How WDW Co. spins ...

[peter11435]

What about in the summer when the park is regularly open until midnight? They will run a 3 hour upcharge event from 12-3am? That's gonna be a tough sell at those prices. I assume MK will close earlier (9 or 10pm) for these events. Disney may very well say that the park isn't closing early specifically for the event, but we all know that's not really true. At other off peak times of year when the MK closes between 8 and 10 anyway it probably won't impact regular park hours as much.

These events are not scheduled for the summer yet so it's impossible for us to know for sure. But the dates that are scheduled the park closes at 10 or 11pm. Which is no earlier than it would have closed otherwise. Last May the park closed at 10 every night until Memorial Day weekend.

The fact that some of the events take place on nights the park closes at 11 indictes that the event will work around park hours not dictate them.

 

[GoofGoof]

These events are not scheduled for the summer yet so it's impossible for us to know for sure. But the dates that are scheduled the park closes at 10 or 11pm. Which is no earlier than it would have closed otherwise. Last May the park closed at 10 every night until Memorial Day weekend.

The fact that some of the events take place on nights the park closes at 11 indictes that the event will work around park hours not dictate them.

Like I said, I don't plan on going anyway so if these events don't alter the regular closing time of the park I have much less of an issue with them.

 

[NearTheEars]

That's illegal here in the UK and you will get a fine for doing so, is it not illegal to do that in the US?

It happened at my school in Ohio, but it was typically the same families who did it each year. It was legal, but the teachers really did not like it, and they didn't have to give you a break on missing schoolwork. Some would hand you a packet of makeup work, others would just say tough luck.

I never missed school for vacation. We weren't poor (at least it didn't seem like it) but we didn't have enough money to go to WDW. All of our vacations were road trips to historic places, the beach and Niagara Falls a few times. But they always happened over summer break.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

No, and it should be.

Why should it be? Do you really think preventing all children from missing any school days is really going to improve test score averages?

Many parents loathe the idea of paying through the nose and dealing with absurd crowds to travel during official school holidays. I don't blame them one bit. Parents can talk with teachers in advace, have the kids do homework on the plane or during breaks in the hotel room (as I did), etc. It's not impossible for those who take responsibility.

 

[GeoDonJac34]

I started working as a mailman in 2002. I was about 150 in seniority in my office when first hired. When it comes to vacation picks, everyone ahead of me picked their weeks before it would come around to me. Once so many carriers picked a week, they would close the week. For years my "Summer" vacations were in May and October. Two years ago I was finally able to get a Summer week off. Point being, not everyone can choose when they can take their vacation. I have no regrets about pulling my son from school for our trips to WDW.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

The Magic Kingdom will not be closing a 7pm on those days. The FAQ page says that Guests can begin entering the park at 7pm, but that the free food and stuff doesn't start until the actual event does - at Park close. It's the same as the Halloween and Christmas parties.

I personally would never pay for that because I don't have the money, but who am I to object Disney from keeping the Park open when it usually wouldn't be? Like someone above said, many people spend $200-$300 (even thousands) on concert and sporting event tickets. I can see how it could look worth it to a wealthier Guest. You get 6 hours of Park time and 3 of those are with drastically lower crowd levels and free ice cream and drinks.

Pick your battles folks. This doesn't directly affect the great majority of Guests anyways.

Well, yes it does affect ALL the people who pay regular admission for those days. They let the extra hours people in at 7pm. You, as a regular paying guest, can stay til regular closing at 10 or 11pm. Sounds great, right? But the park will be extremely crowded during those time and good luck getting into attractions without an hour wait! How do I know?
I experienced this on a Christmas Party night. They opened the floodgates at 4pm, and we couldn't get on Anything without a long, long wait. and it got worse as the night went on. We ended up leaving early on our paid for regular night time at MK due to the pushing, rushing crowds and the long waits.
Do you really think it will not effect the "regular" people at the parks those nights. I would hope not, but it will.

 

[peter11435]

Well, yes it does affect ALL the people who pay regular admission for those days. They let the extra hours people in at 7pm. You, as a regular paying guest, can stay til regular closing at 10 or 11pm. Sounds great, right? But the park will be extremely crowded during those time and good luck getting into attractions without an hour wait! How do I know?
I experienced this on a Christmas Party night. They opened the floodgates at 4pm, and we couldn't get on Anything without a long, long wait. and it got worse as the night went on. We ended up leaving early on our paid for regular night time at MK due to the pushing, rushing crowds and the long waits.
Do you really think it will not effect the "regular" people at the parks those nights. I would hope not, but it will.

Bad comparison. This event will not have anywhere near the attendance that the holiday parties have. You are talking about nearly 1/10 as many guests.

 

[s8film40]

Bad comparison. This event will not have anywhere near the attendance that the holiday parties have. You are talking about nearly 1/10 as many guests.

Has it been stated anywhere what the limit on the ticket sales are or are we just assuming this event will be only 1/10th as popular as the party events?

 

[peter11435]

Has it been stated anywhere what the limit on the ticket sales are or are we just assuming this event will be only 1/10th as popular as the party events?

It may not have been an official statement but I thought it was said that it would be limited to 3,000. I suppose that limit could be wrong. But I find it unlikely they would sell more than that given the price point even if they tried.

 

[s8film40]

It may not have been an official statement but I thought it was said that it would be limited to 3,000. I suppose that limit could be wrong. But I find it unlikely they would sell more than that given the price point even if they tried.

I haven't heard a number for a limit, which is why I asked. If 3,000 is true than that would seem to limit it enough to lessen the impact to a reasonable degree.

