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

[Slapshot1188]

So was I supposed to notice an impact of the cuts on our trip last weekend? We didn't.

Or are we "supposed" to see them in mid-Aug? By our W&D trip in Nov?

Not sure when you personally will notice them but cuts to CM hours, park hours, show frequency etc.. have already happened. Some people might never notice that the day they go used to be open until 10 but now closes at 9. Some people may never notice that there used to be 9 showing of a certain attraction per week but now there are 6... Some people might never notice that there used to be 3 people greeting guests outside the hotel but now there is 1... or none. Some people might never notice that the line on their attraction is longer because they are only running 1 track instead of 2.


It's not debatable that significant cuts have been made. Whether or not individuals notice them... well that's really depending on the individual.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Not sure when you personally will notice them but cuts to CM hours, park hours, show frequency etc.. have already happened. Some people might never notice that the day they go used to be open until 10 but now closes at 9. Some people may never notice that there used to be 9 showing of a certain attraction per week but now there are 6... Some people might never notice that there used to be 3 people greeting guests outside the hotel but now there is 1... or none. Some people might never notice that the line on their attraction is longer because they are only running 1 track instead of 2.


It's not debatable that significant cuts have been made. Whether or not individuals notice them... well that's really depending on the individual.

I have excel spreadsheets on every trip going back to our first one -- I'll notice changes in hours. Whether they make a difference to our enjoyment of our trip is subjective, as you say.

Also no word at all on how long these cuts will last.

I can also say that we often commented on how there were so many people doing the same thing like greeting guests as they arrive at a hotel. Seemed duplicative to us. And I can tell you that a whole CROWD of CMs were there when we checked into BLT last wknd -- didn't see any differnece there.

 

[kittyab]

And someone else can think that staying at GF is obscene price-wise -- DVC points or not.

We just stayed in a 3BR theme park view at BLT for the Dark Side race weekend with our DVC points. CRAZY, right?!?

It's all subjective.

We used points. I almost feel like I have no right to complain about a ticket price because I am a DVC owner. If we didnt purchase DVC points, I don't think we would had made repeat trips.

Again this thread is about a over priced party. It doesn't matter if we were staying at All Stars or the Poly, that ticket price is nuts and I wont pay it.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

We used points. I almost feel like I have no right to complain about a ticket price because I am a DVC owner. If we didnt purchase DVC points, I don't think we would had made repeat trips.

Again this thread is about a over priced party. It doesn't matter if we were staying at All Stars or the Poly, that ticket price is nuts and I wont pay it.

It's a fair comparison. The subjectivity around what one considers overpriced is a fair point -- even beyond this one ticketed event.

 

[Slapshot1188]

I have excel spreadsheets on every trip going back to our first one -- I'll notice changes in hours. Whether they make a difference to our enjoyment of our trip is subjective, as you say.

Also no word at all on how long these cuts will last.

I can also say that we often commented on how there were so many people doing the same thing like greeting guests as they arrive at a hotel. Seemed duplicative to us. And I can tell you that a whole CROWD of CMs were there when we checked into BLT -- didn't see any differnece there.

Guess the pixie-dust was truly on your trip and all the cuts reported in the news and by cast members happened at other resorts, parks and attractions...

Count yourself lucky!

 

[whiporee]

But how much profit are they making? How much does it cost to keep the park open for 3 hours with 27 attractions including character meets open? Or are you assuming that they would have opened the park until 1 or 2 am for the general public if they weren't having these events?

I think that is the overarching question -- can they make enough profit to justify longer hours under this event? Because with staffing and costs being cut -- for whatever reason, even if it's just executive bonuses -- those late night hours would be one of the first things on my chopping block. Many posters here have said they are sparsely attended, walk-on ride situations. Those are hard to justify in an era where you're cutting back. But if you can find a way to make even break-even revenue from them, maybe that allows WDW to keep the hours around in a different form. In addition, the hard costs of Disney are fixed -- basic electricity (because they own their own plant), property taxes, debt schedules, and every hour they aren't making revenue is an hour they've lost against those expenses. If they can get people to pay to extend their "off" hours, that's a difficult revenue stream to ignore. Plus, it allows them to spread out their employee hours instead instead of losing employees and the costs involved in layoffs. If they keep 1000 CMs at 12 bucks an hour, that's 36 thousand in labor costs, a couple thousand in ice cream. So the event costs 40,000 plus a marginal electricity increase. The break even is probably about 300 guests, if that.

