Disney World Buries Its Controversial $149 After Hours Experiment

[lockedoutlogic]

What's missing in the defense of the late night cash grab from where I sit is this:

People are saying "you can get in at 4 and you get ice cream"

First, they damn well don't encourage 4 pm entry...they try to sell the "exclusive access" at 9. I know how the marching orders come down to the ticket booth...I've smelled that fish before...

Second, if you choose to do the late night entry in lieu of a "normal" day for only a $50 upcharge (you have to consume a lot of nestle hfcs treats to account for that)...what do you do until 4?

See...that's the flaw...not everyone will
Sit at the pool and make peanut butter sandwiches to save the costs normally incurred. They are on vacation - so Those days become budget busters for many or really annoying for "long timers"... And that of course is the point. Squeezing water from the rocks.
Or do the kiddos wait for 4?...have 40 years of less Patience and more spoiling suddenly reversed course? (It would be awesome if it did - I remain skeptical)

 

[Planogirl]

What's missing in the defense of the late night cash grab from where I sit is this:

People are saying "you can get in at 4 and you get ice cream"

First, they damn well don't encourage 4 pm entry...they try to sell the "exclusive access" at 9. I know how the marching orders come down to the ticket booth...I've smelled that fish before...

Second, if you choose to do the late night entry in lieu of a "normal" day for only a $50 upcharge (you have to consume a lot of nestle hfcs treats to account for that)...what do you do until 4?

See...that's the flaw...not everyone will
Sit at the pool and make peanut butter sandwiches to save the costs normally incurred. They are on vacation - so Those days become budget busters for many or really annoying for "long timers"... And that of course is the point. Squeezing water from the rocks.
Or do the kiddos wait for 4?...have 40 years of less Patience and more spoiling suddenly reversed course? (It would be awesome if it did - I remain skeptical)

Personally I would go to Universal. But that's probably not the answer anyone wants.

I could see someone with plenty of cash and no or few kids visiting Orlando for other reasons deciding to do this. I'm only speaking of the top price. If they drop the price I can see more interest.

 

[ChipnDale79]

What's missing in the defense of the late night cash grab from where I sit is this:

People are saying "you can get in at 4 and you get ice cream"

First, they damn well don't encourage 4 pm entry...they try to sell the "exclusive access" at 9. I know how the marching orders come down to the ticket booth...I've smelled that fish before...

Second, if you choose to do the late night entry in lieu of a "normal" day for only a $50 upcharge (you have to consume a lot of nestle hfcs treats to account for that)...what do you do until 4?

See...that's the flaw...not everyone will
Sit at the pool and make peanut butter sandwiches to save the costs normally incurred. They are on vacation - so Those days become budget busters for many or really annoying for "long timers"... And that of course is the point. Squeezing water from the rocks.
Or do the kiddos wait for 4?...have 40 years of less Patience and more spoiling suddenly reversed course? (It would be awesome if it did - I remain skeptical)

I keep hearing this talk about paying for this instead of a regular park ticket to WDW. I get that, but how many people are paying single day tickets and only going for one day? It's hard to compare a MYW ticket, the longer you stay, the less you pay per day, ticket to this.

We used to add on an additional day (before they jacked the prices up so much) to our trip for our travel day. The price was worth it for us to go into the parks for a few hours either on arrival or departure day to hit a ride or two and grab a bite to eat. Now its not worth it, and there is no way in hell I'd pay the $149 for myself, or in total an extra $600 for my family to do this.

ok, i'll admit i rambled some here.

Point being, the people that argue this is really just a $50 increase vs the normal park ticket, aren't taking into account the sliding scale that MYW offers.

 

[Disneymom1126]

Probably that or they'll through in some cupcakes and see if that sells more.

I bet if they added 2-3 exclusive characters it would sell out...at the $150 price point.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I bet if they added 2-3 exclusive characters it would sell out...at the $150 price point.

Maybe...but that just proves Barnum right, doesn't it?

 

[Ladyfish77]

Here's my personal opinion. I arrived on the last night of these After Hour parties. I had debated back and forth whether to splurge and get tickets for myself and my son for our birthday trip (and the 19th was actually my birthday). I made the final decision not to attend when they dropped the price to $75 for DVC/AP members. I completely understand giving DVC/AP people a discount--but a 50% discount says to me that it's not worth my money to pay full price. If they had lowered the price for everyone say to $99 and then given DVC/AP a $75 price, then I might have done it.

Just my own thought process on actually considering the event and being at WDW where I could have purchased the tickets but chose not to do so. I could afford the original price, but just didn't think it was worth that price.

 

[HopperFan]

I keep hearing this talk about paying for this instead of a regular park ticket to WDW. I get that, but how many people are paying single day tickets and only going for one day? It's hard to compare a MYW ticket, the longer you stay, the less you pay per day, ticket to this.

