Surprise announcement update!

[RalphinSC]

I'm thinking enhanced park hours myself. More EMH's and more hours in general. The enhanced EMH's to draw more people to book on site (where they will probably inch up hotel rates) and longer park hours to keep customers in the parks and spending money. I just don't see the folks at Disney who value their whole existance in taking as much cash from us as they can, really giving away anything. The enhanced hours add a big buzz without losing any incoming money and likely increasing it by a good bit. I can see something like EMH's every single day at the Magic Kingdom throughout the year.

Just a wild guess though............

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm thinking enhanced park hours myself. More EMH's and more hours in general. The enhanced EMH's to draw more people to book on site (where they will probably inch up hotel rates) and longer park hours to keep customers in the parks and spending money. I just don't see the folks at Disney who value their whole existance in taking as much cash from us as they can, really giving away anything. The enhanced hours add a big buzz without losing any incoming money and likely increasing it by a good bit. I can see something like EMH's every single day at the Magic Kingdom throughout the year.

Just a wild guess though............

I'm not sure I buy into that. It wasn't that long ago that they took away the monorail and characters for EMH.

Hey........ maybe the announcement is the upgrading of EMH to include full monorail access and characters!

 

[GrammyJudy]

I wonder if that is why the package paperwork has been so slow for all us going in Jan. Maybe it is something we can use with our package

 

[momto4princesses]

I'm really curious about this announcement as well. We already have 8 days booked in January so I'm wondering if this is something we'll be able to utilize or not.

Curiouser and curiouser. (To borrow a line from Alice)

 

[Broncobilly83]

I signed up for the announcement. I am curious to see if we can use it for our trip in Nov.

 

[PolynesianLili]

"So sorry."

It really depends on what the "extra day" actually is.

With the 4/3 deals, nothing was done. If you wanted to take part, you HAD to get the package through Disney.

With the free 1-day base ticket deals (Birthday and GAD), they offered other options, like a pin set, special Fastpasses, etc. But they never offered that to everyone before - it was always limited to a certain percentage of the overall guests.

That is what I would expect to happen, thank you so much!

 

[Robo]

If everyone in a park has a park-wide fastpass, then nobody has a park-wide fastpass.

Bingo.
At the point of handing out FP's to all guests (or well before that point,) the FP's would cease being "Fast."

Examining how FP's work can reveal some interesting situations, but that insight can allude many guests.

When studying the timing and numbers it becomes clear that issuing too many FP's and/or allowing their use BEFORE the printed window can ruin the "advantage" of the FP and lengthen wait-times.

OTOH, allowing FP use AFTER the printed window does little (if any) harm to the wait-times.

These things also indicate that if Disney intends to "play with" the park FP's in the form of issuing "advance FP's" (either from home or the resorts) how quickly that can erode the current well-running system, and likely disappoint more guests than it will make happy.

Leave the FP system, the heck, alone!

 

[PolynesianLili]

The question is will it apply to everyone or will it exclude some people? Such as something for resort guests only, or only for those who have package reservations.

Something like the Give a Day, Get a Day didn't exclude everyone necessarily, but it didn't apply to everyone (i.e., if people didn't volunteer etc).

So excited to find out!

 

[Rosanne]

Bingo.
At the point of handing out FP's to all guests (or well before that point,) the FP's would cease being "Fast."

Examining how FP's work can reveal some interesting situations, but that insight can allude many guests.

When studying the timing and numbers it becomes clear that issuing too many FP's and/or allowing their use BEFORE the printed window can ruin the "advantage" of the FP and lengthen wait-times.

OTOH, allowing FP use AFTER the printed window does little (if any) harm to the wait-times.

These things also indicate that if Disney intends to "play with" the park FP's in the form of issuing "advance FP's" (either from home or the resorts) how quickly that can erode the current well-running system, and likely disappoint more guests than it will make happy.

Leave the FP system, the heck, alone!

One of the reasons you're one of my heroes.

 

[SydneyJoLynn]

Two cents from a CM who doesn't know a thing about the promotion.

1. The chance of the parks being open 24 hours a day for a night is not likely. At all. ALL attractions [including transportation] need to have daily [or, as common... nightly] maintenance. It would also be putting third-shift out of a day of work. Doesn't seem like something a union would be supportive of. Just sayin'...

2. Nextgen RFID bracelets and the 'X-pass'. The system that would replace fast pass. One of the many rumors I've heard about this is how you would be able to choose the exact time you would want to access a ride in advance at a home computer or something. [Hence the clocks?] Coincidentally... many deluxe disney resorts just received complimentary wifi.


And, yeah. I'm sure park hours will be extended. Something like that.

{/two cents}

 

[bearlyanne]

Maybe they are going to do a bounceback type of promotion. I am thinking of the type of thing that Sesame Place does, with giving an extra day to return again for one day during the year to The Parks.

 

[larryz]

2. Nextgen RFID bracelets and the 'X-pass'. The system that would replace fast pass. One of the many rumors I've heard about this is how you would be able to choose the exact time you would want to access a ride in advance at a home computer or something. [Hence the clocks?] Coincidentally... many deluxe disney resorts just received complimentary wifi.

