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

[3smithboys]

I know this would just be speculation, but if this was to continue into the summer... when do you all think that the new dates might be announced??? Just curious on opinions....

 

[DebbieB]

I didn't realize those Pirate & Princess parties were considered failures. We went to one our first year with DVC and loved it and it seemed well attended. We may have even done 2 of them, I can't remember now. Of course the price was REASONABLE or we wouldn't have gone.

I'm betting they drop these parties after they've done all the ones already scheduled if they're not selling well. I certainly HOPE they're not considering anywhere near this high of a price for MNSSHP and MVMCP. We passed on MVMCP last November because we already felt the $75 DVC member price was too high. It was our first opportunity to go too so I was bummed. But that really adds up and we have a limited budget. Sincerely hoping we can afford to try MNSSHP in September as we heard it's better. But again, we have our limits on what we'll pay.

Maybe "failed" is a strong word but they did not continue them. If they were making big money they would have.

I really think the reason they have not announced MNSSHP & MVMCP pricing is they wanted to see how this went, to see how far they could push it.

 

[fla4fun]

If you don't ever plan on doing it, why do you hope it fails?

The feeling I get from a lot of the people who have expressed these opinions is that they assume that if the new after hours program fails, the park will go back to being open later for everyone like it used to be "in the old days" at no additional cost. Unfortunately with all the cuts, I don't have a lot of faith in that coming to pass. If the new program fails, the parks may still close at nine or ten to the general public, and we could still lose EMH eventually. I don't necessarily think the two are related.

 

[Hikergirl]

The feeling I get from a lot of the people who have expressed these opinions is that they assume that if the new after hours program fails, the park will go back to being open later for everyone like it used to be "in the old days" at no additional cost. Unfortunately with all the cuts, I don't have a lot of faith in that coming to pass. If the new program fails, the parks may still close at nine or ten to the general public, and we could still lose EMH eventually. I don't necessarily think the two are related.

I agree with you. If Disney wants to cut park hours, they are going to cut park hours, it isn't going to be contingent on whether or not these events succeed.
I also don't think they will do away with EMH completely, isn't that one of the big incentives for paying ridiculous prices for their resorts?
Maybe these events are just a way to offset the cost of opening the parks for EMH so that they can keep them for resort guests.

 

[kaytieeldr]

A few places were reporting that the number actual paid for tickets was about 300. That's pretty bad.

I suspect this will either drop in price or be cancelled altogether.

NOT necessarily. They may continue DAH immediately, or they may analyze the data and start up again in the future.

Or you may be right - all the currently scheduled events could fail and poof! No more.

A fascinating question. What we know:

• Ticket sales were below expectations, so they had to give tickets away. How many sold and how many given away? We will never know.

Not necessarily had to, but opted to.

"Free" extended hours would seem to give one a good chance of walking onto rides from midnight to 1:00 a.m.. But for $149, you are guaranteed that ability.

Well, the long-running extended hours for onsite guests do give a good chance of walking onto rides. DAH gives that potential capability to offsite guests too.

Don't drug dealers often give the first sample for free? Let's see how fast the addiction occurs??

Plenty of legitimate companies give the first sample free to entice customers. Probably even before drug dealers.

They obviously aren't going to make money by only selling a thousand tickets or so and clearly based on the reports of just how empty the park was, they can easily accommodate a higher number.

We don't know the operating cost per hour for any park, but even with low initial ticket sales, they're probably making money.

Word of mouth should increase sales.

 

[Mikie]

The feeling I get from a lot of the people who have expressed these opinions is that they assume that if the new after hours program fails, the park will go back to being open later for everyone like it used to be "in the old days" at no additional cost. Unfortunately with all the cuts, I don't have a lot of faith in that coming to pass. If the new program fails, the parks may still close at nine or ten to the general public, and we could still lose EMH eventually. I don't necessarily think the two are related.

I "liked" a post in which someone hoped for the event to fail. Not because I necessarily want it to, but because I agreed with other points in the post. Your analysis is closer to what I feel as far as rooting for success or failure. I do hope that stopping (not adding?) these events will result in simply longer hours, included in regular admission. I certainly don't ASSUME that, as I was surprised to find that hours around Easter were not extended as in the past and take it as a reminder not to assume anything.

