To DVCers who are upset by the elimination of EE - a compromise solution

[JonHM]

I had posted this elsewhere on the boards, but thought that this is something pertinent to us here on the DVC board, since we, as Disney Resort guests, are all effected by Early Entry being eliminated. I have read quite a lot of posts and threads on early entry and on people's conversations with Disney about it, and I wanted to put in my .02.

Various people in the threads were encouraging people who were upset by the discontinuation of early entry to e-mail Disney at:

wdw.guest.communications@wda.disney.com

In reading the threads, it sounded to me like a lot of the complaints were falling on deaf ears at Disney. It also occurred to me that a LOT of the people who were the most upset about losing early entry were especially upset about having lost early entry at the Magic Kingdom, specifically.

It just occurred to me that maybe rather than deluging Disney with e-mails that are just generally upset about early entry going away, that *maybe* we should deluge them with e-mails proposing a very specific compromise solution. Since they claim that not enough people were taking advantage of early entry to meet the cost of opening the parks early, what if we push for a smaller scale solution:

Ask Disney to bring back Early Entry, on an experimental basis, only 2 days a week, and only at the Magic Kingdom.

Now now, I know that this proposal would get a lot of people upset, but just let me explain my thinking here:

From Disney's standpoint - it would cost a HECK of a lot less to do 2 days of early entry than to do as many as they were doing before, and would only be at the park that was the most crowded on early entry days. Financially, a compromise like this, at least on an experimental basis, should make sense to them.

From our standpoint - First of all, to start out - 2 days a week, and only at MK is a HECK of a lot better than no more EE ever again, anywhere. If they WERE to try doing this, I feel very strongly that it would be a financial success. All of the large numbers of people who have been upset at EE being gone would begin taking advantage of the restored EE days, and even those who never had before probably would because, as is human nature, they didn't miss it until it was gone and would now jump on the opportunity to use EE again. The combination of EE having been gone for 6 months, with the prospect of it being forever, together with only re-instating it at the most popular EE park, would be great from our perspective because I believe that Disney would see *such* great numbers of people now taking advantage of the limited EE opportunities, that they THEN might consider bringing it back at additional parks, for additional days, or both. It would be a foot in the door, from our perspective.

If you agree with me, I would suggest sending an e-mail proposing this compromise to the e-mail address above. If not, then please don't flame me too badly just for suggesting this...

 

[JonHM]

If you would like to suggest something like the plan proposed above to guest services, but don't have the time to compose an e-mail, try this:

Below is a generic e-mail that I composed suggesting this plan. In the subject line I just put "compromise solution re: early entry" If you like the e-mail, just cut and paste it into an e-mail window and send it to the link below (and at the top of this thread). Be sure to include your contact info. Please feel free to chop the e-mail down or to add to it, according to taste. I just thought that e-mails speak a lot louder than discussion board posts...

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Hello-

I am writing to you today to propose a compromise solution to the controversy over the Early Entry program being discontinued. Rather than urging you to completely restore the program, which you have said is not cost effective, I am writing to ask you to consider, on an experimental basis, bringing back Early Entry in the following, less expensive form:

Only 2 days a week, and only for the Magic Kingdom.

If you were still worried about not enough people taking advantage of it, you could always extend it to FL resident AP holders, and WDW AP holders as well. But I have a feeling from all of the people that I've spoken with that if you were to offer Early Entry even in this limited format, that you would be quite pleasantly surprised by how many people would be waiting to take advantage of it.

Please consider implementing this compromise solution. We really miss Early Entry days, and bringing them back would make us extremely happy (and more inclined to vacation at WDW more frequently)

Thank You,

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wdw.guest.communications@wda.disney.com

 

[TwirlerGirl]

I like your suggestion. I wonder if they implemented this what days they would select?
Which days are the busiest for the MK? Does anyone know?

Sandy B.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Boy, do I wish I knew how to use cut and paste! That's exactly what I want. I only used EE at MK and that was to get to Fantasyland before the long lines. For some reason, it seems that hardly any rides in Fantasyland have Fastpass. I never used EE at any other park.
If anyone can help this computer illiterate person, I'd be very grateful (and Disney would have one more Email).

