EMH To Be Cut By An Hour?

[Imagineer6]

Hopefully there will be an upgrade to ride maintenance and overall park cleanliness that comes along with this. I don't see another reason why they would do this.

 

[bubbles1812]

Hopefully there will be an upgrade to ride maintenance and overall park cleanliness that comes along with this. I don't see another reason why they would do this.

To save money? Every other cut they've made is to save money... not for any other purpose.

 

[bethymouse]

I always thought the "extra magic hours" was one of Disney's sells to stay onsite. I know that they will still have EMH, but cuts like this are extremely sad. I hope Disney is coming up w/ some other great campaign to sell the WDW parks and resorts. Something different, new, and exciting.....

 

[lazyboy97o]

Hopefully there will be an upgrade to ride maintenance and overall park cleanliness that comes along with this. I don't see another reason why they would do this.

How is that extra monorail maintenance going?

 

[GoofGoof]

How is that extra monorail maintenance going?

The avengers wrap looked sharp, but I doubt that took very long to do!!!

 

[lazyboy97o]

The avengers wrap looked sharp, but I doubt that took very long to do!!!

That abomination was likely paid for by Walt Disney Pictures.

 

[Captain Chaos]

The avengers wrap looked sharp, but I doubt that took very long to do!!!

Too bad that wasn't maintenance LOL...

 

[Mem11]

I always thought the "extra magic hours" was one of Disney's sells to stay onsite. I know that they will still have EMH, but cuts like this are extremely sad. I hope Disney is coming up w/ some other great campaign to sell the WDW parks and resorts. Something different, new, and exciting.....

Don't worry I'm sure the Character Caravan is being dusted off as we speak....

 

[WDW1974]

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.

Absolutely nowhere near either Iger or Staggs.

This is decided by WDW Ops at the high levels and then signed off on by Meg. It never goes west. It would be the same thing if WDW decided tomorrow to close EPCOT on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. to save on labor. or if they decided to keep Blizzard Beach open until 10 p.m. for the summer season. Those type decisions are NOT something that top folks (beyond O-Town) ever would be involved in.

 

[bubbles1812]

Personal comment on this....

I'm guessing WDW actually looked at how many people were using those "late hours", calculated the population vs cost to keep the park open, than made a decission - I know Sandy & I NEVER choose to stay that late.

Let's see what they do with the cost savings before we bake them. Perhaps it will be interesting .

They will most likely do with this cost saving measure what they've done with mostly every other cost saving measure... give it to their share holders.

 

[WDW1974]

My question is....is TDO really competent enough to make these descisions any more? The question in general is an excellent question....Who the He double hockey sticks is running WDW?

Of course they are.

They may be making bad decisions for guests and the long tern BRAND, but they are making them to make the sort term bottom line look better. That's what happens when you don't grow your business organically. You need to cut all the time and then discount while constantly raising prices.

WDW is being run by the same folks who were running it last week, last month and last year (most last decade too).

 

[GoofGoof]

Absolutely nowhere near either Iger or Staggs.

This is decided by WDW Ops at the high levels and then signed off on by Meg. It never goes west. It would be the same thing if WDW decided tomorrow to close EPCOT on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. to save on labor. or if they decided to keep Blizzard Beach open until 10 p.m. for the summer season. Those type decisions are NOT something that top folks (beyond O-Town) ever would be involved in.

Cool. Thanks. That seemed to be the majority opinion but good to hear for sure from an insider. We tend to blame TDO for everything so I just wanted to confirm they had final say on this.

 

[WDW1974]

My thoughts.....guest research has found that there is very little purchasing of merchandise during the last hour of EMH. Although a nice perk, really the only reason to be open that late is for the customer....and well, many already have an opinion that Disney does not care for their customer, so put 2 and 2 together and you get 1 less hour of EMH. Also, Disney probably realizes that the economic forecast does not look real good considering certain things happening in the last few weeks that are going to have a huge impact on labor costs.

Disney is having a HUGE problem selling merchandise at WDW. It is one thing that has been in freefall since 2007 and has never rebounded (unlike other areas) ... but this decision has nothing to do with that at all. It is all about cutting labor and making those savings appear in the bottom line. I'd expect (and, no, I don't know) further cuts in hours as we head into fall and winter.

Again, hours are already cut from the schedule for summer.

