Disney World Buries Its Controversial $149 After Hours Experiment

[Maistre Gracey]

I would like to add my 2 cents' worth here. I actually went to the After Hours event on May 12 and I paid the full price for my daughter and myself. I felt that based on what everything else costed on this trip, $149 was not really that excessive. It was something new and I thought it would be fun to try it.
We arrived at the park around 7pm, although we had park hopper tickets with our package. After the fireworks the park emptied out pretty quickly. It was exciting to walk around trying to spot people with the lanyards. We started riding a little before 11pm and we were able to ride everything we wanted to, and some things we didn't before the event ended. We took some time to eat Mickey bars and take photos. The Photo Pass photographers were plentiful in front of the castle and we were able to get some beautiful shots minus other people. It did seem that there might have been more people at the May 12th event than I've seen from earlier events, but there were no lines for any attraction. Everything was a walk-on, even the Princess and Anna/Elsa meet and greet, as well as 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. The only wait we had for the whole night as to meet Mickey on the way out, but I think everyone there had the same idea. It was probably 10 minutes in line. We had the option to stay on several attractions. We had our own boat on Splash Mountain. These are all experiences that seem to be extinct as of late with increasing crowds. There are even lines at Extra Magic Hours.
Walking around that park with no crowds was a truly magical experience that I have never had before. Most of the people I talked to that night were more hard-core Disney fans, which made the whole event a lot of fun. If this event returns, I would recommend it to anyone that can swing the ticket price. I'm not really sure if this event was a failure or not. No one really knows for sure what the ticket limit was or how many tickets were sold. I hope Disney keeps this event, but not as a replacement to Extra Magic Hours, and I hope that they keep the low attendance limits. I believe that if Disney keeps this event, they will be selling it out soon. It seemed like many guests were not aware of this event, and as people attend then go home and tell others how wonderful it is, the event would begin selling out. If the After Hours event does not return, I am glad that I was able to attend during its limited engagement.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, but the event was definitely a failure. If it was a success, they would not have ended it.
Question is, if they sold the maximum tickets what would the crowds be like? Would it be just as magical??

MG

 

[kelleybean]

I would like to add my 2 cents' worth here. I actually went to the After Hours event on May 12 and I paid the full price for my daughter and myself. I felt that based on what everything else costed on this trip, $149 was not really that excessive. It was something new and I thought it would be fun to try it.
We arrived at the park around 7pm, although we had park hopper tickets with our package. After the fireworks the park emptied out pretty quickly. It was exciting to walk around trying to spot people with the lanyards. We started riding a little before 11pm and we were able to ride everything we wanted to, and some things we didn't before the event ended. We took some time to eat Mickey bars and take photos. The Photo Pass photographers were plentiful in front of the castle and we were able to get some beautiful shots minus other people. It did seem that there might have been more people at the May 12th event than I've seen from earlier events, but there were no lines for any attraction. Everything was a walk-on, even the Princess and Anna/Elsa meet and greet, as well as 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. The only wait we had for the whole night as to meet Mickey on the way out, but I think everyone there had the same idea. It was probably 10 minutes in line. We had the option to stay on several attractions. We had our own boat on Splash Mountain. These are all experiences that seem to be extinct as of late with increasing crowds. There are even lines at Extra Magic Hours.
Walking around that park with no crowds was a truly magical experience that I have never had before. Most of the people I talked to that night were more hard-core Disney fans, which made the whole event a lot of fun. If this event returns, I would recommend it to anyone that can swing the ticket price. I'm not really sure if this event was a failure or not. No one really knows for sure what the ticket limit was or how many tickets were sold. I hope Disney keeps this event, but not as a replacement to Extra Magic Hours, and I hope that they keep the low attendance limits. I believe that if Disney keeps this event, they will be selling it out soon. It seemed like many guests were not aware of this event, and as people attend then go home and tell others how wonderful it is, the event would begin selling out. If the After Hours event does not return, I am glad that I was able to attend during its limited engagement.

