Evening Magic Hours for Deluxe Guests Only

[NuJoy]

I’ve noticed and been saying for years that Disney promotes itself as child friendly; but the secret is, that in practice, they make many aspects punitive to families with children.

 

[JakeAZ]

I’ve noticed and been saying for years that Disney promotes itself as child friendly; but the secret is, that in practice, they make many aspects punitive to families with children.

While I agree with this statement, it can be said of most things in life with kids. I have 2 kids, so I’m not being sarcastic.
Things like:
Flying
Driving
Restaurants
Leaving the house
Putting on shoes

Again, I agree with you. Just thought I’d have some fun.

 

[ChipnDale79]

While I agree with this statement, it can be said of most things in life with kids. I have 2 kids, so I’m not being sarcastic.
Things like:
Flying
Driving
Restaurants
Leaving the house
Putting on shoes

Again, I agree with you. Just thought I’d have some fun.

I have 2..Everything is more expensive lol.

my brother in-law and sister in law make great money and dont have kids, they drop money at nice restaurants like its nothing, and ask if we wanna go with them..."um, no, i dont think we're going to do that tonight" lol.

A simple meal at a local place, nothing fancy is easy $50 without getting drinks or desert. It aint easy.

 

[bluezy]

While I agree with this statement, it can be said of most things in life with kids. I have 2 kids, so I’m not being sarcastic.
Things like:
Flying
Driving
Restaurants
Leaving the house
Putting on shoes

Again, I agree with you. Just thought I’d have some fun.

Totally agree. We have 5 kids. Doing anything isn't cheap. We always drive to Disney (1,000 miles) because my husband hates to fly (he does it for business but prefers not to for personal vacations) and we actually enjoy road trips. However, even 20 years ago when we first started going to Disney with the kids, the cheapest flights we could find were about $250/person. And that didn't include gas for the 1 hour drive to the airport or the parking fee for the car for the week. And it wasn't like we could ask a friend to drop us off at the airport with all those people. Driving never cost us more than $600 total for hotels and gas. Now that our kids are all grown (the youngest is 16) and 3 of them don't even live in this house any more (and one of the 2 who do is *never* home), we can afford to do more things. We go out to eat at least 3 times a week (often with no kids because one isn't home and the other one doesn't like to go out to eat very often) -- I think we're making up for lost time. Our kids keep saying, "You guys go out to eat way more often now than you did when we were kids!!!" Um yeah....when you guys all lived at home it would cost us almost $100 to go out to eat...even picking up pizza was usually a $40-50 endeavor. Not to mention it would take an hour just to get ready to leave...you know, the whole "where are my shoes???" thing along with "I don't want to sit in the back. I sat in the back last time!!!" It's a lot cheaper (and easier) to do ANYTHING when there are only 2 or 3 people.

 

[Tigger's ally]

I have 2..Everything is more expensive lol.

my brother in-law and sister in law make great money and dont have kids, they drop money at nice restaurants like its nothing, and ask if we wanna go with them..."um, no, i dont think we're going to do that tonight" lol.

A simple meal at a local place, nothing fancy is easy $50 without getting drinks or desert. It aint easy.

We had 3 kids with twin boys that are 6'5" and 6'3 and were athletes. We stayed value and my daughter slept in a roll away. We always drove from Illinois and did what we could to save money. Now all are grown and the yearly trips turned into two a year now where we take the whole famdamily on one and me and my wife go for a long weekend just as the old couple we are growing to be. I have changed jobs and make a lot more than I used too and our trips reflect that. It is nothing for me to drop $900 on our first night for dinner and drinks at the Boathouse now. Back then, that was our food budget for 4 days!. We stay deluxe or DVC now and enjoy it. We take my lone lil now 5 year old grandtinker and still fall in love with the place through her eyes. Our trips cost us between 8 and 10 grand a year now and I would have laughed at that figure back then.

Bottom line is that Disney is for everybody, you just have to appreciate what you can do and can't do. If you can't go every year, save and enjoy it every other. If you can't stay Deluxe or Mod, stay value. If you have to stay offsite, then do it. If you need to carry food into the park then carry food into the park.

Last year we spent 3 days at Pop and AoA because my grandtinker wanted too. We enjoyed it. It brought back great memories. We could totally do a whole week again there (just not all in the same room because we are bigger now).

 

[mercuryvenus]

I’ve noticed and been saying for years that Disney promotes itself as child friendly; but the secret is, that in practice, they make many aspects punitive to families with children.

It’s not about being punitive to families with children; it’s the fact that Disney is expensive. If you can afford it, going with or without kids is no problem. The added expense of a kid isn’t an issue if you have the money to do a Disney trip.

Is it fair that Disney is expensive? I guess not, but life isn’t fair. Disney has never been cheap.

 

[ATL Gator]

Let's say the Extra Magic Hours for Deluxe guests covers most days in the week during busy times (like Thanksgiving) once they unveil the calendar and parks that are involved. From a strategy standpoint, with a Parkhopper, should I choose the park that has the EMH for a specific day or a different park and hop over after 2? What if I hop over after 2 and they say the park is at capacity because every other Deluxe guest is doing the same thing? Will I not be able to take advantage of the perk??

 

[cakebaker]

Let's say the Extra Magic Hours for Deluxe guests covers most days in the week during busy times (like Thanksgiving) once they unveil the calendar and parks that are involved. From a strategy standpoint, with a Parkhopper, should I choose the park that has the EMH for a specific day or a different park and hop over after 2? What if I hop over after 2 and they say the park is at capacity because every other Deluxe guest is doing the same thing? Will I not be able to take advantage of the perk??

Traditional thinking is you avoid any park that has EMH's. If you're eligible to use EMH, hop to that park right before they begin.

