WHY do they open WS later than FW?

[golden1]

I have always wondered this. It makes sure that the big attractions get crowded right away and the fastpasses get used up early in the day. If they want to balance out things, why not open WS earlier?

 

[Dznefreek]

It all comes down to $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Statiscally the majority of the people who visit go through FW first, especially now with Soarin', TT, Nemo, M:S.

 

[jellydisney]

This is just a guess, but maybe they save money by opening it later.

If the vast majority of guests stay in the front of the park (FW) in the morning, by not opening WS until later, they save money by not having to pay employees to be there during what is essentially dead time.

If there are other reasons, I'd be interested to know....

 

[bytheblood]

I asked this question and was told by a CM that the people who work in the restaurants are contractors and do not work for Disney.

Also, he said, they have different hours being in the food industry and they needed to keep that part of the park closed from guests so that foods can be delivered to each of the restaurants as many deliveries were done in the "streets" of the park.

It really makes sense when you think about the food industry and delivery portion of what he said.

 

[SunKat]

Interesting topic. I was just thinking that about 14 years ago (or around that time) WS did open the same time as FW. We stayed at the BC and one of the best things was getting into WS first thing in the am. This was back before the BW was built. Does anyone else remember this? We were able to visit half the countries before the crowds started coming over from FW. Ah, those were the days!!

 

[MulanMom]

Interesting topic. I was just thinking that about 14 years ago (or around that time) WS did open the same time as FW. We stayed at the BC and one of the best things was getting into WS first thing in the am. This was back before the BW was built. Does anyone else remember this? We were able to visit half the countries before the crowds started coming over from FW. Ah, those were the days!!

I remember! I remember! It was great!!! We used to go to the bakery in France and get our breakfast pastries and coffee, then tour WS. Many times we had the characters all to ourselves.

We tend to like going against the crowds, but Disney has changed many things to maximize their resources and you have to be part of a crowd to enjoy it.

 

[SunKat]

I remember! I remember! It was great!!! We used to go to the bakery in France and get our breakfast pastries and coffee, then tour WS. Many times we had the characters all to ourselves.

We tend to like going against the crowds, but Disney has changed many things to maximize their resources and you have to be part of a crowd to enjoy it.

Wasn't that the best? The bakery in France was always our first stop. It was so quiet, we practically had the place to ourselves. I remember too that they had trams from the YC and BC to the Int'l Gateway. Those days are gone. Ah well.

 

[NewEnglandDisney]

I asked this question and was told by a CM that the people who work in the restaurants are contractors and do not work for Disney.

Also, he said, they have different hours being in the food industry and they needed to keep that part of the park closed from guests so that foods can be delivered to each of the restaurants as many deliveries were done in the "streets" of the park.

It really makes sense when you think about the food industry and delivery portion of what he said.

Nah, that's just a CM talking out of their behind...sort of like the proverbial Bus Driver that tells you all about that 5th park they are just about to announce.

The truth is, WS used to be open with the park. It doesn't now because it's cheaper to not staff an entire half of the park that even at a brisk pace takes 20 minutes to just walk to, let alone where guests go. It may just be two hours, but multiply that by hundred's of employees and you see why.

I'm sure they may deliver things, etc. during that time, but it's not a necessity. Most of the WS can be serviced from backstage anyhow - it's not like they are driving trucks up to the front of the pavilions, hehe.

It's all about the $$$...

NED

 

[bicker]

To be fair -- the restaurants around the World Showcase lagoon are mostly contracted out... the only Disney-owned full-service restaurants are Le Cellier, Rose and Crown, and Biergarten. I doubt, however, that that affects the park hours much (though the restaurants wouldn't generally be open before 11am, even if the park was open).

 

[NewEnglandDisney]

To be fair -- the restaurants around the World Showcase lagoon are mostly contracted out... the only Disney-owned full-service restaurants are Le Cellier, Rose and Crown, and Biergarten. I doubt, however, that that affects the park hours much (though the restaurants wouldn't generally be open before 11am, even if the park was open).

Oh, the CM she was refering to was correct in the fact that many of the restaurants are not run by Disney, but the rest of the "conclusions" is all hooey.

Lots of restaurants in Orlando are 24 hours, so it's not like they have special "restaurant hours" or weird union requirements.

And the CM probably wasn't even intentionally wrong, they probably just made some assumptions because they see activity in WS when it's closed. The "backstage" activity "on stage" happens because it can, they don't keep it closed to facilitate it.

