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

[asbyrneva]

At it's core I think it's an experiment to see if guests will pay for EMH .... but I do think the prices for the parties have not been released until they see how this event is received. 2 for 1

Agree Hooperfan. But not only the price but the balance between price for a party and limiting the number of tickets. If ticket price goes up to something close to this event but they cut the number of tickets in half does that make the experience better enough to justify the cost of the ticket. Planning on doing our first party this year and I would pay a little more for a lot less people.

Still not sure how this fits into EMH. I would think they would lose a lot of the reason people pay a premium to stay onsite. I know its a big driver for me spending 15+ nights a year in 1 Bdroom villas. I pay for proximity and EMH. I would have to have some other serious benefits to staying onsite if EMH were removed for hotel guests.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

The age old debate. Is Disney incompetent or indifferent.

I see genius in most of the things that they do. Evil genius, but still genius.

 

[I Love Pluto]

I assume that staying on property for EMH will soon be a thing of the past! No - I would NOT PAY for Extra magic hours!!!!! Never!!!!!!

 

[HopperFan]

I assume that staying on property for EMH will soon be a thing of the past! No - I would NOT PAY for Extra magic hours!!!!! Never!!!!!!

We don't know that for sure but:
- There are posts where folks did the factual research they have slowly been disappearing over the years.
- There was a time there were no EMH.
- When they were added it was for a fee.
- They cost Disney plenty without little in return.
- EH Events, if full, net lots of cash.
- Disney has no problem filling hotels.
- While many guests use the EMH, my guess is more than enough don't.
- Even if they eliminate them, I still think the hotels will be full.
- Night EMH are a HUGE perk for us to stay on property but I have no issues staying off.
- Disney's ONLY focus on repeat customers staying on property is DVC.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

- Disney's ONLY focus on repeat customers staying on property is DVC.

I agree - There was a point in which they also focused on AP holders, but that seems to have faded, too.

 

[HopperFan]

I agree - There was a point in which they also focused on AP holders, but that seems to have faded, too.

I have had PAP for years, never a break. This year I let them expire end of January because (1) I cancelled our big May trip due to the chaos (2) My April and short May trip will involve non-Disney park trips for other things and parks (3) I don't do summer with the Mouse. The loss of months between Jan and Sept outweighed the renewal discount.

But Disney knows none of this. SO a family with PAP's for many years and 5-6 visits a year does not renew. I am now going on 90 days out. I have not received ONE email or snail mail to remind me, to ask me why I haven't renewed, nothing ....................... absolutely nothing.

 

[disneyseniors]

I think 6,000 guests will feel like a drop in the bucket and the park will feel empty. While it's likely that people will be drawn toward specific rides, there are several and they load 100 people per 5 minutes. Not everyone is going to 7DMT. You'll see most (probably) at all 3 mountains, 7DMT, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Princesses, and probably Buzz. Others will disperse amongst the other open attractions. It will feel like there is no one there.

Also, yes, they get in at 7:00, but at least for right now, it is not comparable to the crowd let in early for a party. The parties have 5-6 times as many people holding tickets. That is noticeable. 6,000 people walking in at 7:00 on a low-crowd day will, again, not be particularly noticeable to the people already in the park.

I just hope Disney keeps the amount of guests very limited, then. So far, that has not been the case. But still another 6000 people at 7pm seems like a lot to me?
Can't wait to hear feedback to see what actually happens with DAH!

 

[disneyseniors]

There is a big difference between 30,000 people at a Halloween party and the 6,000 or so that's been throwing around for EMH. Makes a big difference for crowds.

That's true. I just hope Disney keeps it very limited, but this has not been the case with parties before.
I still think even 6000 people is a lot to come into the park at 7pm.
Can't wait to hear from those people who actually experience this!

 

[famy27]

I'm curious how they determined which DVC members got this email. Did it just go to people with stays booked for tonight? I'm a DVC member, and I definitely didn't receive it.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It's also about what the 6000 (or whatever) people are coming in to do. I suspect people who buy this are going to be buying it for rides, rides, rides. So compared to a regular day, where maybe there are people can't/don't ride many rides, some people are happy to go to the Tiki Room and watch the parade, some are just there to watch their grandkids spin on Dumbo, etc...the 6000 people may be a very intense group.

