News Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Hours coming for resort guests

[CaptainAmerica]

Still an issue as of two weeks ago, no buses emptying prior to opening. To rope drop you still need to either walk, monorail, skyway or drive to get to rope drop (boats at least to DHS and Epcot won’t work either, don’t know about MK.)

I'm not sure what you're talking about, but this wasn't my experience at all. We were there for 8 days at the end of April and we were *inside* the park, riding rides, 45 minutes before posted opening every single day. Didn't matter if it was Skyliner to Studios, bus to Magic Kingdom, or bus to Animal Kingdom.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

There weren't 10,000 people at MK for EMH... and now early entry is at all 4 parks, as opposed to just one park, which will more evenly distribute on-site guests.

Of course, it will depend on the time of the year and the time of the opening. Animal Kingdom 7:30 a.m. early entry in May, I wouldn't expect a huge crowd gathering. Yes, if you're in the back of the early entry line, you may have a 20-30 minute wait for FOP, but that's still a decent advantage.
But 8:30am early entry at Magic Kingdom during Christmas week, would be a mad house.

Here is the thing to remember about the "perk" -- While it may not seem like a huge win for on-site guests, it really is very very punitive for off-site guests. Off-site guests completely and totally lose the ability to rope drop any park.
As things stood under EMH -- Typically, no more than 1 park would have EMH morning. So off-site guests could rope drop the other 3 parks, the same as an on-site guest. So if they got there early enough, they could ride Mine Train or FOP without any real wait.
But now, rope drop is on-site guests only -- Even if it was only a 10-minute advantage, that's still huge. That's the difference between doing FOP, Slinky Dog, Mine Train -- with a minimal wait, versus doing it with a 60+ minute wait.

So early entry may not seem like a huge win for on-site -- until you compare it to off-site.

You are vastly overestimating 1) the percentage of people who stay on-site and 2) the percentage of people who wake up early.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I'm not sure what you're talking about, but this wasn't my experience at all. We were there for 8 days at the end of April and we were *inside* the park, riding rides, 45 minutes before posted opening every single day. Didn't matter if it was Skyliner to Studios, bus to Magic Kingdom, or bus to Animal Kingdom.

This is good information heading into summer. Getting into a park by 8 am buys you a good deal of time before the heat sets in. That’s one thing that stinks about Epcot’s hours—it‘s hot the whole time!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This is good information heading into summer. Getting into a park by 8 am buys you a good deal of time before the heat sets in. That’s one thing that stinks about Epcot’s hours—it‘s hot the whole time!

The only snag we hit was one morning at MK when we got into the park at like 7:15 but Splash Mountain didn't drop the rope until 8.

 

[Touchdown]

I'm not sure what you're talking about, but this wasn't my experience at all. We were there for 8 days at the end of April and we were *inside* the park, riding rides, 45 minutes before posted opening every single day. Didn't matter if it was Skyliner to Studios, bus to Magic Kingdom, or bus to Animal Kingdom.

I never saw a bus picking up people at my resort (Yacht Club) not did I ever see a bus arrive as I was walking or waiting (in the case of DHS only, all other gates were open) before I arrived walking or driving.

 

[havoc315]

You are vastly overestimating 1) the percentage of people who stay on-site and 2) the percentage of people who wake up early.

hmm? I said it was much less than 10,000...... Much much less.

But it's now a pretty high percentage of guests who are "on site" -- As there are now a ton of off-site hotels that get the on-site perks, such as early entry.

Practically every hotel near Disney World is now "on site." -- Even the Orlando Holiday Inn gets "on site" perks.

It's almost hard to find a hotel that isn't on-site!

 

[CastAStone]

hmm? I said it was much less than 10,000...... Much much less.

But it's now a pretty high percentage of guests who are "on site" -- As there are now a ton of off-site hotels that get the on-site perks, such as early entry.

Practically every hotel near Disney World is now "on site." -- Even the Orlando Holiday Inn gets "on site" perks.

It's almost hard to find a hotel that isn't on-site!

The *total* offsite number of hotel rooms with onsite benefits is slightly more than the number of rooms at Pop Century.

 

[havoc315]

The *total* offsite number of hotel rooms with onsite benefits is slightly more than the number of rooms at Pop Century.

Talking specifically about EMH/FP perks, you’re off by a lot.
You may be relying on old data before they greatly expanded their good neighbor hotels.

 

[UNCgolf]

Talking specifically about EMH/FP perks, you’re off by a lot.
You may be relying on old data before they greatly expanded their good neighbor hotels.

I don't want to spend the time researching all the numbers, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was relatively close -- there are probably more than for Pop Century alone, but they can't be more than a small percentage of total Disney on-site rooms.

Have to remember that most hotels don't have that many rooms -- you could line up 20 regular Holiday Inn Expresses and not get close to Pop Century's room count (close to 3000 rooms). The ones near Disney are probably a bit larger than normal, but I'm still guessing a lot of the good neighbor hotels don't have more than 150-200 rooms.

 

[CastAStone]

Talking specifically about EMH/FP perks, you’re off by a lot.
You may be relying on old data before they greatly expanded their good neighbor hotels.

Ok I was off by a more that I realized. I did not include BVP or the Wyndham they added. Total is now 6,408 if you count Swolphin as off site. Pop is 2900 rooms and so it’s like Pop plus Port Orleans Riverside plus 1 All Star. Still a small percentage of overall access and total offsite options.

