Walt Disney World Park Hours cut starting September 8 2020

[Hawg G]

This is a smart move. Given the lack of crowds, there really is no reason for the parks to be open past 6 o'clock anyway. And no, there is no reason to reduce prices. I swear most of y'all are so cheap. By that logic, I should demand my local grocery store reduce prices since they're now open from 7 am-8 pm and not from 6 am-10 pm like they were before the pandemic. Get a grip

That makes no sense. The grocery store isn’t taking 25-50% out of all the containers of food they selling.

 

[sjhym333]

Some of y'all sound like someone who just found out that the person you've been dating not only doesn't love you but doesn't really care about you. That's what happens when you put such deep feelings for a business that has shown over the past several years that they're more interested in taking your money then the guest experience.

I am an ex AP holder. Like many of you I watched as my pass got more and more expensive and the perks decreased like losing the AP lounges and cuts in discounts. When I would post about my frustrations with Disney's decrease in value many told me that Disney owed me nothing more than letting me into the parks.

The last straw for me was when the AP previews for Avatar happened. Got the email to register only to find no available times. Called the AP number only to be told sorry that they filled up the day before. When I asked why did I get the email days after other AP Holders I was told they staggered them. I had a Premium AP at the time. I decided at that moment that I was done. They told me they valued me as an AP holder and thanked me for calling. I didn't renew and have been back once because of a friend who is a CM.

I appreciate that many people are upset. I'm sorry that you can't do the things you want to do when you want to do them. I also think there were many members on these boards who warned that Disney wouldn't return to normal anytime soon even as others thought fireworks would resume by August or September at the latest. It's a difficult situation. I have friends who are CM's who still aren't working. This maybe the time when you decide that now is the time to cut the Disney strings and find other passions.

 

[SoFloMagic]

It seems to me they are doing everything they can to make people decide to not fly down for a week.

They could definitely do more. Like close all non-dvc hotels and make guests pay to upgrade to open hotels. Oh and they could make all park passes available to everyone so hotel guests don't get them automatically.

 

[Hawg G]

They could definitely do more. Like close all non-dvc hotels and make guests pay to upgrade to open hotels. Oh and they could make all park passes available to everyone so hotel guests don't get them automatically.

They could always do more, but it’s clear they have done enough.

To me, short lines are awesome. But the point of short lines is that I can either hit multiple parks in one day, or get lots of rides AND do other stuff. None of those options are available now.

 

[Getachew]

It seems to me they are doing everything they can to make people decide to not fly down for a week.

Severely cut not ride entertainment severely cut hours. Enforce mask measures more strict than pretty much every other place in the country. Oh, and don’t allow park hopping at a time where you could actually really take advantage of it.

And keep the prices at the same level that has been massively inflated in the last five years due to the parks being overcrowded, and Disney wanting to keep some folks away.

Mission accomplished.

While Universal still has their normal excellent discount ticket prices for 2-5 days.

Universal cut their hours

 

[rct247]

This was to be expected and makes absolute sense. Parks are ghost towns toward the end of the day. Universal cut their hours.

Even in the summer of 2009 with the last economic resession, Studios was closing at 7pm with no nighttime spectacular on some nights. DAK would close around 6 or 7pm. This isn't anything new.

Ticket says "Parks, attractions or entertainment may change operating hours; close due to refurbishing, capacity, low demand, weather, special events, or other reasons; and may otherwise change or be discontinued without notice and without liability to the owners". So even with an AP or DVC it's all right there black and white.

 

[Hawg G]

Universal cut their hours

Thanks, Captain Obvious. Universal charges $67 a day for a 4 day ticket, Disney $100+. I had assumed Universal had a deal going, as they always do. But for a family of 4, that's still a huge difference in price.

And Universal didn't cut nearly as much, as they never had princesses and fireworks. And they actually added a NEW live show, instead of cutting them all.

 

[Getachew]

Thanks, Captain Obvious. Universal charges $67 a day for a 4 day ticket, Disney $100+. I had assumed Universal had a deal going, as they always do. But for a family of 4, that's still a huge difference in price.

