Possible Change to Evening EMH Policy

[SqueakyMouse]

This sounds like a nightmare! The longs are often quite long during evening EMH. I can't imagine slowing them down anymore. I can't imagine dealing with this with my 3 kids. We'll be shuffling cards all night. I foresee lots of lost cards and far, far more hotel room keys needing to be recoded. As it is, my teenaged ds "loses" his AP 2-3 times per trip. I cannot imagine how many times he'll be losing his roomkey!

 

[the-reason14]

I suppose there would be nothing stopping someone staying on property with friends staying offsite giving them their key to "borrow" to get on the rides then give it back?

Thats another good point. Like I said its easier for someone to pass there room key to another person to get on a ride, then it is to pass a wristband.

Someone said they had problems with people sneaking under the ropes pass the person who checks the room keys and "illegally" get a wristband. Well the cms there should be on a better lookout. Open there eyes more or something. Ive personally never seen something like that. But thats an issue, that should and could be easily resolved.

Thank God this is a test. Maybe and just maybe if it did come through to an every evening occurance, it will discourage some guests from going/staying because they wont want to pull out their room keys. :shrug: Doubt it, but if yea, to me that would be the only upside of this change. :lol:

 

[MIDisneyFamily]

I had read on another forum site, that an insider CM, had been told the appearance of wristbands, signaled to non resort guests that the night was an EMH night. I guess the lack of wristbands is meant to "fool" day guests into leaving at the regular park closing hours because of the lack of all the wristbands. That sounded a bit , well stupid, if its true. Hope this coming week brings more clarity to the controversy. as the EMH days play out during this "Test"

 

[maryszhi]

i think its easier with the key to the world bc its something u already have and dont have to worry about getting the wristband. I love extra magic hours because there are less lines then if it was regular...also we can eat and then shop,,, then go on rides

 

[santa's surpriz]

here's a thought...what if it has nothing to the wristbands working or not working. If guests are required to scan their room keys, it gives Disney an opportunity to research and track trends and how much resort guests actually take advantage of the EMH and when. Maybe there is a bigger picture and they are looking at the EMH perk to make changes and improvements.

 

[mousefan1972]

Update:

From Allearsnet.com:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Extra Magic Hour Test[/FONT]​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Extra Magic Hours are available to Disney Resort guests at select theme parks on select days. When resort guests enter the park for evening Extra Magic Hours, they go to a designated location for a wrist band. This easily identifies them as a resort guest to Cast Members.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]One of the difficulties, especially for the evening Extra Magic Hour, has been clearing the park of non-resort guests. Walt Disney World will test a new procedure from February 24 - 29, 2008. Each Disney Resort Guest will need to carry (and show) their valid Disney Resort Key to the World Card for access to the theme parks for evening Extra Magic Hours. Wristbands will not be issued. Be sure to have your Resort ID available as you enter any attractions.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]All Ears® Team Member Linda Mac reports on the February 24th EMH at Magic Kingdom: "We were asked to show our Key to the World as we entered each attraction. But not one Cast Member looked at it close enough to see the dates on the card. I had my key in a lanyard and just flashed it when asked. People without keys were turned away from the attractions but not asked to leave the park."[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ryan reports from February 24th: So we had the opportunity to experience the new Resort ID vs. wrist band test and what a joke that was. Whatever thought process Disney had about this making it easier and making it easier to get regular hours guests out of the park went majorly wrong. We got to the park around 9:30 and extra magic hours ended at 11:00. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The folks at the turnstile never asked for Resort ID's although yes we have them. I even asked if he needed to see them. The cast member said no, they will check them at the rides. So that lead me to assume that anybody could get into the park. Once inside a Cast Member told us about the test and said no wristbands were necessary. She had a lanyard around her neck that showed a picture of all the valid Key Cards for the night. Resort hotels, Swan/Dolphin, Partner hotel etc. This in my mind just made it that much harder for the cast members as they would have to know all these different key cards vs. just looking at a wrist band.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]At this point everybody was walking around the park without wristbands. Obviously anybody could have stayed. I am sure that Disney did not plan on checking ID's if people wanted to eat or shop.
They did not as we did both. If you are not staying on site you might as well just spend the extra three hours shopping and eating with no crowds.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The folks checking at attractions were inconsistent at best. We walked right into the Space Mountain line with a rider switch pass and they never asked for ID's. I looked over to the regular line and nobody was checking either. To be honest the only place that anybody asked for an ID was at the Haunted Mansion and it was at 10:50, ten minutes before closing. Other members of our party did other attractions and were never once asked for ID's.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The other thing that I will say is that nobody checks dates on the cards. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I would give the Test a big thumbs down. It does not benefit the guests and it is a lot more work for the Cast members. Wrist bands seem pretty easy to me. [/FONT]
​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Marco reports from February 24th: [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I used the evening extra hours at Magic Kingdom. It went smooth, had to show my resort id card at a couple of places. At one place (haunted mansion) they didn't even look at my card and we just walked straight up to the entrance doors.[/FONT]
​