B = 394
BW = 325 (pre expansion/rebranding)
DT = 229
4S = 443
HI = 323
Hilton BVP = 987
Hilton LBV = 814
Swolphin = 2,267
Wynd Gard = 394
Wynd LBV = 232

 

[havoc315]

Ok I was off by a more that I realized. I did not include BVP or the Wyndham they added. Total is now 6,408 if you count Swolphin as off site. Pop is 2900 rooms and so it’s like Pop plus Port Orleans Riverside plus 1 All Star. Still a small percentage of overall access and total offsite options.

B = 394
BW = 325 (pre expansion/rebranding)
DT = 229
4S = 443
HI = 323
Hilton BVP = 987
Hilton LBV = 814
Swolphin = 2,267
Wynd Gard = 394
Wynd LBV = 232

I wouldn’t call 6400 rooms small. That’s probably more than all the WDW deluxe hotels combined.

IIRC, average attendance at WDW is about 120,000 per day. Maybe a bit less.

6400 offsite rooms… that’s easily 10,000-15,000 guests on an average day.

Disney World has 36,000 rooms. That’s easily 60,000-90,000 guests.

No matter how you slice it, it’s probably over 60% of guests eligible for EMH/FP perks. Nearly everyone except locals and condo renters.

 

[UNCgolf]

Ok I was off by a more that I realized. I did not include BVP or the Wyndham they added. Total is now 6,408 if you count Swolphin as off site. Pop is 2900 rooms and so it’s like Pop plus Port Orleans Riverside plus 1 All Star. Still a small percentage of overall access and total offsite options.

B = 394
BW = 325 (pre expansion/rebranding)
DT = 229
4S = 443
HI = 323
Hilton BVP = 987
Hilton LBV = 814
Swolphin = 2,267
Wynd Gard = 394
Wynd LBV = 232

Even though Swolphin is technically off-site, I think a lot of people think of it as on-site since you can walk to two parks and it had most (maybe all) of the same perks as on-site hotels. I suppose it doesn't anymore since they no longer have access to the Disney resort bus system, but that's a recent change.

 

[UNCgolf]

No matter how you slice it, it’s probably over 60% of guests eligible for EMH/FP perks. Nearly everyone except locals and condo renters.

I have a feeling that's going to change. I'm expecting to see them cut back to only offering most of the perks to actual Disney resorts, with potentially a tiered system where deluxes get more than values.

 

[havoc315]

I have a feeling that's going to change. I'm expecting to see them cut back to only offering most of the perks to actual Disney resorts, with potentially a tiered system where deluxes get more than values.

They have contracts with those hotels and get paid for extending the perk. So not just a matter of eliminating it at any time.

 

[havoc315]

Ok I was off by a more that I realized. I did not include BVP or the Wyndham they added. Total is now 6,408 if you count Swolphin as off site. Pop is 2900 rooms and so it’s like Pop plus Port Orleans Riverside plus 1 All Star. Still a small percentage of overall access and total offsite options.

B = 394
BW = 325 (pre expansion/rebranding)
DT = 229
4S = 443
HI = 323
Hilton BVP = 987
Hilton LBV = 814
Swolphin = 2,267
Wynd Gard = 394
Wynd LBV = 232

I think you may have even missed a few. Shades of Green is offsite.. Hilton Bonnet Creek..

 

[CastAStone]

I think you may have even missed a few. Shades of Green is offsite.. Hilton Bonnet Creek..

SOG Isn’t Disney run anymore but the full name is literally Shades of Green ON Walt Disney World Resort. On-site is in the name.

 

[StarshipDisney]

I think you may have even missed a few. Shades of Green is offsite.. Hilton Bonnet Creek..

The Embassy Suites on International Drive advertises itself as a Disney "good neighbor" hotel. I think there may quite a few of these "good neighbor" establishments that are not mentioned.

 

[UNCgolf]

They have contracts with those hotels and get paid for extending the perk. So not just a matter of eliminating it at any time.

Yes, I'm aware of that. They almost certainly have an early termination option; there's very little chance Disney would have signed a contract that locked them in with no options. It would just depend on if the fee involved was worth paying. It probably wouldn't be right now since demand is likely to be incredibly high, though.

EDIT: In thinking about it a bit more, I'd actually be pretty surprised if they weren't short-term renewable contracts, potentially even year-to-year. Disney has essentially all the negotiating power and would have little reason to sign anything long-term that limits flexibility. I know if I was representing Disney that would be my recommendation, barring some kind of absurd over the top money amount to incentivize signing something longer.

 

[UNCgolf]

The Embassy Suites on International Drive advertises itself as a Disney "good neighbor" hotel. I think there may quite a few of these "good neighbor" establishments that are not mentioned.

I don't think all the good neighbor hotels got EMH, although I'm not 100% sure of that. I think it was just the ones classified as Disney Springs resorts along with Shades of Green and Swolphin.

 

[StarshipDisney]

I don't think all the good neighbor hotels got EMH, although I'm not 100% sure of that. I think it was just the ones classified as Disney Springs resorts along with Shades of Green and Swolphin.

I was not 100% sure myself so did some checking. I now believe you are correct IRT EMH. They are not eligible. I found below as the perks:

The Comfort of Convenience​

Hotel perks, proximity to Walt Disney World Resort and ease of access make your vacation easier.

• Many hotels offer Disney Theme Park vacation packages. Visit the hotel website for more details on package offers, or call 407-W-DISNEY or (407) 934-7639 and ask about packages for your preferred Walt Disney World Good Neighbor Hotel.
• All hotels are close to the Walt Disney World Resort (ranging from 2 to 14 miles).
• All hotels offer transportation to the Disney Theme Parks. (A fee may apply.)
• Many hotels allow pets. (A fee may apply.)
• All hotels allow you to purchase your Disney Theme Park tickets on-site, in their lobby, at the Front Desk or Guest Services Desk