EMH being axed????

[glamdring269]

I don't understand early EMH & would rather those go away then late ones. We do not ride Disney buses & rarely eat Disney food. That said, we are very frequent visitors who stay onsite for late EMH.

Not sure what you mean by "I don't understand early EMH"? They are the best, assuming you can get moving early enough to take advantage of them. No one is in the park. It's like having an exclusive rope drop and an hour head start on everyone who did not or could not be there. We basically never wait in line more than 5-10 minutes on any trip by taking advantage of that day's EMH and then hopping to another park or back to the resort around lunch time.

I've tried late EMH. It's neat to be in the park later at night but to be honest I've never found late EMH to be nearly as efficient as the early EMH.

 

[beer dave]

We typically take disney transport, I'm not the type that likes to drive my car on vacation. Once its parked, its parked.

However, last year my wife and I stayed at All Star Sports, on day 3 of our week vacation and spending over 30 minutes waiting on a bus to leave our resort every single time we went somewhere, we gave up and just drove the rest of the week.

We had no problems with trams, boats, or monorails on that trip, but have on previous ones.

yeah-- it's hit and miss-- My experience driving into the parks is limited to my post above. I could see that other parks would be much easier than MK to drive and park, probably quicker than waiting for a bus, however the bus system seems to be improving with the supposed new guidance. We try to stay where we don't have to use the bus system as much. Monorail, boats and walking are much more appealing to us.

 

[dsneprincess]

Not sure what you mean by "I don't understand early EMH"? They are the best, assuming you can get moving early enough to take advantage of them. No one is in the park. It's like having an exclusive rope drop and an hour head start on everyone who did not or could not be there. We basically never wait in line more than 5-10 minutes on any trip by taking advantage of that day's EMH and then hopping to another park or back to the resort around lunch time.

I've tried late EMH. It's neat to be in the park later at night but to be honest I've never found late EMH to be nearly as efficient as the early EMH.

I don't see where it is any different if the park opens at 8am or 9am. There are still few lines & waiting. However, if you don't make EMH in the morning & go to the wrong park at 10am, you are bottled up. I have never thought EMH at night not to be efficient, however, I am taking my kids on Pooh & Peter Pan after they've cleared out for the day. No one, except me, rides the "big" rides, so I guess maybe that is why. I have gone at rope drop to ride ToT & RNRC, but I don't need an EMH am to do that. I guess we are just odd......

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Opposite end of the spectrum as I have 2 little ones. We have always done late night EMH & never, ever hit an am one. We are just NOT morning people. We also love the late close & cooler temps in the evening. I would probably move offsite if evening EMH went away. It is the only perk that is actually a perk for us. Glad to see it won't be September at least. I don't understand early EMH & would rather those go away then late ones. We do not ride Disney buses & rarely eat Disney food. That said, we are very frequent visitors who stay onsite for late EMH. To each their own, but I don't find ME, buses, dining, or package shipment a perk at all.

We don't do morning EMH either--just can't enjoy the day or the vacation if everyone has to be up and going that early. BUT, we do like how it drives people to a particular park so we can go to another one that is then less crowded.

 

[ctl]

We always rent our own car and stay on WDW so we can use the early morning EMH. I don't like the evening EMH as much as we are usually tired and rather would go back to the room and sleep. I love the park being quiet during EM mornings and I always get up and take my DS,DD and DH to EMH. If EMH goes away then there is little benfit to me to staying on WDW. I would rather have a larger room or rooms offsite. I hope they don't go away.

 

[Magalex]

Since our DS was 4 1/2 years old in 2005. We have never considered off-site. Now he is 12. We are considering an off-site hotel with suites(June 2014) to help spend less on meals. But our decision wil go back & forth because our WDW vacations are always in June. We like the evening EMH because we like to avoid the heat of the sun as much as possible. I can't imagine WDW taking long evening hours away in the summer.

 

[CtinaDitty]

EMH are one of the best perks of staying on-site. Really hope they don't do away with these, especially during the seasons where the park isn't open as late...

 

[NotUrsula]

I'm glad you asked...

Orlando international is the 13th largest airport by passenger traffic in the US.

It is the 29th on earth.

35.5 million visitors annually (Disney's gate numbers are about 50 million tickets scanned...not individuals...that is a very important distinction. Compare their gate number to the OiA passenger numbers...see the coincidence there?). One of the largest numbers of countries/airlines represented in the US.

For reference, mco is not a hub for a major airline (as almost all airports with heavier traffic are on the list...and only mccarron airport matches the type of travel with its ranking on the list ...aka a "tourist town" - Vegas). Orlando is the 79th largest city in the country. The metropolitan area is 26th largest.

Orlando is not a business hub by any measurement. No driving corporate presence or major market share. 75% of the economy is tied directly to travel.

All the stats are due to Disney...there is no other conclusion.
WDW is a flight destination. look at the numbers.

