Disney's Reducing the Value of staying on property

[Disneylover99]

We never use emh's, so value stays the same for me.

 

[tlmadden73]

I've always said that this is probably the sole reason for a reduction in EMH that so many complain about.
The reason folks like EMH is it's sparsely attended.
Something sparsely attended tells Disney "this is not all that popular".
Why would they want to offer something that appears not all that popular?

And what guests to attend them only makes that park more crowded for that day, which is why I don't attend them.

Exactly.

It probably costs a lot of money to open up the park an hour early with all the cast members ready to man the rides and shops.
But how many resort guests really attend them? So . .yes. Is it worth them to do that .. especially if EMH doesn't even mean that much to resort guests (meaning they are choosing to stay on resort for other reasons).

On my last trip, my MK day lined up with morning EMH. I insisted that my family and my in-laws get up early to get there.
My sister-in-law's family said 'no way' to getting up early and got there about 9:30 AM or so for our first Fast Pass (Belle).

I just couldn't fathom them not wanting to take advantage of such an empty time in the park, but they wanted to sleep in and not worry about getting their two toddler girls (2 and 4) ready before 7:00 AM .

 

[whiporee]

1) There's no evidence -- none at all -- that EMHs are going away. It's not uncommon for them to be posted late, and it's only June. Getting rid of them would be a major change in resort strategy and would be announced long ahead of time for people booking.

2) That's party season, so the actual number of days where they can have PM EMHs are much more limited. It's also colder, so PM EMHs tend to not be as desirable. My experience has been that night EMHs usually are announced later than AM ones, and that time of year they are announced even later.

3) If you need to plan, plan for what you know rather than what you hope. Nothing will let you book FPs or ADRs for hours that haven't been announced yet, so work with the hours you have.

4) if you don't see the value of staying onsite ...

5) And, just a thought, anyone might end up with a happier trip if they don't go into assuming Disney is trying to diminish their experience. If the loss of those EMHs is going to make someone down about their trip, they might want to reconsider it.

 

[Coconut8473]

We generally travel during off-peak times, so not sure it's different during peak travel dates, but (while I love the option to stay out a little later and enjoy the parks) in recent years I haven't found EMH to be much less crowded or convenient than regular nightime hours. In fact, our last couple of trips we intentionally scheduled our afternoon/evenings at parks that DIDN'T have EMH, for smaller crowds.

 

[dachsie]

I typically like the morning EMH. I don't always do the late ones. I didn't do any late ones this last trip 2 weeks ago.

 

[Klayfish]

I have no clue if EMH is going away. I've never even done one, as I've never stayed on property. For me it's not incentive enough. If I really want it, they offer something like it where I can buy early entry to a park...they don't do it every day, but often enough. Some very good points in this thread though. I wonder if in some way EMH hurts them, as it costs money to open the park and leads to larger crowds even early in the day. I'd be curious if there's a correlation to this and the number of complaints lodged at GR of that park (i.e. people who don't plan come in and complain about wait times)?

I love timadden73's idea of an extra FP+ as an incentive. I probably still wouldn't take the bait, but I can definitely see it being a huge perk.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Really you cannot count on the park hours not changing and shifted around.

The fall will tell what the Fall hours end.up being.

AKK

 

[loves to dive]

As others have already said, the hours are always a fluid situation, they have been known to change them a day or two before. Someone else said to make your plans around what you already know is available and I agree. You know the regular park hours, plan for those and anything else is a bonus. I've always stayed on site, way back when the only on site resorts were the MK deluxe resorts. If I remember correctly, and I could be wrong, back then the only perks were you were guaranteed entry into the parks even if they closed because they were full. No EMH, no free dining, you got WDW transportation, which was the monorail. Sometimes, we do EMH, sometimes not, it just depends on our mood. Sometimes we use 3 FPs, sometimes we use one, again just depends on our mood. For us, the perk of staying on site is you are on site anything else is gravy.

 

[AngiTN]

We stay onsite and that decision has never been made due to EMH, we normally avoid those EMH if we can. The times of year we have gone, the parks weren't open late enough to make the evening hours worth it, there were still lots of crowds. Mornings of just 1 hour are not worth getting up for, we just do RD at another park.

Would taking away EMH altogether make a difference to the "avoid EMH" strategy? Maybe...big enough to matter? Who knows...

