News Disney After Hours at Walt Disney World

[Mr. Sullivan]

Many after-hours events "reach capacity," but we never know what that "capacity" is for each night. Sometimes Halloween events that reach "capacity" are SUPER crowded but then other nights that reach "capacity" are WAY more sparse with MUCH smaller crowds.

I'm not sure why this seems to be the case but it makes sense that every night needs to reach "capacity" for the optics of ticket sales to the financial people that watch these numbers. I'm guessing that "max capacity" is the number of people that Disney has near the time that the event starts? In other words, if you sell 10 tickets one night, "that" is your "max capacity". If you sell 7 tickets another night, "that" is your "max capacity" for that night.

This math formula means that you are guaranteed to always reach "capacity"??

I dunno. Just wondering how it works when no actual sales numbers are ever stated and crowd sizes vary widely.

I would have to imagine that their max capacity for any given event fluctuates relative to how many CMs are scheduled to be present for it, what that event will entail, when it takes place (for example, an event taking place on a at a time that isn’t considered a prime vacation period may have a lower set capacity than the same event but taking place at a time that is considered a prime vacation period), the amount of day tickets that have been sold for the time period of the event, and their hotel occupancy for that time frame (the latter two metrics giving them a sort of margin to guess how many people may be on property at that time that may be interested in going to the event).

 

[Chi84]

Sometimes Halloween events that reach "capacity" are SUPER crowded but then other nights that reach "capacity" are WAY more sparse with MUCH smaller crowds.

crowd sizes vary widely.

Is this based on your personal observations?

 

[Cliff]

Is this based on your personal observations?

Nah,...the dozens of live streamers I watch.

 

[DCBaker]

The Hollywood Studios After Hours event on March 26 has sold out.

 

[co10064]

Many after-hours events "reach capacity," but we never know what that "capacity" is for each night. Sometimes Halloween events that reach "capacity" are SUPER crowded but then other nights that reach "capacity" are WAY more sparse with MUCH smaller crowds.

I can’t speak to Halloween parties, but when I went to a sold out EPCOT After Hours, everything was a walk-on throughout the night except Guardians, which held steady at a posted 30 minute wait (but actual 15 minute wait in the queue leading up to the pre-show).

The draw for After Hours is undoubtedly low waits, whereas the parties are more about the entertainment IMO.

Does Disney actually advertise less wait times for the Halloween/Christmas parties?

 

[Cliff]

These days, it seems that it's VERY important for Burbank to display the "sold out" sign on everything. Since Disney keeps it's ticket sales secret, too many people are now using wait times and "sold out" flags to judge park attendence.

It certainly does seem that how crowded a "sold out" event actually is CAN vary widely from day to day. Disney has years of gathering sophisticated guest attendance habbits and trends. They already know which nights will have higher AND lower "sell out" numbers based in selling speed and other factors.

But yes, I think that no matter how many tickets are actually sold, it's CRITICAL that these events be seen as a "success" with that "sold out" label on top of it. It reminds me of when Disney was accused of buying it's own movie tickets in empty theaters just as a marketing trick to "buy" good box office numbers press for a bad movie.

Remember, if a studio buys 50 million in movie tickets one week, the theaters keep half and the other 50 million goes right back to studio!!. In a case like this, Burbank's marketing group can buy a ticket from parks and experiences and that money never leaves the company at all.

But Parks can still report it as a "sold" ticket for their financial books and they can make all the internet "watchers" (like us) feel very impressed.

This is nothing new. It an old trick...

 

[MisterPenguin]

Remember, if a studio buys 50 million in movie tickets one week, the theaters keep half and the other 50 million goes right back to studio!!. In a case like this, Burbank's marketing group can buy a ticket from parks and experiences and that money never leaves the company at all.

But Parks can still report it as a "sold" ticket for their financial books and they can make all the internet "watchers" (like us) feel very impressed.

This is nothing new. It an old trick...

It's an old conspiracy theory that a studio would throw an extra $50M at a movie so it "looks good" while, at the same time, bearing extra tens of millions of dollars in that movie's deficit.

If this is what TWDC does, then please explain all of their theatrical releases which financially bombed if Disney plays such game with the Box Office. You're saying Disney would spend tens of millions to keep that from happening. And yet, it happens.

So... what you say happens, doesn't.

 

[DCBaker]

The Magic Kingdom After Hours event on April 7 has sold out.