When will the Disney Money Grabbing End?

[usnuzuloose]

At some point every event is going to cost a high dollar amount. Talks about the 15 dollar a night resort fees that may come. They just can't seem to make enough money for the top chain people. At some point though it may come crashing down on them.

 

[Vernie822]

I agree with you guys. It's a little ridiculous IMO, but if they priced it much lower, it would probably attract a ton of people.

I MAY do this under a few (Very slim) circumstances. If I happened to be in the area and not going to WDW, and I didn't have an AP, and it was a "this is my only park time on this trip" type of thing. I'd probably like the thinned out crowds.

It does/doesn't bother me that they're offering this. Doesn't bother me because the park would close at 10/11 anyways, and the way I see it, I don't have to pay for it. Not like they're shutting the park down early and saying "you can't come today unless you buy this". I have a choice not to buy it. And I'll make that choice! Lol.

It DOES bother me because it's like.. WHAT IS THE REASON? Why do you need to offer this!? Your parks are already open 14 hours a day, why grab even more money from people?!

 

[Eighty8Keys]

I have no interest in doing this because it's way past my bedtime, even on vacation, and it's a lot of money. But I did wonder briefly if I could eat $150 in Mickey bars.

 

[maxiesmom]

As long as enough people show interest they will keep doing it. Or it may go the way of the late nights they had at Epcot for a bit.

 

[sheetz]

I don't see the huge "to do" about this or why people are freaking out. They are not replacing EMH with this. They're not taking away any park time for this (like with parties). You can choose to do it or not. I just don't get being upset. There was obviously a demand for it or Disney wouldn't be doing it. I think it's a good business move that doesn't hurt me as a guest in any way.

The sneakiness of this brilliant when you think about it. Disney reduces EMH for their resorts due to "lack of demand." Then after a suitable amount of time for guests to get used to the reduced EMH, they bring it back "by popular demand" as an expensive upcharge event.

 

[StuckInKS]

Never. All we can do is either stop going, cut out days/activities or find ways to save more money.

It would cost $1192 for my family to do Disney After Hours for one evening, which seems to be EMH with a fancy name. So. Not. Happening.

 

[maxiesmom]

The sneakiness of this brilliant when you think about it. Disney reduces EMH for their resorts due to "lack of demand." Then after a suitable amount of time for guests to get used to the reduced EMH, they bring it back "by popular demand" as an expensive upcharge event.

They took one hour away a couple of years ago. I can't blame them for seeing if there is enough interest for even more extended hours that people will pay a premium. It is not sneaky at all, they are being very upfront about it. If people pay, who cares? If they don't, who cares? It isn't affecting anyone else.

 

[tvguy]

Disney only charges what people are willing to pay. They are pretty good at researching things before they act. They have had a few clunker ideas, but they pretty much know how high they can go with prices.

 

[StuckInKS]

But they aren't taking anything away to add this event.

I don't see the huge "to do" about this or why people are freaking out. They are not replacing EMH with this.

Yes, they are not replacing EMH with this...yet. Do you really think that if this is successful, they will continue giving you EMH for free? They might even decide that closing at 1-2am is too late for this event and changing it to a 7pm-10pm event. Then the park would close for regular guests at 7. I'm glad to hear they won't be sweeping the parks. This ends the night before our arrival, but if it bleeds over into our time, then we will stay at the park and spend those 3 hours eating, shopping and just enjoying the nighttime park atmosphere (like we used to do with regular EMH when staying offsite).

Here's the thing....if it's successful, then obviously WDW hasn't been charging the right price for Halloween or Christmas party tickets and they SHOULD raise them. All throughout fall and the Christmas season this year, people were on here complaining that the parties were too crowded. So, maybe they need to up the price to lower the crowds.

No way is Disney going to raise prices and then not realize any profit because they reduced crowds too. They will charge more and keep the crowds at the current levels.

I can see the appeal of this as an add-on to an otherwise non-Disney vacation. A 1-day adult MK ticket for those dates is $110+tax. For an extra $39, you'll get a (presumably) much less crowded park experience plus beverages and dessert included. You can enter at 7pm, see the regular nighttime parade/fireworks, then ride with short lines for the 3 hours after park close. And probably get 3 FP+ to use between 7pm-park close because we know how great Disney is at fixing "glitches" that don't actually make them lose money.

