Disney Calling...

[writerguyfl]

I sort of am confused how extending hours would help with crowd capacity, though? Can someone explain it to me because I feel dumb, haha.

As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't...at least as far as the phased closure scenario happens. It's pretty much a fact that at some point on these days, Magic Kingdom will effectively close. Certainly, at which point in the day that happens does depend on whether the park opens at 7am, 8am, or 9am. Regardless, by afternoon there will be guests being denied entry.

My take on these calls is that Disney is trying to convince guests with 5pm (or later) Fast Passes to visit another park because those people are most likely to be affected by the phased closure system. In theory, if all of your Fast Passes are after five, you'll probably be arriving at MK between 2pm and 5pm. If Disney expects the park to be "closed" during that time frame, it would make sense to ask guests to reconsider their plans.

Opening the park at 7am or extending hours to 1am or 2am isn't going to change the fact that MK will be closed at some point in the middle of the day.

 

[Deena57]

We'll be there 3/26 - 3/31. Haven't gotten a call yet. I've planned for us doing MK on Easter Sunday. From reading the boards, it sounds like I picked the best day for MK. Is that maybe right?

 

[ffdmom]

Easter happens in March roughly 20% of the time. This is such a silly thing to think, that they were caught off guard.

I don't have a dog in this hunt since we've never been around Easter and don't intend to go during that time of the year, but if Disney is having a hard time figuring out when Easter is, I suggest either "googling" it or perhaps the big wigs at Disney might want to go to church or if they already do, pay attention while they're there. A church will usually start planning for Easter shortly after Christmas.

 

[prestoncaldwell]

Hanlon's razor strikes again.

I find this to be totally believable corporate behavior.

never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity

 

[prestoncaldwell]

you have new management at disneyparks level and when they started budgeting they were thinking quarterly budgets. easter is Usually in the 3rd quarter. really the error was caught by management at WDW and hours and staffing were adjusted accordingly.

New management, new analysts, new reports, new lower management? I still don't buy it. Every resort has some big things every year. Those big things will right all wrongs done the rest of the year, if done right, so they are planned and anticipated far in advance.

For Disney, those big things are Spring Break, Summer Peak, and Christmas/New Years. Maybe F&W too, but I wouldn't assume that. If you don't see one of your biggest periods of the year coming, then you should probably not be in your position.

 

[Angel Ariel]

i am getting this from Cms that work the parks not the gossip posts. These people have worked at WDW for over 10 years and know what is going on and yes they were caught off guard when scheduling for easter. Usually easter is in april and that is the third quarter but this year it's way early and it coincides with college breaks as well so they have even more crowds to deal with. btw these particular people also are high enough in the company to know what they are talking about and they were the ones that told me that while there were trouble in the other parks, the so called cutbacks were in preparation for the raises just like the price increases and the increases in food, merchandise, and dining plans. and when you give people raises, you can afford to cut their hours as well

I'm sorry, but the calendar for Easter is known well, well, well in advance. It changes every year, and this certainly isn't the first year it has happened so early. We went to WDW in march 2013, about a week abd a half before easter. Easter was about the same time that year as it is this year. I don't recall any conversations like this happening then. If the powers that be really were caught off guard by easter happening early, then someone just plain isn't doing their job.

 

[GPC0321]

I don't have a dog in this hunt since we've never been around Easter and don't intend to go during that time of the year, but if Disney is having a hard time figuring out when Easter is, I suggest either "googling" it or perhaps the big wigs at Disney might want to go to church or if they already do, pay attention while they're there. A church will usually start planning for Easter shortly after Christmas.

I don't think it's that they can't "figure out when Easter is." I think, as the PP said, that it's a little more complicated than that. It happens. People have lapses, mistakes are made, and especially when there is a change in management, things do fall through the cracks. Heck, when we changed guidance counselors last year we had students who hadn't passed English 2 put into English 3 classes and some that weren't scheduled for a single math class all year this year, which is a big "whoops!" It doesn't mean our school is full of incompetent people who don't care about our students and their education...it was just one of those things.

Easter being in March 20% of the time means that 80% of the time it's in April. I can see it getting overlooked. Heck when I booked my vacation back in July, I didn't realize I was booking over Easter Sunday. It just didn't occur to me. Which is REALLY stupid since our Spring Break always starts with Good Friday. But it still didn't dawn on me until a few days later!