 

[Phonedave]

I may be totally wrong about this, but my understanding was that transportation to and from resorts from the parks was limited to resort guests, but transportation between parks was included in your admission. So, monorail from MK to TTC, then on to Epcot was OK. Resort monorail was only for resort guests. The same with boats. Ferry boat was OK, launches are only for resort guests.

The same holds true at Epcot. Launches to DHS via Epcot resorts are OK for non-resort guests (even though they are also transportation for Epcot resort guests), buses from MK, DHS, & Epcot to AK are OK, but buses to, say, CBR are only for resort guests.

That may be the case or not, I am not sure. But what if you are an offsite guest and visiting EPCOT and want to eat at Ohana. I know I would take the monorails there, not drive back and forth.


-dave

 

[Sir Hiss527]

As a cast member working at Mission:Space, this new procedure is messed up, and it's going to be very annoying asking to see people's key cards. Almost impossible...With the wrist bands, you could easily tell who was supposed to be in the park. Now it's going to be madness.

 

[Captain Chaos]

That may be the case or not, I am not sure. But what if you are an offsite guest and visiting EPCOT and want to eat at Ohana. I know I would take the monorails there, not drive back and forth.


-dave

That is what you and countless others do, but, that doesn't make it right... And Disney advertises the transportation to on site guests, not off site visiters.... Again, I don't have a problem with people using the transportation, I have a problem with Disney advertising it as a perk for people staying on property, but then let everyone use it.... I know it is easier for Disney just to let everyone use it rather than cause a stink or fuss... But, if you are going to advertise something, advertise right....

So, my feeling is what is happening with the transportation system will happen with EMH... CMs will not check the cards (and, as the above testimony is any indication, it is happening already during the testing) and anyone will be able to stay during EMH which is supposed to be a perk for ON SITE GUESTS....

 

[DisneyJoe]

According to AllEars, http://allearsnet.com/aa/aa010305.htm#ques5 (and quite a few other places) :

"Anyone in possession of a valid Disney park ticket is entitled to use the transportation between the parks free of charge"

Even MouseSavers:

"If you have a valid multi-day pass, you can use Disney's transportation system once you are on Disney property."

 

[ThumpersThought]

That is what you and countless others do, but, that doesn't make it right... And Disney advertises the transportation to on site guests, not off site visiters.... Again, I don't have a problem with people using the transportation, I have a problem with Disney advertising it as a perk for people staying on property, but then let everyone use it.... I know it is easier for Disney just to let everyone use it rather than cause a stink or fuss... But, if you are going to advertise something, advertise right....

Transportation is not advertised for resort guests only. Otherwise it's quite a swim from the Magic Kingdom parking lot to the Magic Kingdom!

Off-property guests are not filling up the resort buses. Yes, there are some, but a vast majority of those riding your resort bus are resort guests. Park to park transportation is a mix (and designed to be so). And yes, any resort guest (or off-property guest) can ride the monorail, but only those at the Monorail Resorts can just walk right to the platform from their room.

