What is going on with Disney parks?

[DGsAtBLT]

Also the after hours events. Yes they don’t close the park early, technically. Except when you look at MK hours of years past and realize those 3 hours you’re buying were often regular park hours, or at the very least EMH.

But now they’ve got popcorn and ice cream.

 

[preemiemama]

I'd also note the lessening of "free" extra park hours being replaced by more paid ones. Early Morning Magic and After Hours/Villains After Hours events at MK, After Hours at AK. These all eat into additional hours at the parks that used to be open for onsite guests, or just part of normal park operations. Summer used to see 11 or 12:00 closings, now it's 10 pm most nights- and has been our past couple of trips.

Disney seems to be cutting back entertainment and "normal" hours in favor of upcharges. Even the parties/events have upcharges! The "Villains Lounge" at Diamond Horseshoe during the Villains After Hours- seems like a place to centralize the sale of "specialized" food and beverages. The Tony's Town Square meal at both the Christmas party, paid parade and fireworks viewings at those parties, specialty drinks, food, and event merchandise, the list seems to go on and on. Not to mention that they also seem to "oversell" these events when it suits them (there's a lot of discussion/debate about this on the DAH thread).

This year's Villains After Hours is $145 per person vs. $109 last year. They have started them much earlier in the year (February vs. June) and added a character parade (instead of just the Maleficent Dragon) plus some new food items/merchandise ignorer to "justify" the increased cost. They are also running a "regular" After Hours at least once a week through June (I think) as well. That's after the extension of the Halloween party into August. They are cutting back what day/onsite guests can get with admission in favor of paid events that monetize what they used to include in the price of a regular ticket.

 

[snappy]

Almost makes you wonder if staying on site for extra magic hours are “worth it.”

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Almost makes you wonder if staying on site for extra magic hours are “worth it.”

I don’t think it’s been for a while. I think in general the 60+ day window is most commonly talked about as the main benefit where EMH used to be.

That said, my family is personally still an onsite or bust family for quite a few reasons. But yeah, EMH is no longer much of a consideration at least for us.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Not denying the continued increases, hours changes, additional party dates, etc., but I’m pretty sure I did my first Christmas party in 2013. Haven’t these been going on a long time?

Yeah they have been, I think theyve added a lot more though

 

[snappy]

And they cost a boatload more.

 

[guynhawaii]

Aloha,

I wonder what the price increases (tickets, hotel, food, upcharges, etc...) shall be for the 50th Anniversary at WDW! Combined with the crowds! Yikes! Hopefully Disney is planning to do business differently to make it a more enjoyable and less expensive experience for everyone.

 

[mshanson3121]

Almost makes you wonder if staying on site for extra magic hours are “worth it.”

Definitely not in my book quite honestly.

 

[Sakiki]

Oh for sure. I stay off site and have recently tried tacking on a couple Disney nights on the front end of a trip, so I’m acutely aware of how crazy the pricing is next to the Orlando market. But it’s not just one resort, it’s the whole property. Meanwhile, ~90% occupancy...

I find people will rationalize a lot of expensive things on this board, and it’s amusing to see where people’s lines do get drawn.

Same here. Just to note, we’re from the UK so flight costs always enter the equation!

We’ve done all all offsite, splits and all onsite. We did 2 weeks at AKL/JH in December 2019 but at the end of the day a hotel room is a hotel room; beds, small floor space and nowhere comfortable to sit if you want a few hours rest. We’re hopefully returning to Florida in 2021 and I looked into renting DVC points for a 1-bedroom villa at AKL/KL or BLT but the cost involved was more than the quotes I got for our flights, a villa and renting a car combined. So we’ll be staying offsite, visiting WDW, dining at 4 or 5 places we particularly like (breakfasts at Akershus, The Crystal Palace, Boma, dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern, maybe dinner at Cinderella’s Royal Table - all of course if we can get reservations). But overall we’ll spend less time at WDW than previously. We’re actually thinking of going over to Universal just to have a look round (neither of us like rollercoasters so there would be very little riding involved) as we've not been there since our first trip to Florida in 1997, and also fitting in Kennedy Space Centre (3 years since we were there) and Seaworld (not been since 2001)...