If they let them book FPs from 7-10, that will definitely have an effect on regular day guests as well.

 

[tlmadden73]

Thinking of this as a scientific experiment, I just think it's too different to give relevant results. MK is a totally different park from any other, would a test here really tell you anything conclusive about how well an event would do in Epcot?

However, in trying to answer "how much will people pay for early/easy access to the current in-demand attraction?" I guess there's no better alternative to testing with 7 dwarfs.

Exactly. If we think 7DMT is hard to get a Fast Pass for .. imagine the Frozen ride and the Pandora/SW/Toy Story rides. Tiering MAY help, but I would suspect that you'll be lucky to get them at 60 days. So you either book a 7-10 day stay (so you can get your fast passes at 70 days or you may have to wait in a very long line to ride the hot new rides.

That means a special event that falls during your vacation and guarantees you access to those lands WILL sell like hotcakes. Heck .. They will probably charge even more than these MK night and morning events.

 

[bbjunkie]

I assume that staying on property for EMH will soon be a thing of the past! No - I would NOT PAY for Extra magic hours!!!!! Never!!!!!!

IF this is true, and I still think it is a big IF, I do NOT believe EEM paid events will replace EMH, and here is why...

Disney is offering the EEM tickets on evenings that are typically low-attendance nights for the MK. EMH evenings are not necessarily low attendance nights. If we assume (and I do) that on site guests are going to partake in evening EMH, they'll already have a regular park ticket for the day, and will likely have been in the park for a while. They are using the EEM evenings to bring in some guests that would not have already spent time at the MK that day that will spend money on a low attendance evening. Now, I do believe it's possible that EMH are eliminated, but I think that will happen if the money lost on keeping the parks staffed, etc, for those extra hours are no longer a wise business decision. Here's a scenario that many of you are either ignoring or conveniently leaving out: there are fewer EMH because people just don't participate in them. Maybe there is just not enough demand. My family loves evening Evening EMH, and one of the reasons is there seem to be almost no one in the park when we are there. We ride headliners over and over with little wait, and as the evening wears on, there are fewer and fewer people there. On our last trip, by 12:30 am, we were walking on 7DMT. The wait was posted at 30 or 40 minutes (I can't exactly remember) but we just walked through and however long it took to get through the line, we were right up front ready to board the next train. If this was a consistent occurance, it seems to me that it would be logical they would trim EMH from 2:00am to 1:00am because there just weren't enough guests there between 1:00 and 2:00 to justify keeping the employees there. Why can't it be as simple as there aren't as many EMH because people don't want that many EMH?

 

[bbjunkie]

It's also about what the 6000 (or whatever) people are coming in to do. I suspect people who buy this are going to be buying it for rides, rides, rides. So compared to a regular day, where maybe there are people can't/don't ride many rides, some people are happy to go to the Tiki Room and watch the parade, some are just there to watch their grandkids spin on Dumbo, etc...the 6000 people may be a very intense group.

If they let them book FPs from 7-10, that will definitely have an effect on regular day guests as well.

Are they? If so, I would have thought we'd know that by now since it starts tonight.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

IF this ends up replacing EMH (which I don't think these new offerings indicate at all), I would guess that we would see FP+ used as an incentive to onsite guests by giving resort guests more FP picks, maybe the ability to make them for more than one park in two groups of three, maybe more FP for moderate or deluxe, or non-AP offsite guests being able to make them same day only. If they take away EMH, I know we have very little incentive to stay onsite. The 60 day FP alone are not enough for us. My parents are AP holders and I know that you can still get the headliners at 30 days if you travel at off peak times. My parents winter home is only 25-30 min. from WDW so we could do it a lot cheaper!