Maybe I'm too positive or naive or whatever, but to me it doesn't make sense for Disney to purposely cause itself a headache like this. But if they did, then oh well. They cannot go back and change the past now, so agonizing over why this is happening seems kind of pointless to me.

 

[ffdmom]

I don't think it's that they can't "figure out when Easter is." I think, as the PP said, that it's a little more complicated than that. It happens. People have lapses, mistakes are made, and especially when there is a change in management, things do fall through the cracks. Heck, when we changed guidance counselors last year we had students who hadn't passed English 2 put into English 3 classes and some that weren't scheduled for a single math class all year this year, which is a big "whoops!" It doesn't mean our school is full of incompetent people who don't care about our students and their education...it was just one of those things.

Easter being in March 20% of the time means that 80% of the time it's in April. I can see it getting overlooked. Heck when I booked my vacation back in July, I didn't realize I was booking over Easter Sunday. It just didn't occur to me. Which is REALLY stupid since our Spring Break always starts with Good Friday. But it still didn't dawn on me until a few days later!

Maybe I'm too positive or naive or whatever, but to me it doesn't make sense for Disney to purposely cause itself a headache like this. But if they did, then oh well. They cannot go back and change the past now, so agonizing over why this is happening seems kind of pointless to me.

I was joking

 

[BigAlsGal]

I don't see the problem. If you want to change...change plans. If you don't....dont. They aren't MAKING anyone change.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I don't see the problem. If you want to change...change plans. If you don't....dont. They aren't MAKING anyone change.

For me it's not that it's a problem, it just illustrates incredibly poor planning on their part and poor show in trying to get guests to change their plans rather than appropriately increasing staffing to rectify the situation. I would politely say no to them and move on with my life, but I would also still think it was poor customer service on their part.

 

[buffettgirl]

I don't think it's that they can't "figure out when Easter is." I think, as the PP said, that it's a little more complicated than that. It happens. People have lapses, mistakes are made, and especially when there is a change in management, things do fall through the cracks. Heck, when we changed guidance counselors last year we had students who hadn't passed English 2 put into English 3 classes and some that weren't scheduled for a single math class all year this year, which is a big "whoops!" It doesn't mean our school is full of incompetent people who don't care about our students and their education...it was just one of those things.

Easter being in March 20% of the time means that 80% of the time it's in April. I can see it getting overlooked. Heck when I booked my vacation back in July, I didn't realize I was booking over Easter Sunday. It just didn't occur to me. Which is REALLY stupid since our Spring Break always starts with Good Friday. But it still didn't dawn on me until a few days later!

Maybe I'm too positive or naive or whatever, but to me it doesn't make sense for Disney to purposely cause itself a headache like this. But if they did, then oh well. They cannot go back and change the past now, so agonizing over why this is happening seems kind of pointless to me.

Everything Disney does is based off the calendar. Seasonal rates, holiday rates, hotel prices, discounts, everything. There is no way under the sun that they overlooked anything. I'm literally laughing out loud that anyone thinks THE biggest amusement park and resort system in the world went, "oops" and didn't know when Easter was.

 

[ffdmom]

Everything Disney does is based off the calendar. Seasonal rates, holiday rates, hotel prices, discounts, everything. There is no way under the sun that they overlooked anything. I'm literally laughing out loud that anyone thinks THE biggest amusement park and resort system in the world went, "oops" and didn't know when Easter was.

exactly!

 

[GPC0321]

Everything Disney does is based off the calendar. Seasonal rates, holiday rates, hotel prices, discounts, everything. There is no way under the sun that they overlooked anything. I'm literally laughing out loud that anyone thinks THE biggest amusement park and resort system in the world went, "oops" and didn't know when Easter was.

Everything a business does is based on "quarters" though, right? And last year, Easter was in the 4th quarter? So, if new folks came in and didn't think about the fact that the decisions made about staffing, hours, etc. for the 3rd quarter last year will not carry over to this year due to Easter being in the 3rd instead of 4th quarters, I can see it being a really big oversight.
I'm not saying I'm right. I'm just saying it isn't that outrageous of an idea to me.
Maybe Disney is just a horrible, greedy, callous corporation that is bent on ruining everyone's lives. That seems to be the popular "go to" opinion here.

