Will you pay $150 for the new "Disney After Dark" event in the MK?

[JimmyV]

Last I heard, V&A's was not exactly having to beg people to eat there.

Exactly. V&A's is full every night. In fact, it is hard to get a seat.

Let's not go crazy. "Full" at V&A means 50 people. I doubt that Disney is trying to lure only 50 people to the After Hours event.

 

[Travis B]

The justification for the crazy price increases and surge pricing is that crowds are too high (too many customers... what a bad problem) and they don't have the capacity (see the thread about CMs calling folks to ask them to change their FPs). Well one way to add capacity is to add hours, both general and EMH. So sure, technically they might not at this point, be replacing all the EMH but traditionally they would have extended hours (general and EMH) to meet demand. Now instead they will simply add a ticketed event at $150 per person for 3 hours..)

I'm just reporting what their blog post said - not justifying their actions.

 

[epcotty]

Nice to see the overwhelming vote for No on here. If even people on the boards mostly won't go for it (the most diehard disney fans of all) then I don't see how it'd be that popular. I also say no way, it costs more than 1 day ever could as it is and you only get to be there for a max 6 hours. I don't care that it includes food and drinks, there's no way it'd be worth it

 

[Jennasis]

Maybe this whole thing will be a great big bust like the after hours wine thingamajig at epcot was.

 

[daisy_77]

We live in Idaho. Which is way too far to go often. The airfare alone is over $2200 for our family of 5. So we visit every 2-3 years and stay about 10-12 days. I don't think I can honestly pay more than I already am for more "magic". I don't think it is unfair but I do think the price is ridiculous.

 

[Tiki Sean]

Maybe this whole thing will be a great big bust like the after hours wine thingamajig at epcot was.

I don't think this is going to be the case. More than likely it will be a cash cow for Disney. I am a TA and I have had 2 people contact me about it already to get more info on it!

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

V&A is a Michelin starred resturant quality experience. This is a overpriced theme park experience. I'd pay for V&A. No way would I pay for this.

Funny, because there is no way I would pay over $200 for one meal. Talk about an overpriced experience. At least in my opinion.

 

['ohanaof5]

No for our family.

We live locally as of 1.5 year ago, are DVC members and long time Disney fans. I attended the DVC after hours party, and although we enjoyed it I wouldn't pay any amount of money to go to that type of event. At the event they offered complimentary ice cream bars, lemonade, water, chips, cookies, and I think possibly hot chocolate although we didn't have any.

I would go to V&A or do a dessert party, we've done MNSSHP & MVMCP, my kids have done BBB, we've rented boats from the marina, we've done behind the scenes tours, two in our family have dined with an Imagineer, we stay at deluxe resorts on cash when we don't have points, we eat at sit down meals, etc....

I listed the above so that you get a glimpse of the dynamics of our family and what extras we are willing to pay the price. The biggest problem I have with this event is it doesn't offer anything "new". All of the above items I listed offer an extra layer of activity or experience that you don't get with just general admission.

 

[J'Adore Disney]

I voted NO because I am an Annual Passholder/Florida resident therefore, I personally do not see the need to purchase such a ticket.

However, I can totally understand someone who lives super far way and may only visit once in a blue moon wanting to purchase this ticket. It's nice that Disney allows guests to have options [emphasis on option] to tailor their vacations according to their needs and wants they have the money to afford.

 

[kevgraub]

V&A is a Michelin starred resturant quality experience. This is a overpriced theme park experience. I'd pay for V&A. No way would I pay for this.

That is exactly my point though. You will happily pay that kind of money to eat at V&A, where other people would not dream of it. On the other hand, I guarantee you people will happily pay for the extra hours event, who would never dream of eating at V&A. People have different priorities and different interests - and different views on what is good value for their money. I used V&A simply as an example of options at Disney that some people think is worth the money, while others don't.

Just trying to point out that Disney is not crazy in proposing this event with this cost, some people think it is worth it, others don't. Just like V&A.

 

[CMDTA]

Maybe this whole thing will be a great big bust like the after hours wine thingamajig at epcot was.

Disney never has busts. People just don't understand their goals. How is it their fault that the majority was wrong? Disney would never do something like....

 

[circhead]

Help me out here:
I keep hearing a lot of responses that say" only if I were on a 1 day trip"...well that's exactly what me and my family are doing. (DH, ds 5, and I)All of our first trips actually and will only have 1 day in MK (before a cruise). Wouldn't you know this pops up on the day we will be there may 19th. So my question is, if you lived on the west coast, were unlikely to return for a couple years, only had 1 day in MK would you do it then??! I just want to get an idea of whether I should actually consider something so ridiculous as this! The price tag seems crazy but there's only 3 of us. (We also already purchased our 1 day tickets to MK) I'd hate to have our one day/night not be the best it could be by mass crowds flooding in at 7...what would you do??

