EMH To Be Cut By An Hour?

[flynnibus]

You do realize one of the reasons it cost more to stay at a Disney resort is because they factor in costs for things like transportaion and extra magic hours

The hotel costs are what they are to fund EMH specifically - but because the money fuels the entire property. WDW is a city upon itself with no direct revenue stream except for what guests spend on accommodations, tickets, food, and merch. The monster needs to be fed, and all the revenue streams must contribute to the parent to feed the monster.

Who pays for WDW's power plants? Trash Collection? Roads? Landscaping? Fire and rescue? It all comes from the limited revenue streams WDW has.

The costs are what they are to feed the monster and because 'they can'. So don't even bother with the line of logic of 'less EMH should mean less costs at hotels...'. That's a drip in the ocean.

 

[YankeeMouse]

I agree that the last hour is the best hour of EMH evenings. Last week we walked onto Peter Pan and even went on Winnie the Pooh last minute. Then we saw the Kiss Goodnight which is a magical end to the night. More people will tend to stay for 2 hours but poop out for the third.

 

[wdw71fan]

EMH won't be around much longer anyway.. It will be phased out one NextGen FP gets into full swing.. however, operations for the resort will likely be extending.. In other words, instead of EMH, the whole dang thing will be open later..

 

[bunnyman]

EMH won't be around much longer anyway.. It will be phased out one NextGen FP gets into full swing.. however, operations for the resort will likely be extending.. In other words, instead of EMH, the whole dang thing will be open later..

I tend to agree with your comments regarding the hours of operation. Over time it felt like with the advent of the EMH, they had actually for the most part scaled back the actual operating hours for the MK. Prior to EMH, I seem to remember the MK being open more often until 11pm or 12am, but after EMH it seemed the regular hours were cut back to 10pm or so. And don't forget that the EMH hasn't always been around. Before they started they used to have the E-Ticket night, which was a event you had to pay for. I agree with people's comments that if you don't like the high price of Disney hotels, stay elsewhere. If enough people opt to stay off property, than maybe they'll address their offerings. You're paying for the convenience for being on property, which includes transportation, park access, etc.

 

[LaughingGravy]

This cutting back of benefits and raising prices is exactly the sort of reason we don't go anymore as a family.
I'm a huge fan, but in order to get the wife to be on board with any Disney trip, I have to do a sell job.
She'll ask about,say, LeCellier and the dining plan and can we go there again as we had such a great dinner. I say no, it's a two credit signature deal now. She'll say well, at least we get 3 hours of EMH time...Um...no, and the monorail stops earlier. And appetizers aren't included in the dining plan, and the list seems to go on, when compared to previous years and trips.
I know the appetizer thing is old, but it's just one thing after another with no reduction in price of the trip for the aggravation. It's not like it's an inexpensive trip to begin with, either!
That and the airline delays and all the security BS increasing each time turn it into such a stressful situation, it's not a vacation.

 

[wdw71fan]

I greatly preferred e Ride nights to EMH... it was roughly 10 bucks a person, and a lot better managed. EMH is a joke of a program, and it doesn't work.. it was supposed to be phased out 3 years ago, but was extended because of new emerging projects (FLE, and NextGen FP).... now it's usefulness is outlived..

Here's the problem with EMH.. It has a tendency to over-fill the park with EMH during the day, and building to much larger crowds at night.. So, ride queues can be blown out (space mountain 90-100 at closing time) by day guests before EMH begins.. So, in theory, it would take 1-1/2 hours to filter all day guests through the queue for space mountain even though it has been 'closed' since park closing.. Really only giving a maximum of an hour or so for EMH guests to get into the shorter queue.. So, in reality, the park isn't 'quieter' with EMH guests in the last hour, it's just that most of the day guests have finally been filtered out..

Break your dedication to EMH, it won't be around much longer

 

[Captain Chaos]

Ridiculous, no. You just admitted that if something is dead, the logical response is to close it. Disney is being logical. I'm still at a loss to why this hour matters so much. I mean if you're paying loads of money to stay at these resorts then go stay at them!

Are you that, um, afflicted by your addiction to the dust??? Has it warped your line of thinking??? No where in 74s post did he admit if things are dead you close them.... He was actually mocking your idiotic comments.... But you cannot see straight apparently... He was pointing out how stupid your comments were...

 

[ParentsOf4]

I received the following response from Disney concerning the reduced evening EMH:

Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World® Resort.

We would like to assure you that our goals for providing a happy and unique experience in our Theme Parks have remained constant throughout the years. One of the ways in which we attempt to maintain this goal is
to continually evaluate the various aspects of our operation and make changes at times. Some changes prove to be positive and well received by our Guests, while others are not as beneficial. We rely on input from our Guests to help us determine when these changes should remain in effect or when we should implement something different.

As diverse as the millions of visitors are who come to the Walt Disney World Resort each year, so are the reactions and opinions that we learn about. While we realize that it is impossible to please everyone at all
times with the decisions that are made, it is always our goal to provide a quality "show" for our Guests.

