EMH To Be Cut By An Hour?

[wilkeliza]

I can see a business stand point for this. People have been complaining that maintenance is down and that things are looking bad but also want to keep long extra magic hours and early park hours. When Magic Kingdom closes at 2 am and the park opens the next day at 8 am than means people are there as early as 6am (maybe even earlier) to do safety checks and any emergency maintenance to get the park ready for open. That means any crews only have 5 hours to work so if it takes 30 minutes to get everyone out of the MK then they can start working around 3:30 am because it can take up to an hour sometimes to prep locations. So then they have to stop an hour before people come in to check the location for safety and that means they got 2 whole hours of work left. 2 hours once or twice a week isn't bad but if something happens to go wrong that one night then people will complain the next day. 2 hours is still a lot of time to be at any of the parks during EMH so I'm not angry and can figure out many logical reasons why this was done. Now if EMH had been cut down to 1 hour or nonexistent I might have been a little upset.

Also just thinking does the union of CM state that there has to be specific number of hours between each shift? I know that Equity has that rule and that is why the theaters run at the schedule they do because there has to be at minimum 8 hours between the end of show and the beginning of the next working day. They can work them all day with appropriate breaks but you can't have a night show that gets out at 11 and then a 6 am show the next day with out paying people extra.

 

[steamboat wil]

Someone should start a list of the areas of "declining by degrees". So far just in a few months alone we have less EMH to look forward to and blank napkins to dry our faces from the cheapskate water play area that public parks have nowadays. I love WDW, will be there in 9 days (not that I'm counting). It's getting closer to where I don't feel the product is not worth the price.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Don't take my post as an endorsement for Staggs. I just read somewhere that he is thought to be one of the front runners to replace Iger. Jay Rasulo was the other mentioned. Staggs is a finance guy who came from wall street.

I did not get that, I just think it is a point worth constantly mentioning. People think Staggs is something big and different, but he is not. That's why stuff like this continues unabated.

 

[John]

The wording on the official site has now also been changed to 2 hours
Walt Disney World website

People keep saying it is going to be ONE hour but in fact the cut is going to be TWO hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It wasnt long ago I believe it was Staggs who said that they were going to faze out discounts and free dining offers.....dont believe that for one second. It is a fact that attendence has been basically flat. What if there wasnt any discounts? Where would attendence be then? Now with things like this happening and the inevitable increase resort cost. The continued declineing by degrees....yesssss I said it. Why would they....how could they cut the discounts...as far as spending dollars per guest? There isnt anything to buy, there isnt anything unique.....when there is it flies off the shelf. Its been reduced to the point where we had to take some napkins home just to prove we were there.....no wait....never mind.

 

[draybook]

People keep saying it is going to be ONE hour but in fact the cut is going to be TWO hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From that site-


Each day, one of the 4 Walt Disney World theme parks opens one hour early or remains open up to 2 hours after regular closing time.

 

[xdan0920]

Disgusting. I may need to get fitted for a D&G jacket. There is no defending this, and I'm glad no one has really attempted to defend TDO on this. Prices go up, offerings go down. Goodbye WDW.

 

[John]

From that site-


Each day, one of the 4 Walt Disney World theme parks opens one hour early or remains open up to 2 hours after regular closing time.

oh I seeeeee well thank you very much.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Here is a thought and only a thought. Magic Kingdom may now have more 1am closing times during busy seasons then offer Extra Magic Hour till 3am. It's still a cut back for Resort Guests but allows extra time for day guests.

If this was true, I'd be for it, but do we know that's the case?

 

[Uncle Lupe]

Bad for the guest, good for the cast member who wants to go home earlier. Maybe it is just a way to help when they extend the park hours in the summer. That way it does not squeeze maintenance as much.

