Ok, Scoop and D-R, assuming you guys were serious...
I think many of us have either forgotten, or simply never experienced, how things work when a park closes at Midnight, and the fireworks and parades are done by 10pm. You see, just like now, after the fireworks, many people leave! The crowds thin out. The lines at 11:30 are not like the lines at 8:30.
By rarely closing any later than 10pm, and ending those nights with parades and fireworks, you've been conditioned to think that the only way to get reasonable lines at night is through Enights.
They have successfully lowered your expectations, or if you never experienced the fireworks at 9/10, close at Midnight secenario, they succeeded in making you think it couldn't exist. (For me this was at DL)
And if there is a second parade at 10:30, that's even better! Many people have left already, and many who are still there gather for the parade. You can either watch the later parade without the 8-deep crowds, or you can hit the attractions.
Now THOSE are options.
And Scoop, if you want to leave, and go to PI or the BW, you still can!
If there becomes a point where people stop using it to a large extent (i.e. demand decreases a whole lot), then they should get rid of it and focus on another option that might better meet the demand.
You are missing the big picture, my friend. You can't look at demand just in the context of demand for Enights. That approach doesn't even consider how many folks are not happy at all with this new option. Sure, 1000 or 2000 people pay for some Enights. But how many don't, and aren't very happy about it? Or, how many do pay, but still don't like the idea of having to pay for what was once free?
This is the problem when you deviate from your philosophy/mission/business plan, and instead look only at market segments and revenue streams. You forget why people are visiting you in the first place. You see $12/head, and don't account for how many people got p'd off and just didn't come this year, or took shorter trips, or, at the very least, count this as another brick in their wall.