The 7 a.m. Disney Wake Up Call

[bsmcneil]

Now we have a whole article on not wanting to wake up in the morning and you're right. Feedback need not be constructive I suppose.

But it's not just about people choosing to not be up early, right? Are you intentionally ignoring the possibilities I've mentioned? There's a distinct type of voice on this board of, "Everything is perfect for me - all others can deal with it." Why, in your wisdom, is 7am the day of better than 7pm the night before? Or why is 7am better than park opening? Why not 3am? Surely if you have no problem with it being 7am because you personally enjoy that time then 3am (midnight pacific) would be equally fine?

 

[Disturbia]

Not everyone is from the same time zone.

Also, it’s not just getting up at 7 am but the added stress of scheduling passes and the system crashing and having to input credit card data (system sometimes shows card sometimes doesn’t; I saw Lumiere and the Seven Dwarfs so many times). Disney resort wifi is going to be even more stressful. I’m taking anti stress pills and tea so I don’t swear too much.

 

[maryj11]

I really do want to get on the most popular rides. I do not want to have to get up at 7:00 and be in a competition to see if I can get them before everyone else! Ugh! I hate it when planning for Disney I feel like I have to be one of the first to get what we want.
I have been scrambling to get the resort reservations we wanted by checking off and on for months, and now checking to get dining reservations everyday because what we wanted was not available when I booked at 6:00am.
All I need is another competition to see if I get the rides we want!
Planning for Disney is getting harder and harder.
I would love to have everything booked and done when we arrive.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I think that is a little bit more accurate.

I figured that was implied.

 

[gharter]

I really do want to get on the most popular rides. I do not want to have to get up at 7:00 and be in a competition to see if I can get them before everyone else! Ugh! I hate it when planning for Disney I feel like I have to be one of the first to get what we want.
I have been scrambling to get the resort reservations we wanted by checking off and on for months, and now checking to get dining reservations everyday because what we wanted was not available when I booked at 6:00am.
All I need is another competition to see if I get the rides we want!
Planning for Disney is getting harder and harder.
I would love to have everything booked and done when we arrive.

In April, with lower attendance, wait times were not bad. We will see what happens next month.
With Genie, I miss the ability to have prebooked several rides in each park. It was nice to know you had several rides guaranteed before heading into the park. This workd well for those of us who like to plan. However, there are many (maybe far more than us planners) that don't want to have to plan far ahead.
We have friends that hate having to do ADRs 60 days ahead, because they don't know what they will fell like eating that day.
I suspect the majority of us posting here are planners. I also suspect we are a small proportion of the numbers going to WDW.

 

[RamieGee]

I used to always say, “Disney is great, and while I LOVE it there, I always do feel like I need a vacation from my vacation after it.” The new activity/pressure coming at 7am takes this sentiment up several notches for me.

I wake up early every week day and scramble to get 3 kiddos off to school before putting in an 8-9+ hour work day myself. Then I’m up late most nights to complete household/family tasks. Most weekends we are up early for sports or yard work or errands.

While I know our situation is typical for most American families, I am NEVER NOT TIRED.

This 7am thing certainly takes some shine off of a Disney “vacation.”

My husband threw out the idea of a Caribbean all inclusive trip for the 2 of us recently, and the idea of it has taken over the brain space and energy I had been putting into our upcoming Disney trip. I used to love the planning/dreaming stage of a Disney trip. Now what feels way more appealing is an all inclusive prepaid beach trip where I DON’T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT ANYTHING. Sleeping in. Room service. Pina Coladas, guac, and chips brought to my lounge chair at the pool. Drinking my morning coffee on the loungers outside a swim up room. (All for less $ than Disney, I might add). Now THAT has become my vacation daydream. Maybe THAT is what I really need.

If others are having a similar change of heart, Disney should be worried.

 

[Shughart]

I mean, why wouldnt you want to get up early while at Disney? Getting a late start is always a bad start and then you wont want to do anything.

The people who like the close the parks. Hi. We sleep on vacations, wake up naturally and take our time. Night time in the parks is our vibe.

 

[Shughart]

Honestly, I'm at the point where I'm considering cancelling our resort reservation, selling off our gift cards and trying to see if I can return our UT tickets.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Well, now that they’re putting Amazon eavesdrop devices in each room, they could have them wake you up, lol. In all seriousness, I can’t believe that they didn’t even test this new plan before announcing it. Maybe Disney enthusiasts/planners are in the minority, but they’re also the ones who were, with FP+, able to make WDW trips feel seamless to their “normie” family members who don’t really care about Disney and would be just as happy to vacation elsewhere. Now the enthusiasts have to sell their family on “maybe it will be as good at an added cost of $15 per person per day plus $x per LL ride per person per day, oh and we have to get up at 7am every day to really get our money’s worth.” Imagine mom trying to pitch that while dad pitches an all inclusive resort, or a cruise, or even Universal with its included EP. Pixie dust gonna lose its sparkle real quick.

