Disney Cut Backs

Cannot_Wait_4Disney said:

It was worse before fast pass. These days, a two hour wait on Space Mountain would mean it's extremely busy. Back in the day before fast pass, they were routine. Back then, the only way to get around it was to come early and have a plan. Having to plan didn't suddenly come into being with fast pass. It's just another tool for such. As for the cell phones, yeah I can do without em. But the feds pretty much ruined that one.

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Disney Doll said:

The thing that annoys me the most is paying for parking at the hotels.

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Just People said:

You know, its been said before, but all this complaining means nothing if their bottom line does not get affected... But i'm still going to complain. Disney World has done plenty of greedy moves the last few years in their (so far successful) attempts to become the ultimate Overlord of entertainment. The biggest thing, beside constant price hiking, we hate the most now is how much advanced planning is required at Disney. It all became worst when we were forced to plan what ride we want to do 60 days out within an hour timeframe! Disney World is still entertaining once we are there, but really, we consider other options when planning our next vacation. Disney World is not our "Must-Do every year" experience.

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CapeCodTenor said:

This made me think, did fast pass make things worse for the regular line? I don't know if it did or not (and I'm really just curious) because I've seen the fast pass line move a lot more than the regular line, which to me makes the regular line back up more.

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Shanti said:

Yes, of course it does. Quick-loading rides that used to always be short waits (Pirates, It's a Small World, etc.) now have waits because FastPass was added to them.

The biggest draw of Extra Magic Hours for us is that there is no FastPass usage, so even when there is a line, it moves at a reasonable pace.

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MicroBeta said:

Marriott states will save they will save $1000-$2000 per hotel annually. Let's assume an average of $1500.00/year. Marriott states they have 5700 hotels. That would equate to ≈$8.6 million per year.

Millions of dollars each year seems like a pretty big savings if you ask me.

Further, if it were just an environmental issue wouldn't they do it across all the resorts...although, I expect it will eventually be resort wide.

My 2¢ FWIW.

Mike

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Disney Doll said:

The thing that annoys me the most is paying for parking at the hotels.

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brooke789 said:

We have our first trip since parking fees next summer. We booked our first offsite stay. If we're paying for parking anyway why not get more for our money offsite?

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BrianL said:

It's both, really, like getting rid of straws. Yeah, it saves Disney money, but ALSO has a positive environmental impact. It's a win-win. I can't really blame them on stuff like that, even if saving the money is their primary reason.

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Shanti said:

Yes, of course it does. Quick-loading rides that used to always be short waits (Pirates, It's a Small World, etc.) now have waits because FastPass was added to them.

The biggest draw of Extra Magic Hours for us is that there is no FastPass usage, so even when there is a line, it moves at a reasonable pace.

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brooke789 said:

We have our first trip since parking fees next summer. We booked our first offsite stay. If we're paying for parking anyway why not get more for our money offsite?

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CapeCodTenor said:

I'm considering booking an off-site stay for our trip in a year. Disney has gotten too expensive, and if I can stay off-site and save a few bucks why not?

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brooke789 said:

A few bucks = $2000 for us!

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lambdabeta said:

Sorry but this will be a long post. There are people posting about having FP's changed for three rides at AK; Kali, Kilimanjaro, and Dinosaur. The park hours are still posted for 9am-8pm except on days they have EMH at 8am-9am. All of these FP's have been changed between Oct and the beginning of Dec. When you look at MDE under each of these attractions you will see that the times have changed. None of these rides are open for the full park hours. Dinosaur starting Oct 14 is cut to 9:30am-7:30pm except during EMH when it opens at 9am through the end of Dec. Kali starting Oct 14 is cut to 9:30am-7:30pm through the end of Dec. Kilimanjaro has a more complicated schedule. Starting Oct 14 it runs 9am-7:45pm then starting 10/28 it changes to 9am-7-30pm, then 11/4 9am-6:30pm, then 11/25 9am - 6:15pm, then 12/31 on to Jan 9am to 6:30pm.

Now for my thoughts. This was suspiciously rolled out shortly after they announced that Raifiki's planet watch isn't closing permanently but reopening next year. Is it a coincidence? I don't think so. Some might say this is due to the season or daylight hours shortening and not something new but if it were wouldn't they have done it before we all made our FP's? Also what is weird is the randomness to the changes. Some are 10-15 mins and some are hours different. There is no real pattern other than the date range, the rides and the park. There are also no FP's for any of these rides on our date of 11/26. I did not check other dates but I would bet you will find similar situations because they just had to move everyone that had FP's for these three rides to the limited hours that are left.

My opinion is this is just another cost saving measure. Plain and simple. If you cut the ride hours you cut CM's hours and wear and tear on the ride. For those wondering why these rides this is what I think. Everest, FOP and Navi are too popular to cut hours on and Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin don't take as many CM's to run them or have long waits. You can take this for what it is worth but I think it makes sense. Disney knows way in advance what it is doing. So far I have not seen anyone post that this kind of thing has happened before or that it is happening in any park other than AK.

Just my speculation FWIW.

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