New MK Paid Disney After Hours Event Announced

[ENJDisneyFan]

"By purchasing a ticket to Disney After Hours, you can make the most of a truly magical occasion when Magic Kingdom park lets you in for the last few hours of the day… and then stays open for 3 extra hours at night, just for Guests of the event!"

Sounds like you will get early park access during regular hours....plus the 3 hours

 

[mom2rtk]

To put my views into perspective, let me explain what a group of UO Fans (Orlando Informer) are doing for a meet up in May. This event includes full Dinner, Unlimited Butterbeer and Ice Cream, A Private viewing area for Cinematic Spectacular and three hours in Diagon Alley for $124 plus sales tax. If I was on vacation then, I would pay for a chance to meet fellow theme park fans and the other benefits listed. To me, it's an experience that I can't do at home (no Mouse Meet in Baltimore/DC).

For $150 with WDW, this is basically an attempt to allow the public to have a corporate event experience. I won't spend the $150 for this event and I don't think the newbie fan or even 99% of us hardcore fans will spend this. Maybe there will be an extensive value where it includes food and drink, but I doubt it. This is going to fail in such a way they will have to either give tickets away to this or give a massive discount for it day of. Even Club Villain is at a similar price to the OI meet up and includes food.

From your post it sounds like you are a solo traveler. I think the calculus on this is a lot different when you are part of a larger group. (Considering the price, I'm going to consider anything 2 or greater to be a "larger" group!)

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

The May dates give you 4 additional hours, actually, since the Extra hours are 11pm-2am.

This is not nearly as bad a deal as I'd thought.

 

[winterwhite]

Excellent, a hard closing event.

"Please note that Magic Kingdom park will officially close to Guests who haven’t purchased Disney After Hours tickets at 10:00 PM on April 28 and May 5, 2016; and at 11:00 PM on April 14 and 21, and May 8, 12 and 19, 2016."

We have APs so the early entry doesn't matter but they're doing the same thing they do for parties - 7pm entry for 10 or 11 close. That's actually a pretty good value for $150, and no silly parade.

I'm calling just to make sure our favorite rides are included and then I'm in.

 

[Jennasis]

Excellent, a hard closing event.

"Please note that Magic Kingdom park will officially close to Guests who haven’t purchased Disney After Hours tickets at 10:00 PM on April 28 and May 5, 2016; and at 11:00 PM on April 14 and 21, and May 8, 12 and 19, 2016."

We have APs so the early entry doesn't matter but they're doing the same thing they do for parties - 7pm entry for 10 or 11 close. That's actually a pretty good value for $150, and no silly parade.

I'm calling just to make sure our favorite rides are included and then I'm in.

The Halloween party is a hard close event too.and we've seen how they've had issues with clearing teh park.

 

[Hezzy04]

I'm glad they aren't closing the park early. My only concern is that it will be busier than usual after 7. However, since our plans are set, we will just deal with it!

 

[Jennasis]

So $150 for NO special shows or parades...free Mickey bars and bottle of Coke...oh and you can buy Starbucks and Caseys???

THAT IS INSANITY.

I blame Disapalooza. Disney clearly got wind that fans of the DIS were willing to pay extra for that event which included free ice cream and use of Diagon Alley for a few hours for an event and thought they could do it too.

 

[mom2rtk]

So much for the free booze and meals!

 

[keaster]

The fact that this includes entry before park close plus the extra hours means people will definitely pay for this (much like the halloween and christmas parties). I'm sad though because it means the end of free (or included) EMH for those who stay on site.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I double checked and I believe the price is actually $50 not $100, but still.

As you said, but still...Doubling the price without adding anything to the experience was just poor show imo.

 

[winterwhite]

So much for the free booze and meals!

People were saying that's what they WANTED, not what it was going to include.

$150 for 7 hours is not that bad. Not everyone wants special shows.

 

[Jennasis]

'Scuse me...$150 + tax.

 

[Angel Ariel]

People were saying that's what they WANTED, not what it was going to include.

$150 for 7 hours is not that bad. Not everyone wants special shows.

150 for 7 hrs isn't bad? Parties at MK have been appx $70 for 8 hrs in the park, and those DO have special shows and entertainment. How in the world is a shorter event, with no extra entertainment, worth double what a party costs? There's no way I can eat or drink that additional $80 in ice cream and bottled drinks...

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

150 for 7 hrs isn't bad? Parties at MK have been appx $70 for 8 hrs in the park, and those DO have special shows and entertainment. How in the world is a shorter event, with no extra entertainment, worth double what a party costs? There's no way I can eat or drink that additional $80 in ice cream and bottled drinks...

I mean, it depends on what the cap is. Those parties are CROWDED. If the park is going to be a lot emptier, I can see that being fun.

 

[Lirael]

This is so ridiculous. Christmas and Halloween parties have been (previous years) cheaper than this but with actual special entertainment.

The sad thing is, this will likely not bomb. I mean, we alreayd have people in this thread saying they think it's good value and might purchase a ticket.

 

[winterwhite]

150 for 7 hrs isn't bad? Parties at MK have been appx $70 for 8 hrs in the park, and those DO have special shows and entertainment. How in the world is a shorter event, with no extra entertainment, worth double what a party costs? There's no way I can eat or drink that additional $80 in ice cream and bottled drinks...

Because those aren't available outside of Sept to end of Dec so it has no comparison to something that's going to be available in April and May.

I'm not moving my vacation to take advantage of a cheaper party?

Meanwhile, I am hopeful that the increased price means they are selling 1/3 fewer tickets than they would sell for the massively overcrowded and not worth it halloween and xmas parties. After all, the revenue would be the same, without the cost of staging the parade + show that I don't care about.

 

[VillainFavs]

So a ticket for a regular day is, what now, $110 and that's for 13 hours? 9:00 am to 10 pm? And EVERYTHING is open. Or I can pay $150 for 7 hours. And only SOME things are open. Oh, but I get a Mickey bar and a bottle of soda?

 

[VillainFavs]

Oh, and they say a "limited" number of tickets. Yep, Christmas and Halloween parties are limited too. They never say limited to WHAT.

 

[DisDadDVC]

So a ticket for a regular day is, what now, $110 and that's for 13 hours? 9:00 am to 10 pm? And EVERYTHING is open. Or I can pay $150 for 7 hours. And only SOME things are open. Oh, but I get a Mickey bar and a bottle of soda?

Well, and about 20% of the crowds. I'd rather pay $150 and be there with 5,000 people for 7 hours than $110 and 25,000 people for 13 hrs.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Because those aren't available outside of Sept to end of Dec so it has no comparison to something that's going to be available in April and May.

I'm not sure how it being in april or may makes it worth *double* the party cost, even if it is more limited in attendance.

I wouldn't be surprised if the reason they haven't released MNSSHP info yet is due to this. If these sell out, I would expect to see party prices increase dramatically.