Not sure $149 Disney After Hrs event is doing well... (ETA: reviews in 1st post)

[SarahWeasley]

I've been contemplating whether I should try to convince my boyfriend that we should do AH on the first night of our (four-night) vacation, May 5. As it is, we'd be going to MK on May 6 (we can't go any other day), getting up early, battling crowds all morning, taking an afternoon break of a few hours and then coming back to battle more crowds.

If we do AH, we could get to MK at 7 PM, stay up late knocking out the high-demand priorities (although I would likely be guzzling Five-Hour Energy by the gallon; I wouldn't consider this at all if the extra hours didn't start until 11), sleep in the next day, have lunch by the pool and swim for a few hours before going back to MK in the evening. It sounds pretty good to me. And he's very much a night owl, so I'd think he'd love being able to ride Space Mountain all night and sleep until noon the next day.

Aside from getting him to agree to the price tag, though, my biggest concern is that Disney will squelch out on the deal between now and May 5, to try to cut their losses. Either that they might just cancel the event, AFTER I change my Fastpasses; or that they might cut the number of attractions that are offered.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I've been contemplating whether I should try to convince my boyfriend that we should do AH on the first night of our (four-night) vacation, May 5. As it is, we'd be going to MK on May 6 (we can't go any other day), getting up early, battling crowds all morning, taking an afternoon break of a few hours and then coming back to battle more crowds.

If we do AH, we could get to MK at 7 PM, stay up late knocking out the high-demand priorities (although I would likely be guzzling Five-Hour Energy by the gallon; I wouldn't consider this at all if the extra hours didn't start until 11), sleep in the next day, have lunch by the pool and swim for a few hours before going back to MK in the evening. It sounds pretty good to me. And he's very much a night owl, so I'd think he'd love being able to ride Space Mountain all night and sleep until noon the next day.

Aside from getting him to agree to the price tag, though, my biggest concern is that Disney will squelch out on the deal between now and May 5, to try to cut their losses. Either that they might just cancel the event, AFTER I change my Fastpasses; or that they might cut the number of attractions that are offered.

All of that may happen. Again, this event, the customer takes all the risk (since the ticket is non-refundable and the event is subject to change), so plan accordingly.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I attended the event on April 14 so I wanted to share my experience. I went right to the event after landing in Orlando and dropping off my bags in my room. I did not get to the Magic Kingdom until 10:20 so I had to push through the crowds leaving after Wishes to get through security and check in at the turnstiles. The park was open until 11 pm so you needed to find the section of the turnstiles right in the middle for the after hours event to scan your band and get your lanyard. You basically got a lanyard when you entered listing all the attractions that were operating during the event. It also said you could get ice cream and drinks at carts throughout the park or you could buy select items at Casey's and the Main Street bakery.

My mother was already at the park when I got there so we decided to ride the attractions that were not open during the event until 11 and then switch. There was a mixture of regular guests and event guests still in the park but the regular guests started to thin out the closer it got to 11.

Overall I really enjoyed the event and could not believe how empty the park felt. Often there were more cast members working at the attractions than guests riding the attractions. We could pick our seats on every attraction, walked up to the loading at every attraction, and were told we could stay on and ride again. We enjoyed the ice cream and the only downside was that we had to finish the ice cream before going on the next attraction. It rained off and on starting around midnight but it was a light misty rain so it did not really impact the evening.

We passed other guests walking around but you definitely felt like the park was open just for you as we were the only people walking through fantasyland or adventureland at times. My mom thought it felt strange to have no other people around but I thought it was fun to walk without dodging strollers or groups of people.

We stayed until 2 am and then headed out. There were photo pass photographers out on Main Street past 2 am and you could have entered any of the attractions or grabbed one more treat until 2 am. When you left the park they had busses lined up and a cast member would direct you to the bus that would go to your resort. I don't think the monorail was still running so I am not sure how guests who parked at the ticket and transportation center were transported back there.

As for whether it was worth the $149, I think it really depends on how you choose to visit the parks and how much you want to budget for your vacation. If you don't mind staying out late and really do not like crowds, the event is perfect for you because you can go on most of the attractions at the magic kingdom with no waits and you can be very efficient with your visit because you are not spending any time in line other than walking to the loading areas.

I don't know how many people actually attended the event so I don't know if wait times will change if more people attend in the future but it really was wonderful to go on so many attractions in such a short amount of time. And I do think it's nice that you enter at 7 pm so you can have 4 additional hours in the park with your ticket.