I can really see this going either way being either very unpopular or very popular. On one hand it's expensive, but on the other for anyone trying to get more out of their time using this in place of 1 to 2 days in the MK it's a bargain. Like they say time is money and vacation time is very expensive. I could easily see someone planning a pretty decent WDW vacation with a 2 or 3 day park hopper and adding this on instead of spending 4-5 days.

 

[BrerJon]

I wonder if putting a price on EMH could backfire for them? In the past, those who argued staying onsite was good value would say 'for $250+ extra a night over offsite, you get to leave the car at home and EMH in the parks', but now that EMH can be purchased for much less than the price difference between offsite and onsite, it might mean that even to someone for whom EMH is a big deal, it's not a deal breaker when it comes to the choice of accommodation.

 

[s8film40]

I wonder if putting a price on EMH could backfire for them? In the past, those who argued staying onsite was good value would say 'for $250+ extra a night over offsite, you get to leave the car at home and EMH in the parks', but now that EMH can be purchased for much less than the price difference between offsite and onsite, it might mean that even to someone for whom EMH is a big deal, it's not a deal breaker when it comes to the choice of accommodation.

EMH hasn't been a good deal for a very long time. In fact many people are starting to realize that by avoiding the park with EMH you avoid the large crowds from Disney's 30,000+ hotel room guests all trying to take advantage of the EMH. This could also play into creating an extra benefit for those going to this event, since it's specifically not on EMH nights it could be a little less crowded before the event itself begins.

 

[GoofGoof]

I wonder if putting a price on EMH could backfire for them? In the past, those who argued staying onsite was good value would say 'for $250+ extra a night over offsite, you get to leave the car at home and EMH in the parks', but now that EMH can be purchased for much less than the price difference between offsite and onsite, it might mean that even to someone for whom EMH is a big deal, it's not a deal breaker when it comes to the choice of accommodation.

Depends on the size of your family. For an individual or a couple with no kids it would be a much better deal to just buy the EMH night for $150 per person and save the money staying off site. When you get into 4 or 5 tickets it's $600 or $750 more then it becomes less of a "deal".

 

[s8film40]

Depends on the size of your family. For an individual or a couple with no kids it would be a much better deal to just buy the EMH night for $150 per person and save the money staying off site. When you get into 4 or 5 tickets it's $600 or $750 more then it becomes less of a "deal".

I think the key here is that this could replace purchasing a daytime ticket. This gives you in the best case 7 full hours of park time, with 3 of those where you can race through the park and do everything with no wait. If for example you could get the same benefit of going to the park 2 days you could save yourself 1 hotel night stay plus the cost of 2 days of regular park tickets as well as probably skip a meal for the family so long as your okay with just eating ice cream.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

EMH hasn't been a good deal for a very long time. In fact many people are starting to realize that by avoiding the park with EMH you avoid the large crowds from Disney's 30,000+ hotel room guests all trying to take advantage of the EMH.

This. For my upcoming trip I'm deliberately avoiding parks on the days they have scheduled EMHs for this reason.

It's also a concern I have for Universal too in the future as they add more and more hotel capacity to their resort.

 

[tirian]

Why should it be? Do you really think preventing all children from missing any school days is really going to improve test score averages?

Many parents loathe the idea of paying through the nose and dealing with absurd crowds to travel during official school holidays. I don't blame them one bit. Parents can talk with teachers in advace, have the kids do homework on the plane or during breaks in the hotel room (as I did), etc. It's not impossible for those who take responsibility.

My opinion is based on having friends who are teachers. When parents take responsibility like you did, the vacations aren't problems. Most parents don't take personal responsibility for it.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

That's illegal here in the UK and you will get a fine for doing so, is it not illegal to do that in the US?

The public school system I went to in the US many years ago only allowed students to miss school if they are sick, stayed in hospital, going to dentist, doctor appointment, funeral, or family emergency. When I was at school, I had to bring a note from home to school on the days I missed. Parents also were supposed call the school if the kid was sick or had to miss a day.

 

[s8film40]

The public school system I went to in the US many years ago only allowed students to miss school if they are sick, stayed in hospital, going to dentist, doctor appointment, funeral, or family emergency. When I was at school, I had to bring a note from home to school on the days I missed. Parents also were supposed call the school if the kid was sick or had to miss a day.

How did they enforce this? If a family just took a vacation came back and said "oh we were at WDW" what would they do?

 

[NearTheEars]

How did they enforce this? If a family just took a vacation came back and said "oh we were at WDW" what would they do?

There are academic penalties, plus if there was no communication with the school that the student would be out, truant officers, or other officials would be investigating. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that students at my school could only have a set number of "unexcused" absences each year. If we went over that number, they could fail you for that year.

 

[jaklgreen]

There are academic penalties, plus if there was no communication with the school that the student would be out, truant officers, or other officials would be investigating. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that students at my school could only have a set number of "unexcused" absences each year. If we went over that number, they could fail you for that year.


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I think that is crap to punish the kids' academics because of the decision the parents made. It is not like the child has a choice. Any teacher or educator that punishes kids for this should be fired IMO. When it comes down to it, they are our children, not the school systems. This is not a communist state. Letting kids skip school or letting them be delinquents is one thing but going on a family vacation(which usually means there is a good family base at home) should not be punished in any way. Schools are always saying how families are important and parents should be involved in their kids life. What better way of being a "family" then going on vacation together. I have pulled my kids out of school for Disney trips and for out of town family weddings and they do just fine. In fact they are both honor students.