Is This a Sign Of Things To Come?

[Hikergirl]

Some of the dates fall on Spring Break for northeast schools so crowd levels may be high those days anyway.

 

[JimmyV]

MK closes at 11 on a Thursday in a non-peak period. Were Thursday hours different last year? How many hours have been cut at MK compared to Thursdays in April and May last year? Does the fact that Easter was later last year make a difference in those hours? With Easter so early this year, mid to late April is not a peak time for 2016. Early to mid May is generally never a peak time.

Last year, Easter was on April 5. Starting 15 days after that, Monday, April 20, the MK weekday hours were:

M: 9-midnight
T: 9-midnight
W: 9-11
Th: 9-midnight
F: 9-1:00 am

This year, starting 15 days after Easter, (April 11) the weekday hours are:

M: 9-midnight
T: 9-11
W: 9-11
Th: 9-11
F: 9-midnight

So there has been a decrease of 3 evening hours this year. And they added back those 3 evening hours in the form of a $149 hard ticket event on Thursday, April 14.

 

[MlWinans]

I'll be honest, I think this is a great idea. EMH are not every single morning and neither is this event. I cannot see any reason this will effect EMH at all, and in fact this gives you an opportunity to be in the park with even less people if that is a wish of yours. Maybe I am missing something but as long as this is an optional upgrade to EMH with no effect on standard EHM mornings; I hope similar options open for the other parks. And incorporating the breakfast with Characters would put it over the top as well.

Here are some of the details again:
Rising with the sun on select mornings, Disney Early Morning Magic gives you the chance to be among the first to enter Magic Kingdom park and experience a trio of Fantasyland attractions:

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Peter Pan’s Flight.

Plus, in addition to the early-morning fun, you can get your fill of a fantastic continental breakfast at Pinocchio Village Haus—featuring such scrumptious breakfast fare as:

• Chilled juices, coffee and teas
• Seasonal fruit and berries
• Freshly baked pastries
• Cheese and cured meats
• Scrambled eggs with assorted toppings
• Vegetable frittata
• Smoked bacon
• Pork and turkey sausages
• Fried potatoes with caramelized onions
• Mickey Waffles

Available with the purchase of a separate ticket, Disney Early Morning Magic takes place on select dates from 7:45 AM to 10:00 AM. However, admission is limited—be sure to buy your tickets before it’s too late!

Admission to Disney Early Morning Magic is available $69 per adult and $49 per child (tax not included).

 

[ellie05]

I get it. You are upset. I think it is a little unfair to refer to the people who are trying to remain objective on this thread as "Disney Apologists". WE all know that there are things that have changed in the parks in the past 5 years. For the good and not so good. I have not forgotten the New Fantasy Land, all of the additions at DS, and the additions to come in AK and DHS, and I know what we have lost as well. I think that there comes a time to ask if you have just decided that you can gain a value from your vacation and begrudge the amount you spend, it may be time to move to another destination.

I am not being snippy, I do think that for many, especially those who go frequently, Disney does not offer enough change between visits. I also think that there are a lot of extras that are available for a price, and that can offend people. I saw a woman post on another forum that she thought that if she, a resort guest, was not allowed to enter these event, she was losing. How? But she felt disenfranchised. I think that when one reaches that point, perhaps there is more than a dessert party or an early park event that is troubling you

Who said I haven't moved on to other destinations or that Disney was ever our only destination? We will be in Disney in April because MIL and FIL want to go, but in June we will be taking a 3 week vacation abroad. Other years we might have cut our vacation to 2 weeks and added an extra week in Disney, but not anymore. We have a trip coming in fall because my best friend wants to go and we have offer to go with him before all this changes came and then another trip coming next April because it is DH goddaughter first trip and again we had already made that commitment. After we are done with our AP we won't be renwing it and we will probably take a long break from WDW there is an amazing world out there to see and we will never limit ourselves just to WDW.

We have never been offended by extras being offer from a price in fact if you see from my signature we have gone and paid for many "extras" in the past we have done parties, special F&W events and most recently we did the merry and bright dessert party. I was exited about club villian addition and really hope they still offer it in our sept or oct trip even with the new increase $30.

People in this thread think people are just upset about this one addition and it is not just this is the combination of things. It is not secret that Disney is cutting staff, hours and characters in order to finance the oversea parks, that is the reality.

I think it is clear the turn that we have seen in these boards even by the video above that people are getting tired of all this nickle and diming Disney has been doing.

 

[alh2011]

I just wonder what this means for those of us who already have pre opening BOG reservations? Will they change to pre park packages? Or will we just not be able to ride anything before park opens? (Which is fine with me). I have 805 ADR in July and care nothing about riding SDMT or PP. I just like missing the RD stampede.

 

[ellie05]

MK closes at 11 on a Thursday in a non-peak period. Were Thursday hours different last year? How many hours have been cut at MK compared to Thursdays in April and May last year? Does the fact that Easter was later last year make a difference in those hours? With Easter so early this year, mid to late April is not a peak time for 2016. Early to mid May is generally never a peak time.

I believe that @JimmyV did a comparison in hours.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Did you switch your MK day? I am thinking of doing that but the only day I can switch it with would be a Saturday so not sure What to do. Saturday may be busier all day but according to the crowd chart it is the same as the Thursday would have been per after hours so......

