First MNSSHP - Oversold?

[MIAMouseketeer]

The reason to try to improve the parties is simple: to offer a great guest experience.

Disney World has goals in addition to making money. There is an institutional precedent on “good show” and excellent customer relations that dates back to Walt. It is as integral to their brand as Mickey Mouse.

Have you ever experienced a hiccup at a Disney park or resort? They bend over backwards to fix anything they can fix. Their customer service is legendary.

I guarantee that, beyond the lost revenue from refunds, they are not happy that guests left that first party feeling miserable about a night at a Disney park. If I didn’t believe that I wouldn’t be a Disney parks addict in the first place.

I did send Disney an email on Tuesday...still waiting for a response. I did not ask or expect anything as compensation, but I did feel it was necessary to express my disappointment with the crowd levels and the Disney Jr. Dance Party (suggested bringing in fans). I did also state that the party did not damper the rest of our trip and we had a wonderful weekend. When I have emailed them in the past, I have received a phone call within 2 days, so not sure why they hasn't happened this time.

 

[Disneylover99]

Looks like a rainy night tonight for the party!

 

[Love Tink]

But if the parties continue to sell more and more tickets each year, how is Disney to know it isn't providing a good guest experience? Anyone who was unhappy enough to swear off the parties in past over-crowded years has been replaced (and then some) by other guests in subsequent years.

Yes, I'm quite familiar with Disney customer service. Problem is, party customer service has exactly 2 1/2 outcomes:

1. Refund
2. Tickets to another party, which only exacerbates overcrowding issues.
2 1/2: Anytime FPs


Unless people have en masse called/written Guest Relations, Disney will never know that people were miserable. Disney deals with numbers and if there's a huge drop-off between last year's numbers and this year's numbers, or if advanced sales trail off next year, then it will spur Disney to action. Otherwise, Disney is perfectly happy with the status quo.

Trust me, I wish I were less cynical about this.

1) I disagree with your assertion that Disney's only way of judging an event's success is by future ticket sales.

2) Party customer service IMO means offering a good party experience. You are referring to guest recovery, not customer service.

And without getting into the details, I was offered three guest recovery options, only one of which appears on your list.

3) Again, I disagree that Disney is in some sort of bubble with no idea how its events are perceived except for Guest Relations communication. I also disagree with the idea that Disney is "perfectly happy" with guests having a terrible time at one of their events. That in no way reflects any experience I have ever had with this company. But we can agree to disagree, I suppose.

 

[rastuso]

Yes, this exactly. We wander into the hub about five minutes before Happy Hallowishes starts. They're always at least a couple of feet of empty space around us. It's a completely different experience than watching HEA where everyone is packed in like sardines. I'd never do a dessert party during MNSSHP because, in my experience, it's simply not necessary. However, I am doing a dessert party next month for HEA. We're not particularly interested in the desserts. I just like having some elbow room to watch the fireworks.

And, to answer the previous poster's question, I do not live in an alternate universe, and I'm not in a wheelchair. I'm just telling you what I consistently experience, year after year, when I attend one to two weeknight MNSSHP events during mid-September and early October.

Here's a photo I took right before the fireworks started at last year's party on Sept 19. Plenty of elbow room. We literally walked up to this space right before the fireworks started. We came over from Tomorrowland, where we had been riding Buzz over and over.

View attachment 345855

That's an anomaly. I've never seen that area not packed 15-20 minutes before the fireworks.

I guess everyone was in line to buy Oogie Boogie popcorn containers.

 

[Love Tink]

I did send Disney an email on Tuesday...still waiting for a response. I did not ask or expect anything as compensation, but I did feel it was necessary to express my disappointment with the crowd levels and the Disney Jr. Dance Party (suggested bringing in fans). I did also state that the party did not damper the rest of our trip and we had a wonderful weekend. When I have emailed them in the past, I have received a phone call within 2 days, so not sure why they hasn't happened this time.

That is a bummer. I hope you hear something soon. I am glad we went in that night, although it was hard to drag myself there in the mood I was in that night.

When I was there, there was a guy in his 30s or 40s having an absolute meltdown (enraged!) that one of the character lines had been cut off at 11:00 and he hadn't been able to meet the character (I didn't catch which one). But the line to speak to someone was not long and it wasn't like the lobby was full of angry guests.

 

[rastuso]

That's an anomaly. I've never seen that area not packed 15-20 minutes before the fireworks.

