Evening Magic Hours for Deluxe Guests Only

[Meglen]

so where is my discount on my room rate for taking it away from me though?

it was included before, yet now its not.

I mean even DVC members are losing alot of perks without the dues going down. This is the new disney money money money. Its sad and sucks for sure. Once we get our revenge travel done who knows when we will be back.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I mean even DVC members are losing alot of perks without the dues going down. This is the new disney money money money. Its sad and sucks for sure. Once we get our revenge travel done who knows when we will be back.

i dont disagree with that. perks have been pulled for everyone that stay onsite.

I just dont think its right to give some back to some, but not the others.

 

[dato63]

btw, one my kids noted that last week... he said..."the park closes at 7 today? so we arent going to get to see Pandora at night? wow, that's one of the best parts about it".

That's our issue too. My daughers want to see Pandora at night. They were there back in March 2020 with a school trip, but weren't able to see it due to time constraints. We are staying in a deluxe, so I am at least hopeful - but, still clueless as Disney didn't say what parks/what nights, and our park reservations are already in place. So no clue how this will play out for our vacation yet.

 

[Jcsquirrel]

So, here's the million dollar question.....

On days where HS has the evening hours....will ROTR be open with say a standby line??!! I know it wasn't open in the past, but that was when it just opened. They can't keep their flagship attraction closed forever during these extra hour times.

If that ride is open during those hours....the value of this perk will go up exponentially!

You forget there are other big new rides coming. With the lack of options In Epcot cosmic rewind is going to be crazy, so there could be other rides people are shut out on.

 

[Brocktoon]

I'm not buying that this is 100% class based rich vs poor ... I think a big piece of this is to push Deluxe resort room and DVC sales. If it does really become a perk for the rich then we'll soon see an 'add-on' where anyone can buy into this evening access.

Use the campers like me at Ft Wilderness as an example ...

Financially I'm currently in the position (worked my butt off to get there) where I could afford to stay in a Deluxe if I chose, but I choose to stay in our RV at Ft Wilderness. RVing is a different lifestyle than staying in hotels, and there are many wealthy RVers who stay at the Fort with million $+ rigs. We prefer to stay in our home away from home. These campers can spend plenty of money on extras ... we've regularly thrown plenty of money at Disney for stuff like Food&Wine parties and California Grill brunches. But just like others that choose not to stay at a deluxe, we currently won't even have the opportunity to pay extra for the evening park perks.

To me it doesn't seem to be whether you have money or not ... it seems like Disney needs to get people to stay at the Deluxes and buy more into DVC. I'm a bit more concerned to what this may mean for the future of FP. I could see myself paying extra to get some additional FPs ... I wouldn't be happy about it, but I would probably do it. But, will they limit extra fast passes to certain resort levels like what they did with Concierge Level. You could throw your money at Disney all you want, but you could only get those extra fast passes if you stayed in certain accommodations. Again, that doesn't sound like rich vs poor, but Disney trying to either retain or boost reservations of certain accommodations.

 

[Aprilshack]

I mean even DVC members are losing alot of perks without the dues going down. This is the new disney money money money. Its sad and sucks for sure. Once we get our revenge travel done who knows when we will be back.

I've had the what would I do dream if I won the euro millions. I did think about DVC but I know I wouldn't now if I did win it.

 

[Jonfw2]

I'm curious about some of the negative reactions and I'm NOT being snarky here:

The folks who are upset about this- were you against the VIP offerings WDW had pre-Covid? Like, the all day concierge led tours, Day of Thrills, 33, etc?

 

[ChipnDale79]

I'm curious about some of the negative reactions and I'm NOT being snarky here:

The folks who are upset about this- were you against the VIP offerings WDW had pre-Covid? Like, the all day concierge led tours, Day of Thrills, 33, etc?

I dont like the VIP tours, i dont like the "pay to play", its honestly one of the things that made Disney different from other resorts.

Quite honestly if there arent Fast Passes available, the tours should not be offered. It was appalling last week by the amount of VIP tours that just skipped the line.

I listened to a disney podcast recently, one of the guys on it went on a cruise awhile back with a different company, they stayed at one of their hotels the night before the cruise left. He said he sat in a chair by the pool, and someone came up to him and told him he had to get up or pay the hotel to use the chair.