Also, I did notice that at the Grand Floridian they put a little flyer about this event in the check in packet so I imagine all the resorts are doing that now. I will be curious to see how the other parties go.

OP here... So I am WAAAAYYY late in my response! The race weekend knocked me out, I guess, but I am now the proud owner of a GAZILLION Star Wars medals including the Kessel Run Challenge one! Running 22.4 miles over 3 days was a lot... then add the 33miles or so that we walked over 5 days!!

Anyway... I think the above post sums it up. The event was free to us as DVC members who managed to snag the tickets last minute, as I said. Others have already reported, but the park really did feel just about empty. The only comparable that I experienced was a D23 event YEARS ago where MK stayed open late, very few tickets, etc.

I obviously have no idea how many people were ultimately there in all. IF it stayed like that night, I can imagine there being a sizable enough audience to pay $149 a pop -- particularly during busier seasons. And even if they were not at their planned capacity for the event, feels to me like they could EASILY double the attendance and still have a semi-empty feel to the park.

Would I do it for $149 per person?? Don't know, but that is because: 1) we visit multiple times a year and get plenty of park days, and 2) we are early risers and planners, so always see everything we want over the course of a trip. HOWEVER... while we have visited during race weekends and other shorter trips during busier times, this August will be the FIRST TIME we take our longer trip (11 days) during such a busy time. I might consider paying this to have time in the parks with 1) LOW CROWDS and 2) LOW TEMPS in the middle of August!! Still thinking about it...

 

[jknc]

Huh??? No criticisms from me, I totally understand why you hated the idea of DAH - and you really HATED the idea for 30-something pages!

How did you make this complete turn-around, or am I missing some very subtle sarcasm?

I had some time to dwell on it.
Our vacation needs to emphasize more leisure.
By adding this event, my hope is it satisfies the families thirst for the MK attractions, therefore allowing more time to sit pool side and drink diet cokes and what not.

Thank you.

 

[ChadInOKC]

I've been contemplating whether I should try to convince my boyfriend that we should do AH on the first night of our (four-night) vacation, May 5. As it is, we'd be going to MK on May 6 (we can't go any other day), getting up early, battling crowds all morning, taking an afternoon break of a few hours and then coming back to battle more crowds.

If we do AH, we could get to MK at 7 PM, stay up late knocking out the high-demand priorities (although I would likely be guzzling Five-Hour Energy by the gallon; I wouldn't consider this at all if the extra hours didn't start until 11), sleep in the next day, have lunch by the pool and swim for a few hours before going back to MK in the evening. It sounds pretty good to me. And he's very much a night owl, so I'd think he'd love being able to ride Space Mountain all night and sleep until noon the next day.

Aside from getting him to agree to the price tag, though, my biggest concern is that Disney will squelch out on the deal between now and May 5, to try to cut their losses. Either that they might just cancel the event, AFTER I change my Fastpasses; or that they might cut the number of attractions that are offered.

If you decide to go, post back your number (you can redact the middle like I did) if you print your tickets. It's over on the right hand side and it will be sequential for each one. I am curious if this number is tickets sold number. Oh, and also, if you do decide to go, maybe we will see you there! haha

 

[ChadInOKC]

The PP is giving us information about his ticket numbers. He didn't feel comfortable giving the exact ticket number, so he used x to sub in for the middle number (just like algebra - x is the unknown number). The tix could be 412/413 or 442/443 or 492/493.

And of course there is no way to know whether those numbers are significant or not (unless a CM weighs in), but if they are, it means that for an event that is about 2 weeks out, they have already sold somewhere in the range of 400+ tix. Whether that is an indicator of the success or failure of the event depends on your perspective.

This is exactly what I meant. Thanks!

 

[Hunterr]

Being a local, I was meh at the idea of this, but then I realized how awesome this could be when out of town family would visit.
Magic Kingdom in particular is crazy with the crowds, so if I could pay extra to zip through everything with them (even better after the sun goes down), I'm down.

If hope this is a bit of a hit, as having a set schedule of future dates would be great

 

[bcrook]

I had some time to dwell on it.
Our vacation needs to emphasize more leisure.
By adding this event, my hope is it satisfies the families thirst for the MK attractions, therefore allowing more time to sit pool side and drink diet cokes.

Thank you.

Did you go back and unlike my posts?

Just kidding.

 

[moulinette]

I ended up caving and purchased tickets for next week on April 28th. I have tickets 3x4 and 3x5 if you want an idea of how it's selling for that day.

 

[Sammie]

I really think this is all an experiment to see where the ceiling is on the pricing for MNSSHP and MVMCP.