I guess everyone was in line to buy Oogie Boogie popcorn containers.

This, along with 25 minute waits for Peter Pan at like 8 pm seem to prove this party was vast majority locals. The Halloween Wishes is ruined with its god awful music, and has aged very poorly, tech wise. Ss locals probably skip it. And locals also realize Peter Pan is a fairly unchanged 47 year old dark ride.

I would have thought tons of tourists would have been there too, as it was the only MNSSHP option for many of them.

 

[sharonabe]

We made this a resort day knowing it would be a late night. So we got to the MK exactly at 4:00 and immediately went over to Storybook Circus to see where the 7 dwarfs would be. The line was already over an hour long. Which means not only waiting until they came out (which was about 6:30) but an hour beyond that. The line for Jack and Sally was at almost 2 hours. Are you kidding me? So we dismissed that and figured we'd enjoy the rest of the party.

FWIW, that is the norm for those two character lines even on a party night that isn't "oversold." The least crowded party (whichever one that turns out to be) will have the same exact waits.

 

[StacyStrong]

That's an anomaly. I've never seen that area not packed 15-20 minutes before the fireworks.

I guess everyone was in line to buy Oogie Boogie popcorn containers.

Ah yes. The good ol' "because I haven't seen it, it must not be true" phenomenon

 

[billyjobobb]

FWIW, that is the norm for those two character lines even on a party night that isn't "oversold." The least crowded party (whichever one that turns out to be) will have the same exact waits.

There's a limit to how long people will wait. And there are lots of people willing to wait if the line is less than ___ .

 

[juuuliebeth]

FYI - I have spent the past two party days (last Friday and today) enjoying Magic Kingdom and then heading back to my resort around 3:00-4:00pm. Last week when I left, there was a sign saying they were sold out. Today, the sign said there were still tickets available. I guess we'll see how the crowds are. Hoping it's more manageable for you guys tonight!

 

[Erik the Red]

So I had already purchased my party ticket for Tuesday Oct 02.

After reading this thread I talked with my Disney agent to get her thoughts. She basically said that at her office anyway, Tuesday is one of the most purchased party nights. People want to avoid the crowds, so when the agents are asked which night to go, they're recommending Tuesday.

She told me that so far Sunday seems to be the night with the fewest tickets sold - at least at the office where she works.

I'm considering changing my party night to Sunday. She said I couldn't get a refund but i could change my party date once.

What do you guys think? I thought Sunday would be a very busy night.

 

[whiporee]

So I had already purchased my party ticket for Tuesday Oct 02.

After reading this thread I talked with my Disney agent to get her thoughts. She basically said that at her office anyway, Tuesday is one of the most purchased party nights. People want to avoid the crowds, so when the agents are asked which night to go, they're recommending Tuesday.

She told me that so far Sunday seems to be the night with the fewest tickets sold - at least at the office where she works.

I'm considering changing my party night to Sunday. She said I couldn't get a refund but i could change my party date once.

What do you guys think? I thought Sunday would be a very busy night.

I think Sunday might be tricky because you could get arriving resort guests wanting to slip into an easy first night event.

But Sunday is usually a relatively low day at MK because it's a travel day for a lot of people, so they don't want to waste an MK day when they won't be there the whole time. On any given day there are about 100,000 people staying at WDW resorts, and attendance breakdowns usually put 40 percent of them at MK on any given day. But Sunday is the biggest check-in day, so you can get some crowd reduction at MK because they don't want to waste a day ticket. But the party might create a different dynamic for that.

I'm not surprised Tuesday is a big day. If you figure most check in on Sunday, and MK is the first "real" day, so Monday's are filled with incoming resort guests. A special event early on a week-long stay makes a lot of sense to a lot of people.

So my best answer is maybe. But if you can get out of Tuesday, I think that's a good idea.

 

[sjs314]

So I am the OP. The reason this post started is that Pete Werner stated he had heard from multiple sources, the party was in fact oversold. Now I know Disney doesn't give out numbers, so there is no way to know this for sure, but I trust that Pete has inside sources that are credible. So for this particular instance, my wish is that it NOT be oversold. And if they have raised capacity, then I think they need to lower capacity so that participating in the activities can be done in a reasonable time. I don't think waiting 30 minutes to buy a bottle of water is reasonable.
Now, the lines for characters will always be long because many times they are rare. I'm fine with that. But all of you can view the Touring Plans video online (I think someone posted it as well), you can see the lines for candy and at the concessions. It was extremely excessive. Pete also stated on Monday that it was the most packed opening day party he had ever seen. I hope for everyone else who have bought tickets that this was an opening night issue and does not continue throughout the season. For myself, I will be waiting for reports regarding the Christmas Party before I buy tickets for our December trip. We don't attend the parties to ride rides. We have done EMM & DAH, both which we love. But those events are for riding rides as walk ons. We go to the parties to participate in the party and when you can't do that, it's a waste of money for us as annual passholders.

