News Round Up 2019

[rteetz]

Between stuff like this, the CL FP purchase, the rumor of more FP purchases in the future... I think I'd be a tad cranky if I was a local or staying offsite and had to work with the 30-day FP window...

Though if I was staying offsite I’d look at hotels that have these perks instead.

 

[rteetz]

 

[dolewhipdreams]

News

Bollywood experience coming to AK

https://wdwnt.com/2019/03/bollywood...oming-to-disneys-animal-kingdom-on-march-3rd/

How long has that stage been there? I saw it on my trip in January and I thought "hmmm I don't know if I've ever noticed that before."

 

[rteetz]

How long has that stage been there? I saw it on my trip in January and I thought "hmmm I don't know if I've ever noticed that before."

It is newer.

 

[jknezek]

Mikey's Philharmagic might be going down for a refurb in May. I'm in that group of people with the early rolling fastpass window (look for the thread on TPAS if you don't know what I'm talking about), and when I went to book fastpasses for May 14, Philharmagic was unavailable along with Tomorrowland Speedway (which we already know is closed).

Considering we got stuck in there when the doors wouldn't work first to let us in, and then to let us out, at the end of January, this is probably needed.

 

[rteetz]

Photo update

Cove construction update

http://blogmickey.com/2019/03/photo...lition-begins-for-new-swan-and-dolphin-hotel/

 

[tlmadden73]

News

More offsite hotels to offer extended FP window and EMH

http://www.wdwmagic.com/resorts/wal...ours-and-extended-fastpass-booking-window.htm

Interesting.
Between these Disney Springs hotels (which I suspect may stop offering these perks in 2020) and the new Disney hotels .. exactly how much capacity does the FP system have before becoming overloaded?

Granted there are a lot of net-new attractions (or will be) .. so that frees up more Fast Passes .. but will there be so many 60-day perks that nothing will be available at 30 days except things like Dumbo or Small World or Living with the Land?

With these many rooms available to get 60-day fast passes .. even the 60-day window may be hard to get times you really want (or like we've seen with high demand attractions like SDD, FOP) .. IMPOSSIBLE to get unless you have a long (5+ days) stay on-site.

 

[FrankieWinthrop]

Between stuff like this, the CL FP purchase, the rumor of more FP purchases in the future... I think I'd be a tad cranky if I was a local or staying offsite and had to work with the 30-day FP window...

Hello. My name is Tad. Tad Cranky! We are out of state AP holders that can only afford to come to Disney more than once or twice per year by staying off property. We can get a nice condo with laundry and kitchen for 1/3 of the price of two beds and a bathroom at an All Star. (Don't get me on the "should we stay at Poly or Beach Club when we're used to the Grand Floridian?" soapbox...I don't know who in the world would pay that kind of money for two beds and a bathroom. They're definitely in a higher standard of living than us lowly folks from north Georgia). We did a throw away room last September and didn't even get any of the newer things (FOP, SLINKY, 7DMT) with that, so I haven't wasted that money since then. It's like a slap in the face for those of us who pay to come more than a once-in-a-lifetime trip (and thus buy more merch, food, etc.) but we can't ride the latest and greatest without waiting hours. Just because I have an AP doesn't mean I can waste hours of my trip in a line for a 2 minute ride. I can't book a fastpass when I find one on a random day and just show up at Disney b/c it's 8 hours away. We went for a week in February and never stepped foot in Pandora and I had to keep explaining to a 5 year old why we didn't want to wait an hour and a half for 7DMT. I think she was somewhat appeased by riding Everest 5x in a row at closing in AK, though. Ah well, I guess we rope drop with the masses and keep refreshing for FP. I do think the "value" of on property is totally irrelevant now unless you're flying in and don't want to rent a car.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Though if I was staying offsite I’d look at hotels that have these perks instead.

or I'd use the savings form staying off site to pay for hard ticket events for key/ "must do" / hard to get FP for attractions .... outside of a handful you can usually get decent FPs even at 30 days out

 

[rteetz]

or I'd use the savings form staying off site to pay for hard ticket events for key/ "must do" / hard to get FP for attractions .... outside of a handful you can usually get decent FPs even at 30 days out

That’s another good point. Especially if an AP holder some of those events have a discount.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Hello. My name is Tad. Tad Cranky! We are out of state AP holders that can only afford to come to Disney more than once or twice per year by staying off property. We can get a nice condo with laundry and kitchen for 1/3 of the price of two beds and a bathroom at an All Star. (Don't get me on the "should we stay at Poly or Beach Club when we're used to the Grand Floridian?" soapbox...I don't know who in the world would pay that kind of money for two beds and a bathroom. They're definitely in a higher standard of living than us lowly folks from north Georgia). We did a throw away room last September and didn't even get any of the newer things (FOP, SLINKY, 7DMT) with that, so I haven't wasted that money since then. It's like a slap in the face for those of us who pay to come more than a once-in-a-lifetime trip (and thus buy more merch, food, etc.) but we can't ride the latest and greatest without waiting hours. Just because I have an AP doesn't mean I can waste hours of my trip in a line for a 2 minute ride. I can't book a fastpass when I find one on a random day and just show up at Disney b/c it's 8 hours away. We went for a week in February and never stepped foot in Pandora and I had to keep explaining to a 5 year old why we didn't want to wait an hour and a half for 7DMT. I think she was somewhat appeased by riding Everest 5x in a row at closing in AK, though. Ah well, I guess we rope drop with the masses and keep refreshing for FP. I do think the "value" of on property is totally irrelevant now unless you're flying in and don't want to rent a car.

