News Magic Kingdom and Epcot Fireworks to Resume July 1st

monothingie

monothingie

Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
Premium Member
CastAStone said:
I don’t know if you stuck around in the parks on your trip past dinner time, but when I was there at the beginning of the month at the parks were very quiet after dinner. If a $25,000 firework show gets 5000 people to each spend $20 on a meal, and 500 people to impulse spend $20 on a plush, they’ve done pretty well for themselves.
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The people staying in the parks for fireworks are parking themselves in the hub 2 hours before the show to get a spot. They aren’t eating drinking or shopping. Everyone else in the park was going to be there regardless. It’s part of the reason why there was never a replacement for MSEP. People were watching/waiting for the parade and not doing anything else.
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
monothingie said:
The people staying in the parks for fireworks are parking themselves in the hub 2 hours before the show to get a spot. They aren’t eating drinking or shopping. Everyone else in the park was going to be there regardless. It’s part of the reason why there was never a replacement for MSEP. People were watching/waiting for the parade and not doing anything else.
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It’s becoming quite alarming how similar our brain waves are aligning (“hide your young”...type scenario)...

...but this is absolutely perfect. The management HATES people sitting around and waiting for parades and fireworks. Or coming in for an hour at night to watch and leave. The parks are there to generate high profit revenue. And that’s in the shops or for disposable food products.

the parades and shows need to drive ancillary sales...just like everything else in the parks. Every second not in the act of buying is a loss.

which brings us full around to the + debate...stagnant lines kill sales (the point of fastpass)...and people leaving in 4 hours after their prebooked are used to go Guido tan back at Saratoga (riviera now) is a LOSS.

any discussion on any decision needs to have some semblance of a recognition of the big picture.
 
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Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
disneyglimpses said:
There aren't that many people waiting for 2 hours prior to HEA. Even an hour before the crowd is still quite thin. People stay longer in the parks when there are fireworks and yes they spend money. The parades are a different story.
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20 years ago there were almost none...people were moving, would stop and watch illuminations as the lights blew out.

the last 10 years or so was vastly different. They filled in the moat and put in astroturf to hold people...”fastpass”...ridiculous.

and why is it worse now? Simple:

attendance has steadily risen as attraction capacity hasn’t been expanded. Quite simple. You wait cause there isn’t much else going on.

what’s worse...it’s subconscious. Few even understand why they’re waiting. Cause it’s not worth it to pound pavement in the ride rationing system. A 90 minute standby at mine train sounds good at 9 pm? Maybe a 45 at Pooh bear??

This is my big deal with the incessant vlogging, discussion threads and top ten lists about parades and fireworks...

they’re fleeting and distract from what the consumer should be asking for/about...
New attractions. Things that open at 8 am and the line closes at 11 pm...365 days...tens of thousands of available minutes each year.

but I need to go meditate...so I’m going to zen the fireworks out of my mind 🧘🏼
Namaste
 
Amidala

Amidala

Well-Known Member
mnelson3 said:
Yet they do not seem to be hiring for anything other than food and beverage and housekeeping from what I’ve heard. I know someone who interviewed recently and they were told only those two positions were available. You’d think there would be a ton of in park positions available.
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The original job ad in April was an umbrella call for Attractions, Merch, QS and Custodial but the former two positions filled up after maybe two weeks. The interview slots were every 30 minutes from 8AM-8PM IIRC and most were hired on the spot, so there were definitely hundreds (if not thousands?) of new CMs hired on for those positions. Also, many more were put on waitlists either for Attractions/Merch or other requested roles like Seater, Children's Activities, etc.

monothingie said:
The people staying in the parks for fireworks are parking themselves in the hub 2 hours before the show to get a spot. They aren’t eating drinking or shopping. Everyone else in the park was going to be there regardless. It’s part of the reason why there was never a replacement for MSEP. People were watching/waiting for the parade and not doing anything else.
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I feel like you're overestimating park guests' planning abilities tbh. There was always a decent crowd before fireworks but an equal amount of people would use that time to hit up Emporium and then hop outside when they heard fireworks start. Also, most of those people waiting for fireworks either stopped at Casey's on the way in or will get hungry while waiting and drop $50 to buy pretzels and soda for their family of five from the carts in the area. Not to mention the castle hub & MS glow carts do nonstop sales before fireworks.

I go pretty often and the parks do seem to be clearing out very early, even adjusting for the lowered capacity.
 
orky8

orky8

Well-Known Member
HairyChest said:
I can only speak for myself but the lack of nighttime spectaculars has absolutely resulted in me spending less time and money in the parks

At Epcot I’d stay past closing and eat dinner there because of the fireworks. Now I leave by the late afternoon.

I have not booked at the California Grill since the lack of fireworks but before it was a must on each trip.

I also spent more days on vacation to have time to catch all the firework/shows. Now my vacation at Disney is shorter.

Ive told a number of friends and family that asked me if they should take a trip to Disneyworld, “No, wait until the fireworks (and shows) are back”.
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Yes, but right now Cali Grill is so capacity limited, it's selling out with or without fireworks. All those restaurants at Epcot are full to their limited capacity. So, at the moment, fireworks do not seem to be a major revenue driver and, hence, no reason for current management to bring them back quickly, since guest experience is certainly not a driver they care about.
 
HairyChest

HairyChest

Well-Known Member
Sirwalterraleigh said:
I wonder how diluted the AP pool actually is? That could also be why there are hints they may “fill it back up”. People ballyhoo about the summer crunch and “for the 50th” a lot round here...but they won’t increase/maintain attendance over the winter without passholders and it’s silly to suggest otherwise.



you seem like a “long timer”...

the problem is this current management - lauded for a decade - could care less what we think and are become borderline outwardly adversarial towards us.

why? Because we have the knowledge and experience to make a value comparison...and that stands in the way of incessant price increases.
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Very true. But when people ask me when/where to go , my response for a Disney trip would either be diminished or non existant for first timers. I do believe if fist timers go and there is no fireworks/shows, fastpass for additional fees, no onsite perks, etc, they will ONLY be first timers and not repeat. Having only first timers and no old timers would hit Disney in the pocketbooks pretty hard.
 
HairyChest

HairyChest

Well-Known Member
orky8 said:
Yes, but right now Cali Grill is so capacity limited, it's selling out with or without fireworks. All those restaurants at Epcot are full to their limited capacity. So, at the moment, fireworks do not seem to be a major revenue driver and, hence, no reason for current management to bring them back quickly, since guest experience is certainly not a driver they care about.
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At the moment yes. But they are fasttracking capacity increases everywhere including the restaurants.
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
mnelson3 said:
TBO I hope they do not block out CMs for opening nights of EF and HEA. Or better yet I hope Epcot and MK have a CM preview night. They deserve to see it before anyone.
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Wha? Employees were that respected when Card walker was in charge...its been “muddled” ever since

MisterPenguin said:
Aha! We've narrowed it down! Fireworks will definitely return some time between July 5 and July 31!!

Or maybe sooner.

Or maybe later.

We did it!!!
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Insiders say
 
DoleWhipDrea

DoleWhipDrea

Well-Known Member
mnelson3 said:
I don’t see why it would be a issue for them to do it. I’m sure they will have to do a rehearsal show or two anyway so why not invite the CMs to those?
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Because Disney doesn't care about making the CMs feel valued or special. The company used to do all sorts of nice things for their CMs, but that was decades ago. Corporate culture in the modern workplace is one thing, and then you have Disney...

With what I've observed with shows over the years, soft openings for shows generally happen when they feel that the show is mostly ready, without any sort of major announcement. The various websites and vloggers will let the world know, at any rate.
 

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