And Universal didn't cut nearly as much, as they never had princesses and fireworks. And they actually added a NEW live show, instead of cutting them all.

Sounds like you should belong to a Universal board then.

 

[robhedin]

Sounds like you should belong to a Universal board then.

As a counter point--- I love Disney but I bought a Universal annual pass last month. I'm not a huge fan of Universal, but the price was pretty cheap compared to WDW and they let me do a flex pay plan even though I'm out of state. With Disney's current reservation system, we just pop over to Uni and play Harry Potter (or whatever) if we can't get a park reservation. My wife is a bigger Disney fan and after going last month, she's now wanting us to schedule Uni on days that we can't get WDW reservations for (we're going later this month for 5 days and since we can only reserve 3 days at WDW, that means she wants 2 at Uni). We're contemplating Sea World and Discovery Cove as well. We even went to Gatorland one day last month.

The way things are currently structured, even though we love Disney, they've pushed us to go to other parks that we normally wouldn't have gone to with their current policies.

 

[Getachew]

As a counter point--- I love Disney but I bought a Universal annual pass last month. I'm not a huge fan of Universal, but the price was pretty cheap compared to WDW and they let me do a flex pay plan even though I'm out of state. With Disney's current reservation system, we just pop over to Uni and play Harry Potter (or whatever) if we can't get a park reservation. My wife is a bigger Disney fan and after going last month, she's now wanting us to schedule Uni on days that we can't get WDW reservations for (we're going later this month for 5 days and since we can only reserve 3 days at WDW, that means she wants 2 at Uni). We're contemplating Sea World and Discovery Cove as well. We even went to Gatorland one day last month.

The way things are currently structured, even though we love Disney, they've pushed us to go to other parks that we normally wouldn't have gone to with their current policies.

I personally prefer Disney, but I enjoy them both. I even like Seaworld, lol.

 

[lisa12000]

It is interesting as my point of comparison is Disneyland Paris - just had a quick look (we went there a fortnight ago) and their park hours in September are 10-8 with magic time between 8.30 and opening for Disneyland park and 10-7 at studios (with same magic time) - the park’s seem to be getting busier with sell outs for days - no restrictions on days for AP holders (the AP cost the equivalent of 4 days of tickets so really quite cheap) - AP holders and package holders at hotels can park hop as much as they like as well.

from August 15th they are doing their lion king festival with two stage shows returning (they’re really good saw them last year) and they’ve released their anticipated Christmas programme with all of their shows (not fireworks) that they normally do.

They’ve handled this brilliantly in Paris and we had our best visit ever tbh - they have selfie spots with characters like in WDW but they also have interactions. We went to the arendelle one and the interactions with kristoff etc the kids had was awesome! Far more personal and longer than the usual meet and greet! All I am saying is why is it so different? They are really looking after their AP holders in Paris and the experience for the guests - bars etc are open till 1am at the hotel so always somewhere to go

 

[heapster411]

I understand that they are a for profit business; but when does the downgrading of services effect the people that they are trying to entice to use their services? What is line that everyone won't cross? For me , they are getting close to it is not a fair trade for my money. My DW and I have been going since the 80's. And yes I understand that these are trying times, but these downgrades have been slowly happening for some time. At a time the Deluxe resorts had small but significant differences that made them unique. If it was shampoo bottles branded for the resort, or even a matchbook, now it is getting so generic. Passholders have been getting the shaft for years., Price increases without and increase in services. I saw the latest incentive is a Magnet, A MAGNET! Really? So I am begining to wonder what the hours are going to be in December? 12 noon to 4:30pm? Sorry to rant, I will step off my soapbox and take a breath.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Reduction in value? My pass has been a far better value the four days I've spent in the parks since reopening then they have been since FP+ was implemented. For the first time since then we could actually experience every attraction if we wanted to without even being there open to close.

With these crowd levels the shorter hours will not make much difference. If we want to do the same amount of attractions, maybe at MK we'd have to go open to close instead of arriving a little late and leaving an hour before close.

