I just looked up the party dates-
MNSSHP- 9/2 thru October.
MVMCP- 11/7-12/22.
Not every night.
If you go to MK every single night of a trip..and 3-4 parties per week cut into that time, then there are several other weeks out of the year to travel.
I don't see what the big deal is with the parties. Mountain out of a Molehill is all I can come up with.
29 MNNSHP dates from 9/2 thru 10/31 (60 days total), or on average one MNSSHP every other night. Public ticket prices ranging from $72(A)/$67(C) to $105(A)/$100(C).
21 MVMCP dates from Nov-7 thru Dec-22 (46 days total), or an average of one MVMCP just about every other night. Public ticket prices ranging from $86(A)/$81(C) to $99(A)/$94(C).
That's a helluva lot of money in Disney's pocket for hard-ticket events, which is obviously why they are pushing them and continue to push them. For the first Halloween party, held on one day in October 1979, MK was open until 9pm (which was pretty much the daily norm back then), and then the special event started. Today, they close the parks early (when was the last time MK was only open until 7pm?).
If hard-ticket events were once or twice per week, I would have no problem with that and could (and have) easily work my vacations around it. But 3-4 times a week? To sit there and say, "well, that's no problem, I'll just do something else" is either disingenuous or intellectually dishonest. On those nights with no hard-ticket event, there is now no longer a nighttime parade, just 'Wishes!' and a somewhat-cheesy castle projection show. On the nights when there is a party, there is no nighttime parade, there is no 'Wishes!', there is no somewhat-cheesy castle projection show. And on those MK hard-ticket event nights, the other parks (that are open past sunset) are going to be more crowded with guests who want to see ROE, Fantasmic! (if it's running), or the SW Spectacular. Will RoL help alleviate that? Time till tell, but I suspect it won't help as much as some think/hope it will.
As someone who has visited the parks for almost 40 years, and has spent tens of thousands of dollars on WDW vacations and associated expenses (including purchasing a DVC membership over 10 years ago), I refuse to happily go along with (the now pretty damn expensive) sleight-of-hand that is being substituted for the rides and attractions that used to be the norm. I don't visit WDW to go to a bunch of overpriced restaurants, or to watch street entertainment. I go because I like the theme parks, the rides, the attractions. And that is where the value for the price paid has fallen off dramatically for my family, particularly with the introduction of the FP+ system. Disney is treating guests like sheep - Plan nearly every detail of your vacation out 6 months in advance (to maximize THE MAGIC!!!), arrive excited for THE MAGIC, line up for THE MAGIC, meet some MAGICAL characters, have your MAGICAL picture taken, buy some MAGICAL souvenirs, and go home. Oh, and don't forget about the gobs and gobs of MAGICAL pixie dust to enhance your MAGICAL vacation experience!!!! If that's what makes your vacation's magical, more power to you, but it doesn't float my boat in the least.
I demand better from Disney, because not only
can they can do better, they
have done better in the past. Sadly, that sort of "we can do it and do it better than anyone else" spirit has been sucked out of the company and deposited into the nearest trash can (not named 'PUSH'), replaced with a mantra of "do just enough, as cheaply as possible". That is nothing more than short-term thinking for a company that has been lacking in any sort of long-term vision for more than a decade. In the past, Disney would have figured out how to put a Star Wars-themed land into a place like DHS and it would have had more than two rides/attractions. That's an insult, as far as I'm concerned, and shows how the Weatherman and his 'YES' men, like Chappie, have corrupted a once-great company with their on-the-cheap-rules-the-game philosophy. Bean counters rule the roost, creative is an expense, and guests are simply walking ATMs.