 

[zulaya]

I know that weekends, especially Saturdays are CRAZY at MK! I also remember that EE days for MK were Monday, Thursday and Saturday. If they do do 2 days, and if you want to suggest 2 specific days, I would definitely suggest Saturday for one, and my personal opinion would be to have Thursday be the other EE day. But Monday would probably just as good. I think it has to do with travelers. Many people arrive on Sunday or Wednesday. So the first full day for that crowd would be Monday and Thursday. And Saturday, the locals flood the park.

 

[jctwizzer]

You must spend a lot of time in Fantasyland!!--IMO. The only way any kind of EE will come back is if it is cost effective for Disney--loss leaders are not a part of their operation at this point. Surveys on this and other groups typically showed that less than half the guests used early entry. So, if it was your money, and an operation was a money loser used by less than half your guests, would you continue it??? IMO, the only caveat to that is: if it can be shown without question that eliminating EE has cost them significant amounts of resort business, they will give it another look.

 

[ohiominnie]

This is eerie because just last night my dh and I were talking about the loss of EE (as we plan for our May trip to the World) ...
and my dh came up with this scenario...
Wouldn't a nice compromise be to bring back EE to MK only a couple of days a week???

Who are you and what did you do to my dh!?!?!?

 

[Granny]

JonHM,

I think your proposal has a lot of merit, but IMHO, e-mails from DVC members on this topic will largely be ignored by Disney.

Why? Because EE, in the past, was merely a marketing gimmick to attract more people to staying on-site. It was a cost that was offset by the increase in on-site guests at their resorts.

I can only see two things that would motivate Disney into bringing back EE. First, if they saw a big drop off in admission purchases, annual passes, etc. I have no insight into their pass & hopper sales, but if they have come back to normal levels then obviously most visitors do not base their WDW visiting decision on EE.

The second one is the on-site accommodations. Again, if reservations are coming back to historical levels, then they are getting the people in their resorts without the extra cost of EE.

If I were Disney, I would look at a low cost/no cost perk to provide to guests staying in their resorts on-site. Something like the front-of-the-line pass the Universal came up with. That doesn't cost any more, but is an incentive to stay at their place.

I know that many of us want the return of EE, including me. I'm just not sure Disney will have the motivation to do so unless their resort bookings or admission media sales are dropping.

Just my $.02.

 

[Tony P. IL.]

What I've read and saw in Disney advertisement is the statement that (the votes are in and we chose the Character Caravan over EE). Now the word is that since not enough people were taking advantage of early entry to meet the cost of opening the parks early entry will be no more. I never voted as I believe many Disney customers also didn't on this. If they are saying they took a survey after they eliminated EE and now we agree with them I'm a little confused as to when and how this vote took place. While there in Dec. 2001 I was asked a few questions when entering Animal Kingdom and one was how I liked the new Caravan. I told the person I preferred the EE. She then told me I must have misunderstood the question and she again asked how I liked the new Caravan. I think the question should have been EE or the Caravan. The way they put it you had to choose the Caraven or nothing. I hope this was not how we voted.

 

[Eeyore2U]

My $.02 is that since MANY people employed other touring options (go to the park the day after EE, any park but EE) the ACTUAL people in the EE park was not as many as some think.

Polls or not, I'm sure Disney has numbers to back up their decision to remove EE.

 

[cswans]

I'll try my hand at explaining cut and paste. First, you left-click your mouse KEEPING THE FINGER DOWN ON THE BUTTON on the first letter of the first word of the stuff you want to paste. Next you drag your mouse WITH YOUR FINGER STILL DOWN ON THE BUTTON to the last letter of the last word of what you want to copy and paste. Now you can release your finger and the entire section should be "highlighted" in a different-colored background. For instance, on my computer screen, black letters change to white letters in a blue background. Once you have highlighted, you can hit and hold down the "Ctrl" button (control button) on your keyboard and, while holding it down, also hit the keyboard letter "C". Now let go of both the keys. At this point, you have copied the info into your computer's "brain" and now you just need to paste it somewhere. I'd suggest clicking on the email address link that the poster above put up. That should open up your email browser and you should see a form all filled out with "to" and "from" and be ready to paste your letter content in. To paste, you first click in the writing area of your e-mail letter so that you have a blinking cursor there. Now, hit and hold down your keyboard "control" button again and also hit the keyboard letter "V" Release both keys and you should see your paste pasted there.