 

[WDW1974]

I used to love e-Ride nights. The MK was relatively empty, and it was well worth the extra $.[/B]

I understand the economic reasons for removing the third hour of EMH. To counter the issue of fewer people spending fewer dollars in the third hour, what if there were a cover charge for the third (and maybe fourth) hours, similar to with e-Ride nights. Resort guests would still get the perk of two extra hours, while those with EMH+ tickets would get an additional hour or more on top of that.

You can say there aren't that many people taking advantage of the third hour of EMH now and adding a cost would decrease that even more. However, I would counter that given how exclusive this would be (if I recall correctly, e-Ride nights were marketed as having a maximum number of tickets available each night), people would plan ahead for this.

I just want to attack the post (not the poster) on the bolded above. E-Ticket nights, which for some bizarre reason was changed to E-Ride Nights, was one of biggest screwjobs on WDW guests, ever.

This was WDW closing the MK at ridiculously early hours (I recall 9 and 10 p.m. closings during SUMMER) and then letting resort guests who paid $12 get to stay and ride nine attractions.

Terrible ... and it was taken away largely because folks complained and with good reason. Many here may not recall (or they may live at WDW resorts, so they love the 2 a.m. EMH nights) but there was a time when late night hours in ALL parks for ALL guests was part of your admission during busy periods like summer.

 

[bubbles1812]

More likely stick the money into the bonuses of the executives.

Well, that too. Haha. ......

 

[asianway]

Don't worry I'm sure the Character Caravan is being dusted off as we speak....

If only...

 

[WDW1974]

I think you're right...it was probably never something that made them a ton of money, but it certainly led to higher guest satisfaction and made people feel like (myself included) the additional money you paid to stay onsite was "worth it".

And for what it's worth, everytime I've been at MK at 3 AM, Casey's has always had a line out the door at 3 AM.

I also believe this is another step toward the elimination of EMH entirely. I'm sure that's in the pipeline. "Guests can now spend their evenings enjoying the shopping and dining experiences at Downtown Disney!"

Really??!?!

Because everytime I've been at the MK much past 1 a.m., Casey's is locked tightly and the ONLY food locale open in the ENTIRE park is the Bakery ... even the ice cream shop closes.

I left the MK in May of 2011 at 1:20 a.m. and went to Gasparilla's because NOTHING was open at MK beyond the bakery after 1 a.m., which is ridiculous.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

Really??!?!

Because everytime I've been at the MK much past 1 a.m., Casey's is locked tightly and the ONLY food locale open in the ENTIRE park is the Bakery ... even the ice cream shop closes.

I left the MK in May of 2011 at 1:20 a.m. and went to Gasparilla's because NOTHING was open at MK beyond the bakery after 1 a.m., which is ridiculous.

The last time I was in the MK for a 3 AM EMH was Memorial Day weekend and Casey's was open at park close. Maybe that was because it was a holiday?

I agree with your sentiment, though. There should be more food locales open during EMH. When I'm in Frontierland, I shouldn't have to schlep to Main Street or Tomorrowland (because Cosmic Ray's always seems to have one bay open) to get a snack.

 

[WDW1974]

I like your idea but believe there are many who like to sleep in and stay up late. (Makes a lot of sense for a vacation!) Unfortunately, it seems that eliminating the 3rd evening EMH affects these people the most.

Tell me about it.

I am a Spirit of the night. I don't generally have to work or be up for mornings in the real world, so why in the world would I ever want to get up at 5 or 6 a.m. on vacation?

If I get up before 11 a.m., then I'm doing well.

I'd much rather visit the parks in the cooler less crowded night hours. Some of us find nothing MAGICal about being body to body with fat smelly tourists at 7:45 a.m. waiting to stampede into the MK when we know we can get there at 8 p.m. and see everything we want by midnight or 1 a.m. taking it slow and easy.

 

[WDW1974]

Actually they would. Stop going and supporting them while they continue to cut back, and then they will see that they need to add more to keep getting it's customers back instead of take things away. What if next year at this time they decide that having all 4 parks open every day isn't beneficial, but will instead close MK every Monday's and Wednesdays, Epcot every Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, MGM every Friday, and AK every Tuesday starting early 2014? Will people here still go? Probably, while complaining about it at every chance.

Nope. That doesn't work.

Disney would love to lose many of its critcal fans here and replace them with rubes who don't know any better. Things will never get better by having people who care simply give up ...