Your pass gets you far less hours, benefits and available entertainment than it did in February.

Try to follow along.

Repeat rides on select choices is not a victory for the consumer.

They failed to provide good value for the last decade due to lack of proper planning/investment...don’t congratulate them for it now due to plague.

 

[donaldtoo]

Well they could always take a lesson from Mr. Mom:

"In order to help you, we are reducing the price of Schooner Tuna Disney World Tickets by 50 cents a can $50 per ticket. When this crisis is over, we will go back to our regular prices gouging. Until then, remember, we're all in this together subscribe to D+, buy Mulan, and buy more crap at the parks. "

You forgot...
”Walt Disney World. The World with a heart!”

 

[networkpro]

NO.... its a... Lets try to stay alive thing most customers are understanding what businesses are going through and are willing to help them survive. Just because Disney is looked at by some as a greedy uncaring entity, doesnt mean they are any different than all the other companies hanging on and being continuously affected by Covid which was out of their control.

If people would look at the larger picture, especially employment numbers this fall, you'll see a very different picture and the very economic survival of some people will be in question as the supplemental income provided by the Federal Government runs out for good. The Fed can only do it for so long before the currency turns into a fiat. People and companies have to be able to pay taxes for those funds to be worth anything but ink and paper.

 

[KevinPage]

I went to EPCOT on Tuesday this week. I’ve never seen a Disney park so dead in my life. I was there open to close (11am-9pm) and enjoyed my time, but it felt like a ghost town.

Not one single line/wait for any food or drink at any time of day. The only minor “inconvenience” I had was when it was raining it was hard (not impossible) to find a sit down table in World Showplace. Plenty of tables to stand and eat/drink at. But again, no lines for anything inside.

Even though as a local I had a great time and it was nice and different it was also weird and depressing at the same time. I didn’t feel they even needed to stay open until 9pm at all and felt they would/should close earlier.

So if closing at 7pm helps then save money and benefits them (and eventually us as customers) in the long run, I’m fine and understand the logic behind it.

 

[joup7]

In regards to if the park is worth it right now, it depends on what you like to get for the experience. Among my friends and coworkers I’m one of the few to be at the parks 5 times (waiting for frozen now). First question I ask them is “what does your family like to do at the parks?” If they say rides mostly I say it’s a great time to go. If they say characters and shows because they have small kids I say it’s not a good time to go.

I’ve been at the parks open to close pretty much. There aren’t many people the last hour or two at the parks. Those that are all head for the premier attractions and aren’t spending anything. From a profit loss perspective, closing the parks at the new hours makes sense. Animal kingdom opening at 8 am was rough and I didn’t even try to get there that early, so delaying to 9 am makes sense. I’ve been to each park in covid and I can’t think of one thing I did in the to be removed hours that I hadn’t done already earlier in the day at least once. It mostly hurts re-rides.

I’m also an annual passholder who drives up each time and enjoys rides mostly. So what they are offering right now works for me. It’s also nice because I normally rush to 2 or 3 parks and now I can take my time and enjoy things I don’t normally do. I wouldn’t recommend a hotel right now and for my usual birthday trip I have no interest in doing a hotel if there’s no park hopper.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

So much for being able to enjoy the holiday decorations at night.

Oh how cute, you think you are still getting decorations in the park this year. Adorable.

 

[MonorailCoral]

Plenty of tables to stand and eat/drink at.

Wait...I thought you couldn't take your mask off to eat if you were standing?

 

[DisneyCane]

Your pass gets you far less hours, benefits and available entertainment than it did in February.

Try to follow along.

Repeat rides on select choices is not a victory for the consumer.

They failed to provide good value for the last decade due to lack of proper planning/investment...don’t congratulate them for it now due to plague.

For me, I prefer the ability to ride everything, re-rides and not dealing with FP+ vs. the entertainment and benefits before the COVID. In fact, I'd happily pay double for my pass if WDW operated like this with capacity caps normally.