I sort of hope DAH fails because I DO believe it isn't a stand alone new event. I really believe it is a test for something more, whether it is simply extending these into more days throughout the year, increasing party prices, charging for EMH, of expanding this idea into other parks. I don't like the cascading consequences of any of those options.

IF I am wrong and this is an isolated event, running on these dates and indicative of no further action, then great! Congrats to those who have already bought in - it looks to be a wise purchase at this point.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The Orlando Sentinel report http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trav...y-after-hours-first-event-20160415-story.html includes a variety of on-scene tweets.

 

[Jennasis]

If you don't ever plan on doing it, why do you hope it fails?

I've been dabbling in villainy.

 

[Hikergirl]

I've been dabbling in villainy.

LOL

 

[kandb]

So many, many, many people not in the 1% absolutely have the discretionary income

Obviously, many many people don't want to spend the outrageous price of $149 or else they wouldn't be giving free tickets away.

 

[Robo]

Obviously, many many people don't want to spend the outrageous price of $149 or else they wouldn't be giving free tickets away.

As has been mentioned in many posts in this thread, we don't have enough data to determine that, yet.

 

[Princess Jaz E Jaz]

Because if the goal is to get people to pay a premium to be in the parks with a limited number of tickets, they need to go whole hog and make it worthwhile by the addition of extra parades, fireworks, and other party elements. However, as a previous poster pointed out, the Pirates & Princesses parties failed to take off, so maybe my suggestion was wrong.

I think people would pay more if they were getting more. Having the extra time for rides is great but what about characters or other things you don't normally get in the Magic Kingdom.

 

[jknc]

I "liked" a post in which someone hoped for the event to fail. Not because I necessarily want it to, but because I agreed with other points in the post. Your analysis is closer to what I feel as far as rooting for success or failure. I do hope that stopping (not adding?) these events will result in simply longer hours, included in regular admission. I certainly don't ASSUME that, as I was surprised to find that hours around Easter were not extended as in the past and take it as a reminder not to assume anything.

I sort of hope DAH fails because I DO believe it isn't a stand alone new event. I really believe it is a test for something more, whether it is simply extending these into more days throughout the year, increasing party prices, charging for EMH, of expanding this idea into other parks. I don't like the cascading consequences of any of those options.

IF I am wrong and this is an isolated event, running on these dates and indicative of no further action, then great! Congrats to those who have already bought in - it looks to be a wise purchase at this point.

Having already planned our complete June trip, the DAH is a direct threat to me.

Perhaps that's why I am so snarky - and I am well aware the world doesn't revolve around me.

For some this is a great value. For me, though I can afford to attend, why would I shell out another $700 bucks for it when I have already paid $1600 for park tickets?
Its not interesting or "special" enough to warrant me to spend the money to attend.
If your situation is similar to mine and you do find value then I applaud you and hope you have a joyous time.

While its not presently scheduled to go into June, I assume it will and directly impact the 3 days we planned to go to MK (TH, SUN, TH).
So do I hope this fails miserably? Absolutely, I do.

But again, I can see why those staying off-site going 1 day this would have value.

 

[HopperFan]

I don't know. I found the comment to be kind of snippy. In this group we have a lot of folks who go often and who hit the same attractions time and again. WE pay for that, and depending on how long we stay some pay more than others, but we all pay for the ability to walk through those same gates each time and to go on those same attractions one more time. We all have our priorities when we vacation, and I know I tend to go slower now than ever, and I never was a max it out guest. For whatever reason some people find value in this, the poster you quoted was kind of out of line in my opinion. Every day Disney adults deal with those same condescending questions, while folks look down their noses because we go to the same place, one that many still think is for kids, yearly or several times a year. It's not okay.

I will say that you and I are on the same page when it comes to how Disney will use the data from these events moving forward, and depending on people's interests, their time available for vacations, and their patience for standing in lines, every one you mentioned has the potential to be a value for guests, and a success for DIsney.

