If you were considering the Christmas After Hours before pricing came out, are you still going?

[JakeAZ]

Please only answer if you were considering going before pricing came out.

Just trying to get a gauge on if the pricing changed people's minds / if this is likely to sell out.

For me, I'm on the fence. I really don't want to reward this kind of pricing structure, but this will be our one trip while the kids are younger. We won't be back until they are mid / late teens, if at all. We are going the week before Thanksgiving and I know it will be crazy busy. This might be our only chance to enjoy MK at more comfortable pace. If we were DVC or regular visitors, there's no way I'd even be considering it.

I'd really like to see more info:
What park hours look like in Nov / Dec
What Deluxe extra hours look like in Nov / Dec
Are they truly 100% non-refundable? What if someone in family gets sick, etc.
If anything is added / taken away from the event as it gets closer
I'm sure I'm missing other things

Unfortunately, tickets go on sale this week and none of that info will be available beforehand. My gut is this one won't sell as fast or sell out as quickly as the Halloween party, but who really knows?

What I'd love to be able to do is wait until we are there, check out the situation and decide if it will be worth it. But yes, I know that is a pipe dream!

 

[Turksmom]

We've done MVMCP multiple times and were hoping to do it again this year. But with 5 of us, the cost of this year's "lite" Christmas party was more than we're willing to pay. I decided to spend the party money on upgrading from moderate to deluxe for one more day of our split stay

 

[JakeAZ]

We've done MVMCP multiple times and were hoping to do it again this year. But with 5 of us, the cost of this year's "lite" Christmas party was more than we're willing to pay. I decided to spend the party money on upgrading from moderate to deluxe for one more day of our split stay

At least by doing that, you'll potentially get Deluxe hours at EP and MK...

 

[Turksmom]

At least by doing that, you'll potentially get Deluxe hours at EP and MK...

We were already at YC and Poly for the beginning of the week, so I'm hoping that schedule holds. Then moving to CBR . The change was switching to AK for the final Saturday to Sunday after CBR. No EMH, but I love staying there and could justify it with Disney math

 

[emily nicole]

We are still going to go, assuming our date doesn’t sell out during the pre-sale (we are offsite). The pricing is outrageous but I saved $1600 staying off site (even with paying for premium parking every day) so that makes it sting less.

Our last trip was Dec 2019 and it was our first MVMCP. It was so stormed out that refunds were issued and I still have that gift card. So that helps too. This will be the closest thing available right now to make up for that party.

 

[JakeAZ]

Disney math

The worst of all the "maths"

 

[dwonderz]

We were going to get tickets (after moving our August trip to November) - but after pricing came out we decided not to. It's only 2 of us but it would be $340 for the evening - money we could put toward staying at a nicer resort/souvenirs/etc.

The last time I did MVMCP we got stuck on Splash Mountain for close to an hour, missed the parade, and got rained on ... it was a night lol

 

[JakeAZ]

The last time I did MVMCP we got stuck on Splash Mountain for close to an hour, missed the parade, and got rained on ... it was a night lol

Did they do anything to help you out because of that? Time is money at those events!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

My husband and I really missed the Christmas party last year, we are very much Christmas people it is our favorite time of year. Anyway, even before pricing came out we had decided that going to the party/after hours was going to be our Christmas present to each other. We decided we had enough stuff and would start gifting experiences to each other so that is what we are doing.

 

[Chickinvic]

I'm not going anywhere near the US right now, but if I were planning to go I would absolutely go to the After Hours events at those prices. Hopefully it would keep the crowds to a "doable" level. I'd rather pay that and only attend After Hours parties than contend with the huge crowds during normal hours.

 

[JakeAZ]

Hopefully it would keep the crowds to a "doable" level

That's the unknown, right? You would think this price would do that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it sells out and more capacity is added (like they did with halloween events).

If I'm paying $200+ pp for 4 hours, even a 20/25 minute wait seems excessive. That's what I heard some rides were running at for Halloween parties. Of course, I did read many were walk on / easily repeatable.

 

[2vets]

Yes, but I let go of one day's ticket. I'm staying deluxe, but I'm not there on a Monday or Wednesday, so no access to extra hours. As @Chickinvic says, it's more to visit MK for rides with low crowds - especially right now - than for the party stuff, though I'm sure I'll do my part of eating snacks.