As always, if a park is at capacity, you won't be allowed to enter. If they using their protocols for closure, resort guests will be one of the last denied entry, but it rarely happens so unless we're talking Christmas Day ( and they won't have EMH on Christmas day or any big Holiday anyway) it's nothing I'd worry about.

 

[sndral]

I’ve noticed and been saying for years that Disney promotes itself as child friendly; but the secret is, that in practice, they make many aspects punitive to families with children.

Punitive? I don’t think Disney is punishing anyone. They have been and continue to make operational changes to how they operate the parks and resorts. Those changes may negatively impact some individuals more than others depending on preferred touring style, group composition, and budget.
I live on the west coast, early morning EMHs @ WDW weren’t for me because I wasn’t keen on getting up at 3 a.m. my time on vacation. I never thought Disney was ‘punishing’ me for living in a different time zone.
When we had youngsters we couldn’t enjoy late EMH hours because the kids couldn’t stay up long enough, I didn’t think Disney was punishing me, though, I just figured sometimes making sacrifices were part of the being a parent deal.
When I was tucking money away to pay for my offspring’s college and my own retirement I couldn‘t afford to visit WDW as often as I would have liked and when I visited I could only ‘afford’ to stay in moderate resorts, that was a choice I made, bus only access and other ‘less thans’ at my resort were an ok trade off for me. Likewise, I chose to save money by not dinning often at pricier restaurants. It never crossed my mind to feel like I was being punished.
Currently AP holders not staying on site - thus many locals - can only reserve 3 park days at a time, is Disney punishing them?
In the past folks not staying onsite could only make FPs 30 days out - was Disney punishing them?
Where some see a stick, I see Disney dangling carrots to reward those who choose to stay onsite, and now w/ the deluxe evening EMH, to reward those who stay onsite in deluxe accommodations.

 

[mercuryvenus]

Let's say the Extra Magic Hours for Deluxe guests covers most days in the week during busy times (like Thanksgiving) once they unveil the calendar and parks that are involved. From a strategy standpoint, with a Parkhopper, should I choose the park that has the EMH for a specific day or a different park and hop over after 2? What if I hop over after 2 and they say the park is at capacity because every other Deluxe guest is doing the same thing? Will I not be able to take advantage of the perk??

No park is going to reach capacity purely due to Deluxe resort guests.

 

[sndral]

Let's say the Extra Magic Hours for Deluxe guests covers most days in the week during busy times (like Thanksgiving) once they unveil the calendar and parks that are involved. From a strategy standpoint, with a Parkhopper, should I choose the park that has the EMH for a specific day or a different park and hop over after 2? What if I hop over after 2 and they say the park is at capacity because every other Deluxe guest is doing the same thing? Will I not be able to take advantage of the perk??

Traditional thinking is you avoid any park that has EMH's. If you're eligible to use EMH, hop to that park right before they begin.

As always, if a park is at capacity, you won't be allowed to enter. If they using their protocols for closure, resort guests will be one of the last denied entry, but it rarely happens so unless we're talking Christmas Day ( and they won't have EMH on Christmas day or any big Holiday anyway) it's nothing I'd worry about.

On deluxe EMH nights once the park closes for general entry wouldn’t you be able to hop in since there aren’t enough deluxe guests to hit capacity? It wouldn’t necessarily be entry at 2 pm if there were capacity closures, but wouldn’t entry for deluxe guests open up at whatever time the park officially closes?

 

[cakebaker]

On deluxe EMH nights once the park closes for general entry wouldn’t you be able to hop in since there aren’t enough deluxe guests to hit capacity?

I would think so, I was talking about hopping before the event starts.

 

[kbelle8995]

At prices they are charging at the deluxe they have to offer them something beyond location. Let's face Disney now has Four Seasons and the Waldorf Astoria on their property. Both of these hotels offer a more luxury experience than what the deluxe Disney hotels offer.

Do I wish they would offer this to ap holders? Yep but I'm not surprised they are offering it to Deluxe

 

[focusondisney]

Let's say the Extra Magic Hours for Deluxe guests covers most days in the week

I don’t expect this to include most days of the week anytime of the year. personally I’m expecting 1 night a week per park if we’re lucky.

 

[sndral]

I don’t expect this to include most days of the week anytime of the year. personally I’m expecting 1 night a week per park if we’re lucky.

Yep, I’m hoping that during our 10 night early Dec. stay we get 1 late MK EMH night (the parties will take a lot of nights,) & 1 or maybe 2 Epcot/DHS nights.

 

[Farro]

I don’t expect this to include most days of the week anytime of the year. personally I’m expecting 1 night a week per park if we’re lucky.

Guest Services said it will be 2 nights a week. I was speaking with them Monday about something else. Take it for what it's worth!

 

[motherof5]

wonder if deluxe would be all dvc owners. DVC owners don't get any of the promo's offered so it would be nice to get something.

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

wonder if deluxe would be all dvc owners. DVC owners don't get any of the promo's offered so it would be nice to get something.

It's being offered to guests staying at Deluxe Resorts and Deluxe Villas Resorts, so yes, it includes DVC and those renting DVC.

 

[Jrb1979]

It's being offered to guests staying at Deluxe Resorts and Deluxe Villas Resorts, so yes, it includes DVC and those renting DVC.

It also now includes the Swan and Dolphin.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1416045585971490819

 

[mercuryvenus]

It also now includes the Swan and Dolphin.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1416045585971490819

Oh phew! We’re going in November and are staying at Riviera. My parents were late additions to the group and booked at Swan & Dolphin because Riviera had no availability. I was worried they would be excluded from the park access the rest of us will have, so I’m really glad to see this.