Disney Announces Eliminating Magic Hours. Will Replace with 30 Minute Early Entrance to Parks

[vacationer1954]

I think, as someone who rarely visits as a Disney resort guest, this change from EMH (which I can avoid) to early mornings at every park every day (which I cannot avoid) is a big negative for me, so that negative goes somewhere, as a bonus advantage that goes to those Disney resort guests who do do the early mornings.

 

[jkh36619]

I do think spreading across all parks is a good thing but a little disappointed in it being only 30 minutes. 1 hour would have been nice. The big bummer is the evening emh gone.

 

[vacationer1954]

I'm hoping that the end of evening EMH means more hard-ticket After Hours events, once the pandemic is way behind us.

 

[justinslot]

As someone who loved staying at the Swan/Dolphin so I could take advantage of the Tuesday night Epcot extra magic hours--this is disappointing. I would much rather stay out late in a reduced attendance park than get up early (I'm on vacation, why am I getting up early?) But in a sense it's liberating--there's less of a reason to stay on property! Though I love the Swolphin amenities enough that I may do it anyway...or maybe I'll stay at one of the Hiltons where you can walk to Disney Springs and save a little $$$ but still eat well.

I would absolutely love it if evening EMH were replaced with more After Hours events. After Hours is the absolute best way to do MK--I love speed running the Fantasyland classics, my own boat at Pirates, a private performance from the Tiki birds, and as many trips on the People Mover as I can stand. I would 100% be into an Epcot version of that.

 

[Missingmypooh]

I'm hoping that the end of evening EMH means more hard-ticket After Hours events, once the pandemic is way behind us.

they might bring AH back sooner than later, would be a fantastic way to control social distancing. They’d say it was an after hours event when in reality they could charge for both the morn/afternoon ticket and the evening/night ticket.
They could easily implement this at the 75% capacity level, leave on an incredible amount of lights to ensure mask compliance, and reduce food costs by only leaving the snack places open(like they traditionally did).
they’d also likely not have calvalades or characters,but they could do a small nighttime show- which I know for sure would encourage a lot of locals to attend as we lament the fireworks of yesteryear.

At least, that’s what I would do to increase revenue while cutting costs and transitioning a perk into something different

 

[Grasshopper2016]

If the crowds are as big and the lines are as long for the After Hours events as they are during the day, then this won't be magical at all. It will just be an opportunity for Disney to charge us twice as much.

 

[vacationer1954]

Which is what they want.

 

[Missingmypooh]

On a recent DFB post about a survey they took leaving AK, they had a screenshot of the survey question that said “temporary suspension of extra magic hours”.

not sure if that’s worded so as to appease the burn of loosing EMH, if there’s a miscommunication, or if they might consider bringing it back.

AK guest survey

 

[disneyseniors]

I dont think they should replace EMH with more pay to play after hours events.
The longer hours used to be included in your daily ticket. They have been reducing hours and adding pay events more and more.
I know they are more profitable for disney,, but some of the magic goes when the longer evening hours go too!
It's like the average day paying guests are getting more and more short changed, unless they pay for the day twice!

 

[Tom_E_D]

On a recent DFB post about a survey they took leaving AK, they had a screenshot of the survey question that said “temporary suspension of extra magic hours”.

not sure if that’s worded so as to appease the burn of loosing EMH, if there’s a miscommunication, or if they might consider bringing it back.

AK guest survey

The question does refer to it as "early access" to the theme parks, not early or late access, so they aren't necessarily keeping an evening EMH option open. And since the announced early entry hasn't started yet, it is temporarily suspended (although it might be a stretch to call it "suspended" since they haven't begun it yet; temporarily delayed might be better).

 

[Tink-osophy]

I dont think they should replace EMH with more pay to play after hours events.
The longer hours used to be included in your daily ticket. They have been reducing hours and adding pay events more and more.
I know they are more profitable for disney,, but some of the magic goes when the longer evening hours go too!
It's like the average day paying guests are getting more and more short changed, unless they pay for the day twice!

Well said!

 

[ford91exploder]

I dont think they should replace EMH with more pay to play after hours events.
The longer hours used to be included in your daily ticket. They have been reducing hours and adding pay events more and more.
I know they are more profitable for disney,, but some of the magic goes when the longer evening hours go too!
It's like the average day paying guests are getting more and more short changed, unless they pay for the day twice!

This is my biggest complaint ALL the recent changes especially those before covid have had a negative effects on the ‘magical feel’ the parks used to have.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

Maybe a misread the comment or someone was mistaken, but I thought I saw a post recently saying that it had started.

Any updates on when the 30-minute early access will officially start?

 

[brockash]

Maybe a misread the comment or someone was mistaken, but I thought I saw a post recently saying that it had started.

Any updates on when the 30-minute early access will officially start?

No; someone said something about when the 50th celebration starts, but not sure if that was official. Currently all parks open 30-60 mins. before official park opening every day for everyone. 1 more reason why this "announcement" is really a negative as opposed to any kind of perk.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Currently all parks open 30-60 mins. before official park opening every day for everyone.

But they aren’t opening attractions that early.

 

[gottalovepluto]

But they aren’t opening attractions that early.

Not every attraction but definitely some of them are open then, including headliners.

 

[brockash]

But they aren’t opening attractions that early.

They are opening many attractions as soon as they let ppl. into the park. There have been numerous reports of ppl. riding rides and being off before park opening...sometimes multiple rides. We experienced the same during our 2 trips since reopening. We had ridden 7dmt, peter pan and about to load btm all before MKs 9am opening and at DHS we had ridden MMRR and *** before park opening. AK we only got on FOP before official park opening. Sure, there are some rides not open (all 4 MK days we were there they didn't open Splash until 9am) but there's plenty of open rides. I will say Epcot was latest in our experience of opening rides, but we were still loading on TT before 11am and we were never the first in line.

 

[Tom_E_D]

No; someone said something about when the 50th celebration starts, but not sure if that was official. Currently all parks open 30-60 mins. before official park opening every day for everyone. 1 more reason why this "announcement" is really a negative as opposed to any kind of perk.

The announcement referred to the 50th:

• Early Theme Park Entry: We know how much guests enjoy extra park time, so coming later this year as part of our 50th anniversary celebration, Disney Resort hotel guests and guests of other select hotels will be able to enjoy more fun with 30-minute early entry to ANY theme park, EVERY day. It’ll be a great way to get a jump start on your Disney day, no matter the day! As a reminder, the Extra Magic Hours benefit was suspended when Walt Disney World Resort reopened last summer, and as we continue to manage attendance with health and safety top of mind, Extra Magic Hours will not return. The new early theme park entry benefit helps us better spread visitation across all four theme parks, while providing added flexibility by giving guests extra early park time on each day of their vacation and in the park of their choosing. Please note that guests need valid admission and a park reservation made via the Disney Park Pass system to enter a theme park.