No Extra Magic Hours Starting 1/1/16? Update: EMH to Continue

[doctornick]

What are you talking about? Rides are open during morning EMH.

I think he is pointing out that some rides/areas are not necessarily open (in particular, in MK, the Frontierland/Adventureland side is not open during morning EMH so no BTMRR or Splash). Still, there's plenty of stuff that is open and a guest is certainly not limited to just shopping or eating.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Also.... theyre running the Christmas Parade after Christmas?

 

[Ralphlaw]

As a LONG time DVC owner Disney has indeed taken away MAJOR perks on DVC ownership, Up till about 2000 you used to get length of stay tickets to the parks, More recently valet parking was taken away before it was 'free' to members staying on points..

I imagine that the points, when adjusted for inflation and other changes and speculations about whether DVC will actually work, were a bit pricier due to the free tickets. Valet parking means nothing to me because I have no car down there. I bought Boardwalk points a year or so ago for $79 a point. If free tickets were a part of the package, I imagine I would have paid more than $100 per point. To get the program off the ground, a few extras were probably thrown in. I too would be angry if I had bought in with the expectation of free park tickets, only to have that taken away.

I do agree that some maintenance is needed, but that is true of many older buildings. We've stayed at several, and, Yes, Boardwalk definitely needs some TLC. But our observations of Baylake Tower, Animal Kingdom villas, and Kidani village did not note any such issues. Boardwalk is one of the oldest, so it's not surprising that it's a bit rundown.

But we are a bit afield of EMH right now.

 

[DisneyJoe]

Also.... theyre running the Christmas Parade after Christmas?

They always do. MVMCP stops a few days before Christmas, and that parade then runs through 1/3 or so.

 

[MaryJaneP]

If the argument for losing EMH is the opportunity for more maintenance, that appears to be a laughable argument. Does anybody really believe TDO will invest in maintenance at the expense of EBITA? Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

 

[PhotoDave219]

They always do. MVMCP stops a few days before Christmas, and that parade then runs through 1/3 or so.

I always thought it ended at New Years. Must be because I would never go that week.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Also.... theyre running the Christmas Parade after Christmas?

And sometimes Holiday Wishes. Last year, they even showed the Frozen Dream Lights Lighting until ~1/10. It's Christmas in the MK until at least Marathon (so you can have pictures running in the park at 6:30 am with the Dream Lights on).

 

[wogwog]

Slightly off topic but I've always wondered this and it doesn't need its own thread: What is the welcome show situation on an EMH morning?

Per a "Main Street USA Streetmosphere actor" who often presides over the Welcome Show it is performed once daily. About ten minutes before park opening. 8:50 for normal 9:00 open and 7:50 for 8:00 EMH. No second performance ever.

 

[ford91exploder]

Like I said, cause for concern. Something to be aware of, something to start asking questions about.

Lets see how this plays out but worth seeing what happens when the official park hours comes out at the beginning of next month.

Not time to start handing out Pitchforks and Torches, but time to see who has them on sale....

Exactly correct.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

I take advantage of EMH every single day I'm there. In fact, I base my entire schedule around them (and general park hours) - to maximize park time (I'm crazy like that). If Disney were to do away with them, not only would pretty much any incentive to stay on property evaporate, I'd be generally pretty disappointed as well.

Why shouldn't Disney throw their "locals' a bone via EMH? Granted, it costs Disney a fair amount of money, certainly, to run the park (staffing, energy, etc.) during this time. But it's not like Disney properties are ever empty anymore. Not to mention attracting people to Disney properties with this carrot in the first place. In other words, they're surely breaking even.

Yeah, I get it. Disney wants to make a profit, things are getting more expensive. I should just "get over this" and move on. But you know what? I'm getting tired of giving in on all these little concessions. They add up after a while. And at this point, Disney is really becoming harder and harder to justify, given the $105/day ticket alone - let alone any lodging and meals.

Honestly, if this goes through, it's just one more reason why I'd consider going somewhere else on vacation (and I don't mean Universal - I've still never been there). For the amount of cash I spend on a typical Disney trip - I can go somewhere I've never been in this great big world.

</rant>

 

[Brad Bishop]

It kind of makes sense to me.

The whole idea was to provide a perk to fill rooms on site. Now that happens pretty much automatically. There's really no reason to continue offering the perk if the resorts are near-capacity. They save on the expenses of keeping the park open late or opening it early and still make all of the money from the resorts and ticket sales.

For me, it was a reason I'd choose to stay on site but with it going from 3 hours to 2 and potentially to zero, it's far more likely I'll just stay in a nice, nearby hotel.