He used that as analogy for why he likes disney so much, that they dont or didnt, charge you for every little thing. Disney is/was "all inclusive".

i fear we're heading in that direction of, "wanna use that chair? gotta pay for it pal"

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm curious about some of the negative reactions and I'm NOT being snarky here:

The folks who are upset about this- were you against the VIP offerings WDW had pre-Covid? Like, the all day concierge led tours, Day of Thrills, 33, etc?

I think the issue is that this was something that used to be for everyone. Now it's only for certain categories. I'm not upset by it but a bit annoyed. If it was something completely new I wouldn't care.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think the fact is they have to cap some of these perks to make them even worth it, or charge extra. So essentially, you’re paying for an after hours event by staying at a deluxe, it’s just built into the room cost. I totally get why people are upset, I don’t blame them. But at the same time, there’s a reason universal has their express system set up the way they do. If you offer those kind of perks to everyone, then it becomes a devalued experience because it’s crowded and you can’t do anything. I remember doing EMH a few years back and it wasn’t even worth attending because it was pretty much as crowded as the regular hours because Disney has so many rooms on property

They could start with not offering it to the good neighbor hotels.

 

[amdphenom]

To me it doesn't seem to be whether you have money or not ... it seems like Disney needs to get people to stay at the Deluxes and buy more into DVC. I'm a bit more concerned to what this may mean for the future of FP. I could see myself paying extra to get some additional FPs ... I wouldn't be happy about it, but I would probably do it. But, will they limit extra fast passes to certain resort levels like what they did with Concierge Level. You could throw your money at Disney all you want, but you could only get those extra fast passes if you stayed in certain accommodations. Again, that doesn't sound like rich vs poor, but Disney trying to either retain or boost reservations of certain accommodations.

If they weren't ridiculously overpriced it wouldn't be an issue. Instead of giving a carrot, they're giving everyone else a stick. Looking up I4 at Universal, their room rates start at $88 for value with early access/shuttles, 132 for a slightly nicer place next to Volcano Bay. It's 181 for a moderate with a boat and walking path to Volcano and $252 for premier with express pass. All these are obviously starting prices but when the starting prices for the premier with express pass and walking distance to parks are less than the starting price for ANY moderate at Walt Disney World, you're going to look elsewhere.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

If they weren't ridiculously overpriced it wouldn't be an issue. Instead of giving a carrot, they're giving everyone else a stick. Looking up I4 at Universal, their room rates start at $88 for value with early access/shuttles, 132 for a slightly nicer place next to Volcano Bay. It's 181 for a moderate with a boat and walking path to Volcano and $252 for premier with express pass. All these are obviously starting prices but when the starting prices for the premier with express pass and walking distance to parks are less than the starting price for ANY moderate at Walt Disney World, you're going to look elsewhere.

I'm looking at November next year. BC is $600 a night. Hard Rock is $311 a night.

 

[Aprilshack]

If only disney would announce the return of the free fastpass to distract us from the eeh or whatever its called.

 

[Jcsquirrel]

I wouldn't be surprised. I think the PR of this will be bad and they'll backtrack. I agree with you (? I think you said it, though admittedly I've skimmed a lot) and others that said adding the Good Neighbor hotels in was a bad idea.

That’s the problem they make an announcement and people find something bad. They just added something at the end of a pandemic when demand is crazy and people are going to cry. For months people complained Disney is not doing anything because of corporate geed. When they do, it is not good enough or fair. With the crowds coming they did not need to do this but they did.
As for the comments, it is only for rich people. Maybe we have different visions of rich. I don’t think they ever discount Vip because that is for rich. As for deluxe, very few people pay rack rates for deluxe. Disney is always running some kind of a deal. Normal I’d say DVC resale is a great option but prices are high right now, can we say to many stimulus checks people did not need. Which also could have easily paid for a nice upgrade to deluxe this year. And just so no one jumps me with I lost my job, I am talking about checks to many many Americans who were not hurting and for months could not spend because of the pandemic. So we have huge built up demand once again not Disney’s doing, seems a bit like inflation, weird. Then again if you are out of work and need the stimulus why on Earth would you go to Disney this year.