I agree with you. We went on the 5th and really enjoyed it. If we visit MK, we'd looking at buying one day tickets so while expensive the pricing didn't seem too out of line for us. It was SO nice being about to tour stress free ... no crowds and happy staff. My 8 year old is still talking about it. The only thing that I wish was that they had had some kind of parade. We love the parades but hate having to stake out a spot so early to get a good view.

I do understand why others might not see the value in it and also why they'd want it to fail because of fears of losing regular hours to events like this. It worked for us because we don't buy multi-day tickets. We were even saying that we wish that something similar would be offered in the other parks because we'd consider it. Having guaranteed low crowds was huge for us.

 

[cel_disney]

If that's the case, then why did they as @HopperFan show us lower the price rather than do a marketing blitz?

A marketing blitz takes coordination across multiple groups and someone to put the campaign together - and if there are no more nights to market, what would they do? They would have needed to kick this off prior to the first night...nevermind prior to the last...

Did you all notice the insanity of them hyping CV (first time!) on the parks blog with only 3 shows to go - ridiculous!

 

[JimmyV]

DAH = 3 exclusive hours with 4 attractions/HR = $144 add in Mickey Bars/Soda and 3-4 hours before getting in and $150 is a steal!

There are a lot of ways to skin this cat - but I think that the price point still makes sense for a sizeable portion of the population who are short trip visitors (they just aren't all here on the dis and needed to be advertised too!)

Sure, there are lots of different ways to get to a bottom line. But I have one arrow in my quiver that you don't. And that is that people are eating up the Special Parties like Villains at $129 and they stayed away from DAH in astounding fashion. Real world experience counts here, and the empirical experience as opposed to supposition shows that $149 didn't work. So I stand by my calculus.

 

[cel_disney]

Sure, there are lots of different ways to get to a bottom line. But I have one arrow in my quiver that you don't. And that is that people are eating up the Special Parties like Villains at $129 and they stayed away from DAH in astounding fashion. Real world experience counts here, and the empirical experience as opposed to supposition shows that $149 didn't work. So I stand by my calculus.

You can stand by your calculus all you want. CV is also ending in May..last show is Saturday. I don't think that helps your empirical experience...(and I don't see how much of this thread is anything but supposition on all counts?)

btw - CV also had a CM/DVC/AP discount for MarcH/April/May for the late show to ring the price down the $99. We still attended the full priced show. It fit our schedule better and $120 (4 tickets) were not enough savings to live with the impact.

DAH was offered for free to DVC members when we were there but as much as we wanted to do it - we couldn't because we had early scheduled months in advance an early morning. But,on this April trip, I was not the traveler who woukd use this perk.

 

[Hikergirl]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, but the event was definitely a failure. If it was a success, they would not have ended it.
Question is, if they sold the maximum tickets what would the crowds be like? Would it be just as magical??

MG

They didn't end it mid run, they offered it for X number of nights and did in fact run it for all of those nights. We, and that includes you, have no idea if this is the end of DAH. It may be the end of the $149 price point but it may not be the end of the event. It is a wait and see game.

 

[mom2rb]

I paid $94.00 for the Star Wars opening night and after party at DS. It was DH's decision to go. We took our boys and made it part of their Christmas present. I was worried for months that it wouldn't be worth it and that I would be upset that I wasted money on it. It ended up being a great time. That being said, I never even considered paying $150.00x4 for the after hours at MK. It just didn't seem to be a good value. Even at the half price for DVC. The crowds thin out late at night anyway, so we would be better off just going on another night that is open late.

 

[mom2rb]

Sorry, double post.

