Extended Evening Hours - Deluxe resorts

[Mark1994]

Originally Posted by miked1e

Do you mind me asking what are your thoughts on Universal hotel perks? For example the perks for the premium hotels compared to the remainder onsite hotels and then also for people staying offsite?

Just curious why disillusioned with Disney and not mention the elitism at Universal…

See more...

Simply put, we rarely go to universal. So I have little to no knowledge of their perks, so can't really be influenced by them. Our last 4 trips, we've been once, we did each park once over two days. It was good, but not a lot my daughter got out of it. So we stick to Disney parks, and rather spend the 800 quid we spent on tickets on something else.

We are only going to universal next year as my sister and her partner are joining us and they fancied it.

What I see from universal this time will influence our holiday for 2023/2024. I'm aware people book a night or two at Universal hotels for these perks. But if the effect our holiday then discussions will be had. We have already discussed doing DLC instead, even US there is amazing, esp doing the vip studio tour.

So having stayed on site many times, never at a deluxe, but being able to enjoy the perks such as buses and emh, but now being charged to park the car, no more free magic bands (my phone does not have NFC so bands are needed) and exclusive perks for deluxe hotel guests really is just a money grab. And not to mention the disney transport from airports. I'd rather save my money and stay offsite in LBV.

[themeparksandy]

The perks should be like it use to be with the free dinning plan options.
If deluxe get extended evening hours and moderate and value guests get the same perks then I be booking a value resort.

[Bondy007]

Originally Posted by miked1e

Thanks for answering and great to understand what people think and how they compare Disney and Universal.

My personal thoughts are there is no difference and if you want the ‘best’ (all subjective) perks you have to pay for it…. Deluxe hotel in Disney, Premium hotel in universal. Is it fair…. Probably not.

Next year is the 3rd time only we have booked a deluxe resort, but don’t expect we will be making use of the extended evening hours with 2 little ones.

See more...

I’m genuinely surprised it’s taken this long for Disney to start tiering perks. I’ve no issue with paying more to get more (assuming it continues in this way), I can tailor my holidays accordingly then. 2023/24 will be somewhat different depending on what’s being offered.
With US/IOA I would never chose to book one of their hotels for perks, we just don’t enjoy their parks as much. Happily get through what we want in a couple of days!

[gjdjud]

Originally Posted by themeparksandy

The perks should be like it use to be with the free dinning plan options.
If deluxe get extended evening hours and moderate and value guests get the same perks then I be booking a value resort.

See more...

That’s exactly why they won’t get the same perks. I’m the same, if I get the same perks at a cheaper place why spend more? Not what Disney want. It’s annoying as someone who has booked 2 rooms at a value but i understand if your paying more for a deluxe then you get more perks. Pretty much the same for everything. People have to go deluxe at Universal to get express passes and no one says to much about it being unfair if you stay at Cabana Bay you don’t.

[Memories4You]

The words ‘value and moderate’ make people thing ‘cheap and really cheap’ and ‘deluxe’ people think ‘expensive’, therefore Disney have decided that the cheap seats don’t get as much? So to put it into perspective my total ‘cheap’ resort vacation this Christmas is costing me Ł10000+.
Have Disney honestly thought of all us international guests who have to pay a whole lot more to get there? Making their destination extremely expensive before they’ve even got to the parks! Not so ‘value’ or ‘moderate’ when you start adding it all up!

[Mexy02]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

As far as I'm aware, none of these changes (by which I mean the removal of morning/evening EMH and replacement by early park entry for all onsite guests and extended evening entry for deluxe guests) were announced by Disney pre-pandemic. They've only been announced in the last 6 months or so.

I suppose we should count ourselves lucky that Disney is still providing onsite guests some perks.

See more...

this was talked about at d23 along with the dining plans and fastpasses . And this is partly why. Dvc has grown massively and continues to, it’s a massive income resource for Disney. I expect fastpass to go a similar direction going to dvc and deluxe and paid fastpasses to everyone else .

