Agree to Disagree! DISUnplugged Show March 22!

[kapstar]

If viewed as an alternative to a regular days admission to the park, the idea has some merit. $150 for 3 extra hours is crazy. But when viewed as a separate 7pm-1am ticket with (possibly) lower crowd levels for 3 hours, I could see it as a possible night owl version of rope drop.

If people choose to avail themselves of this option and morning/afternoon crowds are lower on our MK Thurs 4/28, then I am all for it!

I don't think this is the death of EMH. EMH is still considered a major selling point for staying on property.

Disney appears to be floating a test balloon to incentivize people to come to the park at night exclusively (perhaps in an attempt to ease crowds at MK while HS and Epcot get back up to speed?).

 

[CJLove79]

Sorry, but I just can't agree with this, especially the bolded parts. I believe that it is about profits. The Walt Disney Company is a public corporation who's business is to make a profit by providing entertainment to the public. As a public corporation, it has a responsibility to its shareholders to make a profit and return value to those shareholders through dividends and/or stock appreciation. The way that happens is that they make a profit and that the profit continues to increase over the years. Its not a short-term equation, steady increases in profits are highly valued in the investment world.

Why would Disney want to discourage people from going to its parks? Certainly not because they are "too full". I was just walking around Epcot yesterday and there were very few places where I saw any real congestion. Think about it. If people don't come to the parks then they don't spend money on parking, admission, food, souvenirs, etc. There is no way that Disney wants to keep people away. What they do want to do is to extract the most money they can out of each visitor.



As Kevin has noted elsewhere, he is a married man. Steve is not. Apparently Kevin is reasonably successful and can afford to spend money at LV. Congratulations to him. Steve hasn't yet reached that stage in his life, but maybe he aspires to LV. Maybe not. The point here is that each has a different, but perfectly understandable point of view on the money issue. Not everybody listening to these podcasts are in the same marital/financial/socio-economic/anyothercategory in their life and its important to understand that we can all view this differently and further that those views can and will change over time.

This is my fault cause I should've worded it differently. What I meant was that I feel that it's more about crowd control than it is profits. You're 100% right that Disney is a public corporation and all that good stuff and they need and want to maximize profits. But at the same time, Disney will ALWAYS make an enormous amount of profit, we all know this as do them. Disney is like Apple and Google, in that they will always make money no matter what they do. Shoot, you don't even have to be at the parks for Disney to make money either. Just by us purchasing items from their Disney Store apps and the like will make them money. There's definitely more than just profits that Disney is after and it's crowd control. Disney has said in their own way that they're trying to do something about crowd control. Pete even said that they're wanting to do something about crowd control. Because if the parks are too crowded, that means it'll make guests uncomfortable. When the guests are uncomfortable, they will complain with their wallets. So yeah, it's about profits, I agree with you. But they know that if they can do something to spread out the crowds better across the property, that will provide not only a better guest experience hopefully but increase their profits even more.

 

[jenn4kids]

I think this is getting clouded into a "haves and have nots" argument. I see it as Disney offering an experience that the general public has a right to buy into or not. They are not preventing anyone from doing it. Its AFTER hours. If it sounds like fun to you and you want to do it, buy a ticket. Either by pulling the wad of cash from your pocket or saving your pennies for months. Your choice.

 

[kapstar]

Hi, my name is Scott and I'm a hypocrite. (Hi, Scott). Why you ask? Seeing this post made me think...perhaps Disney will start an Early morning experience that would allow you to ride BEFORE park opening. For years we have made Breakfast reservations for 8am so that we could get in the park, eat (really just an excuse to get in) and be ahead of the crowd at RD. I was willing to drop $140 (for the family) to have 'early' access. Did I want the breakfast, not really. Had we already met every character at these breakfasts, yes. I was though still interested in getting a leg up on the crowds as proven here in this shot:

Hi, my name is Michael and I am a hypocrite. I made dining reservations for 8am at HS, almost exclusively to be able to sign my kids up for Jedi Training before RD.

 

[pontikes67]

Hi, my name is Michael and I am a hypocrite. I made dining reservations for 8am at HS, almost exclusively to be able to sign my kids up for Jedi Training before RD.

Hi Michael.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

I'm not so sure that it's fair to judge like this - everyone comes from different walks of life regardless of their marital status. Just because one is a single male certainly does not mean that he has massive money to spend. Some people are independently wealthy while others have worked very hard to get to where they are. I mentioned earlier in this thread that we all choose what we spend our money on - just because someone has expensive taste doesn't mean that they're wealthy - it just means that they've chosen their priorities for their own family. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not so thrilled about all of this nickel and diming either - but at least we still have the choice to forego some of these 'additions' that are showing up.

agree but when you have to provide for a family versus just for yourself, its a very different lifestyle. Kevin is married which i was incorrect about but I don't think he has young children. Someone will surely correct me if i'm wrong. If they are older he is removed and detached from what I think Steve's point was; how do families make this work if its something they want to do is a valid one. No, life isn't fair and not everything is equal but when your market is family vacations and the typical family is two adults 2 kids? Seems like you are edging those people out. Same with how they changed the dining plan. I for one don't really care because its just the three of us. We can still afford to go and not worry about having to save and pinch at home or go only during certain times of the year. It just seems like Disney isn't about family these days as much as its about what can we charge them for.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

Yes, but the park hours vary so long as you know the hours before punching your ticket, it becomes a planning thing. if we're not doing MVMCP but want to do MK we plan for that to be our day that we do Rope Drop and not take a break in the afternoon.

Its not fair to onesite guest if they remove EMH. Its really the only perk you have left other than FP booking.

 

[disneysteve]

Its not fair to onesite guest if they remove EMH. Its really the only perk you have left other than FP booking.