 

[coastrnut]

Hi all - I too am very disapointed over the 'new' extra magic evening hours being reduced to 2 hours. I have written an email to wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com to voice my opinion. I encourage all of you who are upset over the 'new' hours to send an email and let them know. Maybe - just maybe they will change their mind - probably not, but, at least it is worth letting them know how we feel. Here is what I wrote:
****************************************
Subject: The 'new' extra magic evening hours

I am writing that I have just heard, and see that it is now 'official' on the Disney web site, that the Extra Magic Hours benefit for Resort guests is going to be reduced from 'up to 3 hours after regular closing time' to starting in January 2013 to 'up to 2 hours after regular closing time'.

If this is indeed the case, I am disappointed. I realize the 'official' company line will be, and I quote "we never guaranteed that the parks would be open 3 hours later, we said 'up to 3 hours later'. But, ever since I have remembered, and since this program has been in place, the evening extra magic hours has never been less than 3 hours.

Now with the 'reduced' hours to '2', I am starting to wonder why I am staying on property.

Let me start by saying, I really enjoy visiting Walt Disney World, and have even bought into DVC, however, I am now starting to 'question' my DVC investment.

My 'home' resort is Saratoga Springs. With Saratoga Springs being right across from Downtown Disney, and since when I bought into DVC, Pleasure Island was still in full swing, (I enjoyed going to Pleasure Island), I thought the logical choice would be to buy into DVC with my home resort being right across from Pleasure Island, since I enjoy the night life.

Well, 1 year after purchase, guess what, you CLOSED the clubs on Pleasure Island. But, on the 'flip' side, you started the 'Extra Magic Hours' benefit, and now the parks would be open until the wee hours of the morning with the 3 hours of evening Extra Magic Hours. With Magic Kingdom and the Studios being open until 1:00, 2:00, and sometimes 3:00 a.m., I now had something do to in the hours that I would have normally spent at the clubs on PI.

I had even wrote to Disney way back when the clubs were closed, and the 'company' response I got was, since our parks are now open to resort guests for up to 3 hours after normal park closing, you now have this option available to you for your late night enjoyment.

I am NOT a morning person - (I work night shift, so am used to late night hours - yea! ) I fully enjoyed being in the parks for the 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. closings - what a way to end a great day!

Heck - I even participated in the Leap Year Day - 1 more Disney Day event this year at the Magic Kingdom, and LOVED being in the Magic Kingdom late (but I did poop out at 4:30a.m.)!

Alas, now starting in 2013, this great benefit I have enjoyed for the past several years, will be taken away from me by an hour.

So, when the Magic Kingdom closes at 10pm, instead of enjoying a late night ride on space mountain at 1a.m., -- at 1a.m., I will be back in my resort room, wishing I was having a great 'night life' experience of yesteryear at PI - since I will have had to END my night fun at MIDNIGHT.

To me, this is just another round of the bean counters at Team Disney Orlando, doing their famous 'Cost Cutting Measures'.

I hope you get enough 'complaints' with the 'new' reduced extra magic hours, to bring back our fun to the full 3 hours that we have enjoyed for the past several years.

Sincerely yours,

Gary R. Moyer

 

[NoChesterHester]

If this was true, I'd be for it, but do we know that's the case?

Right, and as others have also stated - lets say this is "only" for the off season. Park hours are already reduced during those periods. Now even with extra Magic Hours (1-2 times per week) guests visiting in January get between 4-6 hours less of park time. They pay the same price for admission media.

 

[WDW1974]

That would be something for Lee or 74 to answer... And hopefully Staggs isn't the CEO.... i don't find him any better than the others honestly..

Um ... what was/is the question?

As to this change (definitely another decline by degrees deal), I don't like it ... but I must say you can tell how most of the folks here stay at WDW resorts by the vitriol. Either that or you've all become as savvy as the Spirit and you attend night EMH's all the time whether you stay at a WDW resort or not (hey, I steal soda so why wouldn't I take some extra park time too?!)

I'm much more ed by the general decline in park hours over the years. When everyone used to get midnight and 11 p.m. summer and holiday (and some weekend) closes at EPCOT, I don't get a bulge with one or two nights a week for resort guests. When everyone used to get 11 p.m., midnight (and in the first few summers 1 and 2 a.m.) closings at Disney-MGM, I don't get excited by one night of 1 a.m. during summer.