 

[mcgurran71]

We did the earLy morning magic at MK just 3 days ago and it was totally worth it. Rode Mine Train 7 times, Pooh twice, and Peter Pan twice. Also took lots of pictures with no one around and never felt rushed. We enjoyed breakfast and then once the park opened we rode Small World, Haunted Mansion, and splash mountain with walk-on - 10 min wait times. It's was perfect. I only wish they offered the night time one while we were here. I would totally pay full price to have the park with such limited people in it. Also I would be paying for 3 adults so yeah it wouldn't be cheap, but totally worth it for us

 

[cel_disney]

I paid $94.00 for the Star Wars opening night and after party at DS. It was DH's decision to go. We took our boys and made it part of their Christmas present. I was worried for months that it wouldn't be worth it and that I would be upset that I wasted money on it. It ended up being a great time. That being said, I never even considered paying $150.00x4 for the after hours at MK. It just didn't seem to be a good value. Even at the half price for DVC. The crowds thin out late at night anyway, so we would be better off just going on another night that is open late.

You may be right but there are fewer 'late nights' on the current schedule. I wonder if the will make it an Add-On instead of a stand alone ticket? Back to E-Nights at a higher price tag of ....$79.95 ...

 

[tlmadden73]

We did the earLy morning magic at MK just 3 days ago and it was totally worth it. Rode Mine Train 7 times, Pooh twice, and Peter Pan twice. Also took lots of pictures with no one around and never felt rushed. We enjoyed breakfast and then once the park opened we rode Small World, Haunted Mansion, and splash mountain with walk-on - 10 min wait times. It's was perfect. I only wish they offered the night time one while we were here. I would totally pay full price to have the park with such limited people in it. Also I would be paying for 3 adults so yeah it wouldn't be cheap, but totally worth it for us

This ..

I think the Early Morning Magic will have more appeal and has a better price point and thus will be the way they go. It simply will be more popular/desirable.

AND they can easily expand this to the other parks ... pick three rides, give people a breakfast and BAM .. they can have these at every park nearly every morning.

 

[HuskieJohn]

This is something I don't understand. If you think there's value in a one-day ($105) ticket in the October where the park is open 9-8 (11 hours) and water cost 3 bucks and ice cream about the same, when you get three or four FPs -- but even then there's a bit of a wait and the rest of the time you're fighting lines and crowds, then why is the value so far off for an event that cost $149, you get eight hours, free water and ice cream and for the last three hours virtually everything you want to do is a walk-on? A good touring plan and using one set of magic bands gets most people about a ride an hour on average. This easily doubles that if not triples it during the last three hours. And you can still get FPs for the time before the park empties.

And even on the nights where the park is open 9-10, that's 13 crowded hours. But most people don't go from rope drop to kiss goodnight -- I would imagine most people hover around 6-8 hours in the park anyway. So why is the extra 40 bucks for free ice cream and drinks such an giant leap in terms of value?

I'm not trying to start an argument, but some have been so vehement about the cost being excessive, but once you break down the experience versus the cost, it's not seemed so out of control to me.

If you average 1 ride per hour that is not a "good" touring plan.

I agree though the cost is not super nuts and it could be worth it for those who don't like to plan their day to a strict touring plan.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

This ..

I think the Early Morning Magic will have more appeal and has a better price point and thus will be the way they go. It simply will be more popular/desirable.

AND they can easily expand this to the other parks ... pick three rides, give people a breakfast and BAM .. they can have these at every park nearly every morning.

Exactly!

 

[JohnDaleswife]

I still think that the Early Magic Mornings may replace EMH in the distance future, no time soon though. Roper droppers will not be walking into empty parks most days. Look at park hopping, used to be included, now it's an up charge.

 

[whiporee]

Sure, there are lots of different ways to get to a bottom line. But I have one arrow in my quiver that you don't. And that is that people are eating up the Special Parties like Villains at $129 and they stayed away from DAH in astounding fashion. Real world experience counts here, and the empirical experience as opposed to supposition shows that $149 didn't work. So I stand by my calculus.

But don't you have to give some consideration to the absolute dearth of publicity this thing was given? This was a new event at a new time, and Disney did very, very little to publicize it. In addition, it just sort of appeared out of nowhere. Had they announced it and planned it -- and allowed visitors the chance to know what it was and know what special benefits it offered -- attendance may have been much higher.

