Extra Magic Hours at Walt Disney World • Mouse Travel Matters

Last Updated on November 1, 2019

All About Extra Magic Hours at Walt Disney World

Your trip to Walt Disney World can get even more magical with the perks of staying at a Walt Disney World Resort for your vacation. Between the transportation to and from the parks to earlier Fastpass+ planning time,

Disney makes the extra effort to add as much magic as possible to your family’s stay.

One perk of staying at a Disney resort is Extra Magic Hours! Imagine getting in the Parks before everyone else, or staying after they have all been kicked out for the night — all with shorter lines for your favorite attractions! This really is the Happiest Place on Earth!

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What are Extra Magic Hours?

Extra Magic Hours (EMH) are times that the parks are open to onsite guests (and some offsite guests at select resorts) outside of the normal operating schedule. Sometimes it’s a morning EMH (where a park will open 1 hour early) and sometimes it’s an evening EMH (which usually lasts for 2 hours).

The parks offering EMHs vary from day to day, but you can check the schedule in the My Disney Experience app/website

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

What is the Difference between Early Magic Hours and Early Morning Magic? Disney doesn’t make it easy to get a lot of research done without falling down the rabbit hole of information.

Extra Magic Hours are free and open to only guests staying at a Walt Disney World resort (and some select offsite resorts). They are called EXTRA because it can be scheduled for Morning or Evening.

Early Morning Magic is a Hard ticketed events that are open to anybody for purchase. However, it is only held at 2 parks: Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom and Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios. They are also only a morning experience, and never fall on the same morning as an EMH day.

Read more about Early Morning Magic – Fantasyland and Early Morning Magic – Toy Story Land. Don’t’ forget to check out this great article about the differences between Early Magic Hours and Early Morning Magic.

Who should use EMH?

People who will take full advantage of their Park Hopper tickets
Late risers who don’t want to be at the parks for rope drop, but want to arrive later to use Evening EMH (with or without Park Hopper tickets).
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 to a daily basis for several weeks. You can see this with the EEMH (Extra Extra Magic Hours) for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge). Hollywood Studios is offering EEMH from 6am-9am every day for 2 months. Luckily, EEMH is only available for onsite guests and not Good Neighbor hotels.

When to use Extra Magic Hours

A lot has been said about why guests should be taking advantage of this extra free time in the parks but how does one incorporate Extra Magic Hours into their touring plans?

In the morning – as mentioned, if you have Park Hopper Tickets, arrive at Extra Magic Hours at least 30 minutes before the gates open and do a “rope drop” from here. There will be significantly fewer people in front of you but you will still want to take advantage of every moment you have in the parks during low crowd. As Extra Magic Hours comes to an end, start thinking about your exit strategy.

When do you plan on leaving this park and heading to your next one? Remember, there are ton more people in this Park than in any other Park because of this free extra time. And most of those guests don’t have Park Hopper Tickets. They are now confined to this Park alone. We strongly suggest leaving and completing the Park on another day that doesn’t have Extra Magic Hours.

In the Evening, again with your Park Hopper Tickets, spend your day at any of the Parks throughout Walt Disney World. As you get closer to Evening Extra Magic Hours time, start making your way over to that Park if you have been hopping, or stay put if you have been touring the Evening EMH park all day. As the crowds start to head out, before official Evening EMH starts) you will want to get in and have a meal. Once the Park is closed to all non-resort guests, that is when you want to start touring the most popular rides.

Note that since guests have been touring all day, this can go 1 of 2 ways; 1 – EMH is still relatively busy because On-Site guests have had all day to get to this Park instead of waking up early, or, 2- It can have very low crowds because guests have been touring all day and they are tired. Though they started out with a plan to stay it may stay crowded for a little longer than expected, and die down near the end of EMH.

Don’t have Park Hopper Tickets? If you don’t have Park Hopper Tickets, which we explained a few of the pros and cons in our Are Park Hopper Tickets worth it? article, we suggest you avoid the Early EMH Parks like the plague! Considering you are “stuck” at which ever Park you choose to start your day with, you will be forced to battle the crowds with guests that have the luxury of hopping around, coming and going. You are allowed, however, to exit and reenter this specific park as often as you wish, so heading back to the resort for a mid-day break is on the table, but you will find the EMH Parks to be very crowded and overwhelming when you realize there is no second-option for touring.

What can you do during Extra Magic Hours?

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

Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom has both Morning and Evening Extra Magic Hours, however, the attractions available at each differ slightly.

Morning EMH

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 EMH

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

Adventureland

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

Frontierland

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Country Bear Jamboree

EPCOT

Epcot also hosts both Morning and Evening EMH’s. Here’s what you can expect to be available there.

Morning EMH

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 EMH

Future World

Advanced Training Lab
Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival
Epcot Character Spot
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
O Canada!

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom has 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