Has the outrage started yet?

Walt Disney World
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I haven’t been on chat today (or other Disney forums), but how are folks reacting to the $150 extra magic hours idea? If you haven’t heard, here’s a link to what’s been published (I haven’t found the official Disney announcement yet) - BREAKING: Disney World Introducing $150 Paid After Hours Event At Magic Kingdom - WDW News Today

As a Disney stockholder, I have no objection to the price, but it doesn’t make sense to me. If I wanted extra magic hours, then for $150 a person it would be cheaper for me to just book a Disney hotel room for a night. I know crowds will likely be smaller, but do I really want to ride Space Mountain a dozen times in a row? And, if I just want smaller crowds and different character meets, then the Halloween or Christmas parties offer than and are cheaper, so there must be something else to this event (free food? booze? you can to keep one of the characters that you meet?).

Anyway, I’m not much interested in the standard discussion of the cost of a Disney vacation or the attempts to interject class warfare arguments into vacation planning, but I am curious what this experience will offer besides just shorter lines in a park where I seldom have trouble seeing all the attractions I want to see.

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I cannot imagine it will last long? It was posted there is tax as week (about $12 dollars?). So for $162 I can be at MK from 11-2. I will be in the world one of these nights (April 21st). The night before I can be in MK until 1:00 for free.

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The Character M&G might be interesting. They haven’t specified which characters so poss some rare ones.?

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I really want to know what “Disney After Hours” is going to entail because we’re planning on going to MK during one of the days it is supposedly going to take place.

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Hells - they are going to make a boatload of $$. Say goodbye to “free” after hours.

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[quote=“truth577, post:4, topic:21884”]
I really want to know what “Disney After Hours” is going to entail[/quote]
That’s what I’m having a hard time figuring out, since they already offer after hours parties in Magic Kingdom that last for five hours that include special character meets and entertainment for half the price of this. I suspect there will be less people in the park for these events, but I can’t imagine what they’ll offer to help people rationalize the cost.

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I’m wondering if they are going to wind up closing the park early that day. Or if it’s going to be extra crowded because of the “After Hours”. Some of us plan in advance (especially on here) and it’s annoying to have these things changed within a relatively short time frame.

(Edited to correct “coating”)

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I haven’t checked the schedule, but do the new event nights correspond to previously scheduled EMH at MK? If not, and there are EMH at another park on the same night as this new event at MK, no one is missing out on EMH at MK, right?

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Not so much outrage as pure confusion and just not seeing where this can go.

I was also having a hard time rationalizing that much money for just 3 hours. It HAS to include some regular hours of park time or some other incentives too (like entertainment, food, etc.). If it’s like EMH, then many attractions will be closed. And we all know some of the bigger attractions still have maintenance periods during that 11pm-2am timeframe.

Also it’s only night hours, aside from some commando families, it pretty much excludes families with young kids. Most of those families bail after Wishes and after the latest, second MSEP.

KTP mentioned that it would only be offered to offsite guests. However, I can’t see how this could be implemented, unless it’s something that can only be bought at the gate. And even then, how would they know?

And the logistics elude me. If the park closes at 10 and Wishes is at 10pm, then you’ll still have a mix of regular ticket holders with the people paying that kind of money and really only getting 2 hours of “party” time. Will they have bracelets?

I really think that the park hours will be updated (likely closing earlier) to accommodate this “offer” and give CM’s time to clear the park. which then means that onsite or multiday ticket holders are now again being hit with a shorter park day. And that sucks.

Also, if it’s gonna cost this much for just 3 hours, I can’t imagine what the cost for MNSSHP and MVMCP will wind up being.

This sounds like a test to see just how much people would pay for EMH. Maybe they are starting high and then when it gets implemented, maybe they lower it. Or maybe they tier that too: Offsite guests pay full amount, Onsite guests get a discount (thereby keeping a shred of benefit for staying onsite) - not free, so Disney is still making a bottom line.

The only benefit right now to this is that, when comparing to offsite accommodations, this can be a way to really highlight an actual (not inferred) value of EMH and staying onsite.

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How much does it cost to hire a plaid?. If four people pooled their money would it be enough? I have heard the price but don’t remember the exact amount. There must be a breakpoint. X number times 150 equals plaid. Might be the way to go.

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@DarthDopey, when I read KTP it says available to all guests. To me, that means it does not matter where a person stays.

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I read the same and it sounded like it was for offsite only, but maybe I interpreted it wrong.

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I think KTP used a poorly worded intro. I think he was saying that this is a way for off site guests to have access to an onsite type benefit, not exclusive to off site guests. The other outlets I have read about this on say nothing about off site.

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The whole thing sounds bonkers. Those dates are a bunch of Thursday nights. It might appeal to someone from Japan or Australia but as someone from the Eastern time zone, it sounds very unappealing.

I guess they can try anything they want to try but this is a strange offering.

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The official announcement is out: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/magic-kingdom/disney-after-hours/

So, can you eat $150 worth of Mickey bars?

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As long as this doesn’t take the place of the on-site “free” EMH, I say “go for it” Disney. But they won’t get any of MY money for it…

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So you can enter the park at 7. Similar to the Halloween and Christmas parties in that they allow you to enter before the official start time.

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but it’s not a party. Not as much being offered and it’s WAYYYY more than the parties were charging in the past.

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I’m seriously starting to be over ever planning this trip. Studied crowd calendars before choosing a date, made my ADR’s 180 days out, FP+ 60 days out, ect.
Having the entire unknown of RoL on our AK day is stressful enough, but now this on one of our MK days. It wouldn’t bother me nearly as much if WDW offered the same flexibility as DL, but it just doesn’t.
I feel grateful we are finally able to make this trip, and I know it will turn out to be amazing, but I’m just so frustrated.

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I agree with you. After all the planning it’s annoying for them to make changes. Especially since the dates for this event are so close. I’m thinking about changing my MK day to the Tuesday instead of the Thursday. I guess I should see it as a blessing that we’re staying offsite and I haven’t made my FP+ reservations yet, so it’s easier for me to change my day.

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