Rumored Park Hours?

[JeffJewell]

Does anyone know where to get Park hours for the next couple of months with any hope of them being remotely accurate?

Disney's web site (when it condescends to pull up the Park Hours link at all) currently says that the hours for April, May, and June are not yet established.

Just before the official site stopped giving Parks Hours information, hours for Disney Studios and Animal Kingdom were shortened during the dates of my next trip (Jun 13-17). The DIS and Deb's site show the previous, un-shortened hours for those dates, but I don't know that that information wasn't just copied from Disney's site before the changes.

Safari Steve, OnWithTheShow, Epcot Mom, any other CMs who hang around the boards, have they let you folks know what time you're working in April, May and June? In particular, is there any chance that the original, un-shortened hours (as seen on the DIS) are correct for Disney Studios Jun 13-17, and that there will be two Fantasmic!s each of those nights?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Another Voice]

Just so everyone out east knows that the pain is being spread around, the hours for Disney's California Adventure are being cut as well. Final hours haven't been set, but the park will close no later than 10:00pm on weekends (rumors of an 8:00pm or 9:00pm closing during the week).

Of course the big difference is that no one cares about the shortened DCA hours, but the cuts in Florida reallty hurt a lot of vacations.

 

[Disbuf]

I spoke with a friend of mine who is a CM at MGM and is in Fantasmic. She said she had not heard of
their hours being shortened. The last she heard was that the last summer show of Fantasmic will be at
11:00, same as last year. If I hear more from her, I will update everyone.

 

[jrgutknecht]

The "official" website hours are back up again. The match almost exactly the hours of the site BEFORE it was remodeled.

It is "limited" during the summer (MK closes at 10) but it's no different that what is posted at : http://www.themeparks.com/wdw/calendar/jun2001.htm which has been up for a couple months now.

 

[JeffJewell]

...once again has posted actual hours for April - June. Right now, it shows the shortened hours of 8-6 rather than 8-7 for Animal Kingdom every day, and 9-9 rather than 9-10:30 for Disney Studios (Wednesdays the Studios are inexplicably scheduled to be open until 10, with a second Fantasmic! at 10:30), with only one showing of Fantasmic! nightly.

I'm mostly talking about June 13-17, the dates of my stay. For obvious reasons, those are the only dates that I know for sure were specifically shortened on the official site _after_ the site changed formats (there was some conversation that perhaps the changed hours were a result of errors while changing the site's format. That is not the case, here).

Coupled with Another Voice's data that DCA hours are shrinking as well, this is looking like a trend, not a fluke.

Thanks, Disney, for once again going the extra mile to ensure that our WDW vacations are measurably less than what they should be. Somehow, I doubt I'll be getting a corresponding refund on my annual pass.

Jeff

 

[DVC-Landbaron]

Thanks, Disney, for once again going the extra mile to ensure that our WDW vacations are measurably less than what they should be. Somehow, I doubt I'll be getting a corresponding refund on my annual pass.

Oh my brother I feel your pain!!! Nothing can compare to the disappointment of shorter hours when the crowds are increasing. And I'll lay even money (oh heck, I'll give whatever odds you want) that they'll end the night with an event. Ahhhh, nothing like that herded cattle feeling to cap off all that extended magic they're providing!!!

I'm sorry for you Jeff!! I really am.

 

[JeffJewell]

...thanks for your empathy in my time of pain.

I understand that I'm the canary in this particular coalmine, but it's really hard to believe no one else is getting lightheaded yet.

The list of rides closed or operating reduced hours grows. Parks hours are being cut as we move into the most highly attended time of year. Increasing hotel capacities far outstrip any increase in park capacity. Thirty foot tall icons pop up beside strip motels and shelf-bought rides and are called "theming."

We've had this conversation already, I know. Eisner's response is the same as it's always been: a shrug of the shoulders and a curt "Don't like it? Go somewhere else." This sentiment appears to be echoed by a lot of Eisner defenders on these boards; as long as they personally still enjoy Disney better than Six Flags, all is right with the world.

Is that what it's going to take before people will hold Eisner responsible for his decisions? That the guests finally stop showing up?

Hmmph. Take a look at AK and DCA, if you can pull your noses out of Eisner's inseams long enough. You're getting your wish.

Yeah, I know there's not much worthwhile in this post. I was in a bad mood to begin with, and just before I started writing, I stupidly read a bunch a MousePlanet articles about the budget cuts forced on Disneyland to make up for fact that guests are avoiding DCA in record numbers. Eisner's failures are no longer content to merely slit their own wrists, now they must bleed the venerated park that defined the industry.

In one of my first posts on these boards, when replying to someone who felt ripped off by Journey Into Your Imagination and the Pooh ride, I summed up my thoughts by pointing out that these things would get worse before they got better as long as Eisner was around.

I take no pleasure in knowing I was absolutely correct.

