Any info on why WDW parks hours are not out yet?

[raidermatt]

I wanted to post this on the Rumors and News board to see if anyone has heard any thing about why WDW hours are still not posted for May (50 days away and counting...). NOTE: I am not asking about the hours themselves, so please don't move this to the Parks board. (If it must be moved, just delete it. Thanks)

My understanding is they were normally posted about 90 days in advance. April's were posted on 2/5, 54 days in advance.

Any inside info on what is causing the delay? Is it just difficulty in nailing down attendance projections due to uncertainty over tourism? Or is something else going on? Anybody know anything specific?

Thanks...

 

[Eeyore2U]

I thought after 9/11, as the changes were put into place Disney said the would be posting hours as close as two weeks to the first of the month. It had to with getting a better grip on crowds.

 

[JeffJewell]

...the "official" hours on the Disney web site were meaningless. Between the time allegedly official hours were posted (late March 2001 for June 2001) up to within two weeks of the dates the cuts were to take effect, Disney made hours cuts on at least two separate occasions affecting three parks, eliminated all instances of second-nightly-shows (except for a double-decker Fantasmic on Wednesdays) for Fantasmic and SpectroMagic, and closed meals for which they had issued and confirmed Priority Seating numbers.

Plan as best you can using the DIS's estimated hours and see what Disney decides to do, once you get there. Putting any extra stock in the "official" hours is a recipe for frustration... the fine print says they can cut those hours whenever they feel like it, and they've demonstrated a willingness to do it.

Jeff

 

[raidermatt]

Jeff- Thanks for your comments. The main reason I posted the question on this board was to avoid a debate on whether its right or wrong, justified or un-justified, to change posted hours (not that you were trying to start one). I'm really just interested in the "behind the scenes" type of stuff that maybe going on. Some people get so emotional over the hours, and take them as a personal afront, that its impossible to get a straight answer on the Parks board. Nobody over there really knows whats going on, and doesn't care. One person was complaining about hours being EXTENDED on a particular day. Another saw a park was closed on an unofficial site and went off on Disney for messing up their plans. (The info was of course, incorrect).

Personally, I am anxious for the hours, but I know there's no real logical reason that I need them now. I feel like I have a pretty good grip on what they will be, and I don't plan at such a level of detail that if Spectro was moved back an hour I would be angry. I find that doesn't work, partly for the reasons you outlined, and partly because we want the freedom to do whatever we feel like doing on a particular day. So we make out an itinerary of what parks we want to go to on certain days, and make a few PS's, but that's about it. We just need to know what days Spectro and Fantasy are running, and that's about it.

Since there are some people on this board that have info on certain internal Disney workings, I was just wondering if any of them had any info they could share. Like is there any specific info Disney is waiting for, are local hotels being uncooperative in providing info, or is the situation so fluid that Disney really has no idea what crowds will be like 7 weeks from now? If its the latter, at what point do they give-in and take their best guess? Or maybe the department that does forecasting was cut to the bone, or racked by a Plague outbreak. You know, that kind of stuff...

Eeyore- Thanks, I had heard the timeframe would be shorter, but hadn't heard as short as two weeks. According to some posters, some CMs are saying by the end of the month, others by the end of the week, so we'll just have to see...

 

[Mooobooks]

I happened to be there at the end of November/beginning of December during one of periods that straddles the issue of a new schedule. None of the employees knew what the park hours would be the day before the new schedule was printed!

 

[Looking Glass]

Talking to a CM this morning she stated Hours would not be posted till almost the end of the month. They were expericing a very large number of resverations due to the summer savings specials. DW doesn't want to post hours when they are not sure of the number of guests staying in the resorts.

 

[LAinSEA]

I agree about WDW not wanting to post hours until they have a handle on attendance...

when I spoke to a CM in guest relations a couple of weeks ago - return call about ee - he stated that they were not only looking at onsite reservations but reservations in the surrouding area hotels and convention scheduling prior to making hours decisions...yeah they know it makes guests cranky to have hours changed on them during their visit...

that said - he told me he thought May hours should be out soon...(wondering what the WDW definition of soon is?)

so my question is where can the average person get an idea of just how busy things will be for the time during their stay - convention bookings etc.?

here's hoping for longer hours beginning in May!
-LA