We had planned on going in the late afternoon - to be honest I'm so scattered with the trip that I can't remember what we're doing in the morning! We have other MK days planned - it's closer to the end of our trip - but it doesn't make sense to go there after an afternoon break. I feel like it would be like going during the overlap time on a party day. It shouldn't be too tough to switch things around and go another evening, hopefully!

I would like to know the dates of the Morning Thing, just so I can know what to expect and if I want to re-shuffle!

Tough call for you, I would say. It seems like Saturday would be more crowded overall, but if you arrive later in the day, maybe not?

 

[Praying Colonel]

I just wonder what this means for those of us who already have pre opening BOG reservations? Will they change to pre park packages? Or will we just not be able to ride anything before park opens? (Which is fine with me). I have 805 ADR in July and care nothing about riding SDMT or PP. I just like missing the RD stampede.

My speculation is that you'll still be able to eat at BOG but won't be able to ride 7DMT until the RD crowd arrives. Maybe they'll let you wait at the front of the standby line ahead of the RD crowd so you're effectively the 1st RD guest to ride standby. And maybe not. But I'd bet a Mickey Bar that you'll not be permitted to get an early 7DMT ride if it's on a morning where they're having a paid event.

 

[ajfd]

Last year, Easter was on April 5. Starting 15 days after that, Monday, April 20, the MK weekday hours were:

For the period 7 days after the Sunday after Easter Monday, MK hours are as follows:

         2014             2015              2016
S 27     9a - 11p(1a)  12     9a - 11p      3     9a - 11p    
M 28     9a - 11p      13     9a - 12a      4     9a - 12a    
T 29     9a - 10p      14     9a - 12a      5     9a - 12a    
W 30     9a - 11p      15     9a - 11p      6     9a - 11p(1a)    
R  1 (8a)9a - 11p      16 (8a)9a - 12a      7     9a - 11p
F  2     9a - 11p      17     9a - 12a      8 (8a)9a - 12a
S  3     9a - 11p      18     8a - 12a(2a)  9     9a - 12a

        100                107                  105

Note that even with the reduction of 2 hours from 2015, this week is still 5 hours greater than 2014.

EDIT: And if you are wondering: 2013 was 101 hours. It was the same schedule as 2014 with a 1 hour later close on Tuesday.

 

[JimmyV]

For the period 7 days after the Sunday after Easter Monday, MK hours are as follows:

...

The period of time that I used was the week where the After Hours event commences. I'm not sure that April 3-9 of this year tells us much about what is going on.

 

[ajfd]

The period of time that I used was the week where the After Hours event commences. I'm not sure that April 3-9 of this year tells us much about what is going on.

If that is the case, let's looks at the first full week in May (Sunday to Saturday) for the last few years.

2016 - 5/1 - 102
2015 - 5/3 - 107
2014 - 5/4 - 105
2013 - 5/5 -  98
2012 - 5/6 -  97

Read into that what you will.

 

[JimmyV]

2016 - 5/1 - 102
2015 - 5/3 - 107
Read into that what you will.

Looks pretty similar to to the week when After Hours commences. I think that with overhead costs, it is unlikely that Park Operations will be given the green light to boost total employee hours. So I think that the increase in park hours resulting from the hard ticket events will have to be offset elsewhere.

 

[horse11]

EVERYONE NEEDS TO SEE THIS

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=434428566763757

OMG!!! That is great!!!!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

To this argument, all days but Thursdays (and maybe Sundays) are irrelevant. The argument was that Disney put a paid event on these Thursdays when in the past they would have extended hours for the general public, and they did so by cutting hours based on last year's schedule. Thursday hours didn't change all that much and are actually an hour longer for some of the May Thursdays while being an shorter on some of the April Thursdays. Now if they had put this event on Saturdays, it would be a different thing. There's definitely lower weekend hours. But on a Thursday, MK would have been closed after 11 for the most part.

Of course it is still going to be argued that they are paying for staffing the Thursdays by slashing the Fridays and Saturdays.

 

[PetePanMan]

the evening event won't affect crowds the morning one is a problem for rope drop, but still, it'll be better to go at rope drop for 7DMT .

I think the evening event may affect crowds as evening special ticket holders can enter park at 7pm

 

[yulilin3]

I think the evening event may affect crowds as evening special ticket holders can enter park at 7pm

I think the majority of people buying this would've bought a regular day ticket to MK, thus not affecting the crowds since they would've already been there

 

[horse11]

I think the majority of people buying this would've bought a regular day ticket to MK, thus not affecting the crowds since they would've already been there

I sure hope you are right. Time well tell

 

[alh2011]

My speculation is that you'll still be able to eat at BOG but won't be able to ride 7DMT until the RD crowd arrives. Maybe they'll let you wait at the front of the standby line ahead of the RD crowd so you're effectively the 1st RD guest to ride standby. And maybe not. But I'd bet a Mickey Bar that you'll not be permitted to get an early 7DMT ride if it's on a morning where they're having a paid event.

Thanks for your input. That's fine with me because I'm not interested in riding SDMT this time.

 

[::danielle::]

I want to commend everyone for having a civil disagreement. It's refreshing to see people present their opinions without name calling and below-the-belt attacks.

 

[horse11]

Wondering if they will add a morning package like this to Epcot when Frozen officially opens or when Star Wars opens at DHS. I can imagine that eventually people will be waiting at the phone to call and book this. I bet Disney is regreting putting as much info about the new activities at AK so soon because they could have definitely monopolized on that. Maybe there is something in the making and that is why we are not hearing any additional info. Time will tell if this is just the start of what will be Disney's future