That's my bet for next year. Maybe even later this summer like late July/august, when the crowds drop a bit.

 

[AngiTN]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, but the event was definitely a failure. If it was a success, they would not have ended it.
Question is, if they sold the maximum tickets what would the crowds be like? Would it be just as magical??

MG

Yes, there were dates where all tickets were distributed, either by sales or by giving away. It was still very magical and just as few guests in the parks.
I discussed it with a Guest Services rep while we were there and they told me (yeah, I know) that 1500 tickets were all they were offering, per night.

 

[AngiTN]

But don't you have to give some consideration to the absolute dearth of publicity this thing was given? This was a new event at a new time, and Disney did very, very little to publicize it. In addition, it just sort of appeared out of nowhere. Had they announced it and planned it -- and allowed visitors the chance to know what it was and know what special benefits it offered -- attendance may have been much higher.

That's my bet for next year. Maybe even later this summer like late July/august, when the crowds drop a bit.

If you remember, it was leaked and Disney did not give it the announcement they intended. What that was exactly, no idea. No idea if they went on and announced the other things that were planned or what. But I think that did play in to the dismal job they did with publicity.

Maybe the person who leaked it was the person who developed it and everyone else wanted it to fail so they didn't do anything to help once the leak was made. Just guessing, grasping at straws. Because to create the event and pay the staff to run it and then not do a thing to sell it makes no sense.

 

[bnhonest]

I'm of the opinion that Disney should offer hard ticket events throughout the the year. Special parades, special fireworks...make em big and elaborate and outside the scope of what they do every night. Throw in some extra rare character M&Gs. Slap a price tag on it of $100 per. Run em 2 and a half months at a time, 2 or 3 nights per week. Call em Mickeys Ice capades, Mickeys spring time fair, Mickey Celebrates America Parade, MNSSHP, MVMCP. You give people enough reasons to go, you keep all party guest happy and people won't complain about the price.

I think part of the failure is people asking what they get for their extra money. So give em more.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I'm of the opinion that Disney should offer hard ticket events throughout the the year. Special parades, special fireworks...make em big and elaborate and outside the scope of what they do every night. Throw in some extra rare character M&Gs. Slap a price tag on it of $100 per. Run em 2 and a half months at a time, 2 or 3 nights per week. Call em Mickeys Ice capades, Mickeys spring time fair, Mickey Celebrates America Parade, MNSSHP, MVMCP. You give people enough reasons to go, you keep all party guest happy and people won't complain about the price.

I think part of the failure is people asking what they get for their extra money. So give em more.

Here's my problem with that, I'm already paying an inflated cost to go to Disney World, I'm not paying for a Walmart experience. I expect good things with my park ticket, and i expect Disney to go over the top, because, well, that's what sets them a part from everyone else.

The more hard tickets, the more extra special events added, the more it cheapens the regular plain vanilla ticket price.

 

[whiporee]

Here's my problem with that, I'm already paying an inflated cost to go to Disney World, I'm not paying for a Walmart experience. I expect good things with my park ticket, and i expect Disney to go over the top, because, well, that's what sets them a part from everyone else.

The more hard tickets, the more extra special events added, the more it cheapens the regular plain vanilla ticket price.

I dont mean to be flippant, but as many have pointed out on this thread, the 7-day ticket average price is about $52. That's a better deal than almost any other park in the states. While we all would like to get more for our money, what you get for that 52 bucks is a lot. Good theming, parades, shows, rides, fireworks are all part of that 52 dollar, 13 hour or so ticket. The park is cleaner than other places, the employees are over than other places and it's just prettier than other places. And if you look at it from a 52 dollar ticket -- which many have insisted we do -- it's a solid, almost exceptional value.

If you take history out of it and just look objectively at what WDW offers compared to other parks -- not its own nostalgia-tinted past -- then I find it hard to say WDW needs to do anything more than they do.

So I disagree with your premise that it's an inflated price for a vanilla ticket. I don't think it is when you look at it comparatively with the rest of the theme park universe.