Change to Extra Magical Hours

[New Mouse]

Their stance thst no emh is safer is baffling but not surprising

 

[vacay77]

I'm a morning person so I don't mind the Early Theme Park Entry. However, I don't think 30 mins is much. Prior to its closure, Disneyland had 1 hour of early theme park entry, which I loved. And that's one of the reasons we decided to become DVC members. However, I'm sure there will be changes when DL finally opens. But 30 mins - what's the point? At least commit to 1 hour early theme park entry.

 

[Ninabeano]

I would hope that it is extended to an hour as 30mins is nothing. However, I think its a great idea. It is still a perk for staying on site and will stop the huge crowds in one park per day. Spreading it out over all the parks is a great idea. We will take advantage of this for sure...if we are ever allowed back into the US that is!!! The UK is a pretty miserable place to live at present.

 

[Dean Marino]

Deleted.

 

[hp_lovecraft]

I generally like the new proposed system.
I avoided the EMH park days since they were too crowded, and lines were terrible.

My plans were always rope drop, early FPs, do as many rides as you can before the park gets busy. Then relax the rest of the day, shows, nice meals, etc.

In theory, this would only improve on my plans making it even easier to cross off those e-tickets first thing in the morning.

But, my question is, are the parks going to close early for MORE paid night events? In that case, we would be loosing far more then we gained.

Also, how will they manage "rope-drop"? In the "old days", the turnstiles would open 30-60 mins before rope-drop. This was to keep the lines from becoming too terrible.

But, with only a 30min EMH, thats well within in the window of when the turnstiles usually were already open. So does that mean that will not let NON resort guests through the turnstiles until the official open time? That seems very unlikely.

I'm guessing they will let resort guests through the turnstiles at 60min before, and the non resort guests at 30min before rope drop? If that is the case, then the actual benefit drops to zero

 

[Sandisw]

I generally like the new proposed system.
I avoided the EMH park days since they were too crowded, and lines were terrible.

My plans were always rope drop, early FPs, do as many rides as you can before the park gets busy. Then relax the rest of the day, shows, nice meals, etc.

In theory, this would only improve on my plans making it even easier to cross off those e-tickets first thing in the morning.

But, my question is, are the parks going to close early for MORE paid night events? In that case, we would be loosing far more then we gained.

Also, how will they manage "rope-drop"? In the "old days", the turnstiles would open 30-60 mins before rope-drop. This was to keep the lines from becoming too terrible.

But, with only a 30min EMH, thats well within in the window of when the turnstiles usually were already open. So does that mean that will not let NON resort guests through the turnstiles until the official open time? That seems very unlikely.

I'm guessing they will let resort guests through the turnstiles at 60min before, and the non resort guests at 30min before rope drop? If that is the case, then the actual benefit drops to zero

There is always the chance they will find a way with technology to prohibit those not resort guests from being able to get in.

It will be interesting to see how it works in practice. It also may start as 30 and then increase to 60? Easier to put that out now for less and then change later.

 

[RoseGold]

I'm still holding out hope that night EMH will return, at least in some form. Wednesday only? Something!

When all the wallets start staying off site, this might look very different for Disney.

 

[havoc315]

What are people's thoughts on the change in the Magical Hours for resort guests? I think I might dig the new policy IF they truly hold non-resort guests back until posted opening time!

There are a lot of questions... as well as hidden indirect benefit for DVC owners:

First, the questions:
- Do they open the turnstiles exactly 30 minutes prior to official opening, or even earlier. If they open the turnstiles at the 30 minute mark, can still have a 10-15 minute line to get into the park (or longer). So this "extra" time could be reduced to 15 minutes.
-What, IF ANY, attractions are open during this time? If I want to be a real pessimist, I'd point out that they only are calling it "early ENTRY" -- The announcement doesn't explicitly say attractions will be open. This might be nothing more than putting on-site guests in front of rope drop.
- Now, if they open turnstiles a good 40 minutes early... and start attractions 30 minutes early, that's actually a decent onsite benefit. Since it's every park, it would theoretically be less crowded than when they did different parks on different days.