Jeff

 

[EpcotMom]

In June there will be a couple of early closings, for grad night festivities..At MK. The rest..Summer hours. Thats the later ones. There are no plans at all to shorten park hours. That would be tantamount to shooting yourself in the foot. Trust me, The company will not lose the revenue. Its not just admissions, its souvies and food and all the attendant spending! We have been told that we will have many extra hours. Come, and enjoy!!inkbounc

 

[Another Voice]

The economics that Disney is following today is very common in the cruise ship and resort industries, and also very common for shopping malls in mature markets. It’s called “plussing” and comes when a company is unable or unwilling to increase the number of visitors, but must still grow revenue. The company takes the basic service as a “given” – the cruise to the destination or the sale that brought the customer to the mall in the first place. The “plus” comes from getting the customer to purchase additional features or items above what they have already paid for. This represents additional spending – hence additional profit without have to expand the basic service: the number of cabins, number of stores or the number of hours that a theme park is open.

For the cruise industry, the basic package is the purchase of the cruise which includes transportation and meals. The moment you board the ship, you’re offered pictures of your arrival (for an slight additional fee), sightseeing tours at the next port of call (for a slight additional fee), wine with your dinner (for a slight additional fee), an afternoon in the ship’s spa (for a slight additional fee) and so on and so on.

A WDW, the same system is being put in place. The basic tour package or DVC membership is now the given. The couple of grand you just plunked down really doesn’t count anymore because the game is to get you to spend above and beyond the basics (hotel room, theme park tickets and lots of bus rides). Look at all these nightclubs you can go to (for a slight additional fee), spend some extra time in the Magic Kingdom (for a slight additional fee), ride a monorail between the parks (for what turned out to be NOT such a slight additional fee). Very soon it will be skip to the front of the line with FastPass Plus (for a slight additional fee).

The problem with “plussing” is that the company’s energies go into creating the extra features and the primary product is forgotten. No one really cares how wonderful the picture with the captain turns out if the cabin smelled funny. Disney’s in this spiral now. Hours are cut because the guests “have so many other places to go” (for an additional ticket or a convenient room charge), attractions are closed but money is thrown to shops and restaurants. Besides, Pleasure Island, the Boardwalk and Downtown are a lot cheaper to run than the Magic Kingdom.

 

[EpcotMom]

There is no shortening of hours at all. This is how a rumor spirals out of control and takes on a life of its own. Summer hours begin, LONGER...Winter hours are always shorter, this is not new, no trend..It just always has been so.

 

[Another Voice]

The issue is that's they reduced the previously announced hours for summer. Yes, the parks will be open longer in the summer than in winter, but not as much.

For example, the closing time for Disney's California Adventure was supposed to move from 9:00pm to Midnight for the summer. That's now been changed to a 10:00pm closing, cutting the planned summer hours.

 

[DVC-Landbaron]

The Landbaron stands and wildly applauds Another Voice!!!

Bravo!!

Well said!!!

In other words: NOT STAYING OPEN UNTIL MIDNIGHT IN THE SUMMER --- SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!


(sorry for shouting)

 

[GrumpyOne]

Our last trip two years ago had MK open until 9pm. The hours I see for the trip this year show it closing at 8pm. Yes, the dates are as close to the same as they can get. It sounds like shorter hours to me.

 

[Une Amie]

Frankly, I can't walk more than 12 hours at one stretch anyway! lol!

Any hoo! I have more of a gripe with the fact that we pay the same amount for tickets in the winter as we do in the summer, yet we don't get the hours, parades, and fireworks that are present during summer months.

I think they should charge a "value season" rate for the park tickets just like they do for the resorts.

Just my opinion!

 

[YoHo]

I thought multi-day Park tix were value rated?!?

 

[JeffJewell]

...I first saw June's hours for Disney Studios (9-10:30 every night during my stay the 13th-17th) and Animal Kingdom (8-7 every night those dates) posted on the official Disney web site in late February or early March, and they remained posted that way until at least Wednesday, April 18. By Friday, April 20th, the posted hours were changed to 9-9 for Disney Studios (and they removed the previously scheduled, nightly second showing of Fantasmic!, except for Wednesday, for some reason) and 8-6 for Animal Kingdom.

Several days after that, the web site started displaying the generic "hours not yet established for this month" message (for April and May, as well). A couple of days ago, the site started posting the shorter set of hours again.

The DIS shows the longer set of hours, and Deb Wills' site, although it directs to the official Disney page for park hours, does show the two Fantasmic!'s scheduled nightly for those dates. I don't think I'm crazy on this one, I'd imagine they got their info from the official site sometime before April 20th.

While it's true that, on a day to day basis, hours will increase towards summer, Disney changed their minds about how many park hours I was entitled to after I'd already planned and paid for my vacation.

Jeff

PS - upon re-reading my last post, I realized it sounded a lot more adversarial than I had intended, even in my bad mood. My intention was to let off steam in general, not to pick a fight with anyone on the board. I apologize I wasn't more clear about that in the first place.

 

[HBK]

Any hoo! I have more of a gripe with the fact that we pay the same amount for tickets in the winter as we do in the summer, yet we don't get the hours, parades, and fireworks that are present during summer months.

Great Idea....

Won't happen, but it's a great idea...