 

[Farro]

I'm curious about some of the negative reactions and I'm NOT being snarky here:

The folks who are upset about this- were you against the VIP offerings WDW had pre-Covid? Like, the all day concierge led tours, Day of Thrills, 33, etc?

I'm curious why people are surprised WDW resort guests NOT staying deluxe or dvc are taken aback by this news! It's something we all used to be able to do.

of course there are going to be negative reactions. And then we'll move on (or not if you so choose).

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

If they weren't ridiculously overpriced it wouldn't be an issue. Instead of giving a carrot, they're giving everyone else a stick. Looking up I4 at Universal, their room rates start at $88 for value with early access/shuttles, 132 for a slightly nicer place next to Volcano Bay. It's 181 for a moderate with a boat and walking path to Volcano and $252 for premier with express pass. All these are obviously starting prices but when the starting prices for the premier with express pass and walking distance to parks are less than the starting price for ANY moderate at Walt Disney World, you're going to look elsewhere.

I can stay at a hotel at a local theme park for less than $100/nt, but that local theme park isn't Disney. Universal isn't Disney, either. People will need to decide if they want to pay for what's being offered or go someplace else instead, where they can find more value for their wants/desires. I have no doubt Disney will continue to find people who want to stay at their resorts and find value in what they are getting.

 

[amdphenom]

I can stay at a hotel at a local theme park for less than $100/nt, but that local theme park isn't Disney. Universal isn't Disney, either. People will need to decide if they want to pay for what's being offered or go someplace else instead, where they can find more value for their wants/desires. I have no doubt Disney will continue to find people who want to stay at their resorts and find value in what they are getting.

Obviously not if they are reportedly having issues filling deluxe rooms and even had to move value reservations to deluxe due to overbooking and are converting hotel rooms to DVC to have a trapped market.

 

[scottishgirl1]

Planning a Disney holiday shouldn't be this stressful!

I know, it is annoying that they have not given us the info needed to decide if it is worthwhile considering changing current reservations.

I am hoping to be there for one and only Christmas visit this year and after years of staying at OKW am currently in GDT and possibly Swan Reserve for New Year. These rooms are expensive enough and don't think we could stretch to Deluxe cost at all, had already thought about DVC but can't risk it as travelling from Europe and still don't know if we will be able to travel.

At Christmas it would be nice to have access to less crowded time in parks but who knows how many nights it would be offered at that time of year

 

[Brocktoon]

If they weren't ridiculously overpriced it wouldn't be an issue. Instead of giving a carrot, they're giving everyone else a stick. Looking up I4 at Universal, their room rates start at $88 for value with early access/shuttles, 132 for a slightly nicer place next to Volcano Bay. It's 181 for a moderate with a boat and walking path to Volcano and $252 for premier with express pass. All these are obviously starting prices but when the starting prices for the premier with express pass and walking distance to parks are less than the starting price for ANY moderate at Walt Disney World, you're going to look elsewhere.

I understand where you're coming from ... but I don't think Disney is looking at this from a WDW vs Universal competition. If they lose some guests to Universal, Disney probably does care as long as they still keep occupancy up at the Deluxe level. Let some people walk and they'll fill the room with others.

My feeling is that Disney backed themselves into a corner with the high prices they already charge for the Deluxes. If they lower to the price to compete with Universal it would look like they're diluting their brand or product ... they feel Universal is not in the same class as WDW.

If Disney can't lower the room rates much, then what other 'levers' do they have? ... the 'carrot' option seems to be what they're going with. It may keep hotel profits up while really not offering anything new. It does also have the downside of ticking off a lot of other non-deluxe resort guests, but it's strategy Disney is willing to try while resort demand is high and they don't want to lower room prices. It's a bit of gamble and could backfire, but they're willing to try it during the white-hot 50th season.

Currently I don't think Disney is even worried about Universal or other competition short term

 

[anomamatt]

Disney has always kept included perks on an equal playing field for ALL their guests. That means there was an innate level of equality - it didn't matter if you were making $40K or 400K, you got the exact same perks, and were to a large degree, all on the same playing field.

This isn't even close to true.

I understand why this change is upsetting to some, but Disney has always been about paying more to get more. Just look at the fact that while there is currently no general-use FP+ system, VIP tours and Club 33 have near-unlimited access to FP+ queues... Why do they get this? $$$.