Disney Very Merriest After Hours Party just announced!

[Devil13]

I like how, all of a sudden, we are reminded how "Disney is running a business" as an excuse for the escalating prices and reduced value of the last year (COVID is no longer an excuse). They've somehow managed to 'run the business' for about 100 years without doing things like this.

Like I said in the other thread, Chapek kept mentioning "Yield Management" on the earnings call. This is where they are going. It's much better for them to have one person pay 10K for something than 10 people pay 1K. Doesn't matter what it is, that's the goal. Parks will be less crowded, which means less staff, less electricity, less food, less everything expense-wise for Disney. Makes perfect sense. They get still get the same money while lowering expenses. To the point where I think they should start shutting down some of the value hotels.

If Disney wants this to be a once in a lifetime experience, that's what they'll get. They need to be careful though. Loyalty is what has helped getting them to where they are now with the parks, and they continue to spit in the face of those loyal fans. Not that they can't pivot again when they find out that this is a long term recipe for disaster, but if they continue this BS for long enough they will lose loyal fans who will find other things to do and may never come back.

The Boo Bash is a prime example and now this Christmas charade takes it a step further. A parade! Wow! Just like the ones that you've been running for free daily for the last 50 years but now it costs an extra $250 a person? Please.

The only thing they are doing wrong is pricing it too low. People will justify it at almost any price. It's all over these boards.

Stop making excuses.

 

[Disneytrippin']

Like I said in the other thread, Chapek kept mentioning "Yield Management" on the earnings call. This is where they are going. It's much better for them to have one person pay 10K for something than 10 people pay 1K. Doesn't matter what it is, that's the goal. Parks will be less crowded, which means less staff, less electricity, less food, less everything expense-wise for Disney. Makes perfect sense. They get still get the same money while lowering expenses. To the point where I think they should start shutting down some of the value hotels.

Disney would do as well to lower prices and sell to more people. 10K people buy souvenirs and food. Make party exclusive merchandise and raise the prices there.

 

[New Mouse]

Disney would do as well to lower prices and sell to more people. 10K people buy souvenirs and food. Make party exclusive merchandise and raise the prices there.

Its those lower prices that also make you buy it for the next 20 years as well.

 

[Disneytrippin']

Its those lower prices that also make you buy it for the next 20 years as well.

Factor in that the average person has the "ear" of twenty people. It would make sense to offer the experience to more people to share with others.

 

[mom2rtk]

I can fully understand the sticker shock of this event but, there are a lot of positives. Those who attend will get Holiday fireworks AND a full parade for the "first time in forever". Not only that but, capacity will be limited. Guests will have run of the park and can get more done than at previous Christmas parties. I believe paying more for a limited capacity and finally seeing a full parade AND fireworks is totally worth it.

Parade and fireworks used to be the norm. And if they can do a parade and fireworks in a paid event, they can do a parade and fireworks on regular park days. Why isn't that happening? Or at least coming soon?

 

[Disneytrippin']

Parade and fireworks used to be the norm. And if they can do a parade and fireworks in a paid event, they can do a parade and fireworks on regular park days. Why isn't that happening? Or at least coming soon?

I think its because the capacity for the event allows for better social distancing.

 

[HashberryOTG]

Everyone things this event is too high but people will pay the higher price .

Thing is, "everyone" doesn't think that. This is priced higher than the Halloween offering, but offers fireworks and parades. This is, just like the Halloween offering, more of an After Hour event than the prior years party, for whatever reason Disney has chosen. That could be a temporary or permanent change and no one knows, in spite of the doom and gloom speculation everywhere. For what this event is being billed as, an after hours event during the peak of the peak park times, during the 50th, it is really too high? That's on each party to decide, but it's definitely not too high for everyone.

 

[Disneylover99]

I think its because the capacity for the event allows for better social distancing.

No. People are bunched up now for long periods of time waiting for fireworks and in ride lines. This has nothing to do with social distancing at this point.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Yes but Disney is slowly killing its bread and butter. Catering to.the wealthy is not a recipe for long term success.


If you can get on 10 rides at this event youd pay a whopping $25 plus per ride!

