End of Early Entry?

[DebbieB]

I read over on RADP that top execs are considering ending early entry to save costs. Can anyone confirm?

[lilchippewa]

Early Entry hasn't been as much of an advantage as it used to be. There are so many resorts on site now that the EE park of that day is packed even before it opens. If it goes, I wouldn't a bit surprised.

lilchip

[paras4ri]

The last time we were there, 1999, anybody could get in the parks on EE days. We were never once asked for resort ID's!

:wave:

[J. Thornhill]

I've only ever used it once, but neither would I be surprised if it was discontinued. I hope it is replaced with something else. I would be happy to see E-ticket nights at other parks, perhaps a nightime Kilimanjaro Safari experience?

J.-

[Barbruka]

A night time Kilamanjaro experience. That would be exciting to see a bunch of sleeping animals in the dark. If you could even see them. If they were even around and not hiding.

[hopemax]

I got to ride a nighttime safari while they were testing them Christmas 1998. In many ways it was better than the daytime ride. The elephants weren't out, but the rest of the animals were there and pretty active too. Instead of the "poaching" storyline, this time there was a researcher out of in the field, and the natives were having a celebration. I thought this was much more effective.

[fklhou]

When we went this year, no one asked us for resort IDs at any Early Entry that we attended. Since we have annual passes, there is no way that they were monitoring to make sure that only resort guests were getting in.

[gary]

I'd hate to see it go. Early entry is a wonderful tool. Sleep in and go to a park other than the EE park - more sleep and lighter crowds. Best o' both worlds.

[lrodk]

I've heard that the nighttime safari piloted a couple of years ago went over quite well with visitors around the holidays. The stadium-styled lighting illuminates the serengety in much the same way as an outdoor sporting arena. The field of vision is quite good.

[wdwguide]

About EE and Resort IDs:

If attendance is low, it is desirable for Disney to have off-property guests in the park for EE, since this translates into more earnings for them (especially breakfast) while affecting "legitimate" EE guests only minimally.

On busy days, non-Resort guests are routinely denied access to EE parks, since this would adversely affect the enjoyment of the legitimate visitors. This can happen one of several ways: For the MK, IDs are quite often checked at the TTC - if you do not have one you will be held from boarding transportation to the park until 8:30. Parking attendants can check for resort parking permits, and question guests arriving without them prior to a certain time. Sometimes they just check as people enter the parks.

[fklhou]

We were at WDW in June and again in July. When we went to MGM, nobody was checking resort IDs on EE days and the park was fairly crowded.

[CarolMN]

This is also being discussed on the Theme Parks and Strategies Forum. FWIW, someone (Sheralee) sent an email to Disney about this rumor and received the following reply:

"We appreciate your interest in Surprise Morning Admissions. Currently no plans or negotiations to discontinue this program have
been announced."

Here's a link to the thread if you want to read it inits entirety:

http://64.225.125.24/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=109610

Sheralee's post is on the last page.

[Lewisc]

Not trying to be cynical but the E-Mail doesn't say they aren't going to drop EE. It says they haven't announced any such plans. Since they already canceled E-nights (which has a separate charge) it makes sense they might cancel EE (which is free) RADP has reported EE is being cancelled as of 10/20 (10/19 the last day).

[loribell]

We were there in July and were asked for ID's at TTC.

[All Aboard]

Ok Pirate/Captain/Scoop/Duck/et al,

You want to know why I am in car #2, well here is part of your answer. Unconfirmed, yes. But, how many recent rumors have proven untrue?

I am really hoping that this one does.

Eliminating all EE is simply a bad decision. Making an adjustment or two maybe (and I said maybe) could fly with me. Tuesday Epcot EE and Wednesday Studios EE, for example, are all but completely uneccesary this time of year anyway. But, Sat & Mon MK EE are essential. Just ask anyone that has been to WDW in the last three weeks. MK has been absolutely flooded on those days. If they dropped EE, things would get even tighter.

I'll make a prediction. If this rumor is true, what we'll get is an elimination of a couple of EE days - specifically those I mentioned above and maybe Thursday MK. Or perhaps a somewhat worse scenario that moves Monday EE to Epcot and then just Sat, Sun, Mon are EE - one at each park. But, a complete elimination would be a big mistake.

All that said, a future restoration of 7 day EE is mandatory if WDW has any hopes of getting me back in Car #1.

[hopemax]

Question: from a balance sheet perspective, is EE really *free* to resort guests or is it something that is included in the price of the hotel room like maid service, transporation fees, etc.?

Anyone know?

[All Aboard]

Hope, that would actually be from an income statement perspective :) (sorry, sharp pencil guy, can't help it)

I am sure that the cost of EE is allocated to the various resorts in determining departmental profitability. Since it is a cost that can be isolated as a resort benefit, I have to imagine that it would appear on a fully loaded P&L for the resorts, probably even on an individual (resort by resort) basis.

And if so, then I'm sure that a column on that same report shows that cost as a % of room revenue. So, if the resort wanted to break down the room rate by amenity and service, I'm sure it could. (such as for every $ of revenue, $0.01 is spent on landscaping, $0.02 is spent on EE, etc.)

I'm not sure if that's what you are asking or not.

PS - I just re-read your question. And I think a clarification is required on my part. Resort rates aren't really built like that. $10 for maid service, $2 for transporation, $1 for EE, etc. Sure, things can be looked at like that, but in reality the only thing driving the resort rate is the market - what the consumer is willing to pay.

