6 AM Park Opening my Entire Stay!?!

[Nancyg56]

IMO, there is a reason that Disney is paying its CMs in MGM to be at the parks, I'm guessing, 5:00 am for a 6:00 am opening. Paying for bus drivers to begin earlier, etc. and that is because they are expecting massive crowds. Once the bulk of people move from SW, they will be going somewhere in the park, and I would expect that would be early/late morning just about the same time non-resort guests can arrive.

I tend to agree. I rather doubt Disney would be making that kind if investment if they did not see a large influx of crowds.

I also believe that a sizeable portion of guests will be staying offsite. I am a WDW fan, and I enjoy all things Disney. I stay onsite, eat onsite and pretty much am in a WDW bubble from the time I step foot off the airplane. I am not at all sure that Star Wars fans are WDW fans, so I bet a lot will be booking trips just for GE. And they may not know the Disney ropes, so they are going to be flooding the parks at opening. I believe that Disney is trying to accommodate their resort guests, and those are the folks who will get in DHS and then get out. Those other folks have to go somewhere if the GE is filled to capacity, or if DHS closes.
If it was me, I would get up and out early and then be done.

If you have FP+, then I don't see the need to wake up so early. We used to go every year for Christmas. Our only early morning would be Christmas Day—we'd get everything we can get done by noonish, grab a Dole Whip, and head back to the hotel/pool.

I mean, DHS and SW:GE is gonna be a whole new beast. Maybe make the sacrifice once or twice during your trip but... yeesh... I can't imagine doing it every day.

I hope that you are right. I think that the issue is not the folks who know how to manage FP and filled parks. I think it is the number of newbies Disney expects to arrive en masse, totally unprepared to navigate any park, let alone a small already congested park like DHS.

This is a HUGE flaw in reasoning because you are telling me that from August 29th until November 2nd there are going to be larger crowds then WDW has ever had in its history? They know there is massive crowds every Christmas and 4th and they don't add these hours then?

We will see but Disney has not discounted fall rooms yet and I think they are going to be testing to see if they can get rooms filled, pocket more money (without discounts), and keep guests happy by throwing a portion in to labor costs to add 10% additional park hours (of which not everything is open in the park so its not a 10% additional labor cost). Remember September and October are typically the guests who shy away from extra busy times of the year so proactively announcing EEMH is possibly an attempt to avoid mass cancellation of rooms for those trying to avoid Star Wars crowd bumps.

It will be busier but not so much so that it calls for an unprecedented park opening schedule. I am not even sure if a park has had EMH even 7 straight times let alone like 10 weeks in a row.

Hmmm, maybe. But maybe not. The fan base to Star Wars is huge, and I am not all sure many of them are at all interested in immersing themselves in the magical WDW bubble at the inflated magical bubble price.

 

[FFMickey]

We'll be right there with you. Current plans are to rope drop until 10 or 11 then returning to the resort to nap or swim. Then going back to the parks in the evening. We will see what happens at the beginning of September to see if those plans will change.

 

[sethschroeder]

I am not all sure many of them are at all interested in immersing themselves in the magical WDW bubble at the inflated magical bubble price.

We will see but when you have 3 extra hours in the morning it can persuade some people to drop another $50-$100/night for 1 or 2 nights on getting a Disney room.

Most of this though is not for the Star Wars fans its for the typical September Disney traveler that is shy around crowds, rope drops daily, and eats up EMH to get the most out of their time at WDW.

Supposedly fall discounts should be dropping next week or the week after if history repeats itself. I just have a feeling those deals will be not happening or subdued.

Could be completely wrong just my thought. Tons of rooms/resorts its seems are open right now.

 

[georgina]

It will be busier but not so much so that it calls for an unprecedented park opening schedule. I am not even sure if a park has had EMH even 7 straight times let alone like 10 weeks in a row.

Didn't they have EMH for weeks for both TSL and Pandora? I know I was at HS at 6 AM last August for 7 AM EMH, and I don't think it was a 1 day thing.

 

[DazzleT]

I added naps into my trip. We are all night people, hate mornings but I don’t see how I can ignore several hours at lower crowds with lower temperatures. Before we planned on the parks being open 12 hours, now we are still doing 12 hours but with a nap.