So if this shows they can get some people to pay -- and, like i said, I think the sweet spot is about 10,000, which would still have the parks feel nearly deserted -- and they can make a million bucks two nights a week, why wouldn't they? It would replace those late hours that people love from a distance, but even by those who lament it recognize they probably aren't justified by their crowds. if they do it 20 weeks a year, that's 60 million in revenue.

But if they do it for free, that's $1.6 million in extra costs.

 

[Kimberly9701]

We became DVC owners so we could afford coming to Disney more often. Regardless where my accommodations are, I have every right to say $149 for extra hours party is obscene.

This worked for you. And it's wonderful that DVC is good for your family!

I was in the time share business for 15 years. Guess what I don't own? A time share. For me there is no value..and I travel often. But I rarely revisit the same places...there's a select few, but even with that I don't see the value.

Plenty of family's do though, if not I would have never made a living in that business. Do I think those people are dumb for spending money on a timeshare? Nope. It works for them, and they were willing to pay a price that I wasn't. Do I feel DVC pricing for Poly is borderline "obscene"? Totally. But again- obscene is relative to my perceived value.

 

[kittyab]

And someone else can think that staying at GF is obscene price-wise -- DVC points or not.

We just stayed in a 3BR theme park view at BLT for the Dark Side race weekend with our DVC points. CRAZY, right?!?

It's all subjective.

No it is not nuts to use your points like that, they are your points. You paid for them and the fees that goes with them. We only have enough points for a week a year but we choose to go every other year so we can stay for 2 weeks for a real vacation. I like how I have a mini kitchen to save on cost for meals etc.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Guess the pixie-dust was truly on your trip and all the cuts reported in the news and by cast members happened at other resorts, parks and attractions...

Count yourself lucky!

I do!! Or I'm oblivious to the cuts outside of the resort area! Perhaps lucky if that's the case as well...

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

No it is not nuts to use your points like that, they are your points. You paid for them and the fees that goes with them. We only have enough points for a week a year but we choose to go every other year so we can stay for 2 weeks for a real vacation. I like how I have a mini kitchen to save on cost for meals etc.

Agreed! Honestly, DVC was one of our best purchases ever!

ETA: I worked in timeshare for a few years many years ago. It's a good deal for a certain consumer, and that's definitely us at the time we purchased and are using it!

 

[tarak]

I remember when the special event was offered for Food and Wine. If I'd been going to WDW at that time, I'd have jumped at it. Club Villain is the party at DHS. When it was first offered, it sold out immediately, at $99 per head. My husband took my two older daughters and they said it was the absolute best thing they did at WDW that week. My husband is a skinflint about some things - he thought it was absolutely worth the price. Disney had nights scheduled through February, then cancelled those nights. They rescheduled it on Saturday and Tuesday nights and raised it $30 per head. They've tinkered with the dates. It's now just Saturdays and they have two shows, 5:45 and 9. I just checked and there are tickets for today's 5:45 show. I've read on the Club Villain thread here that if you have an AP or own DVC, you can get a discount that brings the cost down to $99. So I think they may have overshot things with the price there. I'm staying at the Poly in ten days and I emailed IPO (we're staying club level) to ask if we can get the discount. If they can't find the answer, I'll call Disney dining and ask. I was willing to pay the $129, but if I can get the discount, I want the discount. I think what also hurts them is that price holds for everyone. If you're bringing the 3-year-old, you're paying $129 for alcohol he/she can't drink. I know some people would never pay that price for a meal and show. But given what I'd heard about it (I had friends who saw it the week before my family went), it looked absolutely worth the price. It's worth it at $129 (although my daughter will be hanging out at the kid's club at the Poly during that time).

So much about Disney is what you're willing to pay for. I'm staying CL. My husband thinks it's just silly to spend that money. I love it. So does my mom when she's there. Since it's a special trip for her, I'm paying for CL. As for the early morning hours with the breakfast included, I just wouldn't pay that since it doesn't include admission to the parks and the rides that are operating just aren't of enough interest for us to make it worth it. If the whole park were open, I'd pay that cost without blinking.

