Hours question?

[DaveO]

I am wondering what folks thoughts are on the PR aspect of the hours. Would it be better for Disney to set seasonal hours a year in advance say summer/spring 9-9 and fall/winter 9-6 and adjust up if attendance was there? Also should they publish that Epcot FW is open 9-9 but that UoE,Land, Sea, WoL close at 6/7. Like Universal does with thier opening during slow times and alny a few attractions are open at 9. Not the reverse.

It seems that since the 25th anniversary where nightly entertainment was daily even during off season has become the expectation - It was not before - Night time entertainment was rare during off season.

Is time to re set expectations back to pre stock market bubble days? And I mean from a PR perspective NOT that the park should be open till 3 am .....

Dave O.

Go Howard Dean !!!!

 

[Demosthenes]

When I was a kid, we went exclusively during off-season (does anyone remember when October wasn't crowded? I do!) Anyway, during our many trips to WDW over the years, MK closed regularly at dusk (around 6:00 pm). If the MSEP was shown at all, it was shown on Saturdays, and since our passport days were wasted on Saturdays (always a travel day for our family), we never saw the nighttime shows. The only place this wasn't true was at Epcot; it seems like there has always been a parade or fireworks show there. The first one I remember seeing was a nighttime parade with giant floats from each of the different World Showcase countries on our first trip to Epcot. Wasn’t there also some sort of hang-glider/parachuting show at night before illuminations (or maybe during the day)? Anyway, back in the day, we never saw nighttime shows. That is one vast improvement since the “Disney Decade.” At least 2x every week there are fireworks or Spectromagic at MK, and every night there is Fantasmic at least once and, of course, Illuminations nightly.

Now that the cat is out of the bag on extended hours (compared to pre-Eisner) and added nighttime shows and entertainment, it will be awfully tough to reel that back in. The unfortunate result is the closure of attractions to make up for added operating costs for extra hours. Still, I’d rather give up COP and Timekeeper for the day, or the Land, the Living Seas, Universe of Energy and Wonders of Life for two hours than to give up nighttime shows and extended hours. I think the way it is done now during the off season is exactly how it should be. Back in the day, I missed out on a lot of the benefits that the summer crowd got to partake of, and nothing has changed; well, nothing has changed except the quality of attractions I have to choose from now (Spectro and FITS) are superior to the attractions I had to partake of then (COP and American Journeys).

As for posting hours, I think they should post expected hours 1 year in advance, and them change them as bookings fluctuate. I also think it is better to say that the park is open from 9:00-9:00 and then close certain attractions than it is to say it is open from 9:00-7:00 when certain attractions do remain open.

 

[KNWVIKING]

I think once they officially post the hours,they should never decrease them as people are making plans based on what they read. However, I think they should also post a disclaimer stating that park hours could increase without notice to handle unexpected crowds. I know I would never be pissed to find out at check-in that X park was going to be open an extra hour or two.