Nice analysis -- thanks for connecting those dots for me...

 

[Robo]

Question:
Do you know what time your family would like to ride Soarin' in 2012?

Hint: A satisfactory answer is not, "anytime."

BTW, do you know what day(s) you will be in Epcot in 2012?
When you decide, will there be an open slot to ride Soarin' at the time you'd like to board it?

Who will get the most desirable time slot to board Soarin' on the day(s) you are in Epcot in 2012?
How many days in advance will those time slots be locked in?
Or, will it work like the (oh, so convenient!) airline boarding-assignments
and you will call-in or log-in exactly 24 hours in advance of your favorite time to grab your boarding slot (FP?)

What will you do if, after you've made those plans, you somehow miss your
"advance appointment time" (FP) for boarding, and are refused the opportunity to make another "appointment time" (FP) to ride that day?
(Said another way... if, as rumored, a FP will only be honored within the hour printed on the ticket.)
Considering that you had to fully pre-plan that boarding time somewhere between 24 hours- or, up to six months- in advance, I guess you'd better be ready to follow a time-clock to get to the ride(s) chosen in advance.

Sounds like a WDW vacation will be getting more relaxing at every turn!

Ahem...

Please leave the FP system, the heck, ALONE!

 

[Bete]

I'm signed up.

Hope it's something more than the opening time for Fantasyland in MK.

I know a new fastpass system is coming and I hope that's not the announcement, either.

 

[jagfanjosh3252]

One more Disney day HAS to be an extra day with X amount purchased. I am waiting on book my trip until I see what this is. I'm taking my little brothers and sisters next year and will use all the help I can get!

 

[alex9179]

If I had a wish, it would be for a Buy One/Get One on a room/tickets combo. All of my obsessive number crunching will have been for naught and I would be more than OK with that. Saving 50% on a room at the Poly would make up for any built-in hike for ticket costs. Even if you have to add the DP, I don't think I'd complain overmuch. Disney would feel obligated to recoup that discount from somewhere so they invent the "One More Day Vacation Package" and it's "special" pricing.

I can't imagine they would actually do something like that, though, and people staying at a Value wouldn't be so thriilled.

I really hope it isn't fast pass related and I doubt it is. How would that work into the "one more day" tag line, anyway?

 

[mom2rtk]

If I had a wish, it would be for a Buy One/Get One on a room/tickets combo. All of my obsessive number crunching will have been for naught and I would be more than OK with that. Saving 50% on a room at the Poly would make up for any built-in hike for ticket costs. Even if you have to add the DP, I don't think I'd complain overmuch. Disney would feel obligated to recoup that discount from somewhere so they invent the "One More Day Vacation Package" and it's "special" pricing.

I can't imagine they would actually do something like that, though, and people staying at a Value wouldn't be so thriilled.

I really hope it isn't fast pass related and I doubt it is. How would that work into the "one more day" tag line, anyway?

Well, while I would love that too, I can't imagine them getting this aggressive at this point. They have been saying for some time that they want to cut back on discounts. With the Fantasyland Expansion getting close, I imagine they feel they finally have the ace in the hole to try cutting back.

I'd be happy with the "give a day" type thing. The fastpasses saved our trip to DL where the crowds were utterly insane. We loved sailing right past them!

 

[Bete]

of Disney park tickets yesterday, Christmas Eve, for a 2012 December trip.

I was going to different websites, not just Disney's site to check out deals.

Anyway, I'm finding deals on park tickets right now. One non-Disney website was offering a free extra day on buying 3, 4, or 5 day base park passes. This same site was going one better for park hoppers. Buy a 3, 4, or 5 day park hopper and 2 extra free days would be given with purchase.

A second website was offering one day free on either a base or park hopper 4day pass.

I can't tell if this has something to do with the announcement or not. There's no way for me to tell when these offers started on these sites.

 

[Robo]

I'm finding deals on park tickets right now. One non-Disney website was offering a free extra day on buying 3, 4, or 5 day base park passes. This same site was going one better for park hoppers. Buy a 3, 4, or 5 day park hopper and 2 extra free days would be given with purchase.

A second website was offering one day free on either a base or park hopper 4day pass.

I can't tell if this has something to do with the announcement or not. There's no way for me to tell when these offers started on these sites.

Nope.

These kind of deals from the ticket discounters (only on "park days" on tickets, BTW, so they are not a very good deal... savings of only about 3-4%) happen all the time.

The kind of "deal" that Disney would offer would include an extra day (or days) on Resort Rooms, not just tickets.

An "extra day" on, for instance, a 4-day ticket (making it a 5-day ticket) would only be worth $8 (eight dollars.)
Not exactly a major promotion.

 

[princessbrulee]

I signed up for the updates.

Since we'll be visiting the world twice next year, I really can't wait to hear what the "big" news is. That being said, we already have free dining for our trip in August (3 adults, 1 kid, value resort) so it would have to be something really good to top that. And our second visit will be the week of Christmas, so hopefully there won't be any blackout dates. One can dream, right?

Only one more week of waiting!