Thoughts on the $300 Halloween party pass for all parties?

[nkereina]

I agree that locals are targets here, but I think visitors who stay for 7+ days are also targeted. Especially British people who stay for 2-3+ weeks, and often spend the money on things like this. DH and I stayed for 10 nights last trip and could have easily attended 3-4 parties during that time if we had wanted to. If a family is worried they won't get enough MK time in on their trip because of it closing early due to the parties, this is one way to fill that void. Also, accomplishing MK via parties leaves the daytime to do other things for people looking to maximize their time.

 

[disneydreamer781]

These parties, after/before hours events and special things make BANK$$$$$$. Disney is genius for doing it. People buy it up. There is so much competition to get in on these things it's silly. Something sold out in 2 minutes this morning. They are not catering to the budget traveler who buys base tickets.

I'm curious. What sold out in minutes? Oh No! I hope it's not something I would like!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I agree that locals are targets here, but I think visitors who stay for 7+ days are also targeted. Especially British people who stay for 2-3+ weeks, and often spend the money on things like this. DH and I stayed for 10 nights last trip and could have easily attended 3-4 parties during that time if we had wanted to. If a family is worried they won't get enough MK time in on their trip because of it closing early due to the parties, this is one way to fill that void. Also, accomplishing MK via parties leaves the daytime to do other things for people looking to maximize their time.

Agree. We have friends from across the pond traveling to WDW in October. They come for 2 weeks every year. There are 8 MNSSHPs during that time. They are all over this offering.

 

[JayLeeJay]

The party pass works well for my family. We live about an hour away and had planned on one party and were considering a second since we have had trouble fitting everything in on one night in the past. We also have family and friends visiting Disney who had planned on attending Tuesday parties. We weren't going to join them since work means we may or may not be there when the party starts and we will likely need to leave early. We also cancelled a hotel stay since we thought we'd need to stay for the midnight show and didn't want to drive home at 1/1:30am but don't have to worry about that now. And we cancelled Cruella's since the reviews weren't great and we no longer care about the reserved parade area. With everything we cancelled, we are actually spending the same amount but get to attend more parties and join our friends, even if just for a few hours. Add that to the parties we can attend on days we had already planned on being in Orlando but not going to Disney that we will now do the parties and we will come out ahead compared to paying for party tickets each night.

 

[danielocha30]

It seems to be a desperate move. Are party ticket sales off this year? Or....is it just that more bodies eat more food, buy more souvenirs, etc. It's roughly the price of 3 parties, right? So....maybe if they lowered the price of the parties, more families could attend. Who knows? It just seems that this move might only make sense to accountants.

I belive they where expecting a lot more people and went on and started the Halloween in the middle of August and now they have to fill the place to make profit.

 

[sethschroeder]

At this point, I am almost at my FP+ day. Much easier to make plans on this side, so unless they announce October AH in the next four days...

They ended up skipping October for AH events at MK. They are at AK though October 5, 9, 19, 26, 30 2019

 

[SaintsManiac]

I agree. Any time I feel this way I realize I would just be punishing myself & my family.

I would never boycott Disney, but they aren’t going to get as much money from me in the future.

 

[LSUmiss]

I would never boycott Disney, but they aren’t going to get as much money from me in the future.

Same here. Had an absolute terrible stay at Poly last trip so next 2 trips are at the Swan & Coronado & combined for 2 stays I’ll spend as much as I did for the one at Poly.

 

[jerseyduke]

The thing is, these parties can "sell out". I do not see how you can infer anything but they are a limited capacity event if they are something that can sell out. And now they are not a limited capacity event at all. I would have been fine with this if they limited it to multiple events, as long as they are not sold out, that way the capacity would have remained constant.

If anyone is there on a 'sold out' night, and the attendance is double what it "should have been" it now just sucks for everyone.

 

[LSUmiss]

The thing is, these parties can "sell out". I do not see how you can infer anything but they are a limited capacity event if they are something that can sell out. And now they are not a limited capacity event at all. I would have been fine with this if they limited it to multiple events, as long as they are not sold out, that way the capacity would have remained constant.

If anyone is there on a 'sold out' night, and the attendance is double what it "should have been" it now just sucks for everyone.

But, limited capacity doesn’t mean low crowds. I have been to the parties where the day hours were less crowded than the party later that evening on the same day.

 

[nkereina]

The thing is, these parties can "sell out". I do not see how you can infer anything but they are a limited capacity event if they are something that can sell out. And now they are not a limited capacity event at all. I would have been fine with this if they limited it to multiple events, as long as they are not sold out, that way the capacity would have remained constant.

If anyone is there on a 'sold out' night, and the attendance is double what it "should have been" it now just sucks for everyone.

