The standard default times of MK are not 9-7. Otherwise anything is possible.
Daylight Savings, when it typically gets dark by 6 PM? I'm not trying to spin anything, hence the "as far as I know" disclaimer.
I think to help keep their resorts filled.
Yes. Not creating or scheduling additional something isn't the cut people are claiming it to be. If last year there was one Jimmy Buffett concert scheduled at Fenway Park and then another one was added, and this year one Jimmy Buffett concert is scheduled at Fenway Park and another one isn't added, that doesn't mean the venue cut the number of concerts. It means they didn't add any.
I have. During the "slow" winter months MK was closed at 7PM.
I get that. But I wouldn't call that normal or standard operating hours. I wouldn't even plan a trip to WDW if those were the hours. I've been to WDW quite a bit, I've never had a day when MK was closed before 10 (except for a party).
Daylight Savings time *starts* in spring (this year in March), to extend the evening daylight time during the summer. It ends in November. It's light a lot later than 6pm right now and it is going to stay light later and later in the day until the summer solstice.
I thought that I made it very clear that the future dates are based on projections and that I will update what Touring Plans actually observes after the month is over. So yes, the end of the story has not yet been written. However, in analyzing the past 4 years, the only significant additions to EMHs have been around the Easter holiday. At all other times, EMHs have gone off like clockwork according to a predictable schedule. Since Easter has already passed, if past performance is any indicator, there will be no unscheduled additions in April 2016. And when you factor in that Disney opted not to add unscheduled EMHs around the Easter holiday when Touring Plans observed crowd levels of 9s and 10s, it seems inconceivable that Disney is going to spring any additional EMHs on us when the crowd levels at the MK are predicted to be in the 3-7 range for the entire month of April. We are going to be there when the next "big" wave of Spring Breaks occur later this month (when much of the Northeast, (or at least New England) have their vacations), and the crowd calendar is showing 4s and 5s for the MK. I have no expectation of any additional EMHs then. That said, I concede that the final chapter can only be written as past history, and I am going to do that. But if you are holding your breath in hopes that enough additional EMHs are bestowed upon the guests such that 2016 starts to look more like 2012 or 2013, you will be holding your breath until you are as blue as Stitch.
This is why I have done an "apples to apples" comparison looking only at March/April from 2012 forward. These months are busy months that always include Easter and always include Spring Breaks. But since those events shift from year to year, it is proper to include in the analysis the entirety of that period, from 3/1-4/30. I did not include slower times when the parks close earlier. It may be 100% accurate that EMHs from 8:00-10:00 are not unusual in slower months. But I am looking only at the Easter/Spring Break slice. Since 2012, there has only been one time when EMHs ran from 8:00-10:00 and that was this year. So in looking at that slice of time, yes, it was unusual. Unprecedented, actually. If you would like to do a study that shows the evolution of EMHs in January, or September, or some other slow time when the MK closes at 7:00 or 8:00, you are welcome to do so. Get yourself a subscription to TP and look at the "What We Observed" data. It goes back a full decade and can be zoomed in to any day you want. But please don't try to import data from a slow day in January into my analysis of March/April. If this discussion is going to have any meaning at all, and the results are going to have any legitimacy, then we have to look at "like" data and not outliers.
Plenty of days MK closes at 9; several days this year they scheduled and ultimate closing was 8; yes, the base operating hours are 9 AM to 7 PM.
Revenue maybe, but many DVC guests don't visit parks.
I agree it's not a good example - but as far as I know, not having been to either in years, Six Flags and Canobie Lake don't extend hours or add days or anything comparable.
Until JimmyV researched his detailed analysis, everybody has focused on AprilAprilApril.
I don't know where you live, but I live in the central time zone. It sure isn't dark here by 6pm, so I KNOW it isn't dark by 7pm in Orlando. Daylight Savings just started and doesn't end until November.
I always went during that time frame, the hours were "normal" for me. I understand they are not "normal" for most seasons. I was simply adding trying to point out that while you may not have been familiar with these hours they were in place.
