This doesn’t sound good (EMH going away?)

I don't think ANY of this has anything to do with DAH, or making night time park hours a paid event. As I've thought about it, I think it's about emptying one park full of resort guests rather than two, nearly all of whom will be using WDW transportation to get where they are going.

Explain how your theory is logical when they have 4 nights of Halloween parties every week in October that will be using that same infrastructure you imply they are so concerned about. They were not concerned enough about the enormous 'burden' of SWGE to cut back on those dates. This is 1000% related to the fact that EMH is not an upcharge perk and Disney is all about up-charges right now.
 
I still think all of this is primarily a money grab and no amount of spin changes my mind. Disney charging people more for less is for the benefit of those people? Really?

The vast majority of it is, absolutely, a money grab. And, I am having trouble understanding how anyone can honestly argue otherwise. If it was just one thing, it could be shrugged off. But, when you factor in the number and scope of the up-charges, and combine that with the continual loss of 'free' perks, there is no other way to interpret what Disney is doing.
 
The vast majority of it is, absolutely, a money grab. And, I am having trouble understanding how anyone can honestly argue otherwise.

I think the term Money Grab is what some take exception to. Maximizing profits is what businesses do and right now demand is so high that maximizing profits means taking advantage of that demand. I would be upset too if not for the fact that right now at this time we are seeing the highest re-investment of profits back into the WDW area ever with the exception of adding another whole park. TSL, SWGE, Tron, Ratty, Gondolas, the two huge DVC towers, and people forget about the amount of infrastructure like the fly-overs and road/parking lot/garage structures. WDW is growing, attendance is high. People will pay for perks.
 


Resort parking fees is to try to reduce the number if vehicles on property, reducing traffic around the resort and reducing stress on an already overstressed infrastructure, so yes that is indeed trying to protect the experience. Not the correct method to do so in my opinion, but I can see it from Disneys side.

No its not..in fact that's not even the reasoning that disney has given for it. When i talked to them about it, yes i emailed Disney executives like a lot of people did a few months ago about it, i did get a call back, their reasoning was, "it's industry standard".

It has nothing to do with reducing cars on property or anything like that, its literally a revenue stream, Disney has said nothing else but that.
 
You know, if they had wanted to help the guest experience and make things not so crowded, they could have just stopped building resorts and DVC. And not included other resorts in EMH. At least until they had a fifth gate.

They are a business. They want as many people packed into that park as they can have. They would love to have the parks at sell out capacity all the time. And all those people reaching in their back pocket to pay more. Whether you call that greed or maximizing profits doesn’t matter, it equals the same. Less for more.

Perhaps after the parties, they will go back to evening EMH at MK. Or they may decide “oh this works well and we are making money” and do away with it in all the parks and only go to the paid DAH.

If they do that, it won’t be long the morning EMH will be gone too.
 
I do have a question for some of you. Since it was asked if someone scrutinizes every company the way they do Disney, let’s turn it around.

Would some of you be so loyal to any other company that if they continually charged you more while giving you less, you would defend them and give justification they way you do with Disney?
 


I think the term Money Grab is what some take exception to.

A lot of folks on these boards take exception to any criticism of Disney. I've been blasted on here for criticizing Disney's off season pack the park strategy and how it left us with an unsatisfying vacation. A vacation that cost us several thousand dollars.

Disney knows that there are people who will not drop them no matter what they do. And they are counting on that. No matter what they start charging for or what they cut back, there will be people who will keep going to the parks, paying more for less.

And FWIW, outside of Disboards, there's a lot of negatives out there about Disney. Before our last trip, my wife happened on a travel and tourist board (I can't remember which one and we couldn't find it again) and the majority of the comments about their Disney vacations were negative. It was an eye opener for us.

Would some of you be so loyal to any other company that if they continually charged you more while giving you less, you would defend them and give justification they way you do with Disney?

You've asked an excellent question! I said in a post on a different page that many people have a "shut up and take my money" when it comes to Disney. And, they will defend anything Disney does to their last breath. I'm not like that. As much as I like WDW, i'm more realistic. I've dropped companies in the past, and will do so in the future, when I am treated badly or their product or service does not have value or I don't perceive the value is there any longer. I just did it two months ago when I left an insurance company I had been with since 2001. And after our last trip, I guess you can say that i've done it with Disney as well.

For me, Disney doesn't have the value that it once did. After our last trip, I saw that the emperor had no clothes. After our experiences, I was left with a very bad taste in my mouth. Yes, they are a private business who wants to maximize profits, but at some point, what they do to maximize profits leaves guests with a negative impression.
 
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I do have a question for some of you. Since it was asked if someone scrutinizes every company the way they do Disney, let’s turn it around.

