When will the Disney Money Grabbing End?

[Earstou]

After doing E-Ride nights for $12, no way I would do this!

 

[MomToOne]

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.

If I were planning a non-Disney trip to central Florida, I'd consider doing this to get a little Disney fix one night. The price is high to pay for a family, but for a single adult or couple I'd consider it.

This. I think it is a way for Disney to squeeze a few extra dollars out of single day guests, while at the same time shifting that crowd to later hours so that multi-day guests (the real money makers) feel like the park is less crowded during the day and so are willing to hang out there longer and spend even more.

(And if you can eat 35 Mickey bars, it is a break-even proposition!)

 

[wendow]

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.

LOL! We are dairy free due to lactose issues and milk allergies in our family and we rarely drink soda. So when I saw this, I knew $149 was more than I would ever pay cause I just wouldn't be able to get my money's worth in soda and ice cream. And really, who has the stomach for Mickey bars and soda at this time of the night (morning)??!?!

In all seriousness, I am continually amazed at the amount people will fork over to Disney since for some, Disney is always right and *always* is a good value. There will be people who will pay or this. And that is fine. I have no problem with it. It won't be me!

 

[Whimsy by Kelly]

This. I think it is a way for Disney to squeeze a few extra dollars out of single day guests, while at the same time shifting that crowd to later hours so that multi-day guests (the real money makers) feel like the park is less crowded during the day and so are willing to hang out there longer and spend even more.

(And if you can eat 35 Mickey bars, it is a break-even proposition!)

LOL. I have a 14 year old son who probably CAN eat 35 Mickey bars, so I guess I'm their target market!

 

[clm10308]

I would only not like it, if it meant that Disney was not open late any more to "regular" ticket holders. I might be willing to pay for something like this depending on my schedule.
I was once at Disney over Christmas week when the park was open until around 3:00am (not for the party). That was the best experience ever. The crowds really thinned out after 11:00pm, and we got on every ride that we wanted. All the big rides stayed open. We were able to get 2-3 days worth of rides done that one night, and didn't have to worry about sunburn.
I realize this wouldn't work well with little kids, but mine were middle school and high school at the time.

 

[Marionnette]

And now they're doing it for mornings, too!
http://www.disboards.com/threads/is-this-a-sign-of-things-to-come.3494867/#post-55406752

Possible premium price to enter the parks early for pre-opening ADRs.

And the beat(ing) goes on!

 

[HM]

I wonder whether it's unlimited drinks and novelty ice cream though. Couldn't it be that you'd get a voucher for them or something?

 

[Burnedout]

Dang! We chose the 12th for our mk day due to the crowd calendar. This may affect our day:/

 

[ellie05]

For people saying they will pay this How many of you have done late EMH?
We always do late MK EMH and can tell many of you are going to be disappointed with the wait times. Last time we did it 7DMT was a 45 min wait the whole time even when we got in line right before EMH ended we waited at least 15 min. I seen PPF have a 40 min wait too.

 

[Hikergirl]

I thought I had read here that Disney was calling people and asking them to change their FPs for later times and not to arrive at the parks until late in the day for this week?
It seems to me that they are really trying to get people into the parks later in the day to control the daytime crowd. This is probably just a test to see if people are willing to pay extra, and if so how it effects the crowds during the day.

 

[Hikergirl]

For people saying they will pay this How many of you have done late EMH?
We always do late MK EMH and can tell many of you are going to be disappointed with the wait times. Last time we did it 7DMT was a 45 min wait the whole time even when we got in line right before EMH ended we waited at least 15 min. I seen PPF have a 40 min wait too.