 

[kittyab]

Agreed! Honestly, DVC was one of our best purchases ever!

Yep DVC enables to afford to come Disney more often.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Assuming wdwinfo maintains the park hours calendars, i.e. doesn't revert to originally-published hours after a month is over, May 2015 has MK closing at 10 PM every day but three: May 22 was 24 hours, May 30 it stayed open until 1, and May 31 it closed at 7 http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/hours/may15.cfm. In contrast, there are currently 14 midnight closings, twelve 11 PM closings, and only five nights where it's closing at 10 http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/hours/may16.cfm
Yes, there's no Easter in May. Easter, and now Spring Break in the northeast (where it counts ) are over and those hours can't be extended retroactively. Whether TPTB are listening, or whether this was planned doesn't matter. Park hours aren't cut for the month with the most DAH.

Spring Break and Easter are some of the busiest times of year...
So yeah, they cut hours and attractions (shows etc..) during level 9 and 10 crowd days.

 

[maxiesmom]

For a long time people have been stating that they wished Disney would bring something back like the E-Ticket nights. Well, here you go. Did people truly think they would do it at $50 a head and only allow a small number of people in the park?

 

[Planogirl]

This is why I am confident the pricing is a failure. According to a rudimentary "average" number of visitors a day, Magic Kingdom welcomes around 53,000 people a day and they have RUMORED to have sold less than 500 tickets per event. They have managed to convert roughly 1% of who would be in their daytime visitor population to be an after hours visitor.

I don't think the event will be a total failure, but the current offerings at the current price point are. Personally, my family would be interested except that there is only a total of 5 characters available to meet during the parties (Mickey and 4 princesses) We do not want to spend 3 hours at Disney not seeing any entertainment or meeting any characters. We, however, may not be the current demographic.

The other thing I have noticed that I'm not sure is coincidence, but the universal express pass runs $149.99, I think there is some connection.

Actually I was just checking prices for dates next month and in October and they vary between $89.99 and $99.99 for the dates I'm looking at and that is for the unlimited. The plain express varies between $64.99 and $89.99. I hate these fluctuating prices because I know that they can go up even more.

 

[Kimberly9701]

Agreed! Honestly, DVC was one of our best purchases ever!

ETA: I worked in timeshare for a few years many years ago. It's a good deal for a certain consumer, and that's definitely us at the time we purchased and are using it!

Oh I completely agree that for some people it is wonderful! I have a lot of friends who own DVC and Hyatt or Mariott..some who own 3. And they all love it!

It never made sense for myself and the way I like to travel. After having a child I briefly considered it and looked in to DVC Poly. I concluded that it still didn't make sense for us..I don't see us doing WDW annually long term. And I have too many cruises etc that I see in our future.. As far as other companies- mainly- I just have a fear of commitment lol. In some aspects anyway. But again, for those who take advantage of it, vacation ownership is great!

 

[Planogirl]

We used points. I almost feel like I have no right to complain about a ticket price because I am a DVC owner. If we didnt purchase DVC points, I don't think we would had made repeat trips.

Again this thread is about a over priced party. It doesn't matter if we were staying at All Stars or the Poly, that ticket price is nuts and I wont pay it.

We stayed at Pop Century during our last visit and I think that the prices are obscene too. I would say that no matter where we stayed.

 

[Planogirl]

For a long time people have been stating that they wished Disney would bring something back like the E-Ticket nights. Well, here you go. Did people truly think they would do it at $50 a head and only allow a small number of people in the park?

They used to do it for under $20 each so that is quite a price spike. Of course you didn't get ice cream.

 

[maxiesmom]

They used to do it for under $20 each so that is quite a price spike. Of course you didn't get ice cream.

But given what they currently charge for a day pass, who would honestly think that they would charge a nominal amount?

 

[Kimberly9701]

We stayed at Pop Century during our last visit and I think that the prices are obscene too. I would say that no matter where we stayed.

Right, but now multiply your per night times 6.
You didn't see the value in paying 6x per night for accommodations, so you chose to stay at Pop...someone else did, they stayed at Poly or GF.
And I'm sure you both had wonderful vacations!
Both scenarios paid what they were willing to pay.