 

[TomServo27]

I think it would have been somewhere between 2005 and 2010 (talk about fuzzy memory, I need that big of a range lol) that they had 40% off rooms, and that awesome buy 4 get 3 deal where you paid for 4 nights and got 3 free! I didn’t imagine that last one right? I can’t find anything about it using google. These discounts on top of rates that were MUCH cheaper than current ones.

We did free dining at BC in 2008, and I want to say rack rate was $300 something.

We went in September of 2002. Booked Caribbean Beach they closed the whole resort for rufurb and ended up at the Poly for $119 a night. Also I had and have never seen crowds so low.

 

[Mikey15]

It's a big staggering though just how long the parties take up these days. In 2015 when I first started planning our 2017 trip MNSSHP was in the middle of September. Then it moved to the beginning and now it's middle of August (2019). Now I haven't gone through all the years to see when they started but they have typically been increasing each year the number of days taken up by the parties which are multiple times per week.

For the most part you'll see the increase on the MNSSHP because of the timing of the year. There's only so far they can go with MVMCP. They do a very quick turnaround though between the two parties. In 2019 the last MNSSHP was November 1st and the first MVMCP was November 8th so 6 days in between.

I know some families can only go in the summer (ie no later than August) due to school starting back, so I don’t begrudge those early Halloween parties being an option for them.

Once parties hit full swing though the MK crowds on non party days are insane. After my last experience I’m not sure I want to do that again. I like the party experience, but it shouldn’t be so hard to enjoy a park day with normal fireworks too.

 

[preemiemama]

I know some families can only go in the summer (ie no later than August) due to school starting back, so I don’t begrudge those early Halloween parties being an option for them.

Once parties hit full swing though the MK crowds on non party days are insane. After my last experience I’m not sure I want to do that again. I like the party experience, but it shouldn’t be so hard to enjoy a park day with normal fireworks too.

I can tell you that last July the one EMH they had at MK during our trip was the night before VAH. It was PACKED. We were very uncomfortable and wound up leaving about an hour in. Honestly, at 10 pm the line for IASW was 30 minutes and it felt like you couldn't move in Fantasyland at all. It made me feel almost as claustrophobic as the trip a couple years ago when we were stuck in that area on July 3rd when theJuly 4th fireworks show was going on.

DH and I are both teachers, and our anniversary is in July, so we always travel in the summer. Last summer was the first trip we have ever felt that level of frustration during a pm EMH.

 

[snappy]

I read the tip to avoid MK on non party nights here on the DIS. Can be a nightmare, in the park and in the busses.

 

[preemiemama]

I read the tip to avoid MK on non party nights here on the DIS. Can be a nightmare, in the park and in the busses.

I wholeheartedly agree- and would add especially if it's an EMH! We had never run into that in July before (except for the 3rd/4th of July due to the special fireworks shows) but last year was the first time for the Villains "party lite" After Hours. Combine that with normal closings of 10 pm every night and it was not a good scene!

 

[dlavender]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1230513192876617728

He’s not wrong....

Explain how increased costs should bring about a 8pm closure...

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1230513192876617728

He’s not wrong....

Explain how increased costs should bring about a 8pm closure...

$$$

 

[Q-man]

I read the tip to avoid MK on non party nights here on the DIS. Can be a nightmare, in the park and in the busses.

Unless you have your heart set on the night time entertainment hitting rope drop on party days is way better than going on one of the few non party days.

 

[snappy]

Unless you have your heart set on the night time entertainment hitting rope drop on party days is way better than going on one of the few non party days.

I agree. See fireworks from the Poly beach or from California Grill after a good meal.

 

[mshanson3121]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1230513192876617728

He’s not wrong....

Explain how increased costs should bring about a 8pm closure...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1230513192876617728

He’s not wrong....

Explain how increased costs should bring about a 8pm closure...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1230513192876617728

He’s not wrong....

Explain how increased costs should bring about a 8pm closure...

 

[Mome Rath]

Perhaps he needs to learn the refresh method... right now, day of at 4:40pm, in one go I have Frozen sing-along, Indiana Jones, Muppet Vision, Fantasmic, Little Mermaid, and Star Tours. Earlier in the day I saw R'n'R, TSMM, ToT, Disney Junior, etc... Just sayin' this so people don't see that and freak out as it's a bit misleading. I get SDD and MFSR during day of as well.