If you have questions or need further assistance, feel free to contact us.

Clearly nothing specific with the EMH reduction. It's so generic, the response could have concerned not having mustard on my hot dog.

P.S. Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger.

 

[ParentsOf4]

I greatly preferred e Ride nights to EMH... it was roughly 10 bucks a person, and a lot better managed.

Do you think it would be $10 per person if they brought it back?

 

[asianway]

Do you think it would be $10 per person if they brought it back?

I think they will bring it back and that's where it's headed-$35 minimum

 

[asianway]

I received the following response from Disney concerning the reduced evening EMH:


Clearly nothing specific with the EMH reduction. It's so generic, the response could have concerned not having mustard on my hot dog.

P.S. Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger.

There are many software packages available to manage this type of correspondence, and I'm sure Disney uses one of them. You got the "no way in hell this can be defended so send them generic malarkey to see if it shuts them up" button

 

[devoy1701]

I greatly preferred e Ride nights to EMH... it was roughly 10 bucks a person, and a lot better managed. EMH is a joke of a program, and it doesn't work.. it was supposed to be phased out 3 years ago, but was extended because of new emerging projects (FLE, and NextGen FP).... now it's usefulness is outlived..

Here's the problem with EMH.. It has a tendency to over-fill the park with EMH during the day, and building to much larger crowds at night.. So, ride queues can be blown out (space mountain 90-100 at closing time) by day guests before EMH begins.. So, in theory, it would take 1-1/2 hours to filter all day guests through the queue for space mountain even though it has been 'closed' since park closing.. Really only giving a maximum of an hour or so for EMH guests to get into the shorter queue.. So, in reality, the park isn't 'quieter' with EMH guests in the last hour, it's just that most of the day guests have finally been filtered out..

Break your dedication to EMH, it won't be around much longer

I'm just not sure why they would need to cut the current offering prior to bringing in the replacement? I understand that EMH has long overstayed it's welcome...a few years ago we had a rather lengthy thread explaining the "Broken Idea" of EMH. In it's conception there were roughly 10k fewer hotel rooms and 20-30k less on-site guests each night. The crowd levels of EMH are now bursting at the seams, and the benefit itself is not nearly as great as it used to be when wait times remain equal to what they were during the regular park hours.

I would definitely be ok with a new offering, possibly distributing guests staying at certain resorts to a certain park each night (ie: AK resort area, Epcot Resort Area, MK Resort area each having Resort-Only Access to a different park to help disperse the crowds). But right now this simply appears to be a cost saving, margin growing move...and as always the track record supports that.

 

[flynnibus]

Here's the problem with EMH.. It has a tendency to over-fill the park with EMH during the day, and building to much larger crowds at night.. So, ride queues can be blown out (space mountain 90-100 at closing time) by day guests before EMH begins.. So, in theory, it would take 1-1/2 hours to filter all day guests through the queue for space mountain even though it has been 'closed' since park closing.. Really only giving a maximum of an hour or so for EMH guests to get into the shorter queue.. So, in reality, the park isn't 'quieter' with EMH guests in the last hour, it's just that most of the day guests have finally been filtered out..

Don't know what park people are in that think evening EMH is so rediciously crowded.

Walk into adventureland and you'll be the only people you see! All major attractions have lesser waits, with most being virtually walk ons.

I can't help but think the 'EMH is too crowded' crowd are those conditioned they should only wait 15mins for a ride or go somewhere else crowd.

Crowds have never been an issue for EMH for us - simply that going to a park with morning EMH without going to EMH will be more crowded than what the park would have been without EMH (for obvious reasons) and evening EMHs are not lighter than normal crowds until about 1-2hrs in depending on the park and closing time.

 

[Alektronic]

I received the following response from Disney concerning the reduced evening EMH:

it is always our goal to provide a quality "show" for our Guests.

Now, that is just an outright lie.(At least for WDW) I know it is just a typical Disney response form letter, but "show" quality is way down the list.

 

[Nicole]

What if they offered onsite guests a 1-hour window for getting a second FP instead of the current 2-hour? Or let on-site guests have two FPs at the same time. Something like that would be relatively easy to implement, just some computer coding, right?

 

[bunnyman]

This cutting back of benefits and raising prices is exactly the sort of reason we don't go anymore as a family.
I'm a huge fan, but in order to get the wife to be on board with any Disney trip, I have to do a sell job.
She'll ask about,say, LeCellier and the dining plan and can we go there again as we had such a great dinner. I say no, it's a two credit signature deal now. She'll say well, at least we get 3 hours of EMH time...Um...no, and the monorail stops earlier. And appetizers aren't included in the dining plan, and the list seems to go on, when compared to previous years and trips.
I know the appetizer thing is old, but it's just one thing after another with no reduction in price of the trip for the aggravation. It's not like it's an inexpensive trip to begin with, either!
That and the airline delays and all the security BS increasing each time turn it into such a stressful situation, it's not a vacation.