 

[tlmadden73]

It's also about what the 6000 (or whatever) people are coming in to do. I suspect people who buy this are going to be buying it for rides, rides, rides. So compared to a regular day, where maybe there are people can't/don't ride many rides, some people are happy to go to the Tiki Room and watch the parade, some are just there to watch their grandkids spin on Dumbo, etc...the 6000 people may be a very intense group.

If they let them book FPs from 7-10, that will definitely have an effect on regular day guests as well.

I am sure you definitely can book FPs since it probably will count as a valid ticket to the park (just limited entry time). OR if someone is going to this event they will probably have tickets (for the other days of their vacation) which means they can book Fast Passes FOR that event day from 7-10 even if they aren't going to MK during the day. Heck, I still have a valid ticket in my MDE account which means I can book fast passes on any of those days (in the next 30 days) .. whether I am going to this event or not.

These night guests WILL be making some fast passes for 7-10 pm just like anyone else (though usually you don't need fast passes (for most things) that late as the regular crowd is watching the parade/night shows). So, yes, I forsee Fast Passes being more scarce (than normal) during that time which means that normal day guests could struggle to find availability during those hours for either their initial 3 fast passes or their 4th (or greater) fast passes during that time.

 

[tlmadden73]

IF this ends up replacing EMH (which I don't think these new offerings indicate at all), I would guess that we would see FP+ used as an incentive to onsite guests by giving resort guests more FP picks, maybe the ability to make them for more than one park in two groups of three, maybe more FP for moderate or deluxe, or non-AP offsite guests being able to make them same day only. If they take away EMH, I know we have very little incentive to stay onsite. The 60 day FP alone are not enough for us. My parents are AP holders and I know that you can still get the headliners at 30 days if you travel at off peak times. My parents winter home is only 25-30 min. from WDW so we could do it a lot cheaper!

I have argued that a 4th FP for staying onsite is probably (in general) a more desirable resort perk than EMH .. ESPECIALLY for the first time guest or that guest that is on the fence for staying on-site. I definitely could see them phasing out EMH as it is probably costly to them (extra cost staying open an extra hour or two). A 4th Fast Pass costs them nothing to give away.

A 4th Fast pass Per day is a perk that you can use no matter what. EMH is one you have to schedule around .. and even then isn't probably utilized every day of someone's trip. Besides .. a LOT of families don't want ot wake up early and can't stay up late because they have young kids .. but being able to skip a FOURTH line with those tired kids in the middle of the day? Gold. People will definitely consider staying onsite for that perk.

 

[opus1guy]

It's also about what the 6000 (or whatever) people are coming in to do. I suspect people who buy this are going to be buying it for rides, rides, rides. So compared to a regular day, where maybe there are people can't/don't ride many rides, some people are happy to go to the Tiki Room and watch the parade, some are just there to watch their grandkids spin on Dumbo, etc...the 6000 people may be a very intense group.

This is exactly my plan (or should I say hope). Intense riding while the riding is good (read: short lines). Once I've banged out my must-do ride list, then the rest of any time I spend in the Magic Kingdom this trip will be much more leisurely and pressure-free. At least that's the hope. Between my regular FastPass+ ressy's in the 7pm to 11pm period, and the 11pm to 2am Event...I'm hoping I'll be largely done with Magic Kingdom riding.

 

[jimim]