Everyone ultimately is paying more for WDW and getting less and this will continue until new management takes over (possibly not even then, but I'm trying to be optimitsic).

Oh, and whomever mentioned DLR's superior summer (and general) hours, very good point. There was a thread Steve started here recently when they 'added' hours to August at MK and Studios ... but right now there isn't one midnight closing and plenty of 10 p.m. and 9 p.m. closings mixed in. Not a great way to visit during one of the two worst weather months of the year in O-Town.

 

[WDW1974]

Walt Disney World absolutely has an impact on shareholder value.

Um ... duh.

 

[WDW1974]

Don't take my post as an endorsement for Staggs. I just read somewhere that he is thought to be one of the front runners to replace Iger. Jay Rasulo was the other mentioned. Staggs is a finance guy who came from wall street.

It won't happen. That's what their PR people are trying to spin. Disney will go in a very different direction when it replaces Iger ... I can just sense it (or something!)

 

[MarkTwain]

This annoys me terribly. As a night owl I do a very large amount, perhaps as much as 50%, of my park experiencing during evening EMH (here's my last trip report to prove it). All I can do at this point is hope that this will be a temporary measure used only for off-seasons, but even then, the off-season guests deserve the perks they pay for.

They speculated over on the Disboards as well that this may have something to do with xPass/FastPass+, sort of like the Fastpass changes did. That would make sense in a way, just wondering if anyone else had heard anything else along those lines.

It certainly seems possible. Rumors from multiple sites (Jim Hill, MiceAge) point to Xpass's introduction at early 2013, which would align with when this change is being introduced.

Which to me seems less like a justification for reduced EMH than it is yet another reason to hate Xpass...

 

[GrumpyFan]

I'm not terribly bothered by this. The last few times I've been to an evening EMH, by the third hour, most guests have left the park already, so I don't see that this will have that big of an impact. Also, I think they are smart enough and manage the time the parks are open based on the number of guests staying on property. Based on this, I think they may also choose to extend some evening EMHs to 3 hours in peak seasons, if demand warrants.

 

[WDW1974]

I'm not terribly bothered by this. The last few times I've been to an evening EMH, by the third hour, most guests have left the park already, so I don't see that this will have that big of an impact. Also, I think they are smart enough and manage the time the parks are open based on the number of guests staying on property. Based on this, I think they may also choose to extend some evening EMHs to 3 hours in peak seasons, if demand warrants.

Ah, but they won't. You see that was the little disclaimer that always said the parks would stay open UP to three hours after regular closing for resort guests. With that there, there was no reason to change it to two ... NONE. They were perfectly within their rights to say take this week's EMH at MK and make it from 11 to 1 a.m. ... or even just an hour 11 to midnight as things stood.

What that change tells you is this is permanent and this is what Disney intends to do.

I also wouldn't expect longer hours for all as someone here speculated. They are already cutting back hours this summer from more recent summers (still better than the hellish days in the 2001-03 period .... think 02 had MK closed at 10 p.m. all summer except July 4th which was 1 a.m.) and would expect that trend to continue into fall. It's all about cutting labor costs.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I don't need NextGen, Xpass, or even the fastpass shackle. All I need are long operating hours. That way I can do my sightseeing, shopping, eating and some high capacity rides during the day, and ride the big tickets five thousand times after the fireworks and second parade.

Compared to earlier decades, the MK has less attractions, nearly twice the visitors, and fewer operating hours. You do the math what this means for lines.

 

[menamechris]

I also wouldn't expect longer hours for all as someone here speculated. They are already cutting back hours this summer from more recent summers (still better than the hellish days in the 2001-03 period .... think 02 had MK closed at 10 p.m. all summer except July 4th which was 1 a.m.) and would expect that trend to continue into fall. It's all about cutting labor costs.

At least back then there was PI...just sayin...

 

[GoofGoof]

Um ... what was/is the question?.

The question was - what level of management is involved in a decision like this? Does it go as high as Staggs/Iger or is this too minor of a change to go beyond Orlando. The consensus seemed to be that TDO would have made the call on there own.