Evening Magic Hours for Deluxe Guests Only

[CopperCreek28]

Is there some confirmation somewhere that the Swan and Dolphin are getting the extra evening hours?

I just went to Swan and Dolphin main website and found it under Special Disney Benefits. It specifically lists both early morning and extra evening hours.

"For early park entry, and extended evening park hours, you’ll need valid admission, a park reservation and your Resort ID."

 

[jenniferahardin87]

Yes, if there is an extra evening magic hour offered on Oct. 8 at the park you have a reservation for (or if you have a hopper or AP). Disney said the evening hours would be on "select" nights at "select" parks, which is different from the morning 30 minutes that will be every morning at every park.

Doing HS, so let us pray

 

[mercuryvenus]

Doing HS, so let us pray

I’m praying we can get an extended evening hours day for at least HS and MK when we go from Nov 4-11. AK would be icing on top, but absent FP+ coming back, having time to do HS and MK with lower crowds is going to be crucial …

 

[havoc315]

Yes. Morning only. Previously they were morning and night, available to all.

Let’s get a few things clear.

If they are available to all, then they are not “extra.”
EMH was available, previously to just onsite guests. Eventually, adding lots of off-site hotels. So many people qualified for EMH, that it lost any “extra magic.” It was nearly as crowded as regular hours.
But even then — there were guests priced out. There are many guests who couldn’t afford onsite or qualifying hotels.

Limiting evening EMH to just deluxe hotels, and thereby reducing attendance, will make them far more “magical.”

Yup, many people won’t be able to afford it. Just like not everyone can afford VIP tours, not everyone can afford Club 33, and not everyone can even afford to stay onsite. To those whining about being priced out, now you know how those who can’t afford to stay onsite feel.

As to those saying morning 30 minutes is “nothing”— since it is all 4 parks, every day, you won’t get the huge attendance surge at just 1 park. 60 minutes couple times per week with 25,000 guests, vs 30 minutes every single day with 8,000 guests…
The new early entry may be far superior to morning EMH.

 

[mercuryvenus]

Let’s get a few things clear.

If they are available to all, then they are not “extra.”
EMH was available, previously to just onsite guests. Eventually, adding lots of off-site hotels. So many people qualified for EMH, that it lost any “extra magic.” It was nearly as crowded as regular hours.
But even then — there were guests priced out. There are many guests who couldn’t afford onsite or qualifying hotels.

Limiting evening EMH to just deluxe hotels, and thereby reducing attendance, will make them far more “magical.”

Yup, many people won’t be able to afford it. Just like not everyone can afford VIP tours, not everyone can afford Club 33, and not everyone can even afford to stay onsite. To those whining about being priced out, now you know how those who can’t afford to stay onsite feel.

As to those saying morning 30 minutes is “nothing”— since it is all 4 parks, every day, you won’t get the huge attendance surge at just 1 park. 60 minutes couple times per week with 25,000 guests, vs 30 minutes every single day with 8,000 guests…
The new early entry may be far superior to morning EMH.

I agree -- that extra 30 min is huge.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Let’s get a few things clear.

If they are available to all, then they are not “extra.”
EMH was available, previously to just onsite guests. Eventually, adding lots of off-site hotels. So many people qualified for EMH, that it lost any “extra magic.” It was nearly as crowded as regular hours.
But even then — there were guests priced out. There are many guests who couldn’t afford onsite or qualifying hotels.

Limiting evening EMH to just deluxe hotels, and thereby reducing attendance, will make them far more “magical.”

Yup, many people won’t be able to afford it. Just like not everyone can afford VIP tours, not everyone can afford Club 33, and not everyone can even afford to stay onsite. To those whining about being priced out, now you know how those who can’t afford to stay onsite feel.

As to those saying morning 30 minutes is “nothing”— since it is all 4 parks, every day, you won’t get the huge attendance surge at just 1 park. 60 minutes couple times per week with 25,000 guests, vs 30 minutes every single day with 8,000 guests…
The new early entry may be far superior to morning EMH.

yeah sorry, that $250 a night at a glorified holiday inn isnt worth it anymore without the perks.

For what Disney is charging for the values and moderates compared to offsite, there needs to be some perks included with it also.

 

[Nabas]

EMH was available, previously to just onsite guests. Eventually, adding lots of off-site hotels. So many people qualified for EMH, that it lost any “extra magic.” It was nearly as crowded as regular hours.

For perspective, let's look at some numbers.

• Disney Deluxe Villas (a.k.a. DVC): 3904 to 5448 (depends on how lock-offs are booked)
• Disney Deluxe Resorts: 4979
• Disney Moderate Resorts: 7385
• Disney Value Resorts: 10,408
• Disney Campsites: 800
• Disney Good Neighbor Hotels: 8529

Total Disney hotels (max): 29,020

With Good Neighbors added in: 37,549

I'm not sure that I agree than an increase of 8529 rooms represents a significant loss of "extra magic". Yes, it's a bit more crowded but 29,020 is still a lot of rooms.