I don't disagree, but I'm trying to wrap my head around how popular this pass will be. Its quite an expense and it only makes financial sense for a select group of people that will be able to take advantage of it. With the number of people who actually purchase it, spread across two months worth of parties, I'm just not sure attendance will be impacted enough to notice a difference at parties that would have been otherwise sold out. I guess we'll see!

 

[jerseyduke]

But, limited capacity doesn’t mean low crowds. I have been to the parties where the day hours were less crowded than the party later that evening on the same day.

Certainly not the case with 'after hours' events. And there is some implication that it does mean at least LOWER crowds. Just make them so there is no sell out then, see how that flies. Point it, it really is no longer limited capacity. the limit is the park capacity, same as every other time of the year.

In my experience MK usually does have a lower crowd on party days that it does at the party itself

Of course this may all be moot, hopefully it will not have significant impact on the crowds. But if it does, it will probably leave a bad taste in everyones mouth

 

[mom2rtk]

Certainly not the case with 'after hours' events. And there is some implication that it does mean at least LOWER crowds. Just make them so there is no sell out then, see how that flies. Point it, it really is no longer limited capacity. the limit is the park capacity, same as every other time of the year.

In my experience MK usually does have a lower crowd on party days that it does at the party itself

Of course this may all be moot, hopefully it will not have significant impact on the crowds. But if it does, it will probably leave a bad taste in everyones mouth

The thing is we'll never know. The parties are packed already. No way of ever knowing how much of that is attributable to selling this "season party pass" going forward. Even if it's a small number, it's a slap in the face to guests already struggling with huge crowds for this event.

 

[OhhBother]

My DH and I purchased the pass. We were there for the first party, and we already had tickets to a second party during a weeklong stay in October. It just made sense to apply the value of those two single-party tickets to the passes.

We now have one party completed and plan to attend four more the week of Oct. 19. We love the flexibility of not cramming in everything in one or two nights, the ability to skip out of it’s raining and, of course, the promise of way too much Halloween candy!

 

[kandb]

Every day, every week, every year, Disney gets more money hungry. I know Disney is a business but Disney will not allow it's parks to be without crowds constantly, which is really ridiculous. There was nothing wrong with a "slower" time at Disney but if Disney is not at capacity, they are not happy. The economy is doing great now and will hopefully will continue to for many years BUT if the economy hits bottom, Disney will be in big trouble trying to fill all their hotel rooms and parks. We visited after 9/11 and the place was empty and it took a lot of years to build it up like it is today.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

I mean it's not that different than the multi-night passes Universal sells for HHN.

There seems to be people always complaining about Disney, but, Universal seems to escape complaints despite Universal being far more avaricious, you have to pay for the Express pass, fuel rod replacements are $3 a pop while they are free at Disney, not to mention the food and drink is not as good and costs more. No one is losing their minds when Universal raises their ticket prices.

 

[nkereina]

There seems to be people always complaining about Disney, but, Universal seems to escape complaints despite Universal being far more avaricious, you have to pay for the Express pass, fuel rod replacements are $3 a pop while they are free at Disney, not to mention the food and drink is not as good and costs more. No one is losing their minds when Universal raises their ticket prices.

Well to be fair, you're on a Disney forum. Many people here don't visit Universal and could care less about that. Not to get too far off topic, but Universal deluxe hotels include unlimited express pass for guests at no additional charge. That's a huge savings and benefit, and helps to justify the cost of their onsite resorts.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

I'm there for two weeks and there are 7 parties while I'm there. If I can't get an after hours ticket for either DHS (looks like they aren't doing them at the moment) or MK I'm seriously considering seeing if I can upgrade my current party ticket to one of those passes, I could easily do three of them and take my time getting character photos and seeing the parades etc instead of racing around on a single night.

 

[RAPstar]

Well to be fair, you're on a Disney forum. Many people here don't visit Universal and could care less about that. Not to get too far off topic, but Universal deluxe hotels include unlimited express pass for guests at no additional charge. That's a huge savings and benefit, and helps to justify the cost of their onsite resorts.

To be fair, a lot of theme parks charge for their version of express/fastpass (Sea World, Busch Gardens, Six Flags). Honestly I'm surprised Disney hasn't started charging yet, considering how many extra charges they keep introducing (resort parking, all the extra hours events, all the different dining "parties"). Also, it may be a Disney forum but there is a whole section dedicated to Universal if you scroll down some. I for one am more active there as I usually enjoy my Universal trips more than my Disney trips. Especially lately.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

There seems to be people always complaining about Disney, but, Universal seems to escape complaints despite Universal being far more avaricious, you have to pay for the Express pass, fuel rod replacements are $3 a pop while they are free at Disney, not to mention the food and drink is not as good and costs more. No one is losing their minds when Universal raises their ticket prices.

I literally have no interest or investment (emotional, financial, whatever) in anything Universal does. Do not care.

So long as it doesn’t set a trend for Disney at least.