I know I have read estimates of the amount of tickets being sold has increased from around 15,000 years ago to around 35,000 now.
I know when we went to the Christmas party in 2012 it was not crowded at all It was a Nov 30 party if I remember correctly
I do think Disney feels they can keep raising the amount of “limited” tickets and people will just attend more than one party in order to do all they wish to accomplish during the events
I am really hopeing I am not disappointed when we go or it will be our first and last party
We also are not going for the rides, characters, or candy our main goals are the HP castle show, the parade and fireworks only

 

[rastuso]

I know I have read estimates of the amount of tickets being sold has increased from around 15,000 years ago to around 35,000 now.
I know when we went to the Christmas party in 2012 it was not crowded at all It was a Nov 30 party if I remember correctly
I do think Disney feels they can keep raising the amount of “limited” tickets and people will just attend more than one party in order to do all they wish to accomplish during the events

They've successfully done that with normal days. People think it's wonderful they can get 3 rides with short waits, even if all the other rides will have long waits.

9 experiences a day was the standard expected for decades. You could get 5-6 Fastpasses not long ago.

Now, you need to stay on property for a week, get your FP+s 2 months in advance, and think it's great that 1 or 2 of your rides is on an actual good one.

It also wasn't long ago that you could basically sit on Big Thunder the last couple of hours of a Party.

 

[OhhBother]

That's an anomaly. I've never seen that area not packed 15-20 minutes before the fireworks.

I guess everyone was in line to buy Oogie Boogie popcorn containers.

No, it’s not. My DH and I go to MNSSHP every year. We’re never crammed in when we watch MNSSHP. Despite some high-profile assertions to the contrary, truth is truth.

 

[Lindaleeann]

Ah yes. The good ol' "because I haven't seen it, it must not be true" phenomenon

So very true. I was at the 8/17 party and this was absolutely my experience as well. I arrived at the hub 10 mins before the fireworks began and was able to sit and wait with my legs fully extended and my bags surrounding me. There was tons of room around me and it stayed that way throughout the show. It was VERY manageable.

 

[Love Tink]

I find it hard to rely on reports personally because there were a lot of other people who said they had a blast.

It's something I would need to experience for myself.

Ah yes. The good ol' "because I haven't seen it, it must not be true" phenomenon

 

[StacyStrong]

Ah yes. The good ol' "because I haven't seen it, it must not be true" phenomenon

Ya not the same thing at all.

Especially because I think what they experienced WAS true.

I repeatedly stated I believed people experienced what they did and that it was probably crowded, but that the experience could differ based on goals and what their party make up is like.

One adult walking around will have a different experience than a party of 6 with 3 kids under 7.

Again, not sure why that's hard to understand.

 

[MIAMouseketeer]

Ya not the same thing at all.

Especially because I think what they experienced WAS true.

I repeatedly stated I believed people experienced what they did and that it was probably crowded, but that the experience could differ based on goals and what their party make up is like.

One adult walking around will have a different experience than a party of 6 with 3 kids under 7.

Again, not sure why that's hard to understand.

I agree with this. I think if someone attended the first party in order to ride a lot of rides with less of a wait, then they probably had a good time and succeeded in their goal. Ride waits were definitely less than during the day. We were there for the opposite reason. We were there for the party stuff, which was hard to enjoy with the crazy lines. We got a spot for the parade 25 minutes before in frontierland and were 1 person deep. Fortunately the nice family next to us did allow my toddler to get in next to them on the curb. But the crowds were probably 7-8 people deep. Glad we got there early. We headed out after that so I can’t say what the fireworks were like.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Of course, you could also say the party was "oversold" by another standard definition - as in the advertising that PoC would allow one to "join some rookie pirates on their search for 'Gunpowder Pete.'" when really it entailed one guy yelling "I'm Gunpowder Pete!" as you sailed beneath him.

that's not oversold. It's exaggeration.