Now let's look at the new evening program.

Deluxe plus Villas: 10,427
Swan, Dolphin, Swan Reserve: 2614

New total: 13,041

Deluxe-only should feel far less crowded. That will feel magical.

 

[shoegal9]

Disney shares in the revenue from the Swan & Dolphin. The resorts are considered part of the Walt Disney Collection and thus are Disney branded (i.e. its in the name of the hotel). I get the frustration- but makes sense to me. $$$

 

[cakebaker]

For perspective, let's look at some numbers.

• Disney Deluxe Villas (a.k.a. DVC): 3904 to 5448 (depends on how lock-offs are booked)
• Disney Deluxe Resorts: 4979
• Disney Moderate Resorts: 7385
• Disney Value Resorts: 10,408
• Disney Campsites: 800
• Disney Good Neighbor Hotels: 8529

Total Disney hotels (max): 29,020

With Good Neighbors added in: 37,549

I'm not sure that I agree than an increase of 8529 rooms represents a significant loss of "extra magic". Yes, it's a bit more crowded but 29,020 is still a lot of rooms.

Now let's look at the new evening program.

Deluxe plus Villas: 10,427

Deluxe plus Villas only should feel far less crowded. That will feel magical.

When they added the Good Neighbor Hotels, EMH evenings were already too crowded. It made it that much worse because of that. Still, they were pretty useless to us before the addition.

Does your number for the EMH offer now, does that include the Swan and Dolphin in that count? If not, I'd love to know what those hotels add to it. For comparison, I think the estimates for the regular After Hours was a cap of 5k guests. Considering that not every guest at any resort will make use of EMH's, we could be looking at something while busier than an After Hours, will still have very low crowd levels.

 

[Nabas]

Does your number for the EMH offer now, does that include the Swan and Dolphin in that count? If not, I'd love to know what those hotels add to it.

Great point! I forgot to include the Swan and Dolphin.

The Swan, Dolphin, and Swan Reserve will add another 2614 rooms. I'll update my earlier post.

 

[Meglen]

For perspective, let's look at some numbers.

• Disney Deluxe Villas (a.k.a. DVC): 3904 to 5448 (depends on how lock-offs are booked)
• Disney Deluxe Resorts: 4979
• Disney Moderate Resorts: 7385
• Disney Value Resorts: 10,408
• Disney Campsites: 800
• Disney Good Neighbor Hotels: 8529

Total Disney hotels (max): 29,020

With Good Neighbors added in: 37,549

I'm not sure that I agree than an increase of 8529 rooms represents a significant loss of "extra magic". Yes, it's a bit more crowded but 29,020 is still a lot of rooms.

Now let's look at the new evening program.

Deluxe plus Villas: 10,427

Deluxe plus Villas only should feel far less crowded. That will feel magical.

This is rooms correct? So if everyone that is able to go went and let's say each room only had 2 people, even with deluxe only your looking at 10k people. And most family's are 2-5 people. So 10k-25k people max per emh. That's less than party capacity. I do feel Disney will add moderates to this list soon tho.

 

[Nabas]

This is rooms correct? So if everyone that is able to go went and let's say each room only had 2 people, even with deluxe only your looking at 10k people. And most family's are 2-5 people. So 10k-25k people max per emh. That's less than party capacity. I do feel Disney will add moderates to this list soon tho.

I typically assume 3 people per room.

But not everyone went to EMH. We used to avoid it like the plague and go with a contrarian touring plan (i.e. go to that park the day after it had EMH). That worked well for many years but after a while, that didn't seem to help much.

I'm sure we are not the only ones who used to do this as there were several sites that recommended the contrarian plan.

 

[cakebaker]

This is rooms correct? So if everyone that is able to go went and let's say each room only had 2 people, even with deluxe only your looking at 10k people. And most family's are 2-5 people. So 10k-25k people max per emh. That's less than party capacity. I do feel Disney will add moderates to this list soon tho.

I don't think they're going to add moderates. They released this as a great new thing for Deluxe and DVC. I don't believe they'll backtrack on that.

But I did look at numbers wrong- that's rooms, not people. So forget it being anything close to an After Hours event. Regardless, it will be significantly less than it was, making it a much better experience.

 

[Meglen]

I typically assume 3 people per room.

But not everyone went to EMH. We used to avoid it like the plague and go with a contrarian touring plan (i.e. go to that park the day after it has EMH). That worked will for many years but after awhile, that didn't seem to help much.

I'm sure we are not the only ones who used to do this as there are several sites that recommend the contrarian plan.

