hours and Early Morning Magic the same thing?

The names may be similar, but they most definitely were not the same thing.

In a nutshell, Extra Magic Hours were free and open to only guests staying at a Walt Disney World resort (and some select offsite resorts).

Early Morning Magic was a specially ticketed event (so it cost extra) that is open to anybody.

As of right now, we have no word on whether or not Early Morning Magic will return.

After Galaxy’s Edge opened up, it was only offered at Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom.

Before that, Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios also used to host an Early Morning Magic event.

What could you do during Extra Magic Hours?

Most people assumed that the park was fully open during EMH, but that wasn’t true. In fact, there’s actually just a subset of the overall list of available attractions.

Here’s what you could expect to find open in each park:

Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom had both Morning and Evening Extra Magic Hours; however, the attractions available at each differed slightly.

Morning EMHs

Fantasyland

The Barnstormer
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
“it’s a small world”
Mad Tea Party
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Mickey’s PhilharMagic
Peter Pan’s Flight
Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid

Tomorrowland

Astro Orbiter
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Space Mountain
Tomorrowland Speedway
Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress

Evening EMHs

Fantasyland

The Barnstormer
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
“it’s a small world”
Mad Tea Party
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Mickey’s PhilharMagic
Peter Pan’s Flight
Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid

Tomorrowland

Astro Orbiter
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Monster’s, Inc. Laugh Floor
Space Mountain
Tomorrowland Speedway

Liberty Square

Haunted Mansion

Adventureland

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Pirates of the Caribbean
Swiss Family Treehouse

Frontierland

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Country Bear Jamboree
*Splash Mountain (Splash Mountain availability is dependent on the time of year)

Epcot

Epcot also hosted both Morning and Evening EMH’s. Here’s what you were able to see there.

Morning EMHs

Future World

The Seas with Nemo & Friends
Living with the Land
Project Tomorrow: Inventing the World of Tomorrow
Soarin’ Around the World
Spaceship Earth
Test Track Presented by Chevrolet

World Showcase

Frozen Ever After

Evening EMHs

Future World

Advanced Training Lab
Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival
Journey Into Imagination With Figment
Living with the Land
Mission: SPACE
Project Tomorrow: Inventing the World of Tomorrow
The Seas with Nemo & Friends
Soarin’ Around the World
Spaceship Earth
Test Track Presented by Chevrolet
Turtle Talk With Crush

World Showcase

The American Adventure
American Heritage Gallery
Frozen Ever After
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
Canada Far and Wide

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom had Morning EMHs only.

Pandora

Avatar Flight of Passage
Na’vi River Journey

Dinoland U.S.A.

DINOSAUR
Primeval Whirl
TriceraTop Spin

Asia

Expedition Everest

Africa

Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail (not always open depending on weather/time of year)
Kilimanjaro Safaris (not always open depending on weather/time of year)

Discovery Island

It’s Tough to be a Bug!

Hollywood Studios

Toy Story Land

Alien Swirling Saucers
Slinky Dog Dash
Toy Story Mania!

Sunset Boulevard

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Echo Lake

Star Tours: The Adventures Continue

Galaxy’s Edge

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

EMH Graphic

Now obsolete, here’s a complete list of the final attractions that were offered during the now-defunct Extra Magic Hours:

Were Extra Magic Hours a good thing?

Though it’s mentioned as a perk of staying onsite at Disney World, we didn’t often recommend that people use them.

The reason for that was due to the sheer number of people staying onsite; a bulk of them would see the EMH schedule and plan to go to that park, even if they didn’t wake up early enough or plan to stay up late enough to really enjoy it.

In fact, the park recommendations on the monthly crowd calendars were based on avoiding EMHs for that reason.

However, there were some exceptions:

People visiting during super busy times, like Christmas or Easter week. If you take full advantage of the EMH and plan to hop to a park during the non-EMH part of the day, this can work well for you.
People who will take full advantage and use Park Hopper tickets. If you know for sure that you will wake up early or stay up late to fully use the EMH and you have the Park Hopper option on your tickets to spend the non-EMH part of the day somewhere else, then go for it. You’ll likely get some less busy time to visit attractions. The effectiveness of PM EMHs varies a lot – the later the park closing time, the better the chance of crowds being relatively light.
Anybody visiting Animal Kingdom. When an EMH is offered at Animal Kingdom, it doesn’t increase the crowds like it does in the other parks, so don’t be afraid to visit, even on an EMH day.
Late risers who don’t want to be at the parks for rope drop but want to arrive later and use PM EMH.
Guests visiting shortly after a new land opens. When Disney opens up a new land or a highly anticipated attraction, it isn’t unusual for them to extend Extra Magic Hours on a daily basis for several weeks. If you are traveling when something major and new is opening, you’ll likely see Extra Magic Hours daily. In those instances, make sure you still plan to arrive at the parks before they begin (at least 45 minutes before the park opens for the Extra Magic Hours).