OH I agree with you. It was snarky. I was trying (maybe it didn't come out right) that he answered his own question. There will be some such as him and others who can't make a value out of it but I think there will be plenty who will pay for it if they keep the numbers low and advertise it.

Me ... we are AP people and we do the fuzzy math that when we walk through the gate it costs much less therefore we can do Club Villain, Wild Africa Trek, Dining with Imagineer ............... and maybe an After Hours Event and the cost is doable.

The key here for the poster who wanted to diss those interested is my motto "No right way or wrong way" as everyone is different and has different values. I think character meals are obscenely priced but others don't. I would never pay for a monorail resort but for others it works. How we spend out budgets works for us.

And we are an ALL ADULT family ... finally .... and Disney World is better than it every was when they were little.

 

[Nancyg56]

Obviously, many many people don't want to spend the outrageous price of $149 or else they wouldn't be giving free tickets away.

Yesterday they did not. After the reports.... They probably do. I know I hae been swayed.

Having already planned our complete June trip, the DAH is a direct threat to me.

Perhaps that's why I am so snarky - and I am well aware the world doesn't revolve around me.

For some this is a great value. For me, though I can afford to attend, why would I shell out another $700 bucks for it when I have already paid $1600 for park tickets?
Its not interesting or "special" enough to warrant me to spend the money to attend.
If your situation is similar to mine and you do find value then I applaud you and hope you have a joyous time.

While its not presently scheduled to go into June, I assume it will and directly impact the 3 days we planned to go to MK (TH, SUN, TH).
So do I hope this fails miserably? Absolutely, I do.

But again, I can see why those staying off-site going 1 day this would have value.

This event was not targeted to you, and you have read that the park guests really felt no impact. I cannot understand why you begrudge those who choose to buy into this event.

OH I agree with you. It was snarky. I was trying (maybe it didn't come out right) that he answered his own question. There will be some such as him and others who can't make a value out of it but I think there will be plenty who will pay for it if they keep the numbers low and advertise it.

Me ... we are AP people and we do the fuzzy math that when we walk through the gate it costs much less therefore we can do Club Villain, Wild Africa Trek, Dining with Imagineer ............... and maybe an After Hours Event and the cost is doable.

The key here for the poster who wanted to diss those interested is my motto "No right way or wrong way" as everyone is different and has different values. I think character meals are obscenely priced but others don't. I would never pay for a monorail resort but for others it works. How we spend out budgets works for us.

And we are an ALL ADULT family ... finally .... and Disney World is better than it every was when they were little.

Yes indeed!!!!!!

 

[jknc]

This event was not targeted to you, and you have read that the park guests really felt no impact. I cannot understand why you begrudge those who choose to buy into this event.
Yes indeed!!!!!!

Edit - Ignore

 

[jknc]

I know this would just be speculation, but if this was to continue into the summer... when do you all think that the new dates might be announced??? Just curious on opinions....

The early morning event is already going through June so I would think it would be the same Thursday/Sunday nights

 

[Nancyg56]

[GALLERY=]

If extended into June, it would directly impact me 100%.

Why do you begrudge those who have such distain for this event?

I really do not. I understand that there will be people who find that these events impact them, but that's life. I was one of those on the fence, and honesty unless there were circumstances that included my DGD I would not purchase this event. But I get that there are families that will get an advantage and I applaud them for taking advantage of this. Unless you intended to take advantage of a perk you did not pay for, you should not feel impacted. There are a lot of folks who will feel the impact of the early hours event because they wanted the Mine train.....which was not promised or paid for. I have no compassion there. ther may be folks who eel disenfranchised that the evening hours are not free. Again...no compassion. I simply do nto understand how you wil eel the pain. Unless you wanted to take advantage of attractions that were never promised and not paid for.

 

[scrapquitler]

For the sake of accuracy, KTTK is $79 (several ways to get 15% discount) plus tax. And you get lunch!

And you need a park ticket, too.

 

[serenitynow]

It seems like one of the problems for some people with this event is that they resent the special Disney experience that others are getting that they themselves are unwilling to pay for.