I have lifetime 15 trips to WDW, and yes reduced hours (and without EMH or FP+) impacts my ability to plan and enjoy a trip to WDW. We typically are in one park from rope drop to close, and the more hours the better vacation experience for us.
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Walt Disney World theme park hours updates
- Thread starter Bill in Atlanta
- Start date
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Yet crowds are up, up, up. A continued pandemic making international travel largely impossible leaves many Americans eager to take their kids to WDW. And the lack of FP is popular with many. I love being able to plan a WDW trip much closer to the actual trip.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Are you getting on fewer rides now than in 2019? that has not been my experience. I do, of course, miss shows, and, in particular, fireworks.
It’s hard to evaluate the effect of factors that go in both directions.
Lack of international travel means more Americans picking Disney over an international trip. But also means fewer international travelers coming to WDW.
Lack of FPs is a plus to many. But I’ve also seen many people say they won’t go to WDW until FP returns.
I’m starting to see the silver lining of the lack of night entertainment. With no fireworks encouraging people to stick around, lines really go down at night.
Hard to decipher demand based on Disney’s actions. If demand was super strong, I’d expect announced re-opening dates for the remaining hotels. Big indicator may be in the new few weeks, when Disney announces summer discounts. Room discounts over 30%, with many resorts remaining closed, would be suggestive of weak demand. Smaller discounts, more hotels opening, would suggest strong demand.
Has Disney brought back additional CM from the ones furloughed? More CM would allow for longer hours?
TransportationGuy
Active Member
Disney has brought back some of the furloughed cast members and as recently as last week, has started to restart recruitment/casting roles
I have not been since 2016 but I am not so sure Spring 2021 is good measure of lines and wait times since parks are not at 100% capacity plus social distancing in place (which reduces attraction load capacity and time to load). I am thinking of what post-pandemic conditions will look like in terms of wait times with parks back at 100% capacity without FP+
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
They won’t return to 100% without a ride reservation system.
no one knows, and it may return as extra fee service.....
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
you think?
yea, how about you?
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
I think it will remain included, at some level, with a stay at a Walt Disney World Resort Hotel or one of the other hotels who writes checks to WDW. I do understand they are contemplating a tiered approach--pay more, get more. But they are not entertaining a full-stop on a free offering, especially for on-site guests.
How do you know what they may or may not be entertaining-pure speculation on your part??
uncle jimmy
Premium Member
They're one of several well informed members on here that (keep sources to themselves) and have a proven record over many, many years of sharing info (when they can) about projects.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
I’m friendly with the right friends but know when to not say too much. With that said, final decisions occur higher than my friends, so I do not know what the final decision will be. The perception that Chapek wants to shake every last dime out of guests is accurate--at this point, the parks are busy (well, as busy as they can be right now) but not all resorts are open, so options to promote a resort stay while marginally impacting spending are being entertained. That’s why the 30 min EMH were announced. FP for resort guests basically costs nothing since they will need to bring back a ride reservation system, anyway. So, it’s a no-brainer. Having a reason to reopen the likes of AKL, BoardWalk, Port Orleans, and the last couple All Stars is very lucrative. International travel will be suppressed for years, so they’ll need to convince more Americans to avoid off-site locations and AirBnBs.
This belief that, given attractive features, they can get more money out of people is why the Star Wars hotel, of all things, wasn’t canceled when other projects were.
CntrlFlPete
Well-Known Member
I find it a little interesting when folks use park hours to say they are getting less -- I just mean this from an aspect of: back in the 80's, you would look at park hours and plan your trip when they were fewer as it meant the park was less busy -- didn't always work as they would just run one side of space mountain, less logs running -- all sorts of short cuts to slow the guest down.
It also scares me a bit -- when do they decide there is an AM park shift and a PM one -- I guess that will kill their park hoping $$ though.
I swear back when they were planning magic bands, they acted like they would see park tickets w/o rides, an entertainment only ticket for the grandparents -- I guess the parks just kept getting more popular for now it seems they need to figure out how to run the parks in two shifts. Shareholder value I imagine.
It also scares me a bit -- when do they decide there is an AM park shift and a PM one -- I guess that will kill their park hoping $$ though.
I swear back when they were planning magic bands, they acted like they would see park tickets w/o rides, an entertainment only ticket for the grandparents -- I guess the parks just kept getting more popular for now it seems they need to figure out how to run the parks in two shifts. Shareholder value I imagine.
Notes from Neverland
Well-Known Member
The irony here is resort perks being stripped away. The argument can be made WDW has made off-site resorts more attractive than ever at a time when they'll need to rely on them.
Chomama
Well-Known Member
We have never stayed off site. We are total pixie dusters and have given way too much money to this freaking mouse. We are finally looking to stay offsite. The benefits just aren’t there
doctornick
Well-Known Member
But that is @MansionButler84 's point - once MDE goes away in 2022, they will need something else to encourage people to stay on property. having some level of FP+ for free for resort guests but no freebies for off property would (along with the future EMH set up) provide decent value of staying on property versus off. I could see it being something like 1 or 2 FP+ (maybe 1 for values and 2 for moderates/deluxes) which would allow for a decent separate inventory of FP+ to sell at a premium.
Perhaps I'm being naïve, but I've got to think that Disney knows they have to do something more to encourage on property stays come 2022 especially since they will want to have all the resorts open and running and will need to fill those rooms.
Last edited:
Walt Disney World theme park operating hours extended from April 18
Walt Disney World theme park operating hours extended from April 18
All four parks see extended hours for late April 2021.
www.wdwmagic.com