We used to add on an additional day (before they jacked the prices up so much) to our trip for our travel day. The price was worth it for us to go into the parks for a few hours either on arrival or departure day to hit a ride or two and grab a bite to eat. Now its not worth it, and there is no way in hell I'd pay the $149 for myself, or in total an extra $600 for my family to do this.

ok, i'll admit i rambled some here.

Point being, the people that argue this is really just a $50 increase vs the normal park ticket, aren't taking into account the sliding scale that MYW offers.

I went Thursday. Long weekend trip. This was my "one day ticket" and it was only $80 that night. This was not a discount ticket. Great value as far as I was concerned.

 

[wdwrule]

Technically, we could afford it but choose not to. To each his own on this. I think it's sad though that some bash that after hours deteriorated because some can't afford it. I think most responsible people prioritize things in life like saving for retirement and not having debt. For a family of four this would cost us $600. For us, not worth the cost. We have had almost yearly trips and are very satisfied with what we get. Maybe if it was a once in a lifetime trip.... But to mention that it went away because people couldn't afford it..... I honestly think many people were thinking "here we go again-another money grab". Maybe if I was Kanye West and had so much money I didn't know what to do with.....oh wait, that's right, he had recently posted on Facebook or something begging for money because he was in too much debt.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I went Thursday. Long weekend trip. This was my "one day ticket" and it was only $80 that night. This was not a discount ticket. Great value as far as I was concerned.

There is a big difference between $149 and $80.....

Also, how was it not a discounted ticket when the price was $149?

 

[ChipnDale79]

Technically, we could afford it but choose not to. To each his own on this. I think it's sad though that some bash that after hours deteriorated because some can't afford it. I think most responsible people prioritize things in life like saving for retirement and not having debt. For a family of four this would cost us $600. For us, not worth the cost. We have had almost yearly trips and are very satisfied with what we get. Maybe if it was a once in a lifetime trip.... But to mention that it went away because people couldn't afford it..... I honestly think many people were thinking "here we go again-another money grab". Maybe if I was Kanye West and had so much money I didn't know what to do with.....oh wait, that's right, he had recently posted on Facebook or something begging for money because he was in too much debt.

Couldn't have said it better

 

[HopperFan]

There is a big difference between $149 and $80.....

Also, how was it not a discounted ticket when the price was $149?

Walked into Guest Relations in DS at 9 pm. I said we'd like to go to DAH, 3 tickets. She said "that will be $79.88 each plus tax." I knew discount tickets were $75 and this was a third price point so I said "How much are the AP/DVC tickets?" She said "There are no discounted tickets now - everyone is $79.88." My receipt shows normal adult prices clearly for DAH.

 

[cel_disney]

I don't get your logic hear...
DCL is one of the most overpriced entertainment things out there. For every loyal customer they create...they seem to drive one to RCL moslty based on cost.

That's how it seems. For every "Disney is great" there is on cruise critic..you see a "what am I paying for?"

That's just a take away:

The idea being they should have marketed this as a pre or post cruise day activity - to their DCL clientele who would benefit because they were only staying in the world for one day before or after a cruise from PC. It obviously works for others cruising but I wouldn't expect Disney marketing material to use it as an example with an RCI cruise.

 

[cel_disney]

Here's my personal opinion. I arrived on the last night of these After Hour parties. I had debated back and forth whether to splurge and get tickets for myself and my son for our birthday trip (and the 19th was actually my birthday). I made the final decision not to attend when they dropped the price to $75 for DVC/AP members. I completely understand giving DVC/AP people a discount--but a 50% discount says to me that it's not worth my money to pay full price. If they had lowered the price for everyone say to $99 and then given DVC/AP a $75 price, then I might have done it.

Just my own thought process on actually considering the event and being at WDW where I could have purchased the tickets but chose not to do so. I could afford the original price, but just didn't think it was worth that price.

As a DVC member (AP too but that's not an every year thing for us), there is a lot of drama in the DVC world because of a recent decision to exclude all resale buyers after April 2016 from ALL perks. In exchange - they have claimed they will be offering additional bigger/better perks for those members who buy DVc direct. Ticket discounts are probably the most desired DVC perk that they could offer. I don't quite understand the low party discounts for DVC, but my theory here before MNSSHP was announced was that these types of things help DVC build their case for convincing people to spend incredibly high prices for direct points. I don't think that this will be the last of the DVC discounts that we see!

 

[Josh Hendy]

Point being, the people that argue this is really just a $50 increase vs the normal park ticket, aren't taking into account the sliding scale that MYW offers.

You said it!

When you consider that the plan was evidently to cut back on park hours in order to free up more and more "upsell evenings" ... in proportion to the success of the upsell, this reinforces what I believe discounted MYW tickets amount to (in the Disney corp's mind).