“About a decade ago, Extra Magic Hours were fantastic. There were ~17 fewer hotels that were eligible, resort occupancy wasn’t near what it was now, and the experience was 3 hours instead of 2. In that third hour, many attractions had 5-10 minute waits, and the parks were veritable ghost towns.

Flash forward to today. Regular park hours have been cut back as more paid hard ticket events have been added, and evening Extra Magic Hours are usually more crowded than their normal evening counterparts. Not only are more guests eligible, but with higher prices, there’s a greater desire to squeeze every last drop of value from every experience by guests so more people hop to the park with EMH.”

It makes sense in a way , like as said why would you pay premium rates for exactly the same perks or even invest in dvc? You wouldn’t and Disney know this and did pre pandemic. Hence the tester at extra fastpasses you could buy before.

[Mexy02]

Originally Posted by Memories4You

The words ‘value and moderate’ make people thing ‘cheap and really cheap’ and ‘deluxe’ people think ‘expensive’, therefore Disney have decided that the cheap seats don’t get as much? So to put it into perspective my total ‘cheap’ resort vacation this Christmas is costing me Ł10000+.
Have Disney honestly thought of all us international guests who have to pay a whole lot more to get there? Making their destination extremely expensive before they’ve even got to the parks! Not so ‘value’ or ‘moderate’ when you start adding it all up!

See more...

Wdw has never been a cheap holiday ever, it’s a very expensive and still a lot of people can’t afford or justify the cost to go. I’m Not sure Disney exactly worry about where guests travel from , just the rates they charge to stay is universal for all . How you get there is personal choice. Disney is doing ok without international visitors at the moment and while bookings are still being made that sort of answers the question.

[Memories4You]

Originally Posted by Mexy02

Wdw How you get there is personal choice. Disney is doing ok without international visitors at the moment and while bookings are still being made that sort of answers the question.

See more...

With a huge body of water between me and Florida it really isn’t my personal choice. To bring this elitist system in after 18 months of covid hell makes me sad.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Mark1994

I don't find this very inclusive of Disney. There's 100's of people who pay to get to Disney World, not everyone has the luxury to stay on site, let alone in a Deluxe resort. Now those who can stretch to Value or Moderate are now being excluded for the "elite" of those staying in a Deluxe.

See more...

But it was never inclusive at Disney World. Those staying onsite would get extra perks to those staying offsite. Those staying at deluxe resorts would be closer to the parks to those staying at value resorts. That's the whole point of having different levels of resorts and having onsite perks. Those willing to pay more would get more - and a stay at a deluxe costs a large amount more. That's always been the way, both at Disney and everywhere else.

Heck, the Disney parks were founded on the idea of not being inclusive. Walt wanted to keep the riff-raff away and so charged people to even enter his parks (and then charged them again to go on the rides).

When you look at the free dining that deluxe and moderates will now get for 2022, there isn't actually much difference - $68 a night for a deluxe stay versus $61 a night for a moderate stay. Previously a deluxe stay would get you DDP for free whereas a moderate stay only got you QSDP.

This is simply a change to the perks. And, by their definition, perks are the opposite of being inclusive.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by loldis

From what I've been reading, Universal has only ever offered the perks for their deluxe hotels - the value hotels didn't exist when this was introduced and was never extended to them once they opened. Most of the upset with Disney at the moment is this was previously a resort-wide benefit for many years which will now be limited to deluxe only. And that feels like a slap in the face to loyal but non-deluxe guests.

See more...

Well, looking at it differently...

Prior to 2006, Universal provided their "express pass" system to everyone for free, although back then it was more like the old fastpass system. Then they took that away, gave an enhanced version only to their deluxe guests and made everyone else pay for those "express passes". They took something that was inclusive to all (offsite guests as well as onsite) and then only gave it to deluxe guests.

But no one really gets that worked up about what Universal does because it's not Disney.