Disney Announces Eliminating Magic Hours. Will Replace with 30 Minute Early Entrance to Parks

[Darkhaund]

I personally think that gradually WDW is becomming more and more "generic" and loosing that magic that set it apart from other theme parks

 

[ford91exploder]

I personally think that gradually WDW is becomming more and more "generic" and loosing that magic that set it apart from other theme parks

That’s my beef with Disney. Disney is all about the little things that one may not notice individually but in the aggregate make a huge difference. Sometime check out the walls in AKL. Notice they are in most cases modeled after African mud&wattle construction and also contain brief messages of african wisdom. No one but Disney ever did that. Or the thatching was done by African craftsmen with authentic materials and it will stay water resistant for decades or centuries if left alone. That’s ‘The Disney Difference’ that current management is trying to destroy in order to please wall st with short term profit

 

[Grasshopper2016]

This change seems to benefit no one (except, apparently, the Disney corporate bottom line).

On-site guests lose evening EMH --- which many of us much preferred to morning ones. As many have said in this thread, some of our greatest Disney memories have been walk-on rides in mostly empty parks in the wee hours of the morning. That's when you felt like you were getting your money's worth. That's when the place instilled you with the kind of magic feeling that made you want to come back again and again. Yes, on-site guests gain a brief advantage every morning in every park. But 30 minutes is not much time at all. I suspect many people will find themselves still in line at FOP or SDD or SDMT when the 30 minutes are up. Yes, they gained an advantage over those who are now joining the line behind them. But they didn't even get in an actual ride! At best, you are getting in a couple of non-headliner rides.

Off-site guests lose the ability to rope drop effectively, as thousands of people will be given a head start over them no matter how early they arrive.

This makes everyone worse off.

 

[HuskieJohn]

So now when planning my park days I don't have to be restricted by WDW EMH schedule and I can just go with whatever works for us without feeling like we are missing out on an EMH OR wanting to avoid an EMH on a particular day a MK but that is the only day that works for our schedule.

And on top of that they are giving resort guests the opportunity to rope drop and the offsite guests not to.

The only way around that is for an offsite guest to have a PPO ADR so as long as onsite guests have earlier access to ADRs I don't see a downside with this plan for resort guests.

Also potential for 30 more min of sleep sounds great.

 

[imjustafatkid]

I love this change. Only downside is I used to plan my tripped around avoiding the parks with extra magic hours.

 

[SL6827]

Wonder if Disney will sell 30 minutes park access to resort guest before the "free" 30 minutes for resort guest? Which would give resort guest a total of one hour?

 

[Pyotr]

I love this change. Only downside is I used to plan my tripped around avoiding the parks with extra magic hours.

Us too. I thought I was the only one. The extra hour or two wasn’t worth the higher crowds.

 

[Tink-osophy]

I'm another one who cares more about the evening hours. Evenings at MK always seemed the most the most magical and chilled - the lights and music; the slowing down at the end of a day; the thinning of crowds; the Electrical Parade... (Like Epcot used to feel before it became even more crammed with 'round the world drinkers', but's that a different story!)

People say we want it to remain a museum! I haven't seen people post that way - what I see is people caring that fundamental elements are being removed and not replaced in other ways. It doesn't have to stay the same, but I still want the 'Disney difference' somehow.

And as ford91exploder posted: -

That’s my beef with Disney. Disney is all about the little things that one may not notice individually but in the aggregate make a huge difference. Sometime check out the walls in AKL. Notice they are in most cases modeled after African mud&wattle construction and also contain brief messages of african wisdom. No one but Disney ever did that. Or the thatching was done by African craftsmen with authentic materials and it will stay water resistant for decades or centuries if left alone. That’s ‘The Disney Difference’ that current management is trying to destroy in order to please wall st with short term profit

 

[Tink-osophy]

You could still get that experience with the Disney After Hours parties, if they bring them back. Haven't heard yet if they are returning once everything get back to "normal". I hope so, because they were awesome.

...But, then, you have to pay twice

Paying $100+ on top of an already expensive day ticket just doesn’t fly with a lot of people. The price for a family would be astronomical.

Exactly!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This change seems to benefit no one (except, apparently, the Disney corporate bottom line).

On-site guests lose evening EMH --- which many of us much preferred to morning ones. As many have said in this thread, some of our greatest Disney memories have been walk-on rides in mostly empty parks in the wee hours of the morning. That's when you felt like you were getting your money's worth. That's when the place instilled you with the kind of magic feeling that made you want to come back again and again. Yes, on-site guests gain a brief advantage every morning in every park. But 30 minutes is not much time at all. I suspect many people will find themselves still in line at FOP or SDD or SDMT when the 30 minutes are up. Yes, they gained an advantage over those who are now joining the line behind them. But they didn't even get in an actual ride! At best, you are getting in a couple of non-headliner rides.

Off-site guests lose the ability to rope drop effectively, as thousands of people will be given a head start over them no matter how early they arrive.

This makes everyone worse off.

I think this does provide a negative of off site guests which then does mean there is a benefit to onsite guests.

Though, the benefit is more not having the negative than a real benefit. Fully agree about it being a bit negative for those that prefer the evening hours, but for people that normally go early/rope drop this could provide a big leg up for getting in line to the big, new ride in each park - especially once Tron and Guardians open

I very often stay off site and I am thinking about how this will create a new challenge for me and might motivate me to stay on property - at least for part of my stay, to get this "perk" to get onto those new rides

 

[skeeter31]

I'm another one who cares more about the evening hours. Evenings at MK always seemed the most the most magical and chilled - the lights and music; the slowing down at the end of a day; the thinning of crowds; the Electrical Parade... (Like Epcot used to feel before it became even more crammed with 'round the world drinkers', but's that a different story!)

