Amazed and Disappointed

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Maybe they are trying to head people to Disney Springs? Who knows, I just dont like it. I'm a night owl but care that much for DS.

I'm with you. They can try that strategy all they want with us -- I will never see DS as an alternative to actually being in a park.

 

[EEEEE]

Our trip was 7/8-7/14. I'm used to Disney in July and to me every park felt more crowded than usual.
Late night Pandora was unbearably crowded. We just wanted to look around (we had done the rides earlier) but it was nearly impossible. We left and decided a quick swim at the resort might be nice but the pool closed at 11.
Before this trip I didn't think I'd mind the hours as posted but I can definitely see a need to give people something to do between 10pm-1am. That isn't super late for summer vacation.

Thanks for the info. I am planning a trip in August. I have 2 young daughters who have no interest in Pandora, but I was thinking of doing the AK EMH just to go see Pandora and the Rivers of Light at the 10:30 PM showing. Based on your experience I am thinking maybe I should just skip EMH at AK altogether.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Was at MK last night. It was EMH until midnight. Omg what a complete nightmare. I have been to WDW throughout the year for 13 plus years now. The fastpass line for Haunted Mansion was snaked back almost to Hall of Presidents. Didn't ride that fastpass. I had to wait ten minutes to get into the bathroom near Crystal Palace. Cast members were Haggard and some downright rude. Crowds this past week at MK have been intense. We've always done pm emh at MK but will never do that again. We've had a lot of fun but also a lot of frustration. The BTG's, heat, lack of hours, no nighttime parade and no evening emh at DHS not to mention only one Fantasmic are all deal breakers for peak summer travel here for us.

 

[robl45]

Was at MK last night. It was EMH until midnight. Omg what a complete nightmare. I have been to WDW throughout the year for 13 plus years now. The fastpass line for Haunted Mansion was snaked back almost to Hall of Presidents. Didn't ride that fastpass. I had to wait ten minutes to get into the bathroom near Crystal Palace. Cast members were Haggard and some downright rude. Crowds this past week at MK have been intense. We've always done pm emh at MK but will never do that again. We've had a lot of fun but also a lot of frustration. The BTG's, heat, lack of hours, no nighttime parade and no evening emh at DHS not to mention only one Fantasmic are all deal breakers for peak summer travel here for us.

You can get fast passes during evening magic hours? I thought no fastpasses during extra magic time? This is what bothers me, haunted mansion is basically my favorite ride and when we have gone in years past and even in April and May of this year, come 10pm, I could walk on haunted mansion. Of course the parks were open minimum till 11pm and usually till midnight.

 

[DaisyJ]

You can get fast passes during evening magic hours? I thought no fastpasses during extra magic time? This is what bothers me, haunted mansion is basically my favorite ride and when we have gone in years past and even in April and May of this year, come 10pm, I could walk on haunted mansion. Of course the parks were open minimum till 11pm and usually till midnight.

No fastpasses during emh. We didn't go to mk last night because we knew it would be a madhouse.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Just saw this on FB... feels somewhat ironic given current MK closing times... ...

 

[mamattorney]

We were at MK on Tuesday and were really disappointed in the hours. We stayed all day - rope drop to close. It was crowded. We didn't even eat dinner there. We had a 1:30pm lunch and just decided to muscle through with a pretzel in the dinner hours because we couldn't rationalize taking away any park time for dinner. Leaving the park was the absolute worst experience we've ever had leaving MK. We didn't get to our car until 11:30. That entire park emptying out at 10:00pm sucked. Period.

We had wanted to go to a restaurant off site after 10:00 for a real dinner and ended up (with half the park it seemed) in the drive through line at McDonald's because we didn't want to walk into a restaurant at 11:50 when they closed at midnight.

 

[Amy&Dan]

529641"]You can get fast passes during evening magic hours? I thought no fastpasses during extra magic time? This is what bothers me, haunted mansion is basically my favorite ride and when we have gone in years past and even in April and May of this year, come 10pm, I could walk on haunted mansion. Of course the parks were open minimum till 11pm and usually till midnight.[/QUOTE]

No before emh started we tried to use our Haunted Mansion fastpass but it was such a long long fastpass return line we bagged it.

 

[back2disney]

Whats really hurting is that the week I have been here is the heat has been crazy from 11am-4pm. And then the rain relief has been a monsoon instead that mucks everything up for at least a couple of hours 4-6pm maybe longer - didn't stay to find out. This is predictable for July, but staying open longer would give back those unbearable hours earlier in the day. My tip is to work out and run in the heat before hand. I have been fine(burns calories from all the different foods), but my daughter has complained about the heat nonstop.