 

[dez1978]

The worst of all the "maths"

I disagree. Disney Math is the only math I like.

I am going to be there for an event at Universal one weekend and one of the xmas after hours things falls on the day we get there. This is the first time I've ever already planned to be in Orlando on a date there was an after hours thing. And since it's just my sister in law and I on a moms trip/bday thing I think we are going to go. Now I just have to figure out transportation after the thing back to our hotel at universal

 

[persnickity]

I was ready to really stretch and pay $189, but our dates are $229 - just too much for our group of 5. I can feel my brain trying to go, "it's only a $200 difference..." - but, nope, not doing it. Fingers crossed that the Deluxe evening hours schedule holds for our trip, as I changed to a split stay in hopes of that.

I don't really care much about the parade (I'd be inclined to use that time for rides), so that's not added value for us. Yet, my mother-in-law would want to watch it, so it's probably best to just avoid the whole thing.

 

[JakeAZ]

So far, out of the people who have made up their minds, almost half have changed to "no". Honestly, that is higher than I thought it would be. Maybe Disney pushed a little too far? Or maybe it just takes longer to sell out!

 

[kboo]

I was considering going, but wasn’t sure. I think if it had been under $200 I might have done it. But it’s also very late for my young kids, and would realistically be about 1-1.5 hours for us. The parties would have worked better for us since they start earlier. We’ll wait until our kids are older and more robust.

(We had real FOMO when we were at VGF in 2019 and saw the fireworks from our balcony while the kids were snoozing away.)

 

[bookgirl]

So I voted still going because I am, but it's hard to quantify.

I have a Boo Bash Ticket that I will now not be using because I moved my trip from August to November. Honestly, if I didn't already have 90% of a Merriest ticket paid for I don't know that I would have gone to the AH event. I much preferred Halloween events to Christmas events in the past so it wouldn't have been a priority for me.

 

[raidermatt]

So far, out of the people who have made up their minds, almost half have changed to "no". Honestly, that is higher than I thought it would be. Maybe Disney pushed a little too far? Or maybe it just takes longer to sell out!

I suspect there will still be enough demand. Many saved a lot of $'s by not going anywhere last year. It might take a bit longer to sell out some dates, but I am guessing they will eventually get all the people they want.

I could be wrong of course.

I am more interested to see what happens over the next couple of years. When the pent-up demand dissipates and things are back to normal (whatever that is, lol). Will Disney bring back the full parties and charge $300+? Will they keep the same scaled back events with the inflated prices since they sold them out this year? And if so, will people still pay up?

We have to remember the people who are active in these types of online communities are not the average WDW visitors. People in this group might say "yes", but it can be a different story when the more casual visitor looks at the same question. Again, I think Disney can pretty much get away with anything this year and maybe even next. The question is whether it will come back to bite them later.

 

[StuckInKS]

We are probably still going, but only brining 5 people instead of 8, which makes the pricing right around what it would have been for all 8 of us to go to the Halloween AH party (which we were going to attend before we moved our trip from Sept to Nov). Sucks that we won't be taking all of our kids, but the two youngest (9, 11) and our oldest (18) really want to go and the other 3 "middle" teens (13, 15, 17) don't really care, so that is the plan for now.

 

[JakeAZ]

I suspect there will still be enough demand. Many saved a lot of $'s by not going anywhere last year. It might take a bit longer to sell out some dates, but I am guessing they will eventually get all the people they want.

I could be wrong of course.

I am more interested to see what happens over the next couple of years. When the pent-up demand dissipates and things are back to normal (whatever that is, lol). Will Disney bring back the full parties and charge $300+? Will they keep the same scaled back events with the inflated prices since they sold them out this year? And if so, will people still pay up?

We have to remember the people who are active in these types of online communities are not the average WDW visitors. People in this group might say "yes", but it can be a different story when the more casual visitor looks at the same question. Again, I think Disney can pretty much get away with anything this year and maybe even next. The question is whether it will come back to bite them later.

Very valid points and it will be very interesting to see. After our November trip, we won't be back for a very long time. Not that Disney doesn't have a great product, they do. It's just there is more to see in this world and you can get a lot more bang for your buck elsewhere.