What do you think about the Early Morning Magic Fantasyland ?

[Mac30188]

To be honest, this will be a good thing for 95% of the Magic Kingdom attendees. This will not hurt your trip but help. The only people this hurts are those seduced by the fantasy of riding 7DMT multiple times in a row over and over with no wait.

1) The reason it sold out so fast was the capacity being that small. This is not even in the same ballpark as driving attendance like EMH drive attendance. I would bet ticket capacity was reverse engineered from Pinocchio. First they determined the number that they could serve in 1 hour, then they determined how many rides they needed to open along with 7DMT and Peter Pan. This is 1000 people or less who already had tickets to Magic Kingdom. This is not even close to EMH impact. I would not plan your day around this event.

2) This is only going to help pull down most wait times for 7DMT and Peter Pan. Do you really think that anyone who would pay for this event was not already a certainty to ride these rides anyway? Opening the ride an hour early = more people get to ride these popular rides per day (bonus capacity if you will). If you don't want to pay these prices, no worries. There are now 750-1000 people who no longer need to ride this ride. I doubt they used fast passes for them, nor will they do these rides at "rope drop." This won't hurt you. The park hours are not any different then what they were before, this is just extra time.

3) The only people this hurts minimally are those who booked a BOG breakfast for the sole purpose of getting a no wait ride at Peter Pan or 7DMT. Now you will have a short wait (but still ahead of all of the rope droppers). You still will be in good shape. If I had a BOG reservation but not tickets to the event, I would certainly not dump it as for the most part your benefit of beating rope droppers is in tact.

This event in among itself is actually a positive. The fear is the slippery slope this is treading on and the future application of this logic. For example, do they get rid of EMH? Does this discourage Disney from opening Norway early? Will they find additional hard ticket events to get more money per visitor? Will this be a way to limit attendance to Avatar? Star Wars? or Toy Story land?

People just need to relax and not let this minor change cause them to tear their plans up. If you had a good plan before, the plan is still good.

 

[WEDWDW]

Will they find additional hard ticket events to get more money per visitor?

That's a tough one to answer-I'll have to think on that one a while.

 

[bcrook]

This would just be insane. Just because capacity at the three rides "could" handle 2,000 people doesn't mean they should do it. For argument's sake, let's say half of your 2,000 people example head to 7DMT (because I do think most will head there first), and I'm the last to arrive since I would need to drag my family of five from the gate to the back of FL. As the 1,000th person in line, I'd be looking at anywhere from a 40 minute wait (at a rate of 1,400 people per hour) to 50 minutes (I read elsewhere that it was a 100 person/5 minutes loading rate). Who would wait that long if you paid $70 for a short line??? That's a disaster waiting to happen.

And let's say that "Person 1,000" decides to give up and go elsewhere, now where to? Pooh or PP where maybe 300 people each have gotten into the queue? Now they're 30+ mins behind? Okay, never mind. Let's go have breakfast first with the other 400 people (which is, supposedly, capacity at Pinocchio's, so that might take a while). Eat breakfast and come back out maybe 20 minutes later - first 400 people have gone through 7DMT and half get right back in line - so the line is still long. Guess they'll just have to get in line and the wait has now dropped to maybe 30 minutes (provided that the ride is running without issues). If that were me - I'd be LIVID.

I agree with you! It would be insane.

But think like a Disney accountant. If you crunch the numbers, 1500 people would be much better than 750.

Rope drop doesn't guarantee short lines, it is just better than noon lines. Disney has now figured out how to monetize that. So using your scenario, $70.00 for 30-40 minute waits is better than the alternative. Plus first in the park during that peaceful time, plus breakfast.

Eventually, I expect them to open up Little Mermaid ride. That would eat up a significant number of people. Plus maybe Ariel meet and greet and get Gaston out there to ham it up.

 

[Maliboo]

Once this type of event is planned for each land, will people still be arguing it has zero effect on guests? If The FL hard ticket event is a success, we all know it will be expanded to each different land. What then?

 

[Mac30188]

I agree with you! It would be insane.

But think like a Disney accountant. If you crunch the numbers, 1500 people would be much better than 750.

Rope drop doesn't guarantee short lines, it is just better than noon lines. Disney has now figured out how to monetize that. So using your scenario, $70.00 for 30-40 minute waits is better than the alternative. Plus first in the park during that peaceful time, plus breakfast.

Eventually, I expect them to open up Little Mermaid ride. That would eat up a significant number of people. Plus maybe Ariel meet and greet and get Gaston out there to ham it up.

Your problem is still feeding them in an hour. I doubt anyone will be given a slot before 9:00AM as there is a huge difference in those that eat before and after rope drop. Opening additional attractions adds complications. If you make it 2000 people and 95% go to 7DMT at 9:00AM, it really won't matter what else is open. Those that didn't get to ride a single ride before their time for breakfast opens up will complain and want their money back. I suspect adding a days or adding a similar version to another park is an easier way to capitalize on the success.

