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Lake Buena Vista, FL
Disney Facing Lawsuit Over Park Hours
Since its opening in 1971, crowds have flocked to the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida. The original Magic Kingdom's success has been legendary, and has spawned three other parks, two water parks, campgrounds, hotels, and nighttime entertainment complexes.
But all is not well in the land of Mickey. A number of locals and out-of-state tourists have joined forces to file a class action suit against The Walt Disney Company, with an issue that many in the industry say is the first of its kind.
In papers filed yesterday morning, the members of the proposed class have argued that despite the massive expansion of the parks, the significant increases in nighttime entertainment, shopping, and dining, and the leveling off of crowds, that the Company has yet to address an important issue: park hours.
Since the 1970s, many visitors to the parks have enjoyed lengthy hours between opening and closing in Mickey's kingdom. During the summer hours, tourists could expect openings around 7:00 a.m. or earlier, and closings as late as 2:00 a.m.
But now, the company has reacted to the building boom in the 1990s, and the events of September 11, 2001, to decrease the hours that the park is open, starting back in 2000 or earlier.
"We recognized in 1999 that an event like September 11 could cripple our tourist numbers, and so we took a proactive measure by cutting the hours we stay open a teensy weensy bit for the benefit and enjoyment of our guests," stated Polly Tishen, public relations director for the Orlando division.
But the citizens group behind the request for class certification says that this was the wrong move. Rose C. Glasses, head of CARLH (Citizens Against Ridiculously Long Hours), and a member of the local Visitors' Welcome Association, an association of retailers in and around the Orlando area said recently at a news conference that long time visitors, locals and out-of-towners alike, are fed up with these moves.
"Disney needs to recognize that this is a huge, sprawling resort, with tons of things to do outside of the parks. These long hours are killing the average tourist, who ends up tired, grumbling, and grumpy, and they go back telling their friends and families that the place is just too big. This hurts our repeat business. These hours are ridiculous, and need to be cut back."
She has a simple proposal to shorten the hours year-round, or at least shorten the summer hours. "How hard would it be to shorten the hours greatly during the off-season, cut back somewhat less during the summer, but make summer season only between July 1 through July 5th? That way people could see what they want to see, and then head out and enjoy the other parts of what the WDW resort has to offer."
She had other ideas on increasing guest enjoyment. "Make every park consisent. Most guests are confused and can't figure out which park opens when, so make every park open and close at the same time, say from around noon to about five o'clock."
Glasses argued that with FastPass, Disney's patented and revolutionary line-avoidance concept, five hours is about all that is needed to see most of the parks. "Most guests are here for five or six days, anyway, and it only takes about 30 hours or so to ride every single attraction since they introduced FastPass."
Glasses hopes that this lawsuit can bring national attention to this very important problem. "I hope to make the Disney Company aware that its decision to keep hours relatively long is hurting the average visitor's ability to enjoy themselves. Hopefully, one day, we will see a resort where there are ten or more parks on site, each only open four or five hours a day. That would be magical!"
Disney Facing Lawsuit Over Park Hours
Since its opening in 1971, crowds have flocked to the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida. The original Magic Kingdom's success has been legendary, and has spawned three other parks, two water parks, campgrounds, hotels, and nighttime entertainment complexes.
But all is not well in the land of Mickey. A number of locals and out-of-state tourists have joined forces to file a class action suit against The Walt Disney Company, with an issue that many in the industry say is the first of its kind.
In papers filed yesterday morning, the members of the proposed class have argued that despite the massive expansion of the parks, the significant increases in nighttime entertainment, shopping, and dining, and the leveling off of crowds, that the Company has yet to address an important issue: park hours.
Since the 1970s, many visitors to the parks have enjoyed lengthy hours between opening and closing in Mickey's kingdom. During the summer hours, tourists could expect openings around 7:00 a.m. or earlier, and closings as late as 2:00 a.m.
But now, the company has reacted to the building boom in the 1990s, and the events of September 11, 2001, to decrease the hours that the park is open, starting back in 2000 or earlier.
"We recognized in 1999 that an event like September 11 could cripple our tourist numbers, and so we took a proactive measure by cutting the hours we stay open a teensy weensy bit for the benefit and enjoyment of our guests," stated Polly Tishen, public relations director for the Orlando division.
But the citizens group behind the request for class certification says that this was the wrong move. Rose C. Glasses, head of CARLH (Citizens Against Ridiculously Long Hours), and a member of the local Visitors' Welcome Association, an association of retailers in and around the Orlando area said recently at a news conference that long time visitors, locals and out-of-towners alike, are fed up with these moves.
"Disney needs to recognize that this is a huge, sprawling resort, with tons of things to do outside of the parks. These long hours are killing the average tourist, who ends up tired, grumbling, and grumpy, and they go back telling their friends and families that the place is just too big. This hurts our repeat business. These hours are ridiculous, and need to be cut back."
She has a simple proposal to shorten the hours year-round, or at least shorten the summer hours. "How hard would it be to shorten the hours greatly during the off-season, cut back somewhat less during the summer, but make summer season only between July 1 through July 5th? That way people could see what they want to see, and then head out and enjoy the other parts of what the WDW resort has to offer."
She had other ideas on increasing guest enjoyment. "Make every park consisent. Most guests are confused and can't figure out which park opens when, so make every park open and close at the same time, say from around noon to about five o'clock."
Glasses argued that with FastPass, Disney's patented and revolutionary line-avoidance concept, five hours is about all that is needed to see most of the parks. "Most guests are here for five or six days, anyway, and it only takes about 30 hours or so to ride every single attraction since they introduced FastPass."
Glasses hopes that this lawsuit can bring national attention to this very important problem. "I hope to make the Disney Company aware that its decision to keep hours relatively long is hurting the average visitor's ability to enjoy themselves. Hopefully, one day, we will see a resort where there are ten or more parks on site, each only open four or five hours a day. That would be magical!"
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