MK closing at 9pm early August

[mental4ever]

Disney now offering guests tickets for 3 hours exclusive access in MK, if your willing to pay. Starting at 9pm, 10pm & 11pm. So this is why over the years the EMH have reduced unless you are willing to pay.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by mental4ever

So this is why over the years the EMH have reduced unless you are willing to pay.

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Evening EMH reduced from 3 hours to 2 hours back in January 2013. Evening EMH has remained at 2 hours long since then. Before 2013, MK used to have evening EMH twice a week (on Thurs & Sat). Then in 2013 it reduced to once a week and has remained once a week since then (the day of the week has changed a few times).

So 6 years ago evening EMH reduced; it has not changed since then. Disney introduced the 3-hour After Hours paid event in April 2016.

BTW, before 2004, Disney used to do a 3-hour paid evening event called E-Ride night. Admittedly, this was significantly cheaper than the After Hours event we have now. But Disney did have paid events back then, so it's nothing new.

[TAGG]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

Evening EMH reduced from 3 hours to 2 hours back in January 2013. Evening EMH has remained at 2 hours long since then. Before 2013, MK used to have evening EMH twice a week (on Thurs & Sat). Then in 2013 it reduced to once a week and has remained once a week since then (the day of the week has changed a few times).

So 6 years ago evening EMH reduced; it has not changed since then. Disney introduced the 3-hour After Hours paid event in April 2016.

BTW, before 2004, Disney used to do a 3-hour paid evening event called E-Ride night. Admittedly, this was significantly cheaper than the After Hours event we have now. But Disney did have paid events back then, so it's nothing new.

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In some people's eyes Disney can never do anything wrong. Everything about them now is about squeezing every last dollar from your wallet. I speak from visiting Disney every year since 2004. The DDP has lost value (used to be 3 courses and tip included), ticket prices have soared past inflation, cleanliness standards have fallen, excellent customer service used to be standard, hour's have cut - standard summer mk hour's were 11.00pm last year it was 10.00pm, crowd levels have massively increased but investment is slow the list could go on and on. But for everyone repeat visitor that notices the difference and votes with their feet, they will be replaced by 10 new visitors who do not know better.

Rant over

Awaiting the Disney police

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by TAGG

In some people's eyes Disney can never do anything wrong. Everything about them now is about squeezing every last dollar from your wallet.

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It's not about Disney doing anything "right" or "wrong". Personally, I think there are a number of things "wrong" with Disney World. But the Disney theme parks are a business - they exist to make profit for their shareholders. They have always been a business and have been ever since Disneyland was built and Walt charged people just to enter the park, and then extra on top of that to go on the rides - something that amusement parks hadn't previously done. Supposedly, this was done to stop the riff-raff and lower classes from entering so as to provide an amusement park for the middle class. Although you could also look at it as "squeezing every last dollar from people's wallets" - specifically those people who have plenty of spare money in their wallets.

People might moan about Disney World (it's the internet, after all) but, as you say, people still keep on visiting it and millions of those are repeat visitors. Once Star Wars Land opens everyone predicts that visitor numbers will increase significantly, so clearly the costs and drop in standards are not putting people off from visiting.

If I was running Disney World, knowing how much demand there was for all the things it does, I'd keep on adding more events and charging people more for them whilst cutting spending in some non-essential areas (i.e. the areas that don't significantly affect demand). It makes good business sense. And Disney is a business.

Originally Posted by TAGG

The DDP has lost value (used to be 3 courses and tip included), ticket prices have soared past inflation, cleanliness standards have fallen, excellent customer service used to be standard, hour's have cut - standard summer mk hour's were 11.00pm last year it was 10.00pm, crowd levels have massively increased but investment is slow

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I don't disagree with some of what you say above - Disney is far from perfect and standards in certain areas aren't quite as good as they used to be. But I do disagree with you in the two areas I've highlighted in bold.

As I stated earlier, MK closed at 10pm throughout August 2017, whereas in August 2018 it stayed open until 11pm on many nights. Looking at July, in July 2017, MK closed at 10pm on 25 days, closed at 11pm on 5 days, and closed at 1am on 1 day (July 4th). In July 2018, MK closed at 10pm on only 18 days, closed at 11pm on 11 days, closed at 12am on 1 day and closed at 1am on 1 day (July 4th).

So, if anything, I would say standard MK hours were 11pm last summer but only 10pm the year before that. MK was open for longer in Summer 2018 than it was in Summer 2017.

And there's a recent article that states it's estimated that Disney will spend much more in it's parks around the world in the next 5 years than it has made in total profits over the last 5 years. It's spending more on it's theme parks than it spent on Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm combined. It's also doubling it's cruise line business over the next 4 or 5 years. There are more changes to it's parks in the next few years than ever before.