 

[JungleCruiseFan]

After reading all the posts from people that have just been, another major problem seems to be with 10pm closings and no night parade, pretty much everyone is leaving in the same 30 minute window.
With an 11pm closing and fireworks at 9 followed by the 9:30 or 10 MSEP don't remember what time is was, you had people leaving in several big groups rather than 1. A large mass would leave after fireworks, then another large mass after the parade and then another one at park closure.
I bet the strain on the monorail, ferrys and resort buses is pretty brutal with everyone leaving at around the same time.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

After reading all the posts from people that have just been, another major problem seems to be with 10pm closings and no night parade, pretty much everyone is leaving in the same 30 minute window.
With an 11pm closing and fireworks at 9 followed by the 9:30 or 10 MSEP don't remember what time is was, you had people leaving in several big groups rather than 1. A large mass would leave after fireworks, then another large mass after the parade and then another one at park closure.
I bet the strain on the monorail, ferrys and resort buses is pretty brutal with everyone leaving at around the same time.

That's a really good point!!!

 

[Dolby1000]

my trip is 9/21 to 9/25 during free dining (completely booked. can't even add a day). MK is closing at 9 pm ON A SATURDAY. just doesn't sound right to me, it will be very busy and AK doesn't have EMH that night.

Having been at AK during evening "EMH", I have to say that it is a total waste of time. Say the park closes at 10PM and EMH goes to midnight. Well, maybe they have a late Rivers of Light show, but otherwise only Pandora is open. If the wait for FOP at 10 is 2 hours (and most nights it is), that wait won't come down at all during EMH because the queue is full of people who were in line prior to park close. So the one area is mobbed, the lines for both rides are ridiculous and there is nothing else to do. We choose to do a morning EMH instead as once we got off of FOP at 8:20 (we were at the park shortly after 7) we could take a safari ride, walk the trails and ride Everest all before 9, a much better 1 hour value then the standing in line time for night time EMH.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Having been at AK during evening "EMH", I have to say that it is a total waste of time. Say the park closes at 10PM and EMH goes to midnight. Well, maybe they have a late Rivers of Light show, but otherwise only Pandora is open. If the wait for FOP at 10 is 2 hours (and most nights it is), that wait won't come down at all during EMH because the queue is full of people who were in line prior to park close. So the one area is mobbed, the lines for both rides are ridiculous and there is nothing else to do. We choose to do a morning EMH instead as once we got off of FOP at 8:20 (we were at the park shortly after 7) we could take a safari ride, walk the trails and ride Everest all before 9, a much better 1 hour value then the standing in line time for night time EMH.

Still seems crazy to me that Disney has orchestrated this mess rather than keeping all of AK open.

I honestly don't get it. Draw people to Pandora at EMH (because there's nothing else to do after 10pm now) and annoy them to high heaven with a crowded mess.

Ridiculous.

 

[dlavender]

I think the crush that a PP described during a 10-12 EMH shows that the demand is there.

They just aren't willing to meet it for free

 

[MarBee]

I think the crush that a PP described during a 10-12 EMH shows that the demand is there.

They just aren't willing to meet it for free

When you're paying peak prices, it certainly isn't free.

I paid half the price to go in January for the same hours in June- except because of heat, I actually had more usable hours in January.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I think the crush that a PP described during a 10-12 EMH shows that the demand is there.

They just aren't willing to meet it for free

Free?? If the demand is there, revenue from food + merch should make staying open profitable. Never mind the peak prices. Makes no sense to me.

 

[Lothlórien]

Disney wants the focus on Pandora for the summer not MK.

Regardless of what Disney wants, their pricing is not matching their offerings.

If you want to look at it from the perspective of "you are paying for Pandora", then the argument is that most people are not able to get on Flight of Passage once, much less multiple times.

 

[dlavender]

When you're paying peak prices, it certainly isn't free.

I paid half the price to go in January for the same hours in June- except because of heat, I actually had more usable hours in January.

Free?? If the demand is there, revenue from food + merch should make staying open profitable. Never mind the peak prices. Makes no sense to me.

The most used defense in the shortened hours is that demand must not be there.

But when we see reports of large crowds post 10PM, I think we can all call BS on that.

There's really no valid excuse to close at 10.

Unless it's to groom the consumer and then upsell it...

I'm more cynical before noon

 

[DaisyJ]

After reading all the posts from people that have just been, another major problem seems to be with 10pm closings and no night parade, pretty much everyone is leaving in the same 30 minute window.
With an 11pm closing and fireworks at 9 followed by the 9:30 or 10 MSEP don't remember what time is was, you had people leaving in several big groups rather than 1. A large mass would leave after fireworks, then another large mass after the parade and then another one at park closure.
I bet the strain on the monorail, ferrys and resort buses is pretty brutal with everyone leaving at around the same time.

Yes, it is. People POUR out of the park between 10-10:30.

 

[DaisyJ]

When you're paying peak prices, it certainly isn't free.

I paid half the price to go in January for the same hours in June- except because of heat, I actually had more usable hours in January.

And thunderstorms closing attractions for an hour or more every day.