This does make a lot of sense for a day guest. However, I always though Disney preferred the onsite guests who are going to stay and spend money for a week. This one is definitely catering to the day guest.

 

[sheetz]

They took one hour away a couple of years ago. I can't blame them for seeing if there is enough interest for even more extended hours that people will pay a premium. It is not sneaky at all, they are being very upfront about it. If people pay, who cares? If they don't, who cares? It isn't affecting anyone else.

'But this is exactly what I mean. They reduced EMH years ago so now you can say, "it's not affecting anything else." Disney had to allow for a suitable amount of time for the guests to become conditioned to the new norm before they could bring on the new upcharge event.

In any case I don't see how you can be 100% sure that it won't affect anything else. At the very least operating the park for more hours reduces maintenance time for the attractions.

 

[maxiesmom]

'But this is exactly what I mean. They reduced EMH years ago so now you can say, "it's not affecting anything else." Disney had to allow for a suitable amount of time for the guests to become conditioned to the new norm before they could bring on the new upcharge event.

In any case I don't see how you can be 100% sure that it won't affect anything else. At the very least operating the park for more hours reduces maintenance time for the attractions.

But that was ok when it was free? The maintenance hours being less? I don't understand I guess expecting things to never change.

 

[sheetz]

But that was ok when it was free? The maintenance hours being less? I don't understand I guess expecting things to never change.

Well, I remember one of the arguments that people used for reduced EMH was that it would allow time for more ride maintenance.

 

[maxiesmom]

Well maybe with the increased income they will hire more maintenance workers and they will do more work in less time. Hey, it could happen!!!

 

[Pooh2]

I would need more details on the ice cream aspect of this deal before passing judgement..

 

[Mr. lncredible]

The only thing any of us can do is vote with our wallets. If it is successful, it will continue, if not they will move on from it and find new ways to get your dollar.

 

[mcorbo]

If they limit to 7000 guests per event (E-ride nights of old were rumored to be 5000) they would be putting over $1,000,000 dollars in the till.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I'm glad to hear they won't be sweeping the parks. This ends the night before our arrival, but if it bleeds over into our time, then we will stay at the park and spend those 3 hours eating, shopping and just enjoying the nighttime park atmosphere (like we used to do with regular EMH when staying offsite).

When we did the DVC 25th Bash this month, they required you to check in and they gave us a wrist band. Those who didn't have a wrist band once the park "closed" were asked to leave if CMs saw guests without the bands. This would probably be a similar thing. They could even get good and integrate the magicband so that if you try to enter a ride your magicband will let them know if you hadn't paid to stay.

 

[DebbieB]

But they aren't taking anything away to add this event. They're charging for a new experience at times that they were not previously open. This shouldn't make anything "worse." It can only make things better for the select few who actually pay for the event.

I'm arriving May 8 and from my notes, MK was supposed to close at midnight. Now this starts at 11. So they are taking an hour away.

 

[Shanti]

In lieu of admission

That actually doesn't sound too bad, considering that these are guaranteed low crowds, that one-day tickets to MK are only a little less, and that you don't have to stay onsite to take advantage of it. The latter is the clincher, I think. Many people save hundreds or thousands of dollars by staying offsite: for them, this might not be too much to pay to guarantee some MK time with no crowds. It makes staying offsite more appealing, which is a dumb move by Disney.

 

[StuckInKS]

When we did the DVC 25th Bash this month, they required you to check in and they gave us a wrist band. Those who didn't have a wrist band once the park "closed" were asked to leave if CMs saw guests without the bands. This would probably be a similar thing. They could even get good and integrate the magicband so that if you try to enter a ride your magicband will let them know if you hadn't paid to stay.

They may and I wouldn't be surprised if they do. That plan is actually based of an unconfirmed rumor in the other thread that CMs won't sweep the park and non-ticketed guests would be allow to stay to shop and eat. It could turn out to be wrong, but hopefully there won't be any bleed over into our dates anyway (is there a crossed fingers smilie?)