We always do late MK EMH, but our waits have never been that long, but we wouldn't sit there, no ride is worth that IMO. We would also arrive at the park early afternoon for a late EMH so we'd get all the rides in before late at night.
This option means we could just arrive in the evening and still get all the rides we wanted in. Its a limited event, so I would hope that meant that lines were not 45 minutes. Also, do we know if FP can be scheduled during that time if you have a ticket? I would never do this though if I was staying onsite for a week. If I've already purchased my park tickets for the week, I wouldn't add $150 pp on top of that just to show up at night.
The only time it would be worth it is if I was vacationing in Orlando and wanted to do MK for a day (or night) so EMH wouldn't apply to me anyway.

 

[sarah4770]

Yes, The money grubbing just goes on and on. It's not fun anymore, with the Ticket changes and the fast pass changes. You have to plan every moment of your vacation or there is no sense in going to the parks. If I buy a one day hopper and we decide to go to park another day later in the week, I have to buy a new ticket. If I buy a two day hopper and we decide not to go a second day, We've just lost that money.
If we decide we are not up to an adr, we loose money. ,,,you should have cancelled yesterday. If you don't make adr's ...you miss your favorite meals. I priced the deluxe dining plan for 3 ppl for 3 day, it's over $1000. if you want to go to signatures for 3 nights, your going to spend close to $100 a head for an entree that has two tablespoons of food, and soda's and an appetizer. If you don't go to a signature, you are still going to spend close to $50 a head.

It's getting too stressful and too expensive. I think I might save up some DVC points for aulani and then call it a day.
It's time to find a new destination.

 

[ellie05]

We always do late MK EMH, but our waits have never been that long, but we wouldn't sit there, no ride is worth that IMO. We would also arrive at the park early afternoon for a late EMH so we'd get all the rides in before late at night.
This option means we could just arrive in the evening and still get all the rides we wanted in. Its a limited event, so I would hope that meant that lines were not 45 minutes. Also, do we know if FP can be scheduled during that time if you have a ticket? I would never do this though if I was staying onsite for a week. If I've already purchased my park tickets for the week, I wouldn't add $150 pp on top of that just to show up at night.
The only time it would be worth it is if I was vacationing in Orlando and wanted to do MK for a day (or night) so EMH wouldn't apply to me anyway.

I seen more and more people at the late EMH. The most recent one we went to was Dec and before that oct. both times wait times at 7DMT were 45 min. We didn't wait for it since we have already done that ride and I agree we don't really wait that long for anything. They are not guaranteeing walk on rides if they would maybe I would consider it. I would also understand maybe for some conference guest this will make sense, but I still don't think the value is there compared to a full day ticket. You will get much more done with a full day ticket than the extra really 2 hours you get (yeah and you really only get 2 hours because how long it takes for them to clear the park and go through guest that were already in line.

Weather or not you get FP for the early 3 hours haven't been announced. But you will still be battling extra crowds the first 3 hours and for the fireworks and parade that to me negates the time savings of the extra hours you get.

Even if we were vacationing in Orlando I think you get a better value to get a value room for the night EMH are offer. Yeah it will be a little more but if you need a place to sleep anyway it will be much cheaper.

 

[UncleMike101]

I believe the answer to the question "When will the Disney Money Grabbing End?" is:
It will end when Iger's personal wealth has surpassed Bill Gates.
Which at this rate shouldn't be all that far down the road.

 

[amylevan]

Yes, The money grubbing just goes on and on. It's not fun anymore, with the Ticket changes and the fast pass changes. You have to plan every moment of your vacation or there is no sense in going to the parks. If I buy a one day hopper and we decide to go to park another day later in the week, I have to buy a new ticket. If I buy a two day hopper and we decide not to go a second day, We've just lost that money.
If we decide we are not up to an adr, we loose money. ,,,you should have cancelled yesterday. If you don't make adr's ...you miss your favorite meals. I priced the deluxe dining plan for 3 ppl for 3 day, it's over $1000. if you want to go to signatures for 3 nights, your going to spend close to $100 a head for an entree that has two tablespoons of food, and soda's and an appetizer. If you don't go to a signature, you are still going to spend close to $50 a head.