Edited to mention: the next day may 20th was a water park day for us if that's relevant that we don't really need to be up at the crack of dawn again but would like to be there when they open at 10

I would call Disney guest services and try to swap the 1 day tickets for this "special event" not on sale when you purchased them, but only if they are truly limiting the number of tickets being sold.(7500 or less)
Go to the park at 7pm and stay till 1 or 2am - even those that purchased the tickets will probably not realize they just can't make it all the way to the end.
I love the park late at night when the crowds are low - I enjoy the free EMH's that are offered and go to them and I've noticed that by 11pm most nights the crowds are way, way down, but we haven't paid $150.00 to be there either.
If you're able to swap out the tickets I would give it a try. Even eight hours is way past the amount of time I am willing to spend in a theme park when there is so much to do at the resorts themselves.

 

[msdroz]

Of course some people will pay it and that's what will make it seem justified and other people will cave because all of a sudden it has appeal.

Our local amusement park, Cedar Point had an in the park camp sleepover and charged $200 per family (the proceeds went to charity). I paid it because who else can say that they slept in a park overnight. People were grumbling and couldn't see paying that kind of money to camp on the ground, but to each his own and I saw it as a once in a lifetime experience, we also had extra park hours for only a handful of rides which we walked on and rode over and over.

I wish this new offering had a charity component, might make it more valuable to some but I think that is highly unlikely.

 

[lugnut33]

Just a little factoid, if daily attendance is 50,000 at MK, and per the current results from this poll a mere 6% will purchase a ticket to DAH, that would mean 3000 people would attend the event. Let's say there's a slightly higher percentage of people who are willing to buy tickets that would pump up attendance to around 6000 per night, which I think most here would consider a very low crowd condition. It would also mean Disney makes an additional $900,000 for the day.

Hypothetically, if they could get rid of EMH and put this in it's place and add one other night DAH per week they would pump up yearly revenues by almost $94,000,000 . Add in the new early morning event and you're looking at yearly revenue enhancement of over 100 million dollars.

 

[Nancyg56]

Just a little factoid, if daily attendance is 50,000 at MK, and per the current results from this poll a mere 6% will purchase a ticket to DAH, that would mean 3000 people would attend the event. Let's say there's a slightly higher percentage of people who are willing to buy tickets that would pump up attendance to around 6000 per night, which I think most here would consider a very low crowd condition. It would also mean Disney makes an additional $900,000 for the day.

Hypothetically, if they could get rid of EMH and put this in it's place and add one other night DAH per week they would pump up yearly revenues by almost $94,000,000 . Add in the new early morning event and you're looking at yearly revenue enhancement of over 100 million dollars.

Yikes!

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

Perhaps my husband and I would. It would be a chance to do everything in Fantasyland without being run over by strollers.

ETA: But I would not bring my girls. Too late and too much money.

My husband said that exact same thing about the strollers. I'm still on the fence as a "not sure", because there are all kinds of things I'd have to consider. My spouse, though, is all "WHAT? ICE CREAM? MINE TRAIN? FEWER STROLLERS?" so we are a house divided. ("The kids will be older on our next trip," he said. Not old enough to stay up that late, for one, and second of all, that's a lot of money.)

 

[GillianP1301]

Right now my answer is no, but that is primarily because my son is too young to take advantage of hours that late. But if it were an adult only trip or teenaged kids, I would definitely consider it for one night of my trip, especially if there is something to experience there that you couldn't normally (like some rare characters). I'm not certain I would be tempted if it was just the same stuff, but for longer hours.

 

[Delirium]

I wish the 7.5% of you that voted 'not sure' would have simply voted 'no'. You're likely voting that way instead of 'yes' because of the cost. You conceptually like the idea of lower crowds, but aren't sure you can justify the cost. If the Disney consumer doesn't make a stand about costs at some point, we'll continue to see things like this. And, in the end, 95% of Disney customers suffer for the benefit of the 5% that can actually afford these over-priced perks.

If this poll was trending 97%-98% 'no', the Disney decision makers would be squirming right now. As it is. they may see enough potential in 12%-13% to think it's a smart move.

 

[Dis703]

10 years ago, before kids, I could see myself possibly doing this. If it was just DH and myself it might have been a nice splurge to not deal with lines for a few hours. And I was a night owl anyhow so a late evening was no big deal.

Fast forward to today and we have to do Disney on a budget to be able to keep doing it. So our days of special splurges at Disney are probably over aside from the occasional more expensive meal. Never in a million years would I consider paying this price for tickets for our family of five. It wouldn't be worth it to me.

 

[JimmyV]

I am a TA and I have had 2 people contact me about it already to get more info on it!

Honest question. Not being sarcastic. Did the people who contacted you know about the price before they contacted you, or was price one of the things that they wanted more info on?