I find it interesting that they opened it up to DVC- gave out that limit and then noted those were "sold out" to other DVC members, but that you can still get online at WDW's website and buy tickets for tonight. They either held some of the "capacity" back for any last minute anticipated sales, or they figure the few extra people they sell to at the last minute won't make a difference. MickeyMinnieMom please do report back. I'm very interested to see what the lines are like. I would not pay $470 for a few extra hours and a Mickey Head Ice Cream bar, but if I did, the only reason my family would do so would be to ride Peter Pan and 7DMT over and over. Our number of Peter Pan rides on an MK day has been severely limited since FP+ (luckily DD is older so she does not get upset like she would have when she was a preschooler, but she still would like to ride it more). My fear would be that a lot of the other attendees would have the same idea. I know at MVMCP and MNSSHP the lines for Peter Pan and 7DMT are still consistently long, while things like Space Mountain and BTMRR can be walk on. I am interested to see how long those lines are for a night without other events to draw people away like you see at the parties- and with this event supposedly limited to 6000. Doesn't 7DMT have a capacity of 1200 to 1400 people per hour and Peter Pan only 700 to 800 people per hour? . If that is the capacity and a good number of people bought tickets for short waits on those 2 rides, then the lines for those rides could still wind up being huge --particularly if for a given day people buy tickets to spread out their time among all the rides, and for a given 5 hour party people buy tickets for the party events, but for this high dollar event people bought tickets expecting shorter lines for 7DMT and Peter Pan. If so, that means that in the 3 hour period after park close if all 6000 people expected to ride 7DMT and Peter Pan- that neither ride could accommodate all the ticket holders for even 1 ride in that 3 hour period. I would be livid if I spent $470 for extra hours expecting short lines for Peter Pan and 7DMT and instead found lines for both at 40 minutes or more the whole time. It will be interesting to see what the reports are from tonight!

What's interesting about it. They only had so many perk free tickets. Just like when they do a discounted room and you call to book it but can't get a category but if you pay rack rate you can. They only allocate so many rooms in a catergory for the discount. Same thing. So many free perk tickets but still pay tickets. Exact same thing.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If you walked out of a grocery store having just purchased a package of Oreos, and on your way out there was a table where Nabisco reps were giving away for free the exact same size package of Oreos that you just bought, and you went back into the store to get a refund on your package so that you could pick up a freebie on the way out and you were told that your purchase was non-refundable, you would be ticked off. Admit it. You would be. And when you asked the customer service rep why there wasn't a sign over on the shelf where the Oreos are saying that there are free packages being offered on the way out of the store and the store worker just smirked and shrugged her shoulders, you'd be really, really ticked off. And if you had paid $149 for those Oreos instead of $5, you'd be really, really, really ticked off. Maybe none of your anger would be justified, because you paid fair market value for your Oreos, but that lack of justification would not stop you from being really, really, really ticked off.

Dude, you need to find a different supermarket. $5.00 Oreos? Surprise nonrefundable purchases? Smirking, shrugging Customer Service clerks? Are you really only going to use one package of Oreos in the next three or six months?

I feel sorry for the regular admission guests who see the barrage of DAH guests entering enmass at 7pm to greatly overcrowd the already crowded park.
I forsee a lot of very angry guests who feel, rightly so, that their regular admission was sabotaged by this early entry.
If Disney wants to do this DAH, then please, please just do it from l0pm to 1 or 2am! I have not problem with that at all.

It'd be shocking if 6,000 people were all at the tapstyles at exactly 7 PM - so the barrage is really a flow, spread out over several hours. Disagree there will be enough guests entering from 7 on to anger existing guests. More guests attend - so enter MK as early as 4 - MNSSHP and MVMCP. Restricting the hard-ticketed event guests to entry only when/after the event starts deprives many of the time they paid for.

Yes, like I've said, I went to a party night when the flood gates opened at 4pm and it was miserable. I just wish they would let the party guests in at the hours they have stated, so these would not interfere with other guests regular admission hours. I know, I know, you can just check first and not go those dates.

Back when WDW did this, there was a hard closing and complete sweep of the park at 6 PM. That seems entirely unreasonable toward regular guests.

 

[jimim]

I would concede that point if and only if the "perk" were known in advance such that someone could have made a purchase decision based on the availability of that perk. If it is a gift that is bestowed unannounced, then it isn't anything that you paid dues for. And it isn't anything that could possibly have influenced your decision to be, or not be, a DVC member. Implicit in your post is the idea that if one wants to get in free, one should join DVC. That only works if one knows in advance that being a member of DVC will confer that right upon them.

Right on the contract u sign on the dotted line for. Perks can come and go at any times. Don't buy an interest with the assumption of said perks. That what we buy into.

And how can DVC tell you up front all the time what the perk might be? They don't know what parties or such they are having from year to year let alone 5 years from now?