"You pretend to pay us to add more park days to your vacation, and we'll pretend you give you 4 full parks (with full hours)"

It's actually a $95 increase on the per-day admission price for a 7-day non-hopper.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Walked into Guest Relations in DS at 9 pm. I said we'd like to go to DAH, 3 tickets. She said "that will be $79.88 each plus tax." I knew discount tickets were $75 and this was a third price point so I said "How much are the AP/DVC tickets?" She said "There are no discounted tickets now - everyone is $79.88." My receipt shows normal adult prices clearly for DAH.

So they lowered the price.......so technically you didn't get a discount.

They obviously lowered the price because it wasn't selling.

When it's sold at $80, I can see the argument as replacing a park day, but not at the $149 price point.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

The idea being they should have marketed this as a pre or post cruise day activity - to their DCL clientele who would benefit because they were only staying in the world for one day before or after a cruise from PC. It obviously works for others cruising but I wouldn't expect Disney marketing material to use it as an example with an RCI cruise.

Ok...now I got you

 

[HopperFan]

I went Thursday. Long weekend trip. This was my "one day ticket" and it was only $80 that night. This was not a discount ticket. Great value as far as I was concerned.

So they lowered the price.......so technically you didn't get a discount.

They obviously lowered the price because it wasn't selling.

When it's sold at $80, I can see the argument as replacing a park day, but not at the $149 price point.

I stated it was not a discounted ticket. It was the price for "everyone" per the CM and appears to be a normal price on receipt.

As far as replacing a park day .... if I can get in at 4 pm with this and stay until 2 am = 10 hours. This includes fireworks and night time parade. The last 3 hours I can virtually walk on to each ride and am able to do all the E=tickets plus many more. Add ice cream and drinks. With those parameters even $149 is worth it if you are considering a 1 day ticket. Would I pay that, no, but I can where there is demographic who will if it were marketed properly.

There is a CM poster on here that I seem to remember stating that many one day tickets are sold each day.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I stated it was not a discounted ticket. It was the price for "everyone" per the CM and appears to be a normal price on receipt.

As far as replacing a park day .... if I can get in at 4 pm with this and stay until 2 am = 10 hours. This includes fireworks and night time parade. The last 3 hours I can virtually walk on to each ride and am able to do all the E=tickets plus many more. Add ice cream and drinks. With those parameters even $149 is worth it if you are considering a 1 day ticket. Would I pay that, no, but I can where there is demographic who will if it were marketed properly.

There is a CM poster on here that I seem to remember stating that many one day tickets are sold each day.

I'm not making the argument vs a 1 day ticket....that was my whole point.

When you compare the $149 to the sliding scale of the MYW tickets, that $149 "value" declines every single day.

I get you didn't get a discount, I even said that. I said the word technically, because yes you did pay what everyone else was paying, but you paid that price because they couldn't sell the $149 ticket.

 

[dfb]

The DAH event was the only event of late that interested me in Disney at all!

Over the last couple years we've been hit with MDE, FP+, numerous price increases (tickets, APs, food, events, etc), what I would consider extreme cuts, employee cuts (especially Gi-Tar Dan...Boooo), attraction closures a major portion of HS and diminishing service, CM behavior, competency, etc. We are promised a bright future with AK's light show, Avatarland, HS's Toy story & Starwars. We were given New Fantasyland which is neat but not that impressive. I'm not a Star wars or Avatar fan and the Toy Story thing looks like nothing more than a kiddie park. The Animal Kingdom light show has me curious? I've always been told the AK closed early because they didn't want anything going on at night because it would disturb the animals. I guess the animals now need a little night life??

I don't know why Disney does the things they do, I don't have statistics that prove anything one way or the other. What I do know is these changes have taken me from someone with 32 trips under their belt and looking forward to the next trip to someone who is looking for other options and other ways to utilize my DVC points that doesn't include going to the parks. Plans were to do the Hilton Head, Vero Beach option or just stay DVC and do other Orlando stuff. Although as a whole I did not favor the DAH thing, it was a way I could see getting back in the park with some value. $75 for 9+ hours with 3 or more hours with little to no crowds. I'd do it!!

I know my thoughts are just that, mine. I don't know how many people share my thoughts or what percentage of people are effected. But I do know how it effects the most important guest, me!! I don't know if Disney is prepping for something great and are still the most clever marketing and ops folks ever. Or if they are just making stupid greedy decisions and will fall on their face. Either way I think I'll hang out and wait for it! Either something so great I can't stay away or when they are offering huge discounts & services to get back the guest they ran off!!

 

[MammaMoe48]

I loved it personally no matter what anyone else would think. I like zero crowd and don't mind paying for it. Seems I'm not the majority though. I also think that price at the timing of so many other things going up was really bad timing (or should have been lower from the start and just a crowd experiment).

I am one of those people who would pay a premium to have virtually no crowds. $150 was obviously too high for most people, I think $100 would have been more reasonable. It still would have kept many of the day trippers and regular visitors from taking advantage of it (assuming they go so often they can take their time and not feel like they have to see everything in one visit, there would be no value in it for them) but would give the "once in a lifetime" or every few years visitors a chance to experience the parks without the crowds.