I think the more they extend these benefits and the harder it becomes to get certain FP the more value in hard ticket events

We usually stay off site as well (for similar reasons - more space for less $) and figure if we do one hard ticket event we are still saving a lot of money vs similar accommodations onsite

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Seems weird to me.

Well, sort of trendy to recognize this and an excuse to create some buzz and sell some specialty cupcakes #YesIAmCynical

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

More people will get emh?

I really do think they're trying to push people to the paid extra hours.

 

[Iowamomof4]

More people will get emh?

I really do think they're trying to push people to the paid extra hours.

One would think they would follow this up by ADDING DATES for DAH!!!! Sorry, I'm a bit salty about how slow they've been to extend that into the summer (if they're planning to).

 

[Cinderumbrella]

One would think they would follow this up by ADDING DATES for DAH!!!! Sorry, I'm a bit salty about how slow they've been to extend that into the summer (if they're planning to).

I never thought I’d see the day that I’d wish Disney would add something that costs me more. But here we are (I’m waiting for June DAH)

 

[tlmadden73]

I think the more they extend these benefits and the harder it becomes to get certain FP the more value in hard ticket events

We usually stay off site as well (for similar reasons - more space for less $) and figure if we do one hard ticket event we are still saving a lot of money vs similar accommodations onsite

It is a slimy situation if you think about it. Disney can easily make the supply of FPs go down (I mean they control how many FPs are available per day) .. which increases demand .. which increases demand for some sort of PAID Fast passes (events, etc.). Then they offer these new paid services "due to guest demand".

 

[FrankieWinthrop]

More people will get emh?

I really do think they're trying to push people to the paid extra hours.

Most definitely. I think "free" emh will become a thing of the past in the not-too-distant future. The paid stuff kills me, though. Like why would I want to pay $100 per person to ride 3 rides for two hours? I mean, 7DMT is a cute ride, but it ain't worth $300 for it and a pastry. My son turns 3 next month, so that bumps it up to $400 real quick. The night time stuff is more bang for your buck, but not when little kids can't make it to midnight. Not everyone is frugal like me, though, and as long as they keep throwing money and Disney, Disney's gonna take it any way they can get it. Can't imagine what it's going to be like when they open these paid things for SWGE. I know I'm the only person in the world who could care less about Star Wars, though. I'd take the cool REAL Disney stuff they're getting overseas (cough Beauty and the Beast ride cough) before the Star Wars stuff.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It is a slimy situation if you think about it. Disney can easily make the supply of FPs go down (I mean they control how many FPs are available per day) .. which increases demand .. which increases demand for some sort of PAID Fast passes (events, etc.). Then they offer these new paid services "due to guest demand".

always a balancing act - because they don't want to diminish the 60 day access too much as they need that to drive increase desire to stay onsite

And at least you still get some FP for free - alternative would be a paid express pass like Universal, which I know some people love, but an extra $500/day for a family is a lot ... and if they went that route I suspect so many people would get it it would either reduce the value or they would have to charge 2-3 times what Universal does

 

[Iowamomof4]

Most definitely. I think "free" emh will become a thing of the past in the not-too-distant future. The paid stuff kills me, though. Like why would I want to pay $100 per person to ride 3 rides for two hours? I mean, 7DMT is a cute ride, but it ain't worth $300 for it and a pastry. My son turns 3 next month, so that bumps it up to $400 real quick. The night time stuff is more bang for your buck, but not when little kids can't make it to midnight. Not everyone is frugal like me, though, and as long as they keep throwing money and Disney, Disney's gonna take it any way they can get it. Can't imagine what it's going to be like when they open these paid things for SWGE. I know I'm the only person in the world who could care less about Star Wars, though. I'd take the cool REAL Disney stuff they're getting overseas (cough Beauty and the Beast ride cough) before the Star Wars stuff.

As to your last point, I do think MMRR in DHS will be a fun ride, from what little they've revealed about it.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Most definitely. I think "free" emh will become a thing of the past in the not-too-distant future. The paid stuff kills me, though. Like why would I want to pay $100 per person to ride 3 rides for two hours? I mean, 7DMT is a cute ride, but it ain't worth $300 for it and a pastry. My son turns 3 next month, so that bumps it up to $400 real quick. The night time stuff is more bang for your buck, but not when little kids can't make it to midnight. Not everyone is frugal like me, though, and as long as they keep throwing money and Disney, Disney's gonna take it any way they can get it. Can't imagine what it's going to be like when they open these paid things for SWGE. I know I'm the only person in the world who could care less about Star Wars, though. I'd take the cool REAL Disney stuff they're getting overseas (cough Beauty and the Beast ride cough) before the Star Wars stuff.

I think you have to balance cost vs what you want to accomplish for it to be what you consider a positive experience. And I think more and more, to me, it is pushing it to pay for some of these extra but then shorten our trip, stay off site to save $ ... heck, once the new values open it might be stay at the Universal values and just go to the hard ticket events at Disney