I'm done with the Dis. I cannot go into my vacation with all of this negativity about the place I'm so happy to FINALLY get a chance to visit.
Enjoy being bitter people with nothing better to do than complain about an amusement park. Happy Easter to all.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Maybe Disney is just a horrible, greedy, callous corporation that is bent on ruining everyone's lives. That seems to be the popular "go to" opinion here.

I don't see anyone taking it that far

 

[BigAlsGal]

For me it's not that it's a problem, it just illustrates incredibly poor planning on their part and poor show in trying to get guests to change their plans rather than appropriately increasing staffing to rectify the situation. I would politely say no to them and move on with my life, but I would also still think it was poor customer service on their part.

Everyone is so sure it's a staffing problem. Why can't it just be that they know the Magic Kingdom is going to be swamped for Easter time and are trying to avoid chaos?

Even if they hired an extra 1000 people to man the parks that's not going to make the crowd any smaller or prevent them from reaching capacity and turning away the overflow.

 

[ffdmom]

Everything a business does is based on "quarters" though, right? And last year, Easter was in the 4th quarter? So, if new folks came in and didn't think about the fact that the decisions made about staffing, hours, etc. for the 3rd quarter last year will not carry over to this year due to Easter being in the 3rd instead of 4th quarters, I can see it being a really big oversight.
I'm not saying I'm right. I'm just saying it isn't that outrageous of an idea to me.
Maybe Disney is just a horrible, greedy, callous corporation that is bent on ruining everyone's lives. That seems to be the popular "go to" opinion here.

I'm done with the Dis. I cannot go into my vacation with all of this negativity about the place I'm so happy to FINALLY get a chance to visit.
Enjoy being bitter people with nothing better to do than complain about an amusement park. Happy Easter to all.

Seriously...I hope you have a magical Disney vacation and a very happy Easter!!

 

[Angel Ariel]

Everyone is so sure it's a staffing problem. Why can't it just be that they know the Magic Kingdom is going to be swamped for Easter time and are trying to avoid chaos?

Even if they hired an extra 1000 people to man the parks that's not going to make the crowd any smaller or prevent them from reaching capacity and turning away the overflow.

There are quite a few threads about the cutbacks, with very reliable sources within those threads. It's not really conjecture that they've been cutting back on staff, from what I have read in those threads.

And as someone pointed out earlier, no hiring more people won't make the crowd smaller BUT if they aren't properly staffed for capacity crowds, then the attractions may not be running at full capacity as they normally do during high capacity times, which will make the lines even longer than they are usually are during capacity-reaching crowd times. So yes, properly staffing the park for capacity crowds would have a visible impact on the guests who are in the park that day.

 

[mom2rtk]

For the LIFE of me, I cannot figure out why they lifted the blackout dates on FL resident passes over the Easter break. All of a sudden people with tickets they bought knowing full well they would be blacked out for these dates are now able to go into the system and gobble up fastpasses. Meanwhile Disney is paying people to call other customers who bought tickets they knew would be good over Easter to try to get them to change their long ago planned fastpasses.

Can ANYONE help me explain this?

 

[Slapshot1188]

For the LIFE of me, I cannot figure out why they lifted the blackout dates on FL resident passes over the Easter break. All of a sudden people with tickets they bought knowing full well they would be blacked out for these dates are now able to go into the system and gobble up fastpasses. Meanwhile Disney is paying people to call other customers who bought tickets they knew would be good over Easter to try to get them to change their long ago planned fastpasses.

Can ANYONE help me explain this?

I think their onsite hotel bookings were down for Easter Week. When I tried to look up some prices for a last minute trip for a friend who had relatives visiting (about 10 days ago) I was shocked to see that there were not only lots of rooms, but also discounted ones for Passholders (and Residents). I just checked now and it looks like much of that inventory is now gone, although there are still some discounted rooms it's mostly sold out.

 

[wisblue]

In January, Universal announced a third day free offer on its 2 day tickets. I think that was announced a couple of days after Disney announced its Florida resident ticket offers for 2016. That special is good on tickets purchased until some time in April and has to be used before the end of May and there are no blackout dates.

Disney may have removed the blackout dates on the Florida resident 3 and 4 day tickets in response to that. It sounds to me like it might be a simple case of the two companies jousting with each other.