They’re not catering to the rich. They’re catering mostly to the once in a lifetime or once a year visitors who will say screw it it’s worth spending X amount of dollars to have the trip we want. And let’s face it they know they have people by the you know whats. Majority of this board is addicted to Disney. They will find a way to go regardless of price. Many people here have anxieties or are not well traveled or only feel comfortable at DisneyWorld. Those people aren’t going to stop going because of some price hikes. They may skip extras like this but again having been around the boards long enough people have major FOMO issues so probably not.

I’ve seen more than a couple people on this board in the past 16 months claim they’re never going to Disney again or are tired of Disney being greedy or the safety measures going too far and are taking their money elsewhere who have since bought DVC.

I wish people would get out and see the world and how far their dollar can go elsewhere and how other things are just as fun as Disney but let’s be honest, they’d rather be at Disney.

 

[soniam]

I wish people would get out and see the world and how far their dollar can go elsewhere and how other things are just as fun as Disney but let’s be honest, they’d rather be at Disney.

That's all well and good, but just not practical right now. Traveling to foreign countries is pretty difficult and much riskier virus-wise. For instance, I know Americans can get into some countries in Africa for travel. South America and Mexico are pretty risky virus-wise. Some of South America is closed too. Afghanistan is open. Some of the Caribbean countries are open, but their numbers are spiking too. Europe is more open now, and so is Canada. However, you must be vaccinated and/or quarantine for many of these. Much of Asia is closed. Camping and national parks are booked up more than a year in advance. There are local amusement parks, but that definitely doesn't compare to Disney.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Late to the party... (was on a cruise & had no internet).. but just want to make sure we're all on the same page. That they've gone and lost their absolute minds with this pricing?

Ugh.. the time goes so fast during these events and it's almost like a two-fold problem: the entertainment is not worth the price but you should focus on that because it's exclusive to the party. But then also, it's not worth paying so much to go on the same rides you can go on during a regular day just for a possible lesser wait (which doesn't drop until DEEP into the event simultaneous with the entertainment offerings).

And these prices.. sorry.. if Disney keeps pushing the envelope of how many guests they want to let in, I would be seriously pissed.

 

[dato63]

We went to MVMCP in 2008 and loved it. Loved it so much, in 2009 we went to MVMCP twice. In 2010 I bought tickets for two parties again. . .we went to the first party and it was so packed we couldn't enjoy anything. It was so bad, that we gave away our tickets to the 2nd party and just went home a little earlier.

The only night we will be at Disney that has a Christmas after hours this year is the 21st. One of the $249 nights. At first I said no. But after thinking about it, I talked to my daughters and said we could cut our stay at WDW by one day, and buy the party tickets. . . . .seemed a reasonable trade off for me. I will actually save a little $ this way, and going to the party should (hopefully) cut the time in line off one of our normal MK park days.

I read a few posts that talked about buying the tickets online? Is that an option? I got an email about being able to buy the tickets on the 17th. Just wondered if it has to be over the phone. That sounded like a nightmare with the boo bash tickets.

Have to admit, I am a little bugged that the tickets go on early sale before we can see reviews for the second boo bash event. I would have liked to have seen if the low crowds continued.

 

[Leight19]

I feel slightly different then what seems to be average sentiment. I don’t get upset about the high cost of the party with reduced offerings as long as they are upfront about what they are selling. The premium experience to me is the reduced capacity; the issue I have is when they sold out boo bash then added more tickets online and continued to sell them at the door. I will never attend any of these after hours parties unless I am convinced it will be a true reduced capacity that doesn’t creep up by the time my dates come around (and my current trust of Disney doesn’t extend that far).

I have similar thoughts on paid fast pass. I honestly would rather them double price of tickets then add paid fast pass even though the math doesn’t support that. It’s not a financial thing to me as much as emotional that I don’t want to feel nickel and dimed or that I’m being bait and switched where I buy product with one expectation and they try to upsell me to pay more to use what I thought I had already bought when I get to actually experience it.

Maybe this is completely illogical but it’s how I feel.

 

[persnickity2020]

I can fully understand the sticker shock of this event but, there are a lot of positives. Those who attend will get Holiday fireworks AND a full parade for the "first time in forever". Not only that but, capacity will be limited. Guests will have run of the park and can get more done than at previous Christmas parties. I believe paying more for a limited capacity and finally seeing a full parade AND fireworks is totally worth it.