If I gave a bad direction somewhere, hopefully someone else can post and clarify. Good luck!

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

Maybe they will be able to afford EE after they jack up the $$$ for park passes (rumored to be happening soon).

Just my $0.02 and Disney's $18.00-25.00

 

[valeriekc]

It all comes down to the dollars.
I believe that the only way that EE will return is when they are not able to book their hotels.
The character caravan is a slap in the face to people paying a premium to stay onsite.
As DVC members we don't really factor in to the booking story but you can voice your dissent.
Write, email, call and tell them when you're there!

 

[Eeyore2U]

The character caravan is a slap in the face to people paying a premium to stay onsite.

valeriekc, can you tell me why?

 

[dianeschlicht]

Loss of EE is old news. We didn't miss it at all when we were down in January. It might be a different story during busy times, but I doubt Disney will bring it back as long as they have no problem filling resorts and selling on site timeshares.

 

[Patpat15]

We never, never, never went to the EE park. We used tour plans in the Unofficial Guide, which said to avoid the EE park. We never saw any crowds going to another park on that day.

 

[PKS44]

Originally posted by Granny
... if reservations are coming back to historical levels, then they are getting the people in their resorts without the extra cost of EE.

If I were Disney, I would look at a low cost/no cost perk to provide to guests staying in their resorts on-site. Something like the front-of-the-line pass the Universal came up with. That doesn't cost any more, but is an incentive to stay at their place.

I know that many of us want the return of EE, including me. I'm just not sure Disney will have the motivation to do so unless their resort bookings or admission media sales are dropping.

Just my $.02.

Well, as is usual, I agree with my fellow Missourian...I have suggested giving "special" guests the ability to hold more than one Fast Pass at a time, but I worry with whatever the total guest capacity is for the resort being in the tens of thousands that this might really mess up the whole system...Worth a look IF and only IF they need to do so to entice visitors...I share JonHM's general sentiment- I do believe EE elimination as a blanket move was a quick and simple boost to the bottom line done without full consideration of the nuances of how it affected individual parks differently...we used EE and it would be most and especially useful at MK particularly on weekends. I hope Disney does find out that eliminatin EE altogether was a bad move and that they will bring it back in some limited form at MK at least....BUT I am afraid that it actually will not affect onsite reservations. Many people (not me or my family) LOVE those character interactions and as such the Caravan is a timesaver (maybe allowing them to do less standing in lines to see characters at the parks) and a big reason they will stay on site....at the same time I wonder if the caravan might put a damper on character meal reservations demand...I am not sure Disney will ever be able to sort it out and I worry about the general attitude that seems to drive every move lately- how to increase the bottom line immediately-not how does this fit in with Disney's greatest asset- the reputation for OUTSTANDING attention to guest satisfaction and service. It is this latter asset that has allowed them to command the premium they have enjoyed. They squander it at their peril.

Paul

 

[dotterson]

Heard from Disney last night. I don't think it was more than a week since I sent my email. They asked for my phone number and when it was best to call. So we'll see! I sent my 2 cents! I'll be glad to voice my opinion!

Just thought I'd let you folks know and I'll post when I get the phone call...

d

 

[Alice Sr.]

I told my DD about EE being discontinued and she was excited! Now I can't drag the whole family out at the crack of dawn

Hi, this is the DD. I would just like to say that I don't really see why anyone would be upset about EE being discontinued. I mean really, why do you want to wake up when it's still dark out and go to a park that is so crowded after 30 minutes that you can barely walk anywhere, and besides that they don't even open up the whole park. Do something positive with the extra time you have, like sleeping in

 

[Granny]

dotterson....please update us with any information on your conversation with the Disney folks!

And here's to supporting the original intention of JonHM's thread. Let's let Disney hear our voice. Even if it's ignored, at least we can say we tried.