EMH being axed????

[froggy922]

Was reading Josh's recent post today on his easywdw site and the very last thing he wrote was this:
"The September 2013 operating schedule is still unavailable. Extra Magic Hours could be axed as soon as September, which may be the reason for the delay. But we’ll see."
WHAT?!..I hadn't heard this. If this is true, I wonder when this will occur and if WDW will add a different perk for onsite guests. This is very interesting, indeed.

 

[SFreelove]

I never even heard of this rumor ever? We're going in September! I hope someone has some insight.. I myself never heard of Disney getting rid of extra magic hours??? I feel like this couldn't be true, this is one of the major perks/aspects that get people to stay on site...

 

[bauer1168]

I remember an old thread when it was announced evening EMH would be reduced from 3 hours to 2 hours, some people said this could be the beginning of the end for EMH altogether.
I guess we'll have to wait and see on this.

 

[Kristibo42]

That's one of the reasons why we stay onsite. If they cancel EMH I bet a lot of people will opt to stay off site.

 

[Tbiafore]

This should make the crowd calendar predictions very hard I would imagine. EMH seem to play a big factor in crowd calendars. The impact of eliminating these could spoil or poison historical data on sites that rely heavily on this (Touring Plans).

--Thor

 

[Karebear]

Was reading Josh's recent post today on his easywdw site and the very last thing he wrote was this:
"The September 2013 operating schedule is still unavailable. Extra Magic Hours could be axed as soon as September, which may be the reason for the delay. But we’ll see."
WHAT?!..I hadn't heard this. If this is true, I wonder when this will occur and if WDW will add a different perk for onsite guests. This is very interesting, indeed.

I read this on his site too--I hope that it isn't true. We like the morning EMH and also I think that it will make planning for this Sept. harder because I won't know how the crowd patterns might differ if there isn't EMH

 

[RMulieri]

It's been a rumor that Wdw was getting rid of EMH altogether for awhile now...I hope they don;t .They did that nonsense awhile ago and people ended up moving offsite..

 

[The V Gang]

One of our main reasons for staying onsite is EMH. Between rising costs of DDP and the possibility of EMH elimination next year may be a good time to try one of the great offsite resorts I keep hearing about!

 

[atp]

I'm going in September too...I hope it isn't true.

If it is, I think I'll be staying offsite to at least save some money.

But honestly, if it's true, it's just one more thing Disney is cutting and that kind of makes me want to just cancel the trip go somewhere else.

Hopefully it isn't true.

 

[rlduvall]

Makes sense in light of all the money they have invested in FastPass+. Maybe they figure FastPass+ eliminates the need for EMH, saving alot in salaries.

 

[andyman8]

I've heard of EMH going away for sometime now, and it is very odd that the Sept. hours have not come out yet. It could just be that they need more time to decide MNSSHP (even though actual party dates don't come out until later this year) and F&W hours. All that being said, EMH could go way but I'd give it about a 50-50 chance. If hours aren't out by Friday, something's surely up.

 

[W.E.D.]

Say it isn't so. I live for a.m. EMH. DW likes to sleep in so I always go to that park and get some extra ride time in.

And yes, this would greatly effect our desire to stay on-site.

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

Makes sense in light of all the money they have invested in FastPass+. Maybe they figure FastPass+ eliminates the need for EMH, saving alot in salaries.

I am far from an expert but I could see this being a real possibility. With FastPass+ they can "control" the number of guests that are in each park/area to help alleviate crowds and thereby reduce or eliminate the need for EMH. WDW uses EMH to direct the flow of guests to certain parks, although we mostly seem to see it as a perk lol.

Instead of EMH, the new perk for staying onsite would be the MagicBand with it's assorted features.

While initially crowds may be harder to predict on a day-to-day basis I am sure it would not take long for someone to figure out the new flow of guests based on FP+.

 

[grimley1968]

Makes sense in light of all the money they have invested in FastPass+. Maybe they figure FastPass+ eliminates the need for EMH, saving alot in salaries.

That could be true.

Also, I've always wondered whether the extra pay they've had to pay out to CMs for all the extra hours worked was worth however many extra guests booked onsite resort stays because of EMH. I'm guessing most onsite guests looked at EMH like myself: EMH could be a nice bonus at times, but not enough of a perk to entice me to pay the premium to stay onsite. We stay onsite for other reasons. From a pure "bottom line" perspective I could understand getting rid of EMH, especially if FP+ does eliminate the need for it (I guess that remains to be seen).

To be honest, I don't think I'd miss EMH very much if it went away totally, and it wouldn't affect my choice to stay onsite or offsite. Indeed, a lot of people alter their schedules to avoid parks that have EMH.

It's hard for me to imagine that, after evening EMHs have now been reduced to 2 hours already, Disney isn't trying to "wean" its guests off EMH in preparation for ditching it entirely.

 

[hakepb]

That's odd. Hasn't DL just started more magic mornings for the Disney hotel guests?

 

[Lizziejane]

Makes sense in light of all the money they have invested in FastPass+. Maybe they figure FastPass+ eliminates the need for EMH, saving alot in salaries.

I must be missing something. I thought the new fastpass+ limited FP's to 3 per day, all in the same park. That in and of itself makes the FP system worse in my eyes, not better. And it certainly doesn't "compensate" for taking away EMH! EMH is one of the reasons we stay on-site. It would make me think long and hard about where to stay if they take EMH away.

 

[TygerHawks]

I am far from an expert but I could see this being a real possibility. With FastPass+ they can "control" the number of guests that are in each park/area to help alleviate crowds and thereby reduce or eliminate the need for EMH. WDW uses EMH to direct the flow of guests to certain parks, although we mostly seem to see it as a perk lol.

Instead of EMH, the new perk for staying onsite would be the MagicBand with it's assorted features.

While initially crowds may be harder to predict on a day-to-day basis I am sure it would not take long for someone to figure out the new flow of guests based on FP+.

Though, wouldn't that mean they would utilize FP+ to entice people to certain parks? I can't see them limiting which parks could be reserved for certain days, so maybe something like only 3 FP+ except for on this day where you could use 5 at MK?

 

[mom2rtk]

Makes sense in light of all the money they have invested in FastPass+. Maybe they figure FastPass+ eliminates the need for EMH, saving alot in salaries.

So far they have not shared anything about FP+ that will encourage folks to stay onsite. I figure it will just be what it is. If they eliminate EMH, then bookings will fall and people will go offsite. They will have to do something to keep those rooms full. Sort of makes me doubt them denying that they will treat onsite guests differently with FP+ though.

 

[Mickey3Boys]

Not cool! We book at Contemporary just for the extra hours over Thanksgiving. Way cheaper to stay at a house close by like we've done before! Boo!!!

 

[allthingsmickey]

Because our child is pretty young, we have mostly only been able to take advantage of the morning EMH. I have been looking forward do doing some EMH evenings as she gets older. We tried an evening EMH at MK last year and she made it until almost midnight. We had alot of fun in that last hour as the park emptied.
I will be sad if they take them away.
I guess whether we continue to stay on site will depend on what new advantages the new Magic Band and FP+ have for onsite guests.