 

[lugnut33]

LOL at the people who think these paid for extra hours are not the wave of the future and that it will eventually cut into park hours (It already has). You will pay more for less hours and be happy about it.

 

[maryj11]

I think we would actually do this event if all the rides were open in Fantasyland. Then again we do not have a big family, if we did there would be no way we would pay that much.

 

[Mikie]

To be honest, this will be a good thing for 95% of the Magic Kingdom attendees. This will not hurt your trip but help. The only people this hurts are those seduced by the fantasy of riding 7DMT multiple times in a row over and over with no wait.

1) The reason it sold out so fast was the capacity being that small. This is not even in the same ballpark as driving attendance like EMH drive attendance. I would bet ticket capacity was reverse engineered from Pinocchio. First they determined the number that they could serve in 1 hour, then they determined how many rides they needed to open along with 7DMT and Peter Pan. This is 1000 people or less who already had tickets to Magic Kingdom. This is not even close to EMH impact. I would not plan your day around this event.

2) This is only going to help pull down most wait times for 7DMT and Peter Pan. Do you really think that anyone who would pay for this event was not already a certainty to ride these rides anyway? Opening the ride an hour early = more people get to ride these popular rides per day (bonus capacity if you will). If you don't want to pay these prices, no worries. There are now 750-1000 people who no longer need to ride this ride. I doubt they used fast passes for them, nor will they do these rides at "rope drop." This won't hurt you. The park hours are not any different then what they were before, this is just extra time.

3) The only people this hurts minimally are those who booked a BOG breakfast for the sole purpose of getting a no wait ride at Peter Pan or 7DMT. Now you will have a short wait (but still ahead of all of the rope droppers). You still will be in good shape. If I had a BOG reservation but not tickets to the event, I would certainly not dump it as for the most part your benefit of beating rope droppers is in tact.

This event in among itself is actually a positive. The fear is the slippery slope this is treading on and the future application of this logic. For example, do they get rid of EMH? Does this discourage Disney from opening Norway early? Will they find additional hard ticket events to get more money per visitor? Will this be a way to limit attendance to Avatar? Star Wars? or Toy Story land?

People just need to relax and not let this minor change cause them to tear their plans up. If you had a good plan before, the plan is still good.

I hope you're right and this number of people is just a drop in the ocean - barely enough to cause a ripple. That would really be best case scenario - a benefit to guests who want it with no impact to those who do't. I would say it's neutral for other guests, though, not a positive. You can't have it both ways: EMM quantity is not enough to negatively cause a difference in your waits when you arrive for regular open AND EMM quantity is enough to reduce your FL waits because all those people are already done with those rides.

I guess positive for attendees + neutral for non-attendees = net positive though.

You're absolutely right that slippery slope is the bigger concern than the event itself. I try to focus on the situation at hand and not borrow trouble from tomorrow, but these strategies board discussions are always partly about what *might* happen. The refrain (and I believe it too) to all add-ons is "don't like it? Don't do it!" However IF more days or lands or tickets to this land are added, it does degrade and complicate the park experience of non-attendees, just like party season does, and that's hard to ignore.

 

[WEDWDW]

After reading that EMM was sold out,I went and checked just to satisfy my curiosity and there is PLENTY of availability.

Do you think EMM really was sold out and they have now upped the capacity?

 

[maryj11]

After reading that EMM was sold out,I went and checked just to satisfy my curiosity and there is PLENTY of availability.

Do you think EMM really was sold out and they have now upped the capacity?

I seen a reservation available on our Saturday there last night. It has been there since they opened the event

 

[Mac30188]

I hope you're right and this number of people is just a drop in the ocean - barely enough to cause a ripple. That would really be best case scenario - a benefit to guests who want it with no impact to those who do't. I would say it's neutral for other guests, though, not a positive. You can't have it both ways: EMM quantity is not enough to negatively cause a difference in your waits when you arrive for regular open AND EMM quantity is enough to reduce your FL waits because all those people are already done with those rides.

I guess positive for attendees + neutral for non-attendees = net positive though.

You're absolutely right that slippery slope is the bigger concern than the event itself. I try to focus on the situation at hand and not borrow trouble from tomorrow, but these strategies board discussions are always partly about what *might* happen. The refrain (and I believe it too) to all add-ons is "don't like it? Don't do it!" However IF more days or lands or tickets to this land are added, it does degrade and complicate the park experience of non-attendees, just like party season does, and that's hard to ignore.

That is probably true, the 750 people who ride early will not be a huge change to wait times. It still is an overall positive in for the day/week there is 1 extra hour that 7DMT was open and an event to ensure the capacity is utilized. These people likely would have done all three rides during normal operating hours anyway.

