Disney After Hours

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And no one else has said it, but I will. I wanna see Disney try to fill all their hotel rooms without EMH. It's a big reason that guests justify the price of Disney resorts. Without EMH, I think they would need to give away free deluxe dining to fill their rooms during slow periods.

EMH is last on the list of reasons I stay on site. We do not utilize it so essentially it has no bearing on our choice to stay on site.
Take away 60 day FP booking or ME yeah, it would sting. EMH, nope
 
If y'all remember, DAH was leaked. From what we learned after the leak, it was supposed to accompany other announcements. Maybe, had it been announced as intended, instead of leaked, it would have gotten the press it needed? No idea really, just tossing it out there.

I don't even know if the other things got announced or not.
 
EMH is last on the list of reasons I stay on site. We do not utilize it so essentially it has no bearing on our choice to stay on site.
Take away 60 day FP booking or ME yeah, it would sting. EMH, nope
I agree. In fact, I avoid EMH because it usually means larger crowds. 60 day FP and ME are *THE* reasons I stay on site. Oh, and Disney busses.
 
I gotta admit the whole idea totally irked me. We are spending a week in October to enjoy the Food & Wine Festival. We will be there 7 nights but can be in the MK only 2 of them because of MNSSHP unless, of course, we want to buy tickets for that.

If we were going in November or December, we'd be facing the same thing with the Christmas party. Then they come along with this After Hours thing and I'm thinking that we're already spending a fortune on park tickets, and now we can't see Wishes or MSEP without forking over another stack of cash? What the heck?

And no one else has said it, but I will. I wanna see Disney try to fill all their hotel rooms without EMH. It's a big reason that guests justify the price of Disney resorts. Without EMH, I think they would need to give away free deluxe dining to fill their rooms during slow periods.

- The parties have been this time of year for 10+ years so it's part of traveling then.

- The After Hours had no impact at all on regular park hours.

- I don't think if EMH went away it would affect hotel bookings at all. While it is my #1 reason to stay on site I would say we are a very small minority.
 

If this was a mistake, than thank you disney because i've wanted an event like this for 11 years since my katrina week vacation where the whole world was this empty.. It was amazing, it made sense to me, I loved it and can't wait for the next version of this event to enjoy in the future!
I would jump at the chance to go to that! I hope they extend it.
 
I will say the 19th was busier than I expected from previous reports but could certainly had double the people and be a value. Basically no lines just travel time.

Thinking out loud:

They bring out Club Villian at $99 and it sells out. They cancel March and go silent. I think several of us said (especially those of us who had been) it was GREAT value aka underpriced. Next thing you know it's back at higher price with AP/DVC/CM discounts.

DAH comes out with no PR at $149, no discounts. Crickets. Criticism. Add AP/DVC/CM half price discounts. I go last night buying tickets at $80 - CM said price is for all now. Could extra folks there be from finally word creeping out and a new price point?

No known extension yet summer offsite guests may eat this up! with summer crowds.

Had they priced at $80 to begin with and promoted it - I say it'd be sold out. Is it possible they are pulling a CV - test, fine tune, create the demand with a new price and then bring it back.
 
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I go last night buying tickets at $80 - CM said price is for all now.
OK, that really irks me. I would have gone if I'd have known it was $80. I was onsite and the advertising all said $149. It was my birthday--I'd have splurged for $80. Grrrr. I even contacted WDW about this event being high priced, but given away free tickets and discounted for DVC/AP--I even asked if they were planning to offer a lower price to everyone and they called and gave me the "blah, blah, we have heard a lot of complaints". They could have sent me an email since I was onsite saying the price had dropped.
 
OK, that really irks me. I would have gone if I'd have known it was $80. I was onsite and the advertising all said $149. It was my birthday--I'd have splurged for $80. Grrrr. I even contacted WDW about this event being high priced, but given away free tickets and discounted for DVC/AP--I even asked if they were planning to offer a lower price to everyone and they called and gave me the "blah, blah, we have heard a lot of complaints". They could have sent me an email since I was onsite saying the price had dropped.

While the operation of the event was great - the marketing, PR, pricing, communication among Disney etc was HORRIBLE! If it is deemed a failure it's not due to the product but due to the "suits"!
 
And no one else has said it, but I will. I wanna see Disney try to fill all their hotel rooms without EMH. It's a big reason that guests justify the price of Disney resorts. Without EMH, I think they would need to give away free deluxe dining to fill their rooms during slow periods.

EMH didn't even factor into our reasoning about staying on-site. I have a friend who's debating on-site vs. off and she commented that EMH makes no difference to her and isn't factoring into her decision (but an extra 30 days for FP+ is a factor). Of the 5 days we were there, we only took advantage of EMH once and that was a last minute decision.
 
I must admit... The morning event sounds a lot like the free one (for resort guests) that we did years ago -- Little Ones Extra Magic Hour in MK. They even had roaming characters... it was AWESOME, and to be honest, we totally would have paid for it.
You did. Being able to attend an event like that is why you paid so much more than if you had stayed off site. I think Disney needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out ways to provide more benefits to people staying on site who are paying a lot of money to do so. The price gap between on site and off site is growing ever bigger, and the perks received for staying on site are shrinking. Evening EMH used to be three hours, and took place twice a week at the MK. Now, they are once a week for two hours. When FP+ came out, off site guests could not pre-book. Now they can book at 30 days out. While that appears to be a disadvantage for two or three attractions, for the balance of FPs, 30 days is really no different than 60 and people staying on site are deriving very little benefit here. And parties like the one you described above have evaporated completely. When people are paying $600 for a room that should sell for $225, and $150 for a room that should sell for $59, they should be able to get deeper discounts on hard ticket events. Frankly, a lot of the angst over DAH (and over the newly released prices for MNSSHP and MVMCP) would have disappeared if a lower price had been offered to on site guests. Sometimes I think that Disney overlooks just how much extra money people are paying to stay on site. When someone pays $600 a night for 7 nights at the Contemporary, I think they deserve a few more benefits than a bus ride from the airport and two extra hours per week at the MK.