@tlmadden73 has a great suggestion, heck yes I would love to have an extra FP over EMH, scheduled or not.

Yes, if they were to eliminate EMH then I do think it would change attendance trends.
But, like others have posted, I don't believe EMH is going anywhere.
Reduced, maybe but not eliminated.

 

[karm12]

I personally love the evening EMH. I get so much done during that time!

 

[shh]

For us, evening EMH is #1 reason we're staying onsite. Longer FP windows are nice, but we've been so many times, there's nothing we "have" to get on. We drive, so don't use WDW transport and we're buying an AP this year, so parking is free. But we visit during early/mid Dec and love seeing MK at night. With parties shutting out non-ticket holders 4 nights/week, not many MK nights are left. Just Sat, and we're not there on Sat this year.

If MK somehow ends up w/o any regular night hours or evening EMH Mon or Wed, we'll be bummed big time.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

I am going to go out on a limb and say yes: If there are no longer EMH...any strategies about using/avoiding EMH will change.

Exactly. I always avoided the EMH parks. Now whatever park you go into will likely be crowded because there won't be anything to draw people to an EMH park. So just because a person doesnt utilize EMH, doesn't mean the lack of those hours in the future won't effect them.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Exactly. I always avoided the EMH parks. Now whatever park you go into will likely be crowded because there won't be anything to draw people to an EMH park. So just because a person doesnt utilize EMH, doesn't mean the lack of those hours in the future won't effect them.

Agreed. We like emh since they pull the guests and make one or two crowded parks. We go to the lower crowd parks. We'd miss them.

 

[CAS239]

I thought this thread was going to be about Disney lowering the price to stay at the Disney resorts and got excited for a second.

Guess it's still staying offsite for us lol.

 

[capegirl]

We are going in July so I am expecting some last minute surprises. However, if you have a PPO ADR, EMH changes can really mess with your plans. Fingers crossed that EMH days remain 'as is' for July.

 

[shanethesaint88]

Personally that isnt any value for staying on property for me. The value is in being in the Disney bubble. Not seeing your car for 7 days, not seeing the "real world" all week, everything you do is themed to Disney for better or for worse. When i eat im not eating at mcdonalds or wendys like i am at home. Im eating at the disneys food court..again for better or for worse. Everything i do is through Disney. And thats the value for me. When i worked there last year i went to the parks almost everyday, but it wasnt the same. Because afterwards i had to drive back to my apartment or the next day i had to go to work. Thats when i really realized the value of a Disney vacation. And until they take that away their will always be immense value in staying on property

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

I tend to avoid the morning EMH parks, so it is no big deal for my family. We do well by going to a non-EMH park for a 9am opening on most days. I do like the occasional evening EMH at MK though

 

[warrenz1963]

There is a slow, deliberate shift to premium experiences/upcharge experiences, to make Disney resorts more of a luxury brand. I bet they are making room for more of the Early Morning Magic upcharge by removing EMH days.

 

[IrishNYC]

We love taking advantage of morning EMH, but as DD gets older, I see that shifting to taking advantage of evening EMH, or even both. They're an incentive to staying on site, along with transportation, and the dining plan. My opinion of the dining plan advantage might change once DD is a Disney adult, but for now it's a good deal for our family.

I know I'm in the huge minority, but I like staying off property. Fits our life much better. I certainly understand why Disney would give incentives to stay on property, but sometimes I feel like they treat us like red-headed step children. I still pay a lot of money for my park tickets and any souvenirs or snacks we buy inside.

And so do people staying on property.

On my last trip, my MK day lined up with morning EMH. I insisted that my family and my in-laws get up early to get there.
My sister-in-law's family said 'no way' to getting up early and got there about 9:30 AM or so for our first Fast Pass (Belle).

I just couldn't fathom them not wanting to take advantage of such an empty time in the park, but they wanted to sleep in and not worry about getting their two toddler girls (2 and 4) ready before 7:00 AM .

I would have gone ahead of them. We do that often when we vacation with someone that doesn't move at the same pace as us, regardless of where we are.

 

[LilyWDW]

I see no loss in value of the Disney resorts... but then again, I never did EMH except once and that was more of a "well, it fits and works well in the schedule" sort of situation (EMH MK before heading to Epcot for Food and Wine goodness).