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

[mom2rtk]

Exactly.

So far we do not know if majority of people did not actually pay to attend.

Correct. But the inverse is true as well.

 

[Angel Ariel]

But then you are spending more than just doing DAH. And you are taking time out of your vacation by moving.

how d you figure? Even $150 a night at all stars would be less than 2 people going to this DAH event. it'd certainly a more economical option for a family too. It wouldn't make sense for an individual traveling, but most disney guests aren't traveling solo.

and you don't *have* to move hotels. nothing requires that you actually sleep in the onsite room.

 

[Planogirl]

Ok, makes sense if you aren't replacing a day with the DAH ticket.
In my case I'm looking at if I had less than 5 days Disney tickets. Then the price to replace 1 with DAH is less than an onsite resort.

You wouldn't even need that in all cases. If you had more than one person, you might still come out ahead in the right circumstances.

 

[Slapshot1188]

Very interesting! Unintended consequence, or yet another possible intended purpose of these nights?? Some people have said that the Uni express pass is $149.99 and it's a common practice on these boards for people to stay on site for the specific purpose of getting express pass free. Perhaps another purpose of DAH is to drive more on-site stays? You could PAY for DAH (and some people will, as some will pay outright for express at Uni) OR you could do at least a couple nights on-site at WDW to entitle you to the free EMH on your stay mornings and nights. . .

I dunno about that... they had an 87% occupancy rate already last year.. hard to get that much higher.

 

[Kimberly9701]

how d you figure? Even $150 a night at all stars would be less than 2 people going to this DAH event. it'd certainly a more economical option for a family too. It wouldn't make sense for an individual traveling, but most disney guests aren't traveling solo.

and you don't *have* to move hotels. nothing requires that you actually sleep in the onsite room.

Because DAH would be REPLACING a MK day. So if the price is @ $100 per ticket for said MK day, and instead pay $149 for DAH.. With beverages included.. The cost is not that much different.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I dunno about that... they had an 87% occupancy rate already last year.. hard to get that much higher.

I wonder what their occupancy rate is this year though. there has been speculation - including by John on the podcast team - that there may be occupancy issues this summer, and that could be part of why we are seeing discounts released for the summer that haven't been seen in summer months for a while (like the free PH add on if you stay 6 days or more).

 

[Angel Ariel]

Because DAH would be REPLACING a MK day. So if the price is @ $100 per ticket for said MK day, and instead pay $149 for DAH.. With beverages included.. The cost is not that much different.

but if you have a multi day ticket, an MK day is not $100. adding a day onto a 4 or 5 day ticket is much much less than that.

 

[Kimberly9701]

I wonder what their occupancy rate is this year though. there has been speculation - including by John on the podcast team - that there may be occupancy issues this summer, and that could be part of why we are seeing discounts released for the summer that haven't been seen in summer months for a while (like the free PH add on if you stay 6 days or more).

I had to extend my December trip by a day to get the room I wanted. And now there isn't any availability left at that resort.
I also tried to do a quick 3 night early June trip- no availability where I wanted to stay..so we're not going. I was given a "free" (cough cough) cruise..so doing that in June instead.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I wonder what their occupancy rate is this year though. there has been speculation - including by John on the podcast team - that there may be occupancy issues this summer, and that could be part of why we are seeing discounts released for the summer that haven't been seen in summer months for a while (like the free PH add on if you stay 6 days or more).

If they had a track record of their speculation actually being dead on I might consider this. My little anecdotal experience (which I rate as highly as their speculation!!) is that getting a hotel room in preferred locations seems to be getting more and more difficult -- not less. I'm happy to wait for actual data on this.

 

[Mikie]

In fairness, the Express is very rarely that much. However it's a nice extra and you also get the early admission not to mention the nice proximity to the parks if you sleep there one night.

I actually could see the throwaway room at Disney as more useful if some of the conjecture comes to pass. I would go ahead and stay at mine just to keep it simple though. I could only see us needing one night for the evening EMH at MK.

Yes, keeping the other hot-button topic of throwaways out of the mix , I posted in another thread related to how has your trip cost gone up and how would you deal with it. I re-priced my 2014 vacation assuming I would re-create it exactly in fall 2016 and the price has gone up 17.5%! I said that despite always being an on-site Disney Bubble kind of family, that kind of increase along with the general distaste for some things DIsney is doing lately, would make it time to start looking offsite instead.
An expansion of DAH could effect a decision like that - what if there are NO late night hours except paid DAH and free EMH? The calendar is either filled with them or remaining days close hours earlier? That's the kind of thing that would make you re-calculate the off-site, on-site, parking fee vs free parking, eligible for dining plan vs not eligible. The EMH factor goes from kind of unquantifiable EMH vs just going on a different late night, to free EMH vs $149 DAH or no late hours for you. Might certainly keep some folks onsite, or bring them onsite when they may never have been before.