 

[PaladinButters]

Why, in your wisdom, is 7am the day of better than 7pm the night before?

7 pm would be during park hours the night before - guess I can't get in line for space mountain since it looks I'll be boarding near the exact time I have to click buttons? Cutting into any of the hours a guest paid to be in the park in is obviously worse.

Or why is 7am better than park opening?

So if you don't get whatever your number one choice is you can change your plans for the day? Pick another park or not drive to Disney at all that day. Park open would mean I would have to be standing at the gates to make use of all of the hours of my paid time the ticket comes with.

Why not 3am? Surely if you have no problem with it being 7am because you personally enjoy that time then 3am (midnight pacific) would be equally fine?

3 am would also be fine, yes. But I would think that would swing into being a bit early for most people so let's just leave it at 7.

I really do want to get on the most popular rides. I do not want to have to get up at 7:00 and be in a competition to see if I can get them before everyone else! Ugh! I hate it when planning for Disney I feel like I have to be one of the first to get what we want.

If it makes you feel any better - you would hate this no matter what time of day reservations for things open. There's just not enough spots to go around. At home - I can try new XYZ restaurant/experience whenever I can get in (hello tickets I had to get for Hamilton like two years in advance). At Disney, I'm there for five days in all of next year and likely won't be back for a few more. Even more limiting, I have (for example) one day at DAK out of that week. So if I am dying to eat at Tiffins, I have a few HOURS worth of reservations in the span of several YEARS that would work for me. I think we can all agree to hate that situation no matter what time of day it happens.

 

[PaladinButters]

Well, now that they’re putting Amazon eavesdrop devices in each room, they could have them wake you up, lol.

Instant uptick in google search results for "how do I disable Alexa". See, everything Disney does is not great.

 

[MomOTwins]

I doubt it will make a difference to the non planners/disney Noobs. They won’t wake up at 7am for Genie just like they didn’t book FP at 60 days, and didn’t wake up for rope drop. In both cases they just show up at the parks at 9:30am and wait in line 3 hours for 7DMT and Slinky.

For us repeat guests, this is doing exactly what Disney wants it to do. Instead of staying a week or more and using a combination of fastpasses on different days to knock out headliners, we’ll stay 4 days and pay for Genie and lightning lane. Ticket prices are so much higher the first four days of a ticket so they would rather have two different families staying for 4 days each than one family staying for 8.

 

[barb969]

My DH’s reaction to all the Disney changes is “I want to skip WDW and go to Universal twice a year.”

 

[shawthorne44]

I am one that has no problem getting up early. My family has no problem getting up early while on vacation. We are just so excited.

BUT

It does seem odd, and a bad idea that so much is happening at 7am. An obvious choice would have had the IA$$$ start at 8 am.

 

[Boopuff]

I’m taking a wait-and-see approach. I’m hopeful that guests will be able to add Genie+ all at once to the tickets rather than pay each day. I’m not sure if that’s a thing or not. So far all I’ve seen is the 7am thing, but I thought that was the Is$

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

We are a family who is early risers and is still up by 7 am on vacation. Just last week we were at DHS the last day of boarding groups and I set my alarm for 6:55, got my phone, got BG55 and went back to bed (we had done Boo Bash the night before so I needed as much rest as I could get haha). By 7:45 we were all up eating breakfast and everything and then by 9 we were at the boat dock at Boardwalk waiting to head to DHS.

 

[peachiepie]

Getting up at 7am on vacation isn't a vacation

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Ticket prices are so much higher the first four days of a ticket so they would rather have two different families staying for 4 days each than one family staying for 8.

This is dead on. It's the same reason DCL does more 3/4 day Bahamas cruises over 7 day ones. They constantly refresh new batches of people who will spend more on drinks, merchandise, and other upcharges. 1st time families nearly always spend more on merchandise and food at the parks. Pushing repeat families to take shorter trips might be a feature of Genie +, not a bug. I absolutely have had the thought, "well, I usually spend 6K on a one week trip, maybe I can make that one day, stay offsite and do a VIP tour rather than deal with all this nonsense." And that's what they want. Well, maybe not the staying offsite part, lol.

 

[Disturbia]

I got a boarding group while riding TSMM and spinning.

Even for early risers, if you’re rope dropping 30 mins to an 8 am park opening, wouldn’t you be in transportation by 7 am? That’s where my phone goes blank and can’t even get wait times to load in MDE.

Anyways, it is what it is and we will just have to roll with the punches.

 

[Disturbia]

It would be better if they staggered the booking window so the system is not overloaded at one time.

For example, Deluxe guests get extra evening hours and have access to dining/resort activities that they can spend $$$ on; their booking window for Tier1 passes is at noon (like boarding group). It has to not be a disadvantage so I guess other resorts would have better morning magic hours (8-9 am; not just 30 mins). Something for everyone.