Would some of you be so loyal to any other company that if they continually charged you more while giving you less, you would defend them and give justification they way you do with Disney?

Simple answer, no.

even necessitates around the house, i would change brands.
 
Explain how your theory is logical when they have 4 nights of Halloween parties every week in October that will be using that same infrastructure you imply they are so concerned about. They were not concerned enough about the enormous 'burden' of SWGE to cut back on those dates. This is 1000% related to the fact that EMH is not an upcharge perk and Disney is all about up-charges right now.
But they will probably need to pay for extra CMs due to SWGE. So they are funneled to DHS & the parties pay for the extra staff with extra revenue.
 
The vast majority of it is, absolutely, a money grab. And, I am having trouble understanding how anyone can honestly argue otherwise. If it was just one thing, it could be shrugged off. But, when you factor in the number and scope of the up-charges, and combine that with the continual loss of 'free' perks, there is no other way to interpret what Disney is doing.
There is a difference between a money grab for the sake of it & increased prices to off set increased costs. Who knows...they could have decided on this before they even decided to put this much money back into the parks. It could be how it was proposed to be paid for.
 
You know, if they had wanted to help the guest experience and make things not so crowded, they could have just stopped building resorts and DVC. And not included other resorts in EMH. At least until they had a fifth gate.

They are a business. They want as many people packed into that park as they can have. They would love to have the parks at sell out capacity all the time. And all those people reaching in their back pocket to pay more. Whether you call that greed or maximizing profits doesn’t matter, it equals the same. Less for more.

Perhaps after the parties, they will go back to evening EMH at MK. Or they may decide “oh this works well and we are making money” and do away with it in all the parks and only go to the paid DAH.

If they do that, it won’t be long the morning EMH will be gone too.
Of course they don’t want to enhance guest experience at their expense. Why should they? That doesn’t make business sense. But these things do both, enhance guests’ experiences without costing them extra. They do research in the parks. I bet the vast majority of complaints are that it’s too crowded probably above all other complaints. Many ppl want ways to mitigate the crowds.
 
A lot of folks on these boards take exception to any criticism of Disney. I've been blasted on here for criticizing Disney's off season pack the park strategy and how it left us with an unsatisfying vacation. A vacation that cost us several thousand dollars.

Disney knows that there are people who will not drop them no matter what they do. And they are counting on that. No matter what they start charging for or what they cut back, there will be people who will keep going to the parks, paying more for less.

And FWIW, outside of Disboards, there's a lot of negatives out there about Disney. Before our last trip, my wife happened on a travel and tourist board (I can't remember which one and we couldn't find it again) and the majority of the comments about their Disney vacations were negative. It was an eye opener for us.



You've asked an excellent question! I said in a post on a different page that many people have a "shut up and take my money" when it comes to Disney. And, they will defend anything Disney does to their last breath. I'm not like that. As much as I like WDW, i'm more realistic. I've dropped companies in the past, and will do so in the future, when I am treated badly or their product or service does not have value or I don't perceive the value is there any longer. I just did it two months ago when I left an insurance company I had been with since 2001. And after our last trip, I guess you can say that i've done it with Disney as well.

For me, Disney doesn't have the value that it once did. After our last trip, I saw that the emperor had no clothes. After our experiences, I was left with a very bad taste in my mouth. Yes, they are a private business who wants to maximize profits, but at some point, what they do to maximize profits leaves guests with a negative impression.

Great post! I think some of the guests that have been visitors for decades notice the negative stuff more.
 
I do have a question for some of you. Since it was asked if someone scrutinizes every company the way they do Disney, let’s turn it around.

Would some of you be so loyal to any other company that if they continually charged you more while giving you less, you would defend them and give justification they way you do with Disney?
But, it’s your opinion that they’re giving you less. For some, the things that are gone they never used or didn’t want. Some see they now get more by the added attractions & those coming. Not everyone quantifies their experience by hours in a park. Most ppl aren’t going open to close anyway. Disney is a luxury item. Do ppl say other luxury items should be more affordable? Do ppl think Lexus should make their cars more affordable b/c they can’t afford them otherwise.
 
Great post! I think some of the guests that have been visitors for decades notice the negative stuff more.
I have been a visitor since the early 90s. The issue is some of you are no longer enjoying your experiences in the parks compared to the price. And that’s fine & you gotta do what you gotta do then. However, some of us still do enjoy it. I base value on my overall enjoyment not the cost of line items. So it’s not that Disney can do no wrong, it’s that the things that have some ppl so upset don’t bother some of us. So some of you are trying to convince us that we are being taken advantage of b/c YOU no longer see value. If I see value & still enjoy my experiences, it’s incredibly condescending to suggest that it’s only that way b/c I’m naive or not seeing right.
 