The question is not how many people drive...it's how many could possibly drive with the amount of People flying into a small town where almost nobody skips Disney...

Perhaps no major local corporate presence (though I'd say that is disputable if you count UCF and the various health-care related instituations in Central Fl.), but according to VisitOrlando's statistics (latest avail. 2011), of the total of 55,168,000 visitors to Orlando, nearly 10M visitors came for business or a convention. Now of course, some of those people also visit theme parks while they are there, but a fairly large percentage actually don't; the number that VisitOrlando shows is that 23% of business visitors go to the theme parks, while 50% of leisure visitors do.

According to VisitOrlando, the fly/drive percentage ratio for leisure visitors is 26/69 (4% other, presumably train or motorcoach), while for business visitors it is 57/39%. Additionally, of the total domestic volume of people who visited Orlando for leisure reasons (41.4+M in 2011), a little over half of them (~21.5M) came from elsewhere in Florida.

Based on those numbers, and completely leaving out all international visitors from the calculation (because their total number is about equal to the percentage of domestic visitors who are children) it looks like a conservative number for how many COULD drive to the parks each year based on past patterns would account for just under 13.6M vehicles. (To try to err on the conservative side, I left out all international visitors, all domestic visitors who came by means other than air or a car, and all travelers who came in a larger-than-family-sized group, then based the rest on the percentage who visited theme parks, times the percent who arrived by car.)

http://corporate.visitorlando.com/r...s/orlando-visitor-statistics/visitor-volumes/

http://corporate.visitorlando.com/r...statistics/domestics-leisure-visitor-profile/

http://corporate.visitorlando.com/r...tic-convention-group-meeting-visitor-profile/

 

[kirby428]

As PP said, then they must be going to use the RFID band to entice guests to stay on site. We would have never been able to do all we did in MK w/o EMH hours and had we not did the EMH am hours at AK we wouldn't have had such a great 1st ride on the safari.
Great just when I get it all figured out and show dh how Disney is "worth it" they change it on us

FP+ has the potential to reward Disney resort guests by allowing progressively more FP+ per day according to the room rate you have booked. This is a transitional time with more guesses than fact. When guests realize how great it is to use FP+, it will lite a fire under ideas for how it can be used to cut staffing without cutting park ticket sales.

 

[marauder428]

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.

The 2013 WDW video goes into detail about extra magic hours. I don't believe that they would give it the axe this year- on that premise alone. Disney doesn't just prop something mid year. Something as big as EMH, anyway. I would not worry about this year.

 

[robinbutterfly]

What would be their reason for taking away EMH?

 

[mom2rtk]

What would be their reason for taking away EMH?

Only one reason. Not that there is any firm indication it's actually going away...... but if it did.......

$$$$$$$$

 

[lockedoutlogic]

What would be their reason for taking away EMH?

The cost of additional overhead during them...lack of additional revenue (merchandise) during them...lack of crowds during regular hours at the parks where they're being held.

In reality - all of the above

 

[Paisleyjane]

This is quite disappointing to hear. I fear they will phase out all EMH in all parks, which was the best reason for staying on property. We are beginning to rethink our return to WDW every year.

 

[ChipnDale79]

The cost of additional overhead during them...lack of additional revenue (merchandise) during them...lack of crowds during regular hours at the parks where they're being held.

In reality - all of the above

My bookings will drop because of this, I'll be staying offsite from now on if this does happen.

 

[mom2rtk]

The cost of additional overhead during them...lack of additional revenue (merchandise) during them...lack of crowds during regular hours at the parks where they're being held.

In reality - all of the above

If that is how they view it, then it will be their loss. Their "additional revenue" comes in the form of people booking onsite rooms instead of choosing much less expensive lodging offsite.

 

[denisea51]

Just read on Facebook that they are NOT going to have EMH at MK during peak season. Read about it on easywdw.

Denise

 

[3happydancers]

Just read on Facebook that they are NOT going to have EMH at MK during peak season. Read about it on easywdw.

Denise

I heard the same thing. A friend of mine read it on easywdw but I think they are only eliminating the Friday night EMH at MK. Which stinks for us because we arrive on a Friday and planned dinner in the Kingdom and taking advantage of the extra park hours. As time goes on, Disney is becoming less appealing to my family. They are not liking all the changes.

 

[aimeeinohio]

We drove to Orlando from Ohio the first time we went but left the car parked at the resort. I'll take the busses any day!

 

[lockedoutlogic]

If that is how they view it, then it will be their loss. Their "additional revenue" comes in the form of people booking onsite rooms instead of choosing much less expensive lodging offsite.

Well...perhaps

But while some revenue might be lost...the money spent on hotels tend to be closer to profit neutral...meaning most of it goes to overhead.

The giftshops on the other hand...are profit heavy...which is the goal.

So if EMH are lightly attended and there is not a sustained source of profits from them...they will be eliminated.