What you're seeing advertised is that by staying on Disney property, you don't have to rely on any other form of transportation unless you want to. You have all the Disney transportation available to you from your resort. Off-property, you'll have shuttles, taxis or rental cars. Some free, some not. Some good, some, well..

A couple times a day someone tries to show me their room card to get on the monorail. I just smile and say "you don't need that to ride." :wave:

 

[dpunky]

Elimination of the wrist band for EMH is not a good decision by WDW. This made it easy for the CMs to distinguish which guests were Resort Guests. If they want to enforce the room key as the ulitmate identifier, they need to use some sort of key scanner at the wrist band distribution areas to distinguish valid keys from invalid keys. I don't know if Disney wants to invest in this technology.

 

[coasterphil]

Elimination of the wrist band for EMH is not a good decision by WDW. This made it easy for the CMs to distinguish which guests were Resort Guests. If they want to enforce the room key as the ulitmate identifier, they need to use some sort of key scanner at the wrist band distribution areas to distinguish valid keys from invalid keys. I don't know if Disney wants to invest in this technology.

They already have that technology.

 

[dpunky]

The turnstiles do this, but they need mobile ones at the distribution points to do these key verification checks.

Last time I was at WDW, the CMs never utilized the technology to check if my key was valid or not. They just did a quick glance and gave me a wristband

 

[coasterphil]

The turnstiles do this, but they need mobile ones at the distribution points to do these key verification checks.

Last time I was at WDW, the CMs never utilized the technology to check if my key was valid or not. They just did a quick glance and gave me a wristband

They do have handheld scanners that can determine whether the room key is valid. I'd assume they don't use them all the time due to the extra time it takes for the process.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

My only thought behind the change would be to prevent resort guests either passing the wrist bands on or selling them on to none resort guests :shrug:

 

[Silvermist]

First, it sounds to me like either

a) there was no clear plan in place to implement or
b) there was a complete failure of plan implementation.

From the reports posted it sounds like few CM's were even bothering to check ID's. Anyone was allowed to not only stay in the park, but also to enter the park after EMH had begun. :brick:

I still hold the position that a key card clearly visible on a lanyard worn around the neck is FAR MORE VISIBLE than a small band on the wrist. The only problem to be overcome in the system would be the ability to recognize and verify the validity of the card being displayed. It's unfortunate this would even be necessary, but there are always dishonest people ready to lie, cheat and steal wherever and whatever they can. I still believe this could be done easily but it would require either scanning at attraction entrances and/or re-design of the keys themselves to be instantly recognizable as being current. Consistency in design and color coding among ALL the resorts key cards would be necessary to accomplish this.

Personally, I think they should do away with EMH all together and give priority fast pass use to Resort guests. This would be a major perk for all Resort guests that could be used at every park during regular operating hours every day. I realize that was an issue brought up and debated ad nauseam some time back and I don't want to divert off topic here, but that's my opinion.

 

[steve2wdw]

Went to the MK for EMH this past Sunday on the first night of the "test". It was a pain to keep reaching for the KttWC for every attraction. Three attraction hosts didn't even bother to look at our cards. I asked three completely different CM's what the point of the test was. All three answered the exact same way. It's only a test because MANY guests complained about the comfort of the wristbands. After three nights of testing, all CM's were going to voice their opinions at a "big" meeting about the test. I also found the MK much more crowded than a normal EMH night and am assuming that many were non-resort guests. Wasn't as special as it normally is.

 

[coasterphil]

Personally, I think they should do away with EMH all together and give priority fast pass use to Resort guests. This would be a major perk for all Resort guests that could be used at every park during regular operating hours every day. I realize that was an issue brought up and debated ad nauseam some time back and I don't want to divert off topic here, but that's my opinion.

Not really feasible when you have 28,000 rooms full of guests. Universal's properties don't hold all that many guests which is why they are able to offer that level of perk.

 

[MIDisneyFamily]

Id have to confer, that with well over 20,000 rooms, which means 40,000 to 60,000 guests per day having this available, it wouldnt be much of a perk.