October park hours revisited

[TigerLaw]

I know there was a long thread on october park hours when they were first announced, so I will try no to revisit that discussion, but since that thread "ended" we have learned of the "unofficial" MK closing time extension test.

Now here is where I get to my issue/question. The way it has been discussed the last week in september and the first two weeks in october are when the testing will take place. What does everyone think will happen after that for the rest of October? Obviously, I have a self interest motive here, as I have a trip planned for the poly (thanks to being a CBR refugee!) from October 19th to the 27th. I, for one, think there will be a lot of angered guests if people start finding out that for the first two weeks in October, there was extended hours, and for the rest of the month, there weren't. It already angers me to look at the hours for august for example and then look at the october hours and realize I am paying for the same resort "season" with a drastic reduction in hours.

Now I am sure it will be very easy for disney to say "it was just a test" "the numbers were't there to keep it going" "hours are not guaranteed and are always subject to change" This is just the word of one person, but if they pull this kind of stunt on me, I'm done. I have complained just like many of you regarding the hour cutbacks, the lost of early entry, and now the loss of enights as well. Simply put, I love WDW, but it is getting increasingly harder to justify spending thousands of dollars at a place that treats its repeat customers like disney does and then look at how people get taken cared of at universal. Now, with this trip, I will feel as though I am getting laughed at by disney, in terms of they already got my money, and while I can hear about how other guests got to stay in MK at night on a weeknight in october, I could not, simply b/c I chose the wrong week !?!

Before this gets to be too much of a rant, I would like to hear what everyone else thinks about this one and if anyone has heard anything about what will happen after the three "test" weeks, that would be great info as well!

 

[raidermatt]

Well, if the tests are truly a legitimate attempt to find out what guests respond to, there's no way of knowing what will happen until the tests are done.

We know that guests will respond positively to later hours and more nightime entertainment, but we don't know how postive that response has to be for Disney to consider it a success.

We also don't know which of the plans will have the most positive response.

I don't think they would spend the money to do the test in the first place if there wasn't at least a chance that something would stick.

But it seems pretty clear this is being done begrudgingly, only because attendance has fallen to the point where they have no choice but to do SOMETHING, even at MK.

 

[TigerLaw]

You bring up a good point regaridng which tests will be the most popular. Maybe others will view this differently, but in my mind, I would rather have a mon-fri of parade/fireworks/parade/fireworks/parade (or vice-versa) than a week of only one or the other.

The other concern that I have that I did not express earlier was the fact that on the WDW official website, the test hours are shown for the last week in september, but no october test hours.

 

[raidermatt]

I agree, from a guest point of view, alternating nights is preferable. Of course, having both every night would be best, but I can be reasonable considering its off-season...

I wouldn't worry too much about the schedule not being changed yet, though I would expect it to happen pretty soon. They deal with a month at a time, so they only updated September in the event their plans changed for October. But we haven't heard anything indicating the tests will be scrapped or changed.

On the other hand, maybe the tests won't be back to back to back, for whatever reason.

If it were me going, I'd continue to plan for the minimum schedule, since if it weren't for the tests, that's all I'd be getting for sure. And then hopefully, I'd get a pleasant surprise...

 

[TiggerFreak]

Remember that MNNSHP is scheduled for Oct. 11, 17, 20, 25, 27, 31 and Nov. 1. So these nights have the MK tied up for a hard ticketed event from 7:00pm midnight. So I don't see testing being an option during this time. Wouldn't be a true test.

I hope that they find a way to at least include one night of fireworks and one night time parade during the week.
Having the parade and fireworks only on saturday night makes me feel like they are catering to the locals and ignoring the out of town guests!

 

[TigerLaw]

I was wondering if someone would bring the party up? again, while I am going to the party on the 25th, why should people going in late oct. be penalized with less hours than those who get in early oct. just b/c of the party. you are right, it would be difficult to due true "testing" b/c of all the party dates (BTW, did anyone catch there was more party dates this year-I'm sure that has nothing to do with generating more profits!! ) I guess all I can hope for at this point is extended hours on the nonparty nights with a couple extra parade or fireworks thrown in for the week!

I also agree about your "locals" point, as I have read countless posts where saturday is a travel day for people and so they can't hit MK the one night when spectro and the fireworks take place. I mean seriously folks, is it too much to ask for spectro and fireworks friday through sunday? would two extra days kill WDW that much?

 

[RAD]

Some October dates now have MK open until 8PM with either fireworls or Spectomagic.

 

[TigerLaw]

exactly - the extra time is all in the first two weeks of october as per the testing theory and nothing at the end of the month. And now with all the hoopla over the return of early entry, I hope the desires of everyone to keep MK open later during offseason weekdays is not drowned out!

 

[Lora]

I needed some more good news...

We'll be there Oct. 5-17. I'm very happy to see that we'll be able to see the fireworks and spectromagic. I really hated fighting that Sat. crowd to get the one view during the week. My dad will be glad, too since my parents were only going to be there during the week.

(I'm still upset about the price increase for passes and the character breakfasts, but if the good news starts to outway the bad news, it would certainly help.)