August Hours

[anomamatt]

Come on, peak pricing is only for ONE DAY tickets; two days and more is the same price year-round. And while July attendance may be down for July, there are still more people there in July than there are in February or September.

Um... resort pricing. Also effected by "peak" season.

And I was there this past February with crowds of 8/10.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

You guys have just answered the question of WHY Disney has cut back. The more "peaceful" your exit was means the fewer number of people that were in the park, hence less revenue for Disney. Shorter hours means more revenue for Disney with less cost to keeping the park open.

OK... so maybe 12-3 was too much... but 10pm close in Jul-Aug?? They've scaled too far back based on accounts I'm reading. I'd be happy with 11pm at this point. That 10-11 hour was still populated enough, but less crazy than 9-10.

 

[Mousefan mom]

Very disappointed in the shortened hours at MK. Also, no evening EMH at DHS this year. I am hearing this means its taking longer to get a bus when leaving the parks (makes sense since they are all closing at the same time!), and in the summer when the heat is brutal, we've always loved and looked forward to evening touring. It does make sense that the crowd levels seem high even if they are not--it seems packed no more what time of the year one goes--this was not true a few years ago.

 

[Grmnshplvr]

we'll be there the last week in August. When I made our plans it showed a 9PM close time for MK!! It's now 10? Well I wish it was 11 or 12, but I'll take 10 over 9, wasn't happy about that close time at all!

 

[Grmnshplvr]

By late August, hours always greatly scale back.

The "peak" summer summer ends mid-August. The week after August 19 (this year) hours will scale back some; and the following week (week before Labor Day), it's officially "off-peak" and the parks close around 8-9 with some exceptions (nighttime EHM). We typically travel the week before Labor Day and while we hate the perennial shorter hours. We appreciate the much lighter crowds.

Now, that said, last year, they were running the late hours at AK all week, like they did all summer, since they were trying to promote it as an all-day park with the Jungle Book show.

we have gone the last week in August the last 3 or 4 trips and they never closed at 8 or 9. but we too enjoy the lighter crowds so even a 10pm close time is too bad, although I'd like 11 PM more. Especially for DHS, I' like the second fantasmic.

 

[sharonabe]

Um... resort pricing. Also effected by "peak" season.

And I was there this past February with crowds of 8/10.

Resort pricing has been tiered for peak, value, semi-value for YEARS. That's not new.

And yes, there are weeks in Feb that are 8/10, and the peak, one-day ticket is also in effect for those days, and resort pricing also fluctuates during those weeks.

Disney cruises are also way more expensive in the summer and spring break time...you don't get any more on those than you do during value season. In fact, you get EXACTLY the same cruise. At least with the parks, you do get more hours during those peak times than the non-peak. I'm sorry it's not what it used to be; we loved those 1 - 2 am MK days too.

IT'S A BUSINESS!!

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

IT'S A BUSINESS!!

ABSOLUTELY!! And I say that all the time on here! But it's bad business to create a negative guest experience that might impact their return. Sounds like a lot of people are having the experience at the close of MK and the crazy state of Pandora and its 2 rides even into EMH.

Good business is about striking the right balance: profit and guest experience, and the two are linked. I think they've hit the WRONG balance this July.

 

[anomamatt]

Resort pricing has been tiered for peak, value, semi-value for YEARS. That's not new.

You don't say... My point is that if they are going to scale hours based on attendance, they should stop also calling non-peak times (the summer) as peak.

Disney cruises are also way more expensive in the summer and spring break time...you don't get any more on those than you do during value season.

Right, because DCL peak season is actually the summer! WDW peak is no longer summer.

At least with the parks, you do get more hours during those peak times than the non-peak.

No, you don't. And that is my point. For July, you get to pay peak pricing, but you don't get more hours. Attendance is down, which supports the fewer hours. However, there is no reason for changing more for the hotels when it's no longer peak crowds.

The real truth is that they are behind on declaring peak season for resorts, but do the operating hour updates a few weeks out (when they know how many people to expect). These decisions are exactly the reasons why October has become peak season. The resort prices have not caught up... they will, and eventually July won't be peak resort cost and October will be peak resort pricing.

IT'S A BUSINESS!!

Oh! I had no idea.

 

[sharonabe]

ABSOLUTELY!! And I say that all the time on here! But it's bad business to create a negative guest experience that might impact their return. Sounds like a lot of people are having the experience at the close of MK and the crazy state of Pandora and its 2 rides even into EMH.

Good business is about striking the right balance: profit and guest experience, and the two are linked. I think they've hit the WRONG balance this July.

True, and you may be right.

The Pandora EMH was Disney's attempt to allow more people to ride. They've accomplished that, but there just isn't enough time in the day to make everyone happy. Anytime, every time, there is a new attraction at Disney, it's popular and lines are LONG. I think they did the best they could with this one.

As to MK...we've waited for 45 min - an hour at park closing for a bus at almost all the parks, and that's traveling during non-peak times like the first week of Dec and first week of May. There may be more ways to publicly complain about it now, but I don't think it's all that new.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Attendance is down at the parks, but the resorts are still booking close to full. So, peak pricing at resorts is not effecting resort attendance. Hence, the resort peak pricing structure does make sense.