When a resort project is started, all of those expenses are considered. Then, a return on investment is established. That's when the fun starts, changing construction costs, changing service levels, etc. All in an attempt to match the room rate to the profitability to the market. (What if we raised the capital cost to $25,000 a room, what rate and occupancy would we need to achieve a 20% return? - questions like that.)

I actually worked on a mixed use resort development project in the early 1990's. Did all of the proforma work, it was great fun and I learned alot.

[DisneyRoys]

I am very upset by the possible ending of EE and E-nights. That is one of the MAIN reasons we decided to stay on site. I have planned our itenerary around EE days since we planned on using that option.

[ErikdaRed]

I think we need to ask ourselves if Early Entry is truly necessary? With so many on-site rooms now I think that it has outlived its usefulness. I think that if they were eliminated, the same benefit could be had by just getting to the park at opening.

[hellokitty]

My husband and i decided that early entry is truley worth it, on or off seasons. Why?

Well, we got in 1 1/2 hours before the other guest and were able to ride every ride in Fantasy Land as well as two
in Tomorrow land!! After this we were at the ropes for the opening of AdventureLand, and ran to the next rides,
we were done with Magic Kingdom around noon!!!
If we had not had the extra hour and a half we would have waited in some pretty long lines in Fantasyland.

by the way, we also got to be the first on dumbo, that was special


In conculsion, ee is not for everybody, but we are used to getting up early and it is an incentive to stay at a disney property.
Not everyone will feel this way, but those who do email, email, email....enough of us and they will get the message

:)

[All Aboard]

Sure Erika, I'll ask myself... and the answer is - for the Magic Kingdom, it is a fantastic benefit for on-site guests. One that I make use of on all my trips to WDW, one that many other guests find quite beneficial as well.

During slower times of the year, is it all that usefull at Epcot? No, probably not other than at Test Track. At Studios? More so than Epcot, but still not a big requirement. But at MK it is the greatest thing since (fill in any cliche here.)

I'm confused by how moving up the opening time for everyone to 9:00am at MK will provide virtually the same benefit as EE? Comparing the current situation (say 7:30 am on Sat to 9:00 am on Friday) there is a big difference. EE still provides the lightest crowds at MK.

[Quentin Disney]

With all the people upset over this rumor, there must be some truth to it. (AnVo, could you enlighten us?) I said it before and I will say it again. Despite increases in attendance, WDW is still lagging behind pre-9/11 levels. Recently, many entertainment CM's are either losing or being transfered to lower-paying jobs. If there are fewer guests attending EE on weekdays, then why is it financially viable to have it operational now? The Walt Disney Company is a busniess, they don't do EE for free ya know. Workers who are staffed at these times must get paid. Since the vistors are not coming in as they used to, that leads to fewer profits.

I can't believe that people are getting upset over this. For one thing, it is a rumor. But, you never know since we are in a very uncertain time. Since I'm a local AP, and I'm not allowed to enter during EE, I naturally hate it to the death. Besides, its coming to a point that its not an advantage anymore since so many people know about it.

[kristikae]

I was upset about this. Early Entry was the ONLY reason I was planning on staying onsite. We are a group of 7 and it is far cheaper for us to get a 4 bedroom house with a private pool. This morning I cancelled my reservations at Disney. If they take away EE what perks are left? Disney transportation? I was planning on renting a car anyway as we are going to USF and IOA as well. Purchases delivered to my room? I hate shopping and probably won't be buying anything there anyway. I realize I won't get Mickey on the phone to wake me up everyday but so what. Disney may be saving money by having fewer employees working but I think there will be many who feel the same as I do about staying onsite and cancelling their reservations.

[hopemax]

Don't forget that people who don't use EE get a benefit too. Many people use the "visit the park that had EE yesterday" strategy. EE sucks morning crowds to a specific park, giving the other parks shorter lines. Take EE away, those lines get bigger.

[CDavid]

I rarely use EE, mostly because I don't go on vacation so I can get up at the crack of dawn just like back home. For those who do use this perk, it's great. While I wouldn't want EE to end permanantly, I personally could accept the loss of EE if Disney would instead do something about all of the odd attraction hours we now see (ie, Mk open 9-10 with EE, COP open 11-5, Tiki Room 10-6, etc). This bothers me a lot more than what time I can actually get into the park.

I can underatand Disney's need to make some temporary cutbacks if attendance remains depressed. Perhaps cut EE at just EC and the Studios for the winter months only? But, when attendance picks back up, those cuts should be restored.

[hellokitty]

I asked mary at mousesavers.com if she thought early entry would be cancelled she said-----

No, it's happening. I just can't get anyone nailed down on WHEN! I think
details are still being worked out. As soon as I get some details, I'll
put them on the site!

Mary
MouseSavers.com



I hope this time she is wrong
:(

[w8ting4pooh]

I sent WDW an email and got a huffy response. They stated that:

Walt Disney World officials have not announced a discontinuance of the Early
Entry Mornings. Please check for correct information on the Disney Website. As
of this time, the Early Entries are listed on the website under park hours. If
the information does not come from Walt Disney World or the Disney website, it
is a rumor.

So, there you have it.

:confused:

[hellokitty]

Just imagine how many emails a day they are recieving about this????