Not sure $149 Disney After Hrs event is doing well... (ETA: reviews in 1st post)

[Lesverts]

This is were I hate myself. I was against this idea at first, now its like, here's my money if there are dates in June.

 

[opus1guy]

This reminds me of those wonderful private party nights at Disneyland back in the 60's and 70's, where companies would rent the park for a night. Most all attractions open and all rides walk-ons. Best of all are the sights and sounds of a near empty park at night. You really pick up on a lot of stuff you never noticed before. Magical.

Hope the low Guest count holds up for mine in May. Looking forward to it.

 

[Planogirl]

I can't help but think of the inexpensive late nights at MK that were much the same. Times change...

I do agree that the low crowds might pull them in. If Disney keeps the crowds low then good for those who go.

 

[SweetBelle]

Just left. There was no wait for any ride. Often the castmates asked if you wanted to stay and go again vs walking back through the queue. You got to pick any "row" or seat you wanted. It seemed like no one was there! It was awesome. I would pay the fee for this experience again. The only thing I would do differently is take a break. I've been in the parks since 11:30 am and I'm tired......just not as young as I used to be....

 

[scrapquitler]

Guess I gotta disagree! I was in the MK and saw the huge number of party guests lined up in the entire area to await 4pm.
It was huge and kind of scarey!
It is human nature to take advantage of opportunities presented. If the DAH is touted as 10pm to 1am, but then they say you can get into the MK at 7pm, I feel most of them will get to the park for 7pm opening. Every comment I've read on DAH reflects this attitude of arriving when they can to take advantage of extra hours before the main event!
So, I do believe that these events will impact the regular park guests. Time will tell. I am watching this with everyone else to see what really happens.

I arrived around 8:30, and had dinner, then started riding shortly after 9. I can't imagine that those of us with the event tickets had a huge impact on the crowds, as even Space Mountain had a 10 minute wait at around 10:30, and all the other rides I rode before 11 were the same way. so it wasn't like the huge crowd was overwhelming the ride lines during the regular park hours.

 

[scrapquitler]

Just followed those tweets. Looks like there might have been some yucky weather for tonights event. May not get a true idea of how it affected crowd levels.

It rained a bit here and there. It was never a heavy rain. I think that impact was minimal.

 

[scrapquitler]

Stopped in to check if anyone else was looking at the line wait times on the app and if they're accurate. Only 3k tickets? Wow, wonder if that's true.

7 dwarfs was walk on at 11:30 when I rode it. Everything else was all night, too. I had a whole rocket to myself on Space mountain and I was the only rider on Astroorbiter at 1:15. I rode BTMRR 4 times without getting off. I don't know how many tickets it was, but the park seemed really empty

 

[scrapquitler]

Reports are the park is empty rides are a walk on I wonder if they are also running empty buses back to the hotels.

When I left the park around 2:15 they were directing everyone to the first set of bus spots, and asking each group of people where they were going. Then they put people on buses based on that. I was the only person on the bus to Pop.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

I wonder if Disney will keep doing this in the long run? I guess they will need to weigh the revenue brought in from the tickets vs. the lost revenue from food, souvenirs if they keep the park open for an extra 3 hours for the general public.

 

[Nancyg56]

Okay, this sounds fun! Honestly, if this was a special event with my self and my DGD I think I would pay.

I think about the tours and the extras that are available, my DS and DDIL are going on the WIld Africa Trek. My DD and DSIL and DGD are dining with an Imagineer. Maybe this is no different. THe one special thing you do on a trip.

 

[tinkerbella16]

I just can't justify $149 for this. If they lowered the cost some, it would be a better deal. It is twice the price of the parties and you get more out of those.. and the MVMCP's I've been to, I have walked on most, if not all of the rides too.

I wonder if this will even go into the Fall, with all of the parties they are having this year (MNSSHP and MVMCP).

 

[BudgieMama]

@scrapquitler - did you go on your own or with friends/family? I'm definitely tempted, but I wouldn't be able to convince DH to do it too, so wondering what it was like solo!

 

[VillainFavs]

Sounds great--but at $600 for my family, just can't justify it.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

I just can't justify $149 for this. If they lowered the cost some, it would be a better deal.

That would defeat the whole point of this. The point is NOT to make this available to the masses.

 

[Nancyg56]

That would defeat the whole point of this. The point is NOT to make this available to the masses.

Exactly. If it was the same cost as a party there would be more people and we are right back where we started from!

 

[jknc]

Attractions mag tweeted best guess was there were 1000 people in the park. I'm no math expert but how much money are we thinking they lost last night?

 

[bbjunkie]

Yep, it sounds as if

1). It was fantastic,
2). People will buy up these tickets after seeing the reviews,
3). $149 is the price sweet-spot; just expensive enough to keep it exclusive, just cheap enough that people will pay it.
4). The amount of tickets had no impact on the regular day-guests in the park from 7:00-close.

As I thought, probably well thought-out; a genius move.

 

[Nancyg56]

Attractions mag tweeted best guess was there were 1000 people in the park. I'm no math expert but how much money are we thinking they lost last night?

I'm not sure they will consider that a loss. A lot of folks (myself included) on this forum alone wnet from hoping that the whole thing was a flop, or that they would not even consider this, to saying that they have a different opinion forming. Perhaps last night was not a success from a financially POV, but as an investment into further "events" I bet you a buck it was spot on.

 

[jknc]

I'm not sure they will consider that a loss. A lot of folks (myself included) on this forum alone wnet from hoping that the whole thing was a flop, or that they would not even consider this, to saying that they have a different opinion forming. Perhaps last night was not a success from a financially POV, but as an investment into further "events" I bet you a buck it was spot on.

No business will continue to sell a product that they lose money on every time someone buys it.

So are we to say the price for the event will go up?

 

[VillainFavs]

My guess is as word gets out about how empty the park was, more people will be willing to pay the price and Disney will sell more tickets. And the park will no longer be empty...

Isn't that what happened with the parties?