But, the low park attendance this summer shows they are doing SOMETHING wrong. Whether it be increasing prices too much/too fast, too many rides closed, waiting too long to build no rides, FP+ being a disaster (in my opinion), or (most likely) a combination of all the above.

I wonder if FP+ is persuading people not to make last minute trips, with the assumption they won't get the most popular rides. Could this be a large enough chunk in attendance?

 

[anomamatt]

Attendance is down at the parks, but the resorts are still booking close to full. So, peak pricing at resorts is not effecting resort attendance. Hence, the resort peak pricing structure does make sense.

I'm not sure how to get the actual data, but this doesn't agree with my recent experience. We always book deluxe club level, I have not checked other categories -- and we usually book close to the trip. Finding rooms was no problem for August, but I have not been able to find much of anything in October. Just one example.

 

[sharonabe]

You don't say... My point is that if they are going to scale hours based on attendance, they should stop also calling non-peak times (the summer) as peak.

Actually, the highest resort pricing is during the Christmas weeks and spring break season. The only resorts that are high during the summer are the VALUE resorts. Summer is actually a LOW pricing season for the deluxe resorts.

Summer IS peak season for all of Disney because that is when kids are out of school. Their target audience is still families, so whenever the majority of families have time to vacation will be peak season.

As for the hours...check out Jan and early Feb when MK regularly closes at 8 pm. What about Sept-Dec when MK closes at 6 or 7 pm at least four nights a week for the parties? And HS closes at 7 or 8 too. I'm still paying full price for my tickets during those months and getting far fewer hours than those summer (non-peak) people.

 

[hakepb]

Come on, peak pricing is only for ONE DAY tickets; two days and more is the same price year-round. And while July attendance may be down for July, there are still more people there in July than there are in February or September.

And Florida residents. Silver passes are blacked out right now, so they would have to pay more for a gold+ pass.

 

[sharonabe]

Attendance is down at the parks, but the resorts are still booking close to full. So, peak pricing at resorts is not effecting resort attendance. Hence, the resort peak pricing structure does make sense.

But, the low park attendance this summer shows they are doing SOMETHING wrong. Whether it be increasing prices too much/too fast, too many rides closed, waiting too long to build no rides, FP+ being a disaster (in my opinion), or (most likely) a combination of all the above.

I wonder if FP+ is persuading people not to make last minute trips, with the assumption they won't get the most popular rides. Could this be a large enough chunk in attendance?

I don't know if it's FP+, but that one-day ticket price (and the peak one too) is probably a factor. I have friends who made FL their vacation choice. Disney was not their goal, as they were doing all sorts of things while there, but they had hoped to go to MK for one day. They didn't do any research; didn't know they needed to, I think. When they saw the price of a one-day ticket, they simply said "NO WAY!" and went somewhere else for the day. My guess is it's that type of visitor that they have lost. There are still loads of people that don't want to make Disney their entire vacation, but would love to make it part of their vacation. Unfortunately, it's just not priced well to do that.

 

[anomamatt]

Actually, the highest resort pricing is during the Christmas weeks and spring break season. The only resorts that are high during the summer are the VALUE resorts. Summer is actually a LOW pricing season for the deluxe resorts.

Yes, holiday pricing is the highest. The specific comparison I'm talking about is Summer season vs October. Summer is more expensive for both Deluxe and Values (rack rates). But I have no doubt October of this year will have longer park hours and the parks will be much more crowded compared to this summer season. This is one reason why the summer crowds have lessened and fall crowds are much heavier.

 

[sharonabe]

And Florida residents. Silver passes are blacked out right now, so they would have to pay more for a gold+ pass.

I would love to see Disney's stats on this one. Wonder if the lower crowds people seem to be experiencing are actually fewer FL residents in the parks due to the black-out addition to the passes?

 

[sharonabe]

Yes, holiday pricing is the highest. The specific comparison I'm talking about is Summer season vs October. Summer is more expensive for both Deluxe and Values (rack rates). But I have no doubt October of this year will have longer park hours and the parks will be much more crowded compared to this summer season. This is one reason why the summer crowds have lessened and fall crowds are much heavier.

Rack rates are Deluxe are not the highest in the summer; they are higher from mid-Sept to mid-Oct than from June - Aug.

 

[anomamatt]

Rack rates are Deluxe are not the highest in the summer; they are higher from mid-Sept to mid-Oct than from June - Aug.

https://www.mousesavers.com/2017-contemporary-room-rates-season-dates/

I didn't check every Deluxe, but the link above is contemporary rack rates... I never said "highest in the summer". I said the summer rate is higher than october. You can click the link above and see for yourself. The only exception is Columbus day.

I've posted the data... I'm going to bow out of this thread, it's hurting my >1.0 likes-to-posts ratio (a strange source of pride for me, haha).

 

[georgina]

Yes, holiday pricing is the highest. The specific comparison I'm talking about is Summer season vs October. Summer is more expensive for both Deluxe and Values (rack rates). But I have no doubt October of this year will have longer park hours and the parks will be much more crowded compared to this summer season. This is one reason why the summer crowds have lessened and fall crowds are much heavier.

Longer park hours where? With the MK closing at 7:00 4 nights a week it's not possible. Yes, it will seem more crowded but the hours will not be longer.

 

[anomamatt]

Longer park hours where? With the MK closing at 7:00 4 nights a week it's not possible. Yes, it will seem more crowded but the hours will not be longer.

Non-party nights.