It's getting too stressful and too expensive. I think I might save up some DVC points for aulani and then call it a day.
It's time to find a new destination.

For the record, the tickets have always worked that way. And I'm pretty sure the people on the boards are what brought on the ADR cancellation fee by making multiple ADRs for the same time and blocking others out.

As for dining, yes, it's expensive, but not $100/head expensive unless you're drinking alcohol - even at the signatures.

 

[Hikergirl]

I seen more and more people at the late EMH. The most recent one we went to was Dec and before that oct. both times wait times at 7DMT were 45 min. We didn't wait for it since we have already done that ride and I agree we don't really wait that long for anything. They are not guaranteeing walk on rides if they would maybe I would consider it. I would also understand maybe for some conference guest this will make sense, but I still don't think the value is there compared to a full day ticket. You will get much more done with a full day ticket than the extra really 2 hours you get (yeah and you really only get 2 hours because how long it takes for them to clear the park and go through guest that were already in line.

Weather or not you get FP for the early 3 hours haven't been announced. But you will still be battling extra crowds the first 3 hours and for the fireworks and parade that to me negates the time savings of the extra hours you get.

Even if we were vacationing in Orlando I think you get a better value to get a value room for the night EMH are offer. Yeah it will be a little more but if you need a place to sleep anyway it will be much cheaper.

"Value" is so subjective. When we are on vacation, we value not having to wake up early, we value some relaxing by the pool. We value not having to go rush and fight crowds and get as much as we can done in X amount of hours on vacation. I hate the heat so while I tolerate it during a WDW vacation, being able to go later in the day and still have 7 hours in the park works for me. Also, the kids are older now so we skip alot of attractions when we go so there is no need for us to spend all day at the parks.
I think getting a value room for the night of EMH either equates to more money spent because I either pay for a room elsewhere plus that room, or then I have to pack up my stuff vacate a room to move my stuff to the value. Not to mention I have a family of 5 so it would have to be 2 rooms at a value or 1 at a mod. None of that is worth it to me. Being able to just buy a ticket, show up after dinner, have a nice night at the park for $150 extra ($30pp above regular ticket) would be though.
Its really going to depend on so many things whether or not this "event" is worth it to you and your family. I definitely see the appeal but I can see how others don't.

 

[supersnoop]

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.

These are all Thursdays. Is MK every open that late on a Thursday? Easywdw.com is showing some extended hours for a Thursday in April, and isn't reporting any changes to times in May. I think you're notes were wrong.

 

[DebbieB]

These are all Thursdays. Is MK every open that late on a Thursday? Easywdw.com is showing some extended hours for a Thursday in April, and isn't reporting any changes to times in May. I think you're notes were wrong.

May 8 is the only Sunday (Mother's Day). I thought it did say midnight, it's saying 11:00 now. Midnight is strange for a Sunday night, I wonder if the page on Disneyworld.com did not refresh when I put in the date.

 

[sarah4770]

For the record, the tickets have always worked that way. And I'm pretty sure the people on the boards are what brought on the ADR cancellation fee by making multiple ADRs for the same time and blocking others out.

As for dining, yes, it's expensive, but not $100/head expensive unless you're drinking alcohol - even at the signatures.

For the record, You used to be able to add a no expiration to an unused ticket days within a certain amount of time.

california grill-
middle of the road entree--snapper--$43.00
low end appetizer $16.00
soda $5.00
Dessert $13.00
Tip $15.00
+ tax
that comes close enough to $100 a head for me

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

For the record, You used to be able to add a no expiration to an unused ticket days within a certain amount of time.

california grill-
middle of the road entree--snapper--$43.00
low end appetizer $16.00
soda $5.00
Dessert $13.00
Tip $15.00
+ tax
that comes close enough to $100 a head for me

California Grill is probably the worst example for a signature. The prices are higher and the portions are smaller than most of the others.