 

[yulilin3]

Didn't they have EMH for weeks for both TSL and Pandora? I know I was at HS at 6 AM last August for 7 AM EMH, and I don't think it was a 1 day thing.

you are correct. For Pandora they had evening EMH from May 27th - July 4th every night
Also TSLand had emh every day in the month of July until Aug 25th and evening EMH every Friday of the month

 

[sethschroeder]

Didn't they have EMH for weeks for both TSL and Pandora? I know I was at HS at 6 AM last August for 7 AM EMH, and I don't think it was a 1 day thing.

General Admission was expanded from 9am to 8am for 2 months and was a 1 hour EMH during the same time period. It was 3 months for Pandora but yet again was a single hour early for onsite guests from what I see looking back.

So wrong on my original stance but still unprecedented as its EMH for every park and not just 1 but 3 hours of EMH for the park in which the new land is launching.

 

[yulilin3]

General Admission was expanded from 9am to 8am for 2 months and was a 1 hour EMH during the same time period. It was 3 months for Pandora but yet again was a single hour early for onsite guests from what I see looking back.

So wrong on my original stance but still unprecedented as its EMH for every park and not just 1 but 3 hours of EMH for the park in which the new land is launching.

as other's have said Disney and SW fans know it will be very busy. Disney is being proactive and giving the on site guests EMH for them to decide where to go each day. The 3 hours for SWGE indicates that Disney knows that this is not a land that can be explored and enjoyed in just an hour.
And just to add from your original statement of not thinking it will be 2 months busy, Pandora still gets huge crowds every morning, TSLand also gets huge crowds. Star Wars is a different kind of fandom. People that live close by that are AP are already planning on visiting the park way more often than before. People that never set foot inside a Disney park are now planning on coming

 

[sethschroeder]

And just to add from your original statement of not thinking it will be 2 months busy,

If I made it seem like it would not be busy I am sorry. I believe it will be busy. I do not believe it is going to be busier than 4th or Christmas or Spring Break across all of WDW (not just HS Star Wars Land). Them adding hours (in my mind) is to try and appease a crowd expecting lower crowds and keep them from skipping their trip in 2019 by teasing them with more EMH for better rope drop touring.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I had done this awhile back for another thread, but is somewhat relates to some of the questions above:

 

[yulilin3]

If I made it seem like it would not be busy I am sorry. I believe it will be busy. I do not believe it is going to be busier than 4th or Christmas or Spring Break across all of WDW (not just HS Star Wars Land). Them adding hours (in my mind) is to try and appease a crowd expecting lower crowds and keep them from skipping their trip in 2019 by teasing them with more EMH for better rope drop touring.

I don't understand how you can think it won't be that busy and at the same time think adding eemh is Disney trying to appease a crowd expecting lower crowd.
If it's not going to be that busy why would Disney need to appease people wanting lower crowds?
I guess I'm not getting your logic

 

[sethschroeder]

I don't understand how you can think it won't be that busy and at the same time think adding eemh is Disney trying to appease a crowd expecting lower crowd.
If it's not going to be that busy why would Disney need to appease people wanting lower crowds?
I guess I'm not getting your logic

September is typically the slowest time of year. There is a limited number of guests who can even travel during this time (since for many Disney families its the first couple weeks of school with no extended weekends). Of the ones who choose this time they are expecting low crowds. The EMH (again to my mind) are specifically to avoid this group of guests from cancelling their 2019 trip all together in response to the expected busier than normal parks during September.

Meaning they are over compensating with EMH to give guests a sense of ease with all the EMH (which accounts to a 10% additional park hours).

Example of my thoughts (1=Historical September and 10=Christmas) September will now be a 4 (busier than normal) but they are putting in staffing like it is a 7.

My question to you is if all of WDW is going to be so crazy busy why is basically every hotel/room category open for the month? When in comparison Jersey Week in November is already solidly booked up? I mean at this point Star Wars has been known for 2 months and there has been reviews of the Disneyland hype for a month? Wouldn't a crazy busy time mean by now many room categories would be booked up?

 

[katilac]

Will all rides, shops and shows be open for the EMH at all parks? I have no interest in SW, but if i show up at HS at 7am, will I be able to ride SDD, RNR, TSM, Frozen show all before 9am regular park opening?

It will be SW, TSL, and possibly other things unspecified.

I don't understand how you can think it won't be that busy and at the same time think adding eemh is Disney trying to appease a crowd expecting lower crowd.
If it's not going to be that busy why would Disney need to appease people wanting lower crowds?
I guess I'm not getting your logic

I don't think the post said 'not that busy' but rather 'no busier than it's been before' on days such as 4th of July and Christmas. They want the influx of SW people, but they also don't want to lose the people who were expecting lower crowds in September. Like me. The EEMH are a big plus to me, a 6 am start will definitely eliminate a good number of people.

