WDW 50th Celebration

[Nick]

Welp, this thread is pretty much about nothing at this point.

They painted the Castle and the Entrance Arches!

Teah, we're not getting anything "special" like a parade or anything like one would've hoped for the 50th. I don't think we were getting one anyway, but if there was any hope, COVID crushed it. Our 50th additions are the stuff we've known about since 2017. Tron & GotG. Harmonious will be marketed as part of the 50th likely and they'll probably just change up HEA a bit to be a 50th version of the show.

 

[TheGentTrent]

Dropping this in here because Disney says it will be in effect for the 50th...

Disney Confirms 'Resort Guest Early Entry' Replacing Extra Magic Hours

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

This will be awful for non-resort guests, as it will now be impossible to rope drop and get on any headliner attraction without a wait.

I'm not pleased.

 

[Doug A.]

I like that gif but my favorite is still the old school original

 

[tielo]

So guests can enter the parks a half hour early but they didn't mention the rides will be open a half hour early. So an overpriced hotelroom with the privilege to stand in line a half hour earlier. Disney fans probably are okay with this because the are being slowly cooked forever now but I don't see a reason to ever return to the rat.

 

[belloq87]

So guests can enter the parks a half hour early but they didn't mention the rides will be open a half hour early. So an overpriced hotelroom with the privilege to stand in line a half hour earlier. Disney fans probably are okay with this because the are being slowly cooked forever now but I don't see a reason to ever return to the rat.

Based on social media reaction to the Parks Blog post about this stuff, fans are not okay with it.

 

[BigHouseFootball]

But will any of them actually follow through and not book trips? Disney won’t change a thing if the bookings are still up. They have been able to chip things away for years and still have unbelievable brand loyalty. Have they gone too far this time? I’d be surprised.

 

[HandsomePete]

So guests can enter the parks a half hour early but they didn't mention the rides will be open a half hour early. So an overpriced hotelroom with the privilege to stand in line a half hour earlier. Disney fans probably are okay with this because the are being slowly cooked forever now but I don't see a reason to ever return to the rat.

I think it's a given that they'll actually have rides open for early entry.

For comparison, the early hour is a paid add-on in Shanghai. And Tokyo is 15 minutes for resort guests. I also can understand the push to spread out the benefit across all four parks as opposed to creating a rush to one. It honestly seems to me like the negatives and positives kinda wash out to being neutral but I'm just one person.

 

[shiekra38]

Dropping this in here because Disney says it will be in effect for the 50th...

Disney Confirms 'Resort Guest Early Entry' Replacing Extra Magic Hours

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

This will be awful for non-resort guests, as it will now be impossible to rope drop and get on any headliner attraction without a wait.

I'm not pleased.

Is it cheaper to open rides early or to keep them open a little after closing?

Honest question because I think that may be when we can expect "EMH" or upcharges to be utilized

 

[HandsomePete]

Is it cheaper to open rides early or to keep them open a little after closing?

Honest question because I think that may be when we can expect "EMH" or upcharges to be utilized

Neither, because if you’re open 8am-7pm or 10am-9pm, it’s still 11 hours either way.

The correct answer is that shortening the day a bit by opening all parks 30 minutes early as opposed to one by an hour (morning) or two (evening) makes it easier to cover an entire day with one set of shifts. Having to bridge with an early shift and a late shift is what gets expensive quickly (or more accurately stated, labor expense per hour goes up) because people don’t want 3-4 hour shifts.

 

[HHN Yeti Lover]

Do you guys think they’ll open up more park pass reservations for the 50th anniversary? Magic Kingdom is all booked up.

 

[BigHouseFootball]

Neither, because if you’re open 8am-7pm or 10am-9pm, it’s still 11 hours either way.

The correct answer is that shortening the day a bit by opening all parks 30 minutes early as opposed to one by an hour (morning) or two (evening) makes it easier to cover an entire day with one set of shifts. Having to bridge with an early shift and a late shift is what gets expensive quickly (or more accurately stated, labor expense per hour goes up) because people don’t want 3-4 hour shifts.

I take it you’ve never worked for Disney. Another thing to keep in mind is that there are no CPs right now. That is the cheapest labor they have and they would get assigned all sorts of weird shifts to cover the hours.

 

[Magic Feather]

Early Entry is pretty objectively a better perk, especially compared to the EMH of recent years (The Extra Early ones excluded).
Disney was already shifting most EMH’s to be one hour in the morning (I don’t think we’ve had multi hour EMH in a while). Now, resort guests get a guaranteed head start every day of their vacation.

 

[belloq87]

It's also objectively bad for passholders or guests staying off-property. In the past, EMH could be avoided. Now it will be extremely difficult to get onto any of the significant rides without prohibitive wait times from the moment you're allowed into the park. And you're still going to have to rope drop, lest you end up behind even more people in queues.

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

It's also objectively bad for passholders or guests staying off-property. In the past, EMH could be avoided. Now it will be extremely difficult to get onto any of the significant rides without prohibitive wait times from the moment you're allowed into the park. And you're still going to have to rope drop, lest you end up behind even more people in queues.

That is until they introduce MaxPass to WDW. I’m guessing they will put this in place for the 50th. For those who don’t know, DL had this system where you could book fastpasses for attractions once you entered the park. It was $10/day upcharge and worth every penny the two times we visited. I had thought it would eventually make its way east and I believe this will be the time to roll it out.

 

[Mad Dog]

That is until they introduce MaxPass to WDW. I’m guessing they will put this in place for the 50th. For those who don’t know, DL had this system where you could book fastpasses for attractions once you entered the park. It was $10/day upcharge and worth every penny the two times we visited. I had thought it would eventually make its way east and I believe this will be the time to roll it out.

I'd agree, though expecting the price to be considerably higher.

 

[Magic Feather]

That is until they introduce MaxPass to WDW. I’m guessing they will put this in place for the 50th. For those who don’t know, DL had this system where you could book fastpasses for attractions once you entered the park. It was $10/day upcharge and worth every penny the two times we visited. I had thought it would eventually make its way east and I believe this will be the time to roll it out.

Max pass wouldn’t even be a compatible up charge with WDW’s Fastpass System.

There seem to be two ways forward. One akin to time travel, and own akin to International Travel.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I know this won’t happen and maybe it’s just useless saying but I sorta think WDW needs a 5th Park to spread out the attendance. It’s one of the biggest complaints of Disney and adding these singular rides does not seem to help a thing. Maybe useless to add to this thread but we’re discussing this entire trend so, this really does not make feel the need to ever return to WDW. Espeically when I first feel safe to go to theme parks. It’s weird thinking I may not go to WDW again until it’s with my own children...

 

[HandsomePete]

I take it you’ve never worked for Disney. Another thing to keep in mind is that there are no CPs right now. That is the cheapest labor they have and they would get assigned all sorts of weird shifts to cover the hours.

Thanks for the laugh.

Position standards are accessible on the Hub by any CM. The weirdness is caused by CDS. Nobody is getting called in for an hour shift even though those sorts of things exist in the position standards.

I sorta think WDW needs a 5th Park to spread out the attendance.

No, they need to go back to 2015-16 park hours. The average time spent in a park is much less than a full day (depending on which one), so cutting park hours crams all of those people into a tighter window. In normal times, every extra park hour at one (AK after Pandora, DHS after Galaxy’s Edge) gets offset with a park hour from another (pretty much exclusively MK).

There are objective ways to prove that out, but nobody outside a handful of people really have access to the right mix of data to compile it and executives don’t have a long enough attention span to understand the methodology it would take to demonstrate it clearly. They’re told to cut expenses and park hours are the easiest lever to pull.