Oh it's going to be a great perk I just feel the number amount is even at max to low and Disney will include moderates soon.

 

[cakebaker]

I typically assume 3 people per room.

But not everyone went to EMH. We used to avoid it like the plague and go with a contrarian touring plan (i.e. go to that park the day after it has EMH). That worked will for many years but after awhile, that didn't seem to help much.

I'm sure we are not the only ones who used to do this as there are several sites that recommend the contrarian plan.

You definitely aren't the only ones. For many years we have always avoided a park that had either morning or evening emh's. They were terribly crowded. We would sometimes go to the morning ones, but ride secondary rides because everyone lined up for headliners at morning hours. Evenings, especially when they were cut and started ending earlier, were a total waste of time for us. Byt the time the day guests filtered through, there wasn't much time left and even the secondary rides had lines. We haven't done them in a very, very long time.

I do think a great many guests take advantage of EMH's as they were and with it being a better experience, I think we're looking at an even higher percentage that would go.

 

[Marionnette]

Oh it's going to be a great perk I just feel the number amount is even at max to low and Disney will include moderates soon.

I really think it will depend on whether Disney made this move on order to fill deluxe resorts. If that's the case, adding moderate resorts to the evening hours could siphon off some of those deluxe guests that are only booking for the extra benefit.

OTOH, if Disney sees a dramatic decline in moderate resort bookings without a significant uptick in deluxe resorts, you might see moderates added.

 

[Meglen]

I really think it will depend on whether Disney made this move on order to fill deluxe resorts. If that's the case, adding moderate resorts to the evening hours could siphon off some of those deluxe guests that are only booking for the extra benefit.

OTOH, if Disney sees a dramatic decline in moderate resort bookings without a significant uptick in deluxe resorts, you might see moderates added.

I just feel that Disney won't wanna offer something better or equal to after hour events for "free". Who knows heh.

 

[Tigger's ally]

You definitely aren't the only ones. For many years we have always avoided a park that had either morning or evening emh's. They were terribly crowded. We would sometimes go to the morning ones, but ride secondary rides because everyone lined up for headliners at morning hours. Evenings, especially when they were cut and started ending earlier, were a total waste of time for us. Byt the time the day guests filtered through, there wasn't much time left and even the secondary rides had lines. We haven't done them in a very, very long time.

I do think a great many guests take advantage of EMH's as they were and with it being a better experience, I think we're looking at an even higher percentage that would go.

I think a higher % will go, but if all 4 parks are having the morning hours instead of just 1 park, then that higher % will be dilluted by roughly 3/4 at the park one is attending.

 

[havoc315]

yeah sorry, that $250 a night at a glorified holiday inn isnt worth it anymore without the perks.

For what Disney is charging for the values and moderates compared to offsite, there needs to be some perks included with it also.

And that’s totally up to you. Vote with your wallet.
If enough people agree with you and stop staying in on-site values and mods, then Disney will have to either lower prices and/or add perks.

If they manage to keep filling up with fewer perks, then they clearly don’t need them.

For perspective, let's look at some numbers.

• Disney Deluxe Villas (a.k.a. DVC): 3904 to 5448 (depends on how lock-offs are booked)
• Disney Deluxe Resorts: 4979
• Disney Moderate Resorts: 7385
• Disney Value Resorts: 10,408
• Disney Campsites: 800
• Disney Good Neighbor Hotels: 8529

Total Disney hotels (max): 29,020

With Good Neighbors added in: 37,549

I'm not sure that I agree than an increase of 8529 rooms represents a significant loss of "extra magic". Yes, it's a bit more crowded but 29,020 is still a lot of rooms.

Now let's look at the new evening program.

Deluxe plus Villas: 10,427
Swan, Dolphin, Swan Reserve: 2614

New total: 13,041

Deluxe only should feel far less crowded. That will feel magical.

That’s my point. Wasn’t just the good neighbors, though they exacerbated the issue, bumping up qualified guests by 30% compared to true onsite. And the values are huge.

I know people are upset about being priced out if anything, but paying $700 per night should get you more benefits than paying $200 per night.

 

[Marionnette]

I just feel that Disney won't wanna offer something better or equal to after hour events for "free". Who knows heh.

True. They have a track record of offering *free* perks and then once the hooks are in, either reducing the benefit or charging for it. However, it's unusual for them to expand a benefit unless Disney stands to make more money from it. So I don't feel it will be extended to other onsite resorts. If anything, I see it getting dropped if the desired effect of increased deluxe bookings is not met.

FWIW, after hours events included more than just attractions. They typically lasted 3 hours or more and included early admission to the park while it was open to day guests. They had some entertainment and offered snacks and beverages. In some cases, there was exclusive merchandise and snacks for purchase. Evening hours will probably not come close to those features. I don't think it will be a fair comparison between the two.