If the cap is really 6000 for this event, I don't think they can raise MNSSHP and MVMCP anywhere near this and keep the ticket limits for that near to 25,000. I would pay more for the parties if they would guarantee fewer ticket sales.

 

[Mom2darlingboys]

Yeah, just keep offering to pay more, folks. I'm sure Disney would be happy to accommodate you (and do their best to further disenfranchise those who are not happy about the upcharge events).

Anything to 'improve the customer experience'.

 

[Cirlonde]

I bought tickets to the April 28th event on the first day they were available (the CM had just gotten back from lunch and she said mine were the first tickets she'd sold). This was on March 23rd I believe. My tickets are 2x7 & 2x8. Just contributing to the research.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I bought tickets to the April 28th event on the first day they were available (the CM had just gotten back from lunch and she said mine were the first tickets she'd sold). This was on March 23rd I believe. My tickets are 2x7 & 2x8. Just contributing to the research.

Wow. If these ticket numbers really are the number sold then they're really selling poorly. I was kind of hoping 5/5 would sell out. There is a theory that the reason SW fireworks are not on Thurs and Sat in May is so they don't pull people away from DAH. I was hoping that if DAH sold out, maybe they'd add them back. But that doesn't look likely if they've really only sold low to mid hundreds even after the good press from the first night.

Looks like Disney actually found a price point that was too high.

 

[bcrook]

Wow. If these ticket numbers really are the number sold then they're really selling poorly. I was kind of hoping 5/5 would sell out. There is a theory that the reason SW fireworks are not on Thurs and Sat in May is so they don't pull people away from DAH. I was hoping that if DAH sold out, maybe they'd add them back. But that doesn't look likely if they've really only sold low to mid hundreds even after the good press from the first night.

Looks like Disney actually found a price point that was too high.

So, MK is too crowded at night. Too many people going there instead of other parks.

Disney tries to make Animal Kingdom a late stay park to siphon off some of the crowds, but it's taking too long (and we still have another year to wait for Pandora).

So instead of finding more attractions at the other parks, their solution is to close MK early, charge $150.00 to attend the hours that are becoming crowded. AND, close down two of the other parks evening entertainment (Star Wars and the delayed River of Lights) to try and convince people to pay the extra admission ticket.

That is heavy handed. Fascinating.

The speed at which these decisions are being made is so lightening fast, that it is difficult to process them all.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

"Disenfranchise" has to be the most overused word of the past 5-10 years. Perhaps along with "price gouging" on this board.

We're talking about an expensive theme park vacation. Can't imagine what the inherent right is that people are being denied by Disney charging for a premium experience within it.

By this logic, some people are disenfranchised by WDW's very existence because they cannot afford to visit.

Geez.

We can afford to do it. Still not sure we will. Still strikes me as expensive, but this "market" will speak and either way I'm fine with it. I can't afford a private jet to our WDW trips. I don't feel disenfranchised because some can.

 

[mom2rtk]

Interesting tidbit, I bought tickets for my wife and I to attend on May 5th. On my tickets that I printed at home, there is a number on each one. While I won't disclose the exact numbers, they were 4x2 and 4x3. I wonder if this is the amount of tickets for this even that have been sold so far? Well over 400+ tickets for this day.

It could also mean that you purchased the 402nd and 403rd ticket overall to the event (keeping in mind it is rumored they sold no more than several hundred tickets the first night).


ETA: Looks like another poster just bought 3x4 and 3x5, so probably not.

 

[Flamingeaux]

"Disenfranchise" has to be the most overused word of the past 5-10 years.

BINGO!!!

 

[jknc]

Did you go back and unlike my posts?

Just kidding.

Don't get me wrong I still feel this a horrible value, but like I've said we can afford it and will take advantage of it if offered.

 

[mom2rtk]

"Disenfranchise" has to be the most overused word of the past 5-10 years. Perhaps along with "price gouging" on this board.

We're talking about an expensive theme park vacation. Can't imagine what the inherent right is that people are being denied by Disney charging for a premium experience within it.

By this logic, some people are disenfranchised by WDW's very existence because they cannot afford to visit.

Geez.

We can afford to do it. Still not sure we will. Still strikes me as expensive, but this "market" will speak and either way I'm fine with it. I can't afford a private jet to our WDW trips. I don't feel disenfranchised because some can.

Hey, I'm voting for the first candidate who promises free Disney trips!

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Hey, I'm voting for the first candidate who promises free Disney trips!

I have a guess as to who that would be this time around...