If you think about it, it does make sense. It takes that long for most people to make it over to WS anyway, and why pay 100's and 100's of CM's to be manning store registers, attractions, etc. for two hours when no one is there.

NED

 

[bicker]

Precisely. It goes beyond that -- I don't believe it was a matter of "thinking about it" -- they had years of data regarding guest behavior patterns. They knew, explicitly, that guests tended to eschew the World Showcase until later in the day.

 

[kaytieeldr]

It really makes sense when you think about the food industry and delivery portion of what he said.

Actually, it doesn't. Nothing requires restaurants to be open when a portion of a park opens. There are carts that could be open full park hours, and there actually ARE restaurants in World Showcase owned by Disney.

If you think about it, it does make sense. It takes that long for most people to make it over to WS anyway, and why pay 100's and 100's of CM's to be manning store registers, attractions, etc. for two hours when no one is there.

This is exactly right. Disney determined that it took about two hours from Epcot opening until Guests started to make their way to World Showcase, so...

 

[Robo]

All this discussion and no one (at least I didn't see it) pointed out that BOTH "halves" of the park are "open" the same number of hours.

WS opens 2 hours behind FW, but it also CLOSES 2 hours behind FW (with IllumiNations).

So the idea of it taking guests (in general) 2 hours to actually GET to WS after opening, then to be there LATER, is logical (and more economical for staffing).

That said, a few popular FW attractions do stay open until IllumiNations starts. They include SE, M:S, Test Track, Soarin', and likely now, The Seas.

 

[NewEnglandDisney]

It is correct that, technically, FW does close two hours early, but, as you pointed it, it's pretty irrelevant since most of the major attractions remain open most of the time, regardless. It's more of an excuse to close the support (i.e. the minor attractions in Innoventions, the food spots) to save $ as well.

NED

 

[studog100]

to keep us wonderin

 

[Robo]

It's more of an excuse to close the support (i.e. the minor attractions in Innoventions, the food spots) to save $ as well.

NED

Well, of course that's the reason.
Otherwise, they'd operate everything at WDW 24 hours a day.
There needs to be down-time for all sorts of reasons.

My point was that they operate the both "halves" of Epcot for approx. the same amount of time every day (add 30 min. to WS during the holidays).
The more popular half is open at the hours that attract the most guests to that section.

Look at the operating hours of, say, DAK. Very short "day," but the same ticket price as the other parks.

Epcot is open later than any of the other (non-PM EMH) parks (usually, especially in the "slower" seasons).
Its fine with me to "split" the Epcot day-schedule as they do to allow for a longer "day" at the park for guests who choose to stay.

Epcot is large enough to accomodate this on most days.

 

[Hound 109]

to keep us wonderin

And I'm wondering.....the Norway restaurant is open for breakfast, so I guess some people are going into WS prior to 11am. Is it roped off before 11am or is just nothing open in WS (cept for Askerhus).

I was thinking about going to France for pastries & wanted to be there when they open their door. (at I guess 11am)

Thanks.

hound

 

[DISshopkeeper]

A good question that actually never occurred to me!

 

[Lucky82061]

It's all about operational costs.

By opening FW early and closing WS later, you can pull some of the staff working at WS to handle some of the morning rush at FW and pull the FW staff to WS to handle additional crowds for Illumination. By the time WS opens, you can re-allocate the staff to their positions at WS since there won't be as many people in FW. This way you don't have to have additional staff to handle bigger crowds.

Also, you don't have to fully staff both FW and WS for 2 hours in the morning and evening, yet still have the combined hours be fairly long. That's my take on it.. who knows I could be horribly wrong too

 

[rgf207]

Here is my idea

All of the other parks operate on a "hub and spoke basis" where it usually takes equal amount of time to get to any area of the park from the main enterance. In MK you can go in whichever direction you want and arrive at approxamitly the same time as someone who chooses a different land. The same works for MGM and AK.

With EPCOT, you have to travel through Future World to get to WS with the exception of say less than 5% of the the park guests who are at the EPCOT resorts. Since most people are not going to pass by the headliner attractions to go to a place with mostly restaurants and shops, Disney realized that FW did not get busy until just around the lunch time rush. It would make no sense to pay cast members to stand around and man regusters and restaurants. Say there are 500 cast members that work in WS from 9am to 11am and they each get 8.00/ hour that would be a total of 8,000 dollars wasted per day and 2,920,000 wasted per year.

IMHO disney made the right choice