I can see how it would be, I'm just skeptical that it's going to feel like limited capacity at all. And not sure how possible it will be to do ALL of these things. I imagine there will be huge crowds waiting around for parade and fireworks, then the ride lines outside of those times will be increased as a whole bunch of people rush the rides afterward. I think my family would need a good 5-6 hours after park closure for this to balance experience + value.

So, fine, it's just not for us, but I'm left feeling a little resentful and frustrated that we'll miss something that we'd like to be able to do.

 

[hereforthechurros]

That's all well and good, but just not practical right now. Traveling to foreign countries is pretty difficult and much riskier virus-wise. For instance, I know Americans can get into some countries in Africa for travel. South America and Mexico are pretty risky virus-wise. Some of South America is closed too. Afghanistan is open. Some of the Caribbean countries are open, but their numbers are spiking too. Europe is more open now, and so is Canada. However, you must be vaccinated and/or quarantine for many of these. Much of Asia is closed. Camping and national parks are booked up more than a year in advance. There are local amusement parks, but that definitely doesn't compare to Disney.

The problem of Disney addiction isn’t a new phenomenon. It was happening well before the pandemic and will continue even when things fully reopen.

 

[flipflopsandpitstops]

Regardless of how a lot people feel about the increased pricing, for every person putting their foot down in protest and not paying it, there is another family who is more than ready and willing to go because they see the value in it for them. As a middle class family we are by no means rich, but is it worth it to us to pay that price for what we can get out of it based on what we like to go to the parks for? Yes, absolutely. We don't really go to the parks for the shows, meeting characters, and buying all of the merchandise. We primarily go for the overall atmosphere, parades, and to ride the rides as many times as we possibly can. For us, and many others like us, events like this make total sense and are worth the price. If we go to one after hours event for 4 hours and get more out of it instead of having to spend the time and money on tickets for two days at the same park with crazy crowds, allowing us to spend that time at another park or relaxing at the resort it makes it worth it for us. We also don't exclusively go to WDW on our vacations, so this isn't something that we'll be doing multiple times a year or every year.

I also think the difficult thing for some to come to terms with is that this isn't a party, it's an after hours event, which is a completely different offering and has a different purpose and different cost. I've been to many parties over previous years and their purpose has definitely changed...going from limited attendance exclusive late night events to let's oversell tickets and pack as many people in the park as possible to the point that it sometimes feels like NYE. Even though there are things I do like about the parties the cons really outweigh the pros for us. The last MNSSHP we went to was mid-week in Sept 2019 and it was absolutely insane with wall-to-wall people, a 2 hour wait for Pirates, 3.5 hour wait for the Haunted Mansion, and Space and Big Thunder not far behind! Yeah, no thanks, you can keep your ticket and I'll keep my $99-$109/pp for that, talk about something not being worth it. If the increased ticket price of after hours events really does equate to significantly less crowds, then those are what we'll probably stick to in the future.

 

[New Mouse]

Thing is, "everyone" doesn't think that. This is priced higher than the Halloween offering, but offers fireworks and parades. This is, just like the Halloween offering, more of an After Hour event than the prior years party, for whatever reason Disney has chosen. That could be a temporary or permanent change and no one knows, in spite of the doom and gloom speculation everywhere. For what this event is being billed as, an after hours event during the peak of the peak park times, during the 50th, it is really too high? That's on each party to decide, but it's definitely not too high for everyone.

Regardless of how a lot people feel about the increased pricing, for every person putting their foot down in protest and not paying it, there is another family who is more than ready and willing to go because they see the value in it for them. As a middle class family we are by no means rich, but is it worth it to us to pay that price for what we can get out of it based on what we like to go to the parks for? Yes, absolutely. We don't really go to the parks for the shows, meeting characters, and buying all of the merchandise. We primarily go for the overall atmosphere, parades, and to ride the rides as many times as we possibly can. For us, and many others like us, events like this make total sense and are worth the price. If we go to one after hours event for 4 hours and get more out of it instead of having to spend the time and money on tickets for two days at the same park with crazy crowds, allowing us to spend that time at another park or relaxing at the resort it makes it worth it for us. We also don't exclusively go to WDW on our vacations, so this isn't something that we'll be doing multiple times a year or every year.