How did Disney know I’m eligible for Extra Magic Hours?

We were asked this question a lot.

Disney determined eligibility for Extra Magic Hours by scanning your MagicBand or ticket.

And don’t think you could plan on a pre-park opening breakfast and then sneak out to ride a few things before the park opens up to all guests.

That didn’t work.

Disney made sure that only guests that are eligible to ride attractions during Extra Magic Hours do so.

What about FastPass+?

FastPass+ was never offered during Extra Magic Hours.

That’s why Extra Magic Hours were sometimes a decent idea for people with Park Hopper tickets because you could plan to use your FastPasses at either the park you are hopping to next or the one you visit before you participate in evening Extra Magic Hours.

How should you tour the parks during Extra Magic Hours?

Most people didn’t realize when planning to attend Extra Magic Hours that there wasn’t any way to ride everything that was open.

Unless you were simply looking for “bonus” rides on attractions, your goal shouldn’t have been to waste the Extra Magic Hours on attractions that are relatively easy to ride during regular park hours.

Then, whatever attractions you did during Extra Magic Hours (or plan to do in the case of Evening Extra Magic Hours), you could just “skip” when you get to them in your touring plans.

How to get the most “bang for your buck” out of Extra Magic Hours

The value of an attraction being offered during Extra Magic Hours differed.

Ideally, if you visited during Extra Magic Hours, you should have headed directly to the things that would typically gain the longest lines during the day.

Here’s what we recommended:

Morning EMHs

If you get close to the end of Extra Magic Hours, but the lines to the most popular attractions below are too long (and will make you late to rope drop the rest of the park), we recommend you go ahead and pick another of the less popular attractions that are open and are currently showing a low wait time in My Disney Experience.

Note: If your plans for the rest of the day take you to an area of the park outside of where the Morning EMH is being held, you’ll want to head towards that area about 15 minutes or so before the park opens to all guests. You’ll be held by a Cast Member at a staging area (basically a rope drop inside of the park) until the park opens up and the crowds at the front are allowed in. If you wait until the park opens to head to a different area, you’ll be behind the crowds from the front of the park PLUS all of the EMH crowds, and that could definitely mess up your plan for the day.

Evening EMHs

Lines for attractions will be the longest right when Extra Magic Hours begin. To maximize your time, save the attractions with the longest line for the last ride. As long as you are in line before the park closes for EMHs, you’ll be allowed to ride.

If all the lines for the attractions listed below are long, consider killing a little bit of time on a less busy attraction to let the crowds thin out a bit.

Note: Keep in mind, attractions can and do break down. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you’ve saved the most important attraction for the very end of your vacation during the final minutes of an Evening EMH, only to discover that it has gone down and there isn’t any way you’ll get to ride it. If there is an attraction like that for your family, your best bet is to try to ride it at the beginning of your trip so that you have additional chances if something goes wrong.

Magic Kingdom – Morning EMH best choices

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Space Mountain
Peter Pan’s Flight
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

There are a few other attractions that, while not necessarily “must-do” attractions, are ones that can see long lines later in the day.

Those attractions are:

Astro Orbiter
Tomorrowland Speedway

Magic Kingdom – Evening EMH best choices

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Space Mountain
Peter Pan’s Flight
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
*Splash (availability during EMH is dependent upon the time of year)

There are a few other attractions that, while not necessarily “must-do” attractions, are ones that can see long lines during the day.

Those attractions are:

Astro Orbiter
Tomorrowland Speedway
Pirates of the Caribbean

Epcot – Morning EMH best choices

Soarin’
Test Track
Frozen Ever After

Epcot – Evening EMH best choices

Soarin’
Test Track
Frozen Ever After

Animal Kingdom Morning EMH best choices

Avatar Flight of Passage
Na’vi River Journey
Expedition Everest

Hollywood Studios Morning EMH best choices

Slinky Dog Dash
Alien Swirling Saucers
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

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So are you planning to use Extra Magic Hours, or will you avoid them during your trip? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

About Extra Magic Hours at Disney World

Important Update:
Extra Magic Hours are no more

What were Extra Magic Hours?

Were Extra Magic Hours and Early Morning Magic the same thing?