Can feel your pain with the wife comments. I find it hard to counter when she sees cheaper room rates off property, with some sort of free breakfast, free wi-fi (although Disney finally caught up on this one), shuttles to WDW, etc. About the only different thing Disney resorts offer is free package delivery back to your resort, and that's not exactly the make or break selling point. Heck, the last time we stayed at the Poly they had even stopped the free newspaper delivery to your door (instead you had to go into the main building to get one, and they ran out pretty quick). It just seems to me that their pricing keeps going way up and you get less for your $$. In fact, I priced out a future weekend trip, Hilton Downtown Disney vs. Wilderness Lodge, and the Hilton was much cheaper, came with full buffet breakfast, you get shuttles, you can use rewards points, etc.

 

[devoy1701]

Don't know what park people are in that think evening EMH is so rediciously crowded.

Walk into adventureland and you'll be the only people you see! All major attractions have lesser waits, with most being virtually walk ons.

I can't help but think the 'EMH is too crowded' crowd are those conditioned they should only wait 15mins for a ride or go somewhere else crowd.

Crowds have never been an issue for EMH for us - simply that going to a park with morning EMH without going to EMH will be more crowded than what the park would have been without EMH (for obvious reasons) and evening EMHs are not lighter than normal crowds until about 1-2hrs in depending on the park and closing time.

EMH has become unbareable as of late. You used to be able to hit all of the major attractions with considerably lower wait times. I understand your point about Adventureland, but it simply isn't the case for some of the most popular attractions like Pan, Space Mountain, Splash, etc. EMH used to give you shorter wait times for those as well.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Something that has been really been bothering me on the forum is those who say....well if you so disatisfied why are do you continue to visit? Some say that there are those of us that have nothing positive to say about WDW.

When we all check in at the front desk we are greeted with "Welcome home!" that means we are family right? As a family member we have a stake in this thing. We point out things that come up short because we do care. If we didnt care we wouldnt even bother to come to the forum in the first place. Honestly it even goes deeper then that for me. We all relate to Disney on an emotional level. We all have grown up with Disney as a part of our lives. When things are being taken away from our "home"....things that made it special in the first place....it actually hurts. When we go "home" we want things to be constant. We will even pay what amounts to outrageous dollars to have it that way.

Even the most ardent supporter of WDW cant defend what has been happening to our "home" the last few years. DO I (we) still visit our beloved "home" absolutely....but when is "home" no longer feel like "home"? How long is it before they change the locks? WDW needs to do something soon...Does anone really feel the buzz around the FL expansion? Maybe a mild buzz....if those super fans who visit this forum dont get super excited....I doubt the average guest is feeling all warm and fuzzy. Is Avatar going to be the answer? IMO....I couldnt care less what has been said by Iger, Staggs or anyone else when it comes to Avatar. Till I see them actually building it I am not 100% sure it is going to be built. Sorry, they havnt given me many reasons to be optomistic. And if and when they do start construction my feeling is that it wont be what it should be. History tells us differently.



Sorry.....even spellcheck cant help this sleep deprived post.....good night.

If we don't get as much satisfaction out of our trip to Disney, they're not going to get as much of our money. We can still go while cutting our own costs. If they have crappy merchandise I'm not going to buy what they have, just because. If they want me to stay on property, I'm not going to pay full rack rate because it's not worth it. If I don't feel that the AP is worth it anymore, I'll get a Magic Your Way ticket.

Yes, they're still getting our money, but not as much of it. That extra money that all of us has is going over to other Entertainment offerings either on the same vacation (Universal?) or elsewhere.

EMH won't be around much longer anyway.. It will be phased out one NextGen FP gets into full swing.. however, operations for the resort will likely be extending.. In other words, instead of EMH, the whole dang thing will be open later..

I can support that if that's indeed the case. If the 4 hours per park are spread out over multiple days that makes more sense for everyone, even if it doesn't give guests that 2 AM walk where the park's are a ghost town.

What if they offered onsite guests a 1-hour window for getting a second FP instead of the current 2-hour? Or let on-site guests have two FPs at the same time. Something like that would be relatively easy to implement, just some computer coding, right?

My experience with Disney's computer system would say otherwise, but yes, this would be something that could be done. However, it would require several things that Disney simply hasn't been able to do consistently such as tying existing ticket media (AP or 3rd party tickets) to your room reservation, and being able to handle simple "if/then" statements in their programming.

 

[wdw71fan]

All this conversation about fastpass time windows is interesting.. because everyone is assuming fastpass will still have traditional time window structure like it does now.....hmmmmm

 

[wdwfan22]

EMH has become unbareable as of late. You used to be able to hit all of the major attractions with considerably lower wait times. I understand your point about Adventureland, but it simply isn't the case for some of the most popular attractions like Pan, Space Mountain, Splash, etc. EMH used to give you shorter wait times for those as well.

The only park that i would call unbareable for Extra Magic Hours would be Disney Hollywood Studios. Magic Kingdom very rarely has long lines during the evening magic hours and that does include Pan. I'm always able to get on Peter Pan (20 mins or less) Splash, Thunder, Space and everything else.