 

[Lothlórien]

I called this morning because I missed the announcement yesterday. I only wanted to purchase because I didn't want to mess up my MK day on May 3. They were all sold out. It was worth the price if it meant have a smooth day at MK. It's thought getting a curve ball when we all do ADRs 6 months out and FP 60 days out. I hope it doesn't change much and that the EMM doesn't change the flow and the lines at RD.

And I doubt it is any coincidence that Disney announced this and made this available at the price they did AFTER people have already planned out their vacations.

 

[Mikie]

After reading that EMM was sold out,I went and checked just to satisfy my curiosity and there is PLENTY of availability.

Do you think EMM really was sold out and they have now upped the capacity?

My personal guess is sellout + release more tickets, especially since some people reported being told on the phone, not just online, that it was sold out. But I'm willing to believe it could have been a glitch. I mean, if they thought 750 was a good number, but were willing to accept up to 1200 (guessing totally random numbers) why would you ever actually cap it at 750? Without any events experienced, what factor would cause you to decide 750 was "full" then re-decide that 1200 is "full". I know it's "because they can!" But why not just set it at 1200 in the first place?

 

[Mikie]

And I doubt it is any coincidence that Disney announced this and made this available at the price they did AFTER people have already planned out their vacations.

Hmmmm. . . Good point! Disney is masterful at the "lock you in" concept. . . MDE to get you onsite with no car; ticket pricing structure to make adding a WDW day financially more appealing than going to Uni for a day; FP+ to mentally lock you in to your plans. . . Adding at this time, at this price may cause a lot of huffing and eye rolling, ending with "well, I'll go ahead and add it so it doesn't mess up my other plans!

 

[MainMom]

My personal guess is sellout + release more tickets, especially since some people reported being told on the phone, not just online, that it was sold out. But I'm willing to believe it could have been a glitch. I mean, if they thought 750 was a good number, but were willing to accept up to 1200 (guessing totally random numbers) why would you ever actually cap it at 750? Without any events experienced, what factor would cause you to decide 750 was "full" then re-decide that 1200 is "full". I know it's "because they can!" But why not just set it at 1200 in the first place?

To generate buzz and have the masses think the must be something amazing because it's sold out. To make those who were shut out happy that they can now get in to this amazing event. They don't even have to pay money to market it. Just limit the tickets initially. Even if they don't sell out they will sell more than the original set number. Win-win all around.

 

[ginny65]

Maybe I misunderstood... Is there an evening extra ticket as well as the early entry ticket to MK? (I'm not talking about EMH). I thought I read a couple posts referring to this.

 

[HopperFan]

Maybe I misunderstood... Is there an evening extra ticket as well as the early entry ticket to MK? (I'm not talking about EMH). I thought I read a couple posts referring to this.

Yes for a mere $149.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/magic-kingdom/disney-after-hours/

 

[ginny65]

Well I sure hope they don't offer this into June. We were going to head to MK in the evening on Thursday of our trip. This event is already going to make our Tuesday morning stressful with the extra crowd. We sure don't want to be in the park on both of these events. ugh

 

[disneyseniors]

That doesn't even sound like fun. The only ride I would care to do is 7DMT. It's not really any different then getting an early morning ADR and walking slowly to the ride you want to go on the most.

Agree, and don't you think that all these people who paid for EMH are going to go directly to 7dmt and ride it repeatedly!!! It's like paying for 7dmt only. The other two rides are for spill over! You have to think that these people are saying,"YES", I can ride 7dmt for an hour before I go to get breakfast, if I go at all"?
I think this is a way for Disney to get their most popular ride (at the moment) more available to those who want to pay for it. Forget Pooh and PP!
And this will also make the lines megalong for the rest of us when the gates open at 9am!
I can't help but think this is going to be a mega disaster for Disney. Why? The above! and then the frustration of long lines for that hour for 7dmt when everyone realizes they paid for the same reason. That's why early morning breakfast adr's in FL are a sellout. Not for Pooh, but for 7dmt.
Can't wait to hear from those who have actually done this, but can't help but think it will not turn out good. My opinion only, and nothing against Pooh or PP

 

[bbjunkie]

I totally see your point, but just wanted to mention that people shouldn't be booking this thinking they will get a near empty park with spectacular castle photos and so forth. All of the prepark opening ADRs are still fully booked, meaning that a few thousand of your closest friends will be joining you for those Main Street and castle photos. The only thing you won't notice those crowds for is the actual ride experience.

Isn't the EMM hour beginning at 7:00? There are no pre-park opening reservations that early, so people with the EMM tickets will, indeed, get into the park with an almost empty Main Street. People with BOG and CP pre-open ADR's won't be in the park until almost an hour later, and I suspect by that point that EMM people will be well on their way to their 8th or so go around on 7DMT.