Yep - as is, I’m not planning on even trying to ride Soarin’ or Test Track, since I’m trying to be done with all rides no later than 2pm to start F&W sampling. Unless FP comes back in some form or I can get the Frozen Ever After Dessert party, I have to assume I’m only going to get to one headliner, and I’ve never ridden FEA, so that’s the one.
I’ll make a trip just for this.
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Funny ketchup is one of my biggest memories from my only trip to the UK. We spent most of our trip in the Lake District and when we’d ask for ketchup we’d get 1 or 2 packets for a whole plate of fish and chips. When we got to London we had a burger and fries at the Hard Rock (this was during the whole mad cow don’t eat beef time period) and we were soooo happy to see a bottle of ketchup on the table.
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I quite agree…
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I just read on MouseOwners that Yachtsman opens August 5th. I can’t find it other than as a “rumor” in other places. I hope it is true. Come on Flying Fish!
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It seems like Disney is taking all benefits away from Swan/Dolphin?
Wow. Wow, wow, wow.
Poor Dolphin/Swan.
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Wasnt there talk about Swan
And dolphin being included in the night time hours? That doesn’t make sense now.
There was speculation. No official word.
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It’s odd that the other non-Disney hotels are still included. It seems odd they would exclude the ones that are actually on Disney property.
Someone (sorry, my memory stinks lately) recently said that Disney is really fed up with Dolphin/Swan having bargain basement prices and luring guests away from their other onsite properties. Excluding them from the list is the only way to fight back and lure people back to the other properties.
I have to say, it might work. I’m already side-eyeing my Dolphin stay.
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Supposedly it was an error and BlogMickey posted that same list earlier this week so I wonder if they never updated it? If it’s not an error it’s super rude on Disney’s part.
Having said that, I find it infuriating that values and moderates “share” this perk with Good Neighbor hotels.
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Looks like just Hilton properties along with Four Seasons and Waldorf. Wonder if Marriott didn’t cut a deal with Disney.
Looks like the JW.Marriott at Bonnet Creek isn’t on the list either. So I it might really be a Marriott thing. Or an omission I suppose.
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Any way you look at it … this dilutes the benefit for on-site guests
@Sunshiney_Disney_Momma posted the official link on another thread
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/early-entry/
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Waldorf is also a Hilton brand. So it’s mainly all Hilton brands and a few others, but no Marriott.
Time to drop some knowledge from my time working in the hotel industry.
Disney on-property hotels serve leisure travelers/families. Almost exclusively. They do not have the large on-site meeting facilities or conference centers or other amenities needed to cater to business travelers.
Hilton, meanwhile, caters primarily to business travelers, and roughly all of their Disney area hotels are conference hotels, including the Hilton Orlando Bonner Springs, which is in the process of being converted into Hilton’s first-ever Signia Brand hotel, which is SOLELY for conferences/business professionals.
Orlando is the #1 conference and event city in the US, and those conferences need to partner with hotels that a) is capable of producing large events servings tens of thousands of guests at a time and b) is bookable by most corporate travel policies. Most large companies have an existing business contract with Hilton, that gets their employees contracted rates. Disney doesn’t do this.
Here’s the other part of this. The REASON Orlando is the #1 events city is because the conference-attending parent can get their travel and hotel covered by work, bring the spouse and family, and the non-conference attending family can take the kids to Disney during the day making it a cheaper vacation. Generally, these conferences offer these as packages, so that they can buy a reduced ticket price for conference attendees. Disney wants this business - it translates to tens of millions of visitors to their parks each year. But they need a hotel partner who can facilitate these large trade shows and conferences to make it happen. They essentially have two choices in that: either Marriott or Hilton. They have to pick at least one, and it looks like this year, Hilton is the winner. (And if I had to guess, they’re actually still negotiating with Marriott and making this announcement that excludes Marriott will help put the squeeze on them to agree to a deal sooner rather than later…)
One other thing - frequent business travelers/executives generally have a LOT of hotel points. And so they want a place when they do travel for leisure where they can redeem those points. I can pretty much guarantee you that someone in Disney’s data science department has run the numbers and figured out that the spend per trip amount for guests who redeem points for their lodging in the DS Hilton hotels, and figured out that while these folks aren’t spending on a Disney room, they are shelling out plenty in terms of vip tours, enchanting extras, hopper ticket add ons, costly meals, etc. So they’ve decided it’s worth it from a price perspective to give them this perk, because otherwise these happy-to-spend travelers will use their points to go vacation elsewhere that will allow them to redeem points, and Disney misses out on all that revenue.
So you may not like it, but it’s all very logical as to why Disney would do this.
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I have an upcoming trip in the winter and I have been able to add all my good neighbour hotels and on-property rooms to MDE except for Hilton. I have added:
- Holiday Inn
- Swan
- Pop Century
That makes me wonder if the Hilton hotels will still be part of the Good Neighbour program or not.
And Disney risks alienating value and moderate customers who don’t have any exclusive (along with deluxe/DVC) perks. So what’s the point for those people to stay onsite? I can see people who do moderates bumping up but what about people paying for Gran Destino tower? Or AoA suites? They’re paying deluxe prices and not getting the perks. Gran Destino even has a CL, for crying out loud.
I might as well go stay at the Swan. At least I’m within walking distance of two Disney parks and I can experience the heavenly beds.
And, sure, Disney wants all those business travelers. But I don’t like feeling like I’m being strong armed by Chapek and the bean counters at Disney to move up to deluxe to get some scraps of largesse from them. It’s not my fault they spent like drunken sailors to buy Fox, stupidly laid off a bunch of employees rather than spending the billion or two it would have taken to keep them on the payroll during the pandemic, while letting the parks at WDW stagnate, and are now nickel and diming everything.
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I’m not mad at all. Not saying to you directly, but as a general statement.
It makes perfect business sense. And I applaud them for finally realizing there is a market for people who will pay more for perks.
Just like I will pay for a VIP tour so I don’t have to gamble on a chance to experience RotR, so will I pay Deluxe prices to have a EMH experience at night, when I’m actually awake. Meaning lighter crowds.
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