I don't know about happy. It's always a choice with this placer, as any other. And if at the end if the day it's not worth it to you, then it's not worth it to you.

I don't think WDW is raising prices to accentuate guest experience -- i think they are raising prices because over time prices rise. I think they've looked at something like parking and thought that's a reasonable revenue stream that's being under-utilized, because most resorts anywhere have some sort of parking fee (And they're still a lot cheaper than most comparable ones). And I think they've cut back on hours because the hours being cut weren't utilized to an efficient level. I think they've made a decision that having Evening EMH at multiple parks at the same time puts excessive strain on resort transportation and staffing costs, and because they are anticipating demand at HS to be very high once SWGE opens, they expect to focus night EMH there as opposed to MK. I think they think offering another morning EMH is a fair trade off. I think they feel that if late night at MK is important to a visitor, then in October they have options available. Just not the night EMH some people desire.

I don't think ANY of this has anything to do with DAH, or making night time park hours a paid event. As I've thought about it, I think it's about emptying one park full of resort guests rather than two, nearly all of whom will be using WDW transportation to get where they are going. And if WDW didn't extend HS hours once SWGE opens, there'd be plenty of complaints about that, too. If I ran Disney and had to choose one, I'd choose DHS for the fall. I understand many think it shouldn't be a choice, that Disney should cater to everyone's expectations by providing what they have in the past as far as services, but at some point choices get made whether they have to be or not. I think this is simply a case of knowing DHS will be a madhouse, and trying to minimize the stress guests feel as they are leaving at midnight or later.

If this was about increased strain on resources once SWGE opens, why is it not lining up with SWGE opening? They’re going to hold off on extended hours, EMH or otherwise, until a month after it opens? Even if that coincides with the 2nd ride opening, you’re telling me crowds aren’t going to warrant extended hours with just 1 of the rides open?

They have significantly ramped up before and after hour events in recent years as the popularity has grown. Both parties and DAH/EMM. They know they can make an extra $100+ a head at times in revenue with those events as opposed to the extra $0 they make in direct revenue with EMH. Nobody is going to convince me this isn’t another small step to eliminate EMH by devaluing them, unless this proves to be a thing for a couple weeks and they’re back to normal afterwards. Even if it’s just for “party season” like has been suggested, that is near half the year. Months and months that already have majority nights a week with MK closing at 6 to regular guests.

I think they know they can cut back on regular ticket hours because of parties, DAH, and EMM. Not because it gives “options” but because they have proven through different seasons, different times of day, different parks, different formats, at the end of the day guests are more than willing to fork over $$$ for what was once included. I think that’s all this comes down to, and why EMH is on the chopping block.
 
But, it’s your opinion that they’re giving you less. For some, the things that are gone they never used or didn’t want. Some see they now get more by the added attractions & those coming. Not everyone quantifies their experience by hours in a park. Most ppl aren’t going open to close anyway. Disney is a luxury item. Do ppl say other luxury items should be more affordable? Do ppl think Lexus should make their cars more affordable b/c they can’t afford them otherwise.

Disney is priced as a luxury item, maybe. With certain options. I’m not sure we can really call it one though. I think most people (non Disney) would laugh at the thought that Disney is a luxury item regardless of what they charge to make it seem like that.
 
Disney is priced as a luxury item, maybe. With certain options. I’m not sure we can really call it one though. I think most people (non Disney) would laugh at the thought that Disney is a luxury item regardless of what they charge to make it seem like that.
Vacation is a luxury item.
 
Vacation is a luxury item.

A vacation is not always a luxury item and not always comparable to owning a Lexus. Vacation encompasses a huge HUGE range of experiences.

I think regardless of price, a Disney trip is not comparable to a luxury car, a luxury handbag, etc. I don’t think anybody thinks of Disney when discussing luxury vacations. Maybe a stay at one of the pricier resorts, but price=/= luxury.
 
For me, Disney doesn't have the value that it once did.

As I get older, I have found that nothing does. Even state parks don't have the value. Why, because I have to pay to get there and it isn't the same value as it once had. And the hotels once there are way more expensive. Heck,at home, I used to go camping for $6.00 a night. Now it is $42.00 a night at the same camp spot.

but the thing that keeps me going is Disney still gives me that great feeling I had as a kid. We have been so many times we know how to get that great feeling. It's not about how many people are in the park, it's doing exactly what we want to do and when we want to do it. Rope drop is still great. There are lots of tours that are great. Sitting on the boat just riding around the epcot resorts at night is great. Having a really good steak at the Boathouse out on the back porch is great. I don't have to be catered to, I enable myself to have a great time each and every trip.
 

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