 

[yulilin3]

It will be SW, TSL, and possibly other things unspecified.



I don't think the post said 'not that busy' but rather 'no busier than it's been before' on days such as 4th of July and Christmas. They want the influx of SW people, but they also don't want to lose the people who were expecting lower crowds in September. Like me. The EEMH are a big plus to me, a 6 am start will definitely eliminate a good number of people.

Right, so not busier than before so why have eemh to entice people to keep their reservations?

 

[yulilin3]

September is typically the slowest time of year. There is a limited number of guests who can even travel during this time (since for many Disney families its the first couple weeks of school with no extended weekends). Of the ones who choose this time they are expecting low crowds. The EMH (again to my mind) are specifically to avoid this group of guests from cancelling their 2019 trip all together in response to the expected busier than normal parks during September.

Meaning they are over compensating with EMH to give guests a sense of ease with all the EMH (which accounts to a 10% additional park hours).

Example of my thoughts (1=Historical September and 10=Christmas) September will now be a 4 (busier than normal) but they are putting in staffing like it is a 7.

My question to you is if all of WDW is going to be so crazy busy why is basically every hotel/room category open for the month? When in comparison Jersey Week in November is already solidly booked up? I mean at this point Star Wars has been known for 2 months and there has been reviews of the Disneyland hype for a month? Wouldn't a crazy busy time mean by now many room categories would be booked up?

We don't have concrete numbers of bookings from last September to this year. Just because you can find a room in every resort doesn't mean they are not "more full" than last year. Also no one knows how capacity is looking for off site hotels, rental homes. Locals and Floridians coming.
Listen I'm not expecting it to be Christmas busy everyday but I am happy Disney is being proactive about it and giving the on site guest the courtesy of a more pleasant experience. Is it a money grab/hold? Who knows. Does it matter in the end? No, not really

 

[katilac]

Right, so not busier than before so why have eemh to entice people to keep their reservations?

When you go at Christmas, you EXPECT it to be busy. When you go during September, you expect it to be much slower. If you expect the crowds to be Christmas-crazy or even just much busier than usual, that will make you think twice about going in the heat of September. If it's going to be crazy-busy either way, I'm going to go when it's not crazy-hot.

 

[katilac]

The EEMH are definitely enticing me to keep my reservations, as opposed to holding off until next year! It's a couples trip, so no kids to be disappointed if we cancel. We have always found the EMH to be a great bonus with noticeably smaller crowds. Heck, even the hour after that is noticeably slower than the later hours, so I'm guessing that not even Star Wars is going to have the joint jam-packed at 6 a.m.

I'll let y'all know how right or wrong I am, lol.

 

[CalSea12]

IMHO I do not see the end of August thru the end of the year being level 10 crowd every single day...
Busy? yes Busier than normal? probably... but I personally think its being highly exaggerated. I could be totally off base here and I guess we will see.

The first couple of weeks could be super busy but it will dwindle off a bit going into late September and October. October has been notoriously bad for discounts so that doesnt really surprise me. I am actually hoping those who usually go in October will move into September (that is just hopeful wishing though )

Every time I look for a room in October I see almost every resort open for the week and a half I am there, even POFQ which is a super difficult resort to get.

 

[js]

I don't understand how you can think it won't be that busy and at the same time think adding eemh is Disney trying to appease a crowd expecting lower crowd.
If it's not going to be that busy why would Disney need to appease people wanting lower crowds?
I guess I'm not getting your logic

I agree. There is no way that Disney is paying their employees to get to the parks at least an hour prior to opening, paying bus drivers, monorail drivers, maintenance, etc. while not expecting HUGE crowds.

 

[yulilin3]

I agree. There is no way that Disney is paying their employees to get to the parks at least an hour prior to opening, paying bus drivers, monorail drivers, maintenance, etc. while not expecting HUGE crowds.

I mean they for sure know more than we on this board do. Again not saying it's going to be crazy busy all the time but they must expect a big hike. Heck if it's not that busy I might book another room later in Sept or Oct just to be able to do EEMH for GE, like I said I'm glad they are being proactive and actually giving their on site guests something great for a long time. Sad about us locals and off siters, we will get to DHS and find GE probably closed to capacity and have to wait to get in