People say we want it to remain a museum! I haven't seen people post that way - what I see is people caring that fundamental elements are being removed and not replaced in other ways. It doesn't have to stay the same, but I still want the 'Disney difference' somehow.

Ans as ford91exploder posted: -

This seems to be the number one response when people speak about missing evening/night EMH, the thinning of crowds or lighter crowd amounts. That directly relates to why they aren’t the first things returning. Disney isn’t going to pay CMs to stay for evening EMH when it pulls in less guests than morning EMH do. I’m sure they’ll be back at some point, but not for a while.

 

[Tink-osophy]

This seems to be the number one response when people speak about missing evening/night EMH, the thinning of crowds or lighter crowd amounts. That directly relates to why they aren’t the first things returning. Disney isn’t going to pay CMs to stay for evening EMH when it pulls in less guests than morning EMH do. I’m sure they’ll be back at some point, but not for a while.

It was just part of the picture I was painting of how I loved MK evenings. ...But it's definitely relevant and I hear your point about them being slow to bring evening hours back in current circumstances.

It's just that, as per usual, they haven't given any hint that the "benefit" (already very much paid for in day tickets and resort prices) might return at some point. I understand they don't want to commit themselves when so much is still unknown, but their recent history doesn't necessarily instil confidence regardless of that!

I hope you're right and that they do bring them back, the evening parade, outside of parties, too!

 

[BrianL]

I love this change. Only downside is I used to plan my tripped around avoiding the parks with extra magic hours.

I don't necessarily mind it either, but I wish it were longer, like one hour, and maybe also some time in the evenings too.

 

[Olaf Myfrenzargay]

Last two years we did multiple Early Morning Magics and After Hours per stay. So glad we did too. Got to do all the big rides multiple times.

 

[mshanson3121]

I'm another one who cares more about the evening hours. Evenings at MK always seemed the most the most magical and chilled - the lights and music; the slowing down at the end of a day; the thinning of crowds; the Electrical Parade... (Like Epcot used to feel before it became even more crammed with 'round the world drinkers', but's that a different story!)

People say we want it to remain a museum! I haven't seen people post that way - what I see is people caring that fundamental elements are being removed and not replaced in other ways. It doesn't have to stay the same, but I still want the 'Disney difference' somehow.

Ans as ford91exploder posted: -

Agree! The evenings were without a doubt the best time. They were truly magical.

 

[sachilles]

I'd love to see them expand the perk for some sort of Evening perk. Even if it's open the fast pass line for resort guest for 10 minutes after park close time. It would give resort guests basically one free shot at a headlining attraction and still get them out the door with a chance to buy something at the gift shop without keeping the parks open any longer than normal.

 

[Missingmypooh]

I'd love to see them expand the perk for some sort of Evening perk. Even if it's open the fast pass line for resort guest for 10 minutes after park close time. It would give resort guests basically one free shot at a headlining attraction and still get them out the door with a chance to buy something at the gift shop without keeping the parks open any longer than normal.

could you even imagine the PR nightmare of “10 extra minutes after closing”.
Yes disney throws us a lot of crumbs, but that (or any smaller version) is gonna have people up in arms just like they are about the 30 minutes.

we can guesstimate all day- but marketing wise- scarcity is arguably the most effect tactic.
Having a hard ticketed event, especially one where Disney announces that its a limited option, would be a huge driver of revenue as past evidence at Disney and universal parks show. Not every hard ticket option works (villains, for example) but they’ve got a ton of data to drive these decisions for the next 5 years.

and I’m sure it won’t be based on cost benefits for the consumer when you consider the beating they’ve had with the pandemic and the new minimum wage.

EMH was fun (and I’ll miss it! Especially the evenings!) but for newbs it was confusing. A blanket 30 minutes is so much simpler.

 

[mshanson3121]

could you even imagine the PR nightmare of “10 extra minutes after closing”.
Yes disney throws us a lot of crumbs, but that (or any smaller version) is gonna have people up in arms just like they are about the 30 minutes.

we can guesstimate all day- but marketing wise- scarcity is arguably the most effect tactic.
Having a hard ticketed event, especially one where Disney announces that its a limited option, would be a huge driver of revenue as past evidence at Disney and universal parks show. Not every hard ticket option works (villains, for example) but they’ve got a ton of data to drive these decisions for the next 5 years.

and I’m sure it won’t be based on cost benefits for the consumer when you consider the beating they’ve had with the pandemic and the new minimum wage.

EMH was fun (and I’ll miss it! Especially the evenings!) but for newbs it was confusing. A blanket 30 minutes is so much simpler.

Maybe they'll do something similar for evenings eventually. No reason why they couldn't do an extra 30 (or 60) minutes after close every night for every park for on-site guests. I guarantee you if they would offer an extra hour in the parks at night for on site guests, they would get more on site bookings than they will with the 30 minutes in the morning.

 

[Missingmypooh]

Maybe they’ll do it like free dining. Certain resorts will have the 30-60 minute EMH perk during certain times.

could really help them fill some rooms.
“Extra 30 minutes in the morning AND evenings if you stay at POR from 3/1 to 5/1”

(that’s if POR isn’t dead in the water- desperate for some beignets ;,(

 

[Liljo22]

I don't necessarily mind it either, but I wish it were longer, like one hour, and maybe also some time in the evenings too.

I would be surprised if Disney doesn't start letting guests in an hour before open. They have shown that they are not afraid to open earlier than posted times and imagine trying to get everyone into the park in a half hour. Guest services will have a long line of people complaining that it took 20 minutes for them to get through the gates.