Had they priced at $80 to begin with and promoted it - I say it'd be sold out.
I agree. There is nothing about this event that cannot succeed if they simply get realistic over the price.

If it is deemed a failure it's not due to the product but due to the "suits"!
Again, I agree 100%. Someone who spends far too much time looking at spreadsheets and far too little time taking the temperature of the average guest fumbled this one away. At a price of $60-$80, it could be.....no.....would be the single best after hours event that Disney ever created. And if you want to get $149 per ticket, simply move the Villains after-party over to the MK, put that party in BoG, and serve beer, wine and maybe a few specialty cocktails. I can promise you that people would pay $149 for that!
 
You did. Being able to attend an event like that is why you paid so much more than if you had stayed off site. I think Disney needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out ways to provide more benefits to people staying on site who are paying a lot of money to do so. The price gap between on site and off site is growing ever bigger, and the perks received for staying on site are shrinking. Evening EMH used to be three hours, and took place twice a week at the MK. Now, they are once a week for two hours. When FP+ came out, off site guests could not pre-book. Now they can book at 30 days out. While that appears to be a disadvantage for two or three attractions, for the balance of FPs, 30 days is really no different than 60 and people staying on site are deriving very little benefit here. And parties like the one you described above have evaporated completely. When people are paying $600 for a room that should sell for $225, and $150 for a room that should sell for $59, they should be able to get deeper discounts on hard ticket events. Frankly, a lot of the angst over DAH (and over the newly released prices for MNSSHP and MVMCP) would have disappeared if a lower price had been offered to on site guests. Sometimes I think that Disney overlooks just how much extra money people are paying to stay on site. When someone pays $600 a night for 7 nights at the Contemporary, I think they deserve a few more benefits than a bus ride from the airport and two extra hours per week at the MK.
Not too surprisingly, I again completely disagree.

I don't think that most people -- or even anything close -- stay onsite because of EMH.
  • As I said, I've known people who stayed onsite and didn't even know about them -- others on DIS have reported same.
  • We would stay onsite if they eliminated EMH -- others on DIS have reported same.
  • Many AVOID EMH because the parks are generally busier -- many on DIS have reported same.
I think most stay onsite for convenience, proximity, and never having to "leave the magic".

Disney's hotel %capacity appears quite strong. That doesn't call for going back to the drawing board!

Once again, I'm sure Disney has data in this. We don't. We can only guess. And we disagree. Voilà!
 
I don't think that most people -- or even anything close -- stay onsite because of EMH.
I think you disagree because you missed my point. I never said that people stay on site because of EMH. The point of the post was, that people who are paying on site pricing deserve more perks than they are getting now, just as you got to attend that special party that you enjoyed so much in the past. Those type of things are gone now. Once upon a time, Disney decided to provide special benefits like that to on site guests. Now, it no longer does, despite the fact that the gap in pricing between on site and off site lodging is greater than ever before.
 
The point of the post was, that people who are paying on site pricing deserve more perks than they are getting now,
That's your OPINION -- Disney's resort %capacity data (FACTS) suggest that not enough people agree with you.
 
That's your OPINION -- Disney's resort %capacity data (FACTS) suggest that not enough people agree with you.
First, of course it is an opinion. That is what this Board is for.

Second, occupancy is dipping. And it is also a deceiving statistic. In order to get occupancy rates up to acceptable levels, it is having to deeply discount the rooms, which it would prefer not to do. But if people derived a greater benefit from staying on site, they would book those rooms irrespective of the discounts. It would be a lot cheaper for Disney to offer on site guests a third hour of EMH, or a game of duck-duck-goose with Peter Pan, or a DAH ticket for $75 than it is to discount 30,000 rooms an average of 20%. More perks = greater occupancy. That isn't an opinion.
 
First, of course it is an opinion. That is what this Board is for.

Second, occupancy is dipping. And it is also a deceiving statistic. In order to get occupancy rates up to acceptable levels, it is having to deeply discount the rooms, which it would prefer not to do. But if people derived a greater benefit from staying on site, they would book those rooms irrespective of the discounts. It would be a lot cheaper for Disney to offer on site guests a third hour of EMH, or a game of duck-duck-goose with Peter Pan, or a DAH ticket for $75 than it is to discount 30,000 rooms an average of 20%. More perks = greater occupancy. That isn't an opinion.

I'd much rather have a monetary discount than an extra hour of EMH, or a game of duck duck goose with Peter Pan. Those things are not worth paying rack rate IMO. Without actual discounts I would not be staying on site. I'm sure there are others who feel the same. It may be cheaper for Disney to offer that stuff instead of discounts but that doesn't guarantee greater occupancy either.
 
Second, occupancy is dipping.
Do you actually have occupancy stats over time exhibiting a trend to say this as though it is meaningful?

Years ago I produced a strategic assessment of Disney for business school and had such stats -- I haven't looked at them in any systematic way since. I hear quarterly reports here and there, and I believe the numbers are quite solid in recent years -- down slightly last quarter -- just going vaguely from memory. Back then one of my strategic recommendations for Disney was to expand DVC and DCL... like to think I was DEAD ON on that one!


Of course a board is about opinions. But you flip between seeming like you're providing "evidence" to support some declarative statement you've made with authority, to just giving your opinion. Little distinction.

I'm not big on debating without facts. Sharing opinions without facts?? Sure!! But not debating in the absence of facts. I'll leave you to that if that's what you're into -- or happy to trade opinions with you! :)
 
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