 

[Kimberly9701]

but if you have a multi day ticket, an MK day is not $100. adding a day onto a 4 or 5 day ticket is much much less than that.

Right..which is why I said if I had LESS than a 5 day ticket.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

But then you are spending more than just doing DAH. And you are taking time out of your vacation by moving.
Some people may be willing to do that.
I definitely wouldn't take precious time out of my vacation to switch hotels.
Again, the whole idea is to replace a day at MK. Not add to it. And it frees up an entire day to do other things.

If you are staying offsite bc you are doing other Orlando attractions besides Disney, that's just one scenario where it makes sense to purchase DAH.
Maybe you're visiting friends in Orlando.
Maybe you're staying onsite for 4 nights or less. Etc etc etc.

If DAH isn't attractive then just go during normal hours. And if willing switch for EMH.

Again-- different types of travelers and all..

Who said anything about changing rooms?? We would not even think about moving. No way that renting a single campsite that can have up to 10 people on the reservation will cost ANYWHERE close to what 10 DAH tickets would cost. That is even without the free parking or the free MBs. It would make that extra hour and ice cream VERY expensive!

 

[Planogirl]

Who said anything about changing rooms?? We would not even think about moving. No way that renting a single campsite that can have up to 10 people on the reservation will cost ANYWHERE close to what 10 DAH tickets would cost. That is even without the free parking or the free MBs. It would make that extra hour and ice cream VERY expensive!

And that would be true if you only bought one day tickets for everyone even though the savings would increase with more days of course. The price of a one day MK pass where you get EMH plus a campsite spread out over up to 10 people could still cost less than $149.99 per person. If you have a four day pass like we often do the savings could really be significant.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Right..which is why I said if I had LESS than a 5 day ticket.

Going from a 3 day base ticket to a 4 day base ticket is an additional $35/person
Going from a 4 day base ticket to a 5 day base ticket is an additional $15/person.

Even going from a 2 day base ticket to a 3 day base ticket is $88/person, which is still 59% of the cost of the DAH event.

Speaking strictly numerical price, not subjective value - the price difference between adding on a 4th day to a 3 day ticket or adding on a 5th day to a 4 day ticket is nowhere near comparable to the DAH event.

 

[Slapshot1188]

I wonder what their occupancy rate is this year though. there has been speculation - including by John on the podcast team - that there may be occupancy issues this summer, and that could be part of why we are seeing discounts released for the summer that haven't been seen in summer months for a while (like the free PH add on if you stay 6 days or more).

True! I think there have been a number of signs that they have hit saturation point. Reaching out to Florida Residents by removing blackout days, giving away free DAH tickets, etc...


Holy cow... speaking of which I just checked for my son's birthday in June. POR is just $153 and they have rooms...

Was not planning a trip but I just booked it for 3 nights

 

[Angel Ariel]

If they had a track record of their speculation actually being dead on I might consider this. My little anecdotal experience (which I rate as highly as their speculation!!) is that getting a hotel room in preferred locations seems to be getting more and more difficult -- not less. I'm happy to wait for actual data on this.

I think travel agents, which John is (he runs Dreams Unlimited Travel), have a much better idea of occupancy levels than anyone else does until those numbers are released the following year.

 

[mom2rtk]

If they had a track record of their speculation actually being dead on I might consider this. My little anecdotal experience (which I rate as highly as their speculation!!) is that getting a hotel room in preferred locations seems to be getting more and more difficult -- not less. I'm happy to wait for actual data on this.

Misread.

 

[momtosam]

Id love to find a review from a poster who has actually gone, but not interested in weeding through 68 pages of arguments.

 

[Kimberly9701]

Going from a 3 day base ticket to a 4 day base ticket is an additional $35/person
Going from a 4 day base ticket to a 5 day base ticket is an additional $15/person.

Even going from a 2 day base ticket to a 3 day base ticket is $88/person, which is still 59% of the cost of the DAH event.

Speaking strictly numerical price, not subjective value - the price difference between adding on a 4th day to a 3 day ticket or adding on a 5th day to a 4 day ticket is nowhere near comparable to the DAH event.

Under 5 = 4 or less.
Maybe I should have stated it that way. Didn't mean to cause confusion. I said that because at 5 or more the difference in minimal. Choosing DAH over a 4th or 3rd day rather than adding a resort and paying for drinks. Is not a huge difference. However- yes, that is dependent on family size. 4 or less is not completely unreasonable.

Who said anything about changing rooms?? We would not even think about moving. No way that renting a single campsite that can have up to 10 people on the reservation will cost ANYWHERE close to what 10 DAH tickets would cost. That is even without the free parking or the free MBs. It would make that extra hour and ice cream VERY expensive!

Yes, I agree. If you have a family of 10 then DAH probably isn't the best option for you.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Id love to find a review from a poster who has actually gone, but not interested in weeding through 68 pages of arguments.

Here you go:
4/21 After Hours - Is it really worth it?
Please note: the OP of that thread attended at no cost due to a CM perk.