I also think the difficult thing for some to come to terms with is that this isn't a party, it's an after hours event, which is a completely different offering and has a different purpose and different cost. I've been to many parties over previous years and their purpose has definitely changed...going from limited attendance exclusive late night events to let's oversell tickets and pack as many people in the park as possible to the point that it sometimes feels like NYE. Even though there are things I do like about the parties the cons really outweigh the pros for us. The last MNSSHP we went to was mid-week in Sept 2019 and it was absolutely insane with wall-to-wall people, a 2 hour wait for Pirates, 3.5 hour wait for the Haunted Mansion, and Space and Big Thunder not far behind! Yeah, no thanks, you can keep your ticket and I'll keep my $99-$109/pp for that, talk about something not being worth it. If the increased ticket price of after hours events really does equate to significantly less crowds, then those are what we'll probably stick to in the future.

So would you be ok eith them never brining back parades for regular guests?

 

[Marionnette]

Regardless of how a lot people feel about the increased pricing, for every person putting their foot down in protest and not paying it, there is another family who is more than ready and willing to go because they see the value in it for them. As a middle class family we are by no means rich, but is it worth it to us to pay that price for what we can get out of it based on what we like to go to the parks for? Yes, absolutely. We don't really go to the parks for the shows, meeting characters, and buying all of the merchandise. We primarily go for the overall atmosphere, parades, and to ride the rides as many times as we possibly can. For us, and many others like us, events like this make total sense and are worth the price. If we go to one after hours event for 4 hours and get more out of it instead of having to spend the time and money on tickets for two days at the same park with crazy crowds, allowing us to spend that time at another park or relaxing at the resort it makes it worth it for us. We also don't exclusively go to WDW on our vacations, so this isn't something that we'll be doing multiple times a year or every year.

I also think the difficult thing for some to come to terms with is that this isn't a party, it's an after hours event, which is a completely different offering and has a different purpose and different cost. I've been to many parties over previous years and their purpose has definitely changed...going from limited attendance exclusive late night events to let's oversell tickets and pack as many people in the park as possible to the point that it sometimes feels like NYE. Even though there are things I do like about the parties the cons really outweigh the pros for us. The last MNSSHP we went to was mid-week in Sept 2019 and it was absolutely insane with wall-to-wall people, a 2 hour wait for Pirates, 3.5 hour wait for the Haunted Mansion, and Space and Big Thunder not far behind! Yeah, no thanks, you can keep your ticket and I'll keep my $99-$109/pp for that, talk about something not being worth it. If the increased ticket price of after hours events really does equate to significantly less crowds, then those are what we'll probably stick to in the future.

I think you are mistaken that there are people clamoring to spend even more money in the parks once they have passed through the gates.

 

[JoJoGirl]

Have to admit, I am a little bugged that the tickets go on early sale before we can see reviews for the second boo bash event. I would have liked to have seen if the low crowds continued.

That’s the thing, isn’t it? The more you think about it, the harder it gets to drop $209 + tax for this thing without getting a better idea of what crowd levels will actually be.

I’m a huge fan of after hours — went to four of them in 2019. As much as I want to go to this one, and am willing to pay that stupid price for a great experience, I’m going to wait to buy a ticket until a week or two after the MVMAHs start. If both my dates sell out, fine. It will probably be busier than I wanted so no great loss. At least by then there will be some real reviews to base a decision on.

That’s a lot of money that I can take elsewhere and still enjoy myself tremendously for four hours. Two signature meals, extra stops at Nomad or Spice Road, a Nautilus mug from Trader Sam’s, and maybe even a few fastpasses all come to mind. I’ll have a great time regardless.

 

[HashberryOTG]

So would you be ok eith them never brining back parades for regular guests?

Personally, yeah. Not trying to be contrary, but I actually LOVE cavalcades more. They feel spontaneous. I see kids getting great views. They happen so much more often, which allows for more people to actually get close. A younger child's attention span (heck and many adults) doesn't always do well with a full parade, but great with a part of a parade. Overall, I find them to be a way better experience. I understand parades are a huge thing to many people, and very nostalgic. Cavalcades are my personal preference. Love them!