Animal Kingdom reducing attraction hours

[jkh36619]

https://chipandco.com/animal-kingdom-reducing-hours-for-attractions-within-the-park-325020/

If this is true of course.

 

[rteetz]

It’s true... All of it.

 

[sndral]

Did I read that correctly - a.m. extra magic ‘hours’ are 8:15 - 9:00 eg: 45 minutes???

 

[cassie58]

Really unbelievable!! They are going to shorten an extra magic hour to 45 minutes??? To what, save 15 min of paying CMs? I suppose next the H will stand for half-hour, and you will have the "perk" of one extra ride before opening. Are they trying to drive people off site(if not from visiting at all!) They have already cut most of the night time EMH, added parking fees, and now this - and you can make 60 day FP at DS hotels as well as Swan/Dolphin, with much better special rates often.

And what is up with starting trails later? I realize staff is involved, but really? Then one will open at 9:30, and the other at 10:30, so if you want to start at EE in the morning and work through Asia, you can't get the trail done? Or do Gorilla Falls
before your Safari FP as we have done in the past. This the Animal Kingdom after all, with people coming to see animals. I had heard about Kali changes, and figured it was just due to temps in winter, and most not wanting to do water rides first thing, but many like to do trails early before they get crowded or it gets hotter.

And this, along with suddenly raising food prices significantly and most likely raising ticket prices again this year(we will see in a few hours) - the magic is getting harder to see with the greed covering it IMHO - really makes me sad - can't believe how much it's changed in the 10 years since our kids' first visit when I fell in love with WDW.

Sorry for the rant - just had to vent after seeing this news. We have great memories of Spectromagic, Toontown, Osbourne Lights, Wishes, dance party with characters at HS, DD and I trying to make it to 3 am in MK with Magic Hours! Just hate to see prices go up and less things offered.

 

[mom2rtk]

Did I read that correctly - a.m. extra magic ‘hours’ are 8:15 - 9:00 eg: 45 minutes???

What? Now I think I've heard it all.

 

[JaxDad]

And what is up with starting trails later? I realize staff is involved, but really? Then one will open at 9:30, and the other at 10:30, so if you want to start at EE in the morning and work through Asia, you can't get the trail done? Or do Gorilla Falls before your Safari FP as we have done in the past. This the Animal Kingdom after all, with people coming to see animals. I had heard about Kali changes, and figured it was just due to temps in winter, and most not wanting to do water rides first thing, but many like to do trails early before they get crowded or it gets hotter.

C'mon, they're just trying to help you out with a little extra sleep: "If you are getting a later start to your morning, you won’t feel the rush with Maharajah Jungle Trek operating on a delayed schedule."

 

[tlmadden73]

My AK day with EMH (Nov. 12) is still listed at 8:00 am - 9:00 am.

 

[umichigan10]

That’s ridiculous that they’re reducing EMH even marginally for the park with the most popular attraction on property. They should be extending it another half hour if anything

 

[STLstone]

We probably shouldn't call it "EMH" anymore.

Now it's "EM45."

 

[adam.adbe]

We probably shouldn't call it "EMH" anymore.

Now it's "EM45."

If half the stuff is closed, is this even EM anymore? Sounds basically like rope-drop-inside-the-park to me.

 

[ShadeDK]

Well, I guess they couldn't call it Extra Magic Minutes, since EMM is already taken.

It's also sort of bizarre since AK for more than a year has been the park consistently opening 20-30 minutes before the official opening time (EMH or regular day) - at least to get people into Pandora. I wonder if that will stop, too.

 

[BrianL]

My AK day with EMH (Nov. 12) is still listed at 8:00 am - 9:00 am.

My day on October 22 is also still listed as 8 AM. That may have just been an error or a one-day thing.

 

[jkh36619]

Increase cast members pay, then cut the hours. Did anyone really think Disney would foot the bill for the pay increase. I'm sure more is to come. thanks

 

[OSUZorba]

Increase cast members pay, then cut the hours. Did anyone really think Disney would foot the bill for the pay increase. I'm sure more is to come. thanks

Yeah, asking them to pay employees with the massive price increases is too much to ask.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

Yeah, asking them to pay employees with the massive price increases is too much to ask.

From the outside looking in, no it's not too much to ask. From the inside looking out, where their pay is sometimes tied to stock performance or profit/bottom line numbers, it is.

 

[OSUZorba]

From the outside looking in, no it's not too much to ask. From the inside looking out, where their pay is sometimes tied to stock performance or profit/bottom line numbers, it is.

And that is the point. They don't need to offset the raises with reducing hours. They could do it with all the price increases. But they'd rather reduce costs, increase revenue, to increase profits, which is fine, that is what businesses do. People can also decide to stop giving them business if they no longer feel the product justifies the cost.

 

[Liljo22]

Did anyone confirm that Monday's EMH was at 8:15? There is not another EMH less than an hour for the rest of the calendar that has been released so for. I would think it was either an error or a last minute problem that made them push opening back.

 

[PDettorre]

I think staggering the ride openings is going to cause problems. Why open the park, but not open all the rides? Now you will have to jump around to come back to certain rides/attractions after you have already completed everything in that area, because they opened later? Also, i feel as though when I hit AK, I have seen and done everything I want to by around 4 or 5 (thats just me, i am able to do AK quick and see everything i want to see, others may be different!). In order to stay until close to see the nighttime show, I would have to find some rides to re-do to kill some time. With everything closing early, there wont be any rides to do. At this point, it seems like coming to AK later in the morning would be your best bet, but you would have to hit all the early closing rides quick or you miss them. Doesn't really make sense, people are going to start leaving the part early and not staying for the nighttime show.

 

[Texans_loyal]

back to a half day park for us.

 

[old feller]

Very very surprised by 45 minute emh ??????