 

[Otterhead]

A business without a soul.

Yup, closing during regularly scheduled hours sure shows they have no soul. Clearly, they're evil incarnate.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

It kind of makes sense to me.

The whole idea was to provide a perk to fill rooms on site. Now that happens pretty much automatically. There's really no reason to continue offering the perk if the resorts are near-capacity. They save on the expenses of keeping the park open late or opening it early and still make all of the money from the resorts and ticket sales.

For me, it was a reason I'd choose to stay on site but with it going from 3 hours to 2 and potentially to zero, it's far more likely I'll just stay in a nice, nearby hotel.

True enough. But it's nice for resort guests to be able to experience "the magic" before the great unwashed masses descend on the parks. But boiled down to pure business... Sure, kill it. Why should Disney offer anything as a bonus or for free anymore? The mindless millions will just go there anyway. Well, minus MY family.

 

[JediMasterMatt]

For what it's worth, during my week long trip to the World last week... one Team Lead that I spoke with brought up the end of EMH was on the horizon. This was completely unsolicited from me when we were having a discussion about the failings of MM+.

Personally, I think they will just claim Extra Magic Hours is a typo, like Lionel Hutz's ad from the Simpsons.

Extra Magic? Ours!

 

[DisneyJoe]

Prior to 9/11, EMH was mornings only, Surprise Mornings, I believe they may have still had e-ride nights.

On October 20, 2011, they ceased the Surprise Mornings and began the "Character Caravan" where Disney Characters would visit the resorts in the lobby. This didn't even last a year, I believe it ended on 9/30/2002.

When it returned, it was in it's current version of mornings and night EMH hours (except that nights could be up to 3 hours initially)

They brought it back due to guest demand, guests did not much care for the resort character caravan and they missed the surprise mornings.

 

[doctornick]

It kind of makes sense to me.

The whole idea was to provide a perk to fill rooms on site. Now that happens pretty much automatically. There's really no reason to continue offering the perk if the resorts are near-capacity. They save on the expenses of keeping the park open late or opening it early and still make all of the money from the resorts and ticket sales.

But that only makes sense if the hotels can maintain occupancy rates is the perk is removed. It's plausible that occupancy would take a hit without one of the main selling points used to market on property rooms.

 

[doctornick]

Question: If the removal of EMH comes to pass, would they be eliminating the Magic Morning program at DLR as well?

 

[betty rose]

That was my first thought too. The parents were already annoyed that they were sold into Saratoga Springs, in part, because of how much Disney was pushing the views of Pleasure Island's nightly fireworks (RIP). I really doubt this is going to improve their mood any. They bought into DVC largely for on-property perks like EMH; they were very content staying off-property for their annual trips before DVC took off.

I wonder if we'll see an increase in the DVC resale market.

We are rethinking our DVC purchase, in Saratoga....I'm not ready to throw in the towel, yet. But, no early morning EMH, would really impact us. We are in our late 60's and can't do late hours, but that extra morning hour means a lot to us. We can do non Fast Pass rides early, move to Fast Pass and be on our way out of the parks, when it's getting crowded and hot.

 

[lentesta]

Got official conf from Disney that EMHs will run in 2016. Just working on the schedule.

 

[betty rose]

You are looking at apples and oranges. Yes, people may buy into BLT or VGF for monorail access (loved our stay at VGF in March!), but you do know that they have been doing a lot of maintenance on them, and that frequently the monorails aren't running? What happens when they have to take the entire system down, possibly for months in the future to replace the concrete pilings and structures that go through the lake? It will happen some day, and it will be down for quite some time. There will be no point discount either. It is what it is. You deal with it and move on.

AKL's pitch is the animals, but they don't guarantee that you will see much. We spent a week there in a savannah view room, and it wasn't until day 4 that we even saw a giraffe. Did we sell our DVC membership? Of course not. Oh, and AKL is absolutely one of the best resorts on property by far. We love it there.

Comparing this to fireworks at PI (which completely closed several years ago) or EMH at the parks is a bit disingenuous. Those are not perks at the resort, and outside the control of the resort.

If they were OK with staying at a hotel on I-5 (I'll assume you meant I-4 or I-Drive), then they weren't good candidates for DVC in the first place. Again, due diligence. We get many discounts being DVC members as well, including darn good ones for APs and PAPs. They can go away tomorrow. Would we sell our membership because these discounts went away? No, because we understand that they are a perk, and can go away at any time. If you are buying into DVC for the perks, you are buying for the wrong reason. The perks are nice, but you buy in with the understanding that they aren't permanent, and can change at any time. That's just the way it is.

True, it doesn't mean I have to like it!