Yes and no.

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the "perk" you got for staying onsite was the simple fact that you were onsite. There was no EMH. There were no FPs. There was no advanced access to ADRs. You stayed onsite because you wanted to be in the bubble. At some hotels, you had a monorail outside. At all, you had a bus stop that would whisk you right to the parks. Maybe there was a character meal in the lobby or easy access to Disney souvenirs in the gift shop. That was it.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

http://blogmickey.com/2016/03/disney-early-morning-magic-fantasyland-pops-disney-experience/

Another hard ticket likely coming...

I'm actually really intrigued by this - though will be disappointed if this means an area will be roped off and then one of the benefits of getting pre-park opening ADRs is lessened.

Though if that is the case, I might just cancel my pre-park opening ADR at Crystal Palace and replace it with this (assuming it isn't $149/person)

 

[DisneyKevin]

agree but when you have to provide for a family versus just for yourself, its a very different lifestyle. Kevin is married which i was incorrect about but I don't think he has young children. Someone will surely correct me if i'm wrong. If they are older he is removed and detached from what I think Steve's point was; how do families make this work if its something they want to do is a valid one. No, life isn't fair and not everything is equal but when your market is family vacations and the typical family is two adults 2 kids? Seems like you are edging those people out. Same with how they changed the dining plan. I for one don't really care because its just the three of us. We can still afford to go and not worry about having to save and pinch at home or go only during certain times of the year. It just seems like Disney isn't about family these days as much as its about what can we charge them for.

Neither Steve nor I have young children.

 

[bennettsallinit]

The point I was trying to make was I hate all the "new" add-ons. That aren't "new" they are just rehashing old experiences as something you now have to pay extra for now. If Disney holds a special event like Club Villain, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, etc those are additional experiences that provide something extra then what a normal day ticket provides that is completely acceptable, and good for Disney for thinking of new services to provide and make money on. What bothers me is when they take something that was a free/first-come, first-served experience and find ways to charge people for it. Recently we've seen preferred parking, but how close are we to having to pay to meet Mickey? When will a "bronze level" ticket only allow me to watch Hall of Presidents from the back row?

Can Disney charge people extra and label it as providing a service that you don't have to pay for? Sure they are a Fortune 100 company in a capitalist society. But Disney used to be the Happiest Place On Earth for anyone that could afford to walk in the front gates, now I am afraid, and this is speculation that we might see a tiered system where the rich get the full experience while the rest get a shell of the experience unless they pay for the add-ons that used to be free.

If Disney wants more of my money then make the ticket prices more expensive, don't give me some tiered experience where I have to count my dollars every time I want to do something. When will Disney World feel like a carnival where I have pay for every experience?

I agree Steve. I don't like the teasers Disney plays. The fast pass for the parades was a perk included in your ticket price that you could reserve before your trip, but essentially was a teaser that Disney played out now to get more money. I see soon paid parking coming to the parking decks at Disney springs.

 

[disneysteve]

I agree Steve. I don't like the teasers Disney plays. The fast pass for the parades was a perk included in your ticket price that you could reserve before your trip, but essentially was a teaser that Disney played out now to get more money. I see soon paid parking coming to the parking decks at Disney springs.

I was shocked that they didn't charge for parking from day one. Those garages are way too nice to be free. I could see them maybe doing free during the day and pay after 4pm or something like that.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

So, our family of 6 trip is planned June 15-22. Historically I expected 11pm or midnight or even 1am closings at MK in June. What I see now is 10pm closings every day, except for the 1 night per week EMH.... Is this so they can do this paid event on the non EMH nights? if so, then I am not happy having my traditional MK evening hours (best time in Summer) taken away.

My hours concern is similar for the dates of the 10th anniversary event in July...in fact, all of the summer. I see MK closing at 10pm on most nights. If you look at the 2015 calendar for the summer months, MK was closing at 12am most nights with EMH nights going to 2am. At the very least, they are cutting the number of hours we've come to expect at this time of year, so unless they extend park hours, we're already getting less park time for more $.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

My hours concern is similar for the dates of the 10th anniversary event in July...in fact, all of the summer. I see MK closing at 10pm on most nights. If you look at the 2015 calendar for the summer months, MK was closing at 12am most nights with EMH nights going to 2am. At the very least, they are cutting the number of hours we've come to expect at this time of year, so unless they extend park hours, we're already getting less park time for more $.

Park hours for the summer will be increased as it gets closer and attendance in the resorts goes up. I go every summer and this is the norm.

 

[pontikes67]

Park hours for the summer will be increased as it gets closer and attendance in the resorts goes up. I go every summer and this is the norm.

Exactly. They make many changes from now until summer including adding 2nd MSEP etc.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Park hours for the summer will be increased as it gets closer and attendance in the resorts goes up. I go every summer and this is the norm.

I hope so. We haven't been in the summer since 2011 and I could have sworn the later hours were posted farther out. Either way, I want you to be right

 

[pontikes67]

I hope so. We haven't been in the summer since 2011 and I could have sworn the later hours were posted farther out. Either way, I want you to be right

good point...looking at easywdw's site...last February he posted operating hours changing for June...still I think Nikki's probably right...there's changes coming, I'd guess.

 

[Alicenwonderment]

You win the Internet today!!

Which you were already getting for free.

 

[KingLlama]

I can promise with 100 percent integrity that I will never charge extra for my flaming-hot DIS Boards takes.*




*everyone would want a refund even if I did. Which I never will. Probably.

 

[pontikes67]

I can promise with 100 percent integrity that I will never charge extra for my flaming-hot DIS Boards takes.*




*everyone would want a refund even if I did. Which I never will. Probably.

Big hitter the llama...long.