The hidden indirect benefit for some DVC owners: Expect part of this change is because of the monetary value of hard ticket night time events. Not only does this provide more time for extra paid events (parties, After Hours), it also reduces the competition by removing the free alternative. Want to stay in Magic Kingdom till midnight? There is no longer a free EMH you can use.. now you have to pay for the after hours event.

But the semi-good news for DVC... it could also mean more Moonlight Magic events, and DVC blue card members are likely to continue to get decent discount to hard ticket events. And particularly for a DVC owner who doesn't have an AP... could be nice to have a short Disney trip. And instead of getting daily tickets, just get tickets to 1 or 2 night events.

 

[havoc315]

I'm still holding out hope that night EMH will return, at least in some form. Wednesday only? Something!

When all the wallets start staying off site, this might look very different for Disney.

They have already been reducing EMH in favor of "paid" extra hours. Those paid events will expand only more.

One can see this as reducing an onsite benefit. But the change hurts offsite guests even more: In the past, offsite guests just had to avoid the EMH morning park. As long as they avoided EMH morning park, an offsite guest had the same rope-drop advantage as an onsite guest.
Now, offsite guests won't be allowed to enter any park until every attraction already has an extended line. No off-site guest will ever be able to do Flight of Passage at rope drop without a wait, ever again.

 

[havoc315]

Basically it's like getting 1 maybe 2 ride headstart.

Toss up in the end have to see. Nice it's all parks daily.

Depends on when they actually let guests in... If they start filtering the on-site guests in before the 30 minute mark, so that you actually get a full 30 minutes of attractions -- That can easily translate to a 3-4 attraction advantage in Fantasy Land at MK. At most parks, it's probably a 2-3 attraction head start, as long as the attractions are near each other.

On the other hand, if they just barely open the turnstiles at the 30 minute mark... Taking time to let people actually in to the park. Plus, note the announcement doesn't actually explicitly say rides will even be open. It could be nothing more than only on-site guests get through the turnstiles early. That would simply put on-site front of the rope drop, for a 1 attraction head start.

 

[irazabul]

We have three teenagers. Does anyone have teenagers that wake up before noon on vacation unless forced to? It may drive me nuts, but I've given up getting my family out of bed early - I tried forcing my family to make Rope Drop one time and all I got was drop kicked! And DW is as bad as the teenagers! PLEASE allow late hours, because of otherwise, we might only get a couple of hours at the parks . Actually, for us, I wouldn't mind separate tickets for late hours.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

We like the mornings so I'll take it, for now. With park hours so short, I like anything that gives us more time while we're still in this mess, so I can still be patient for a little while longer.

I think morning crowds will go down a lot. Offsite guests have lost 100% of their ability to rope drop, so how many of them will bother with being there right at park opening without the promise of a short line?

I also see a lot of ticketed after hours events coming our way.

 

[sethschroeder]

That seems very unlikely.

Why? They will.....

Just like they used to hold offsite guests as well. I am not sure why everyone thinks Disney will outline this benefit and then not put in place the controls they already had in the past.

Maybe I missed something though and they only checked for onsite vs offsite when we were there?

 

[sethschroeder]

I also see a lot of ticketed after hours events coming our way.

We will see I guess. I can't imagine anything anytime soon though but I might be wrong.

People talking about 2 tickets though got me thinking of:

• Base Ticket (8am-8pm daily varied by park)
• Park Hopper (jump between park)
• Plus Option (water parks, mini golf, espn, more)
• Night Owl Option (8pm-11pm daily varied by park)

I could see them retiring the special events with the bigger guest expectations for "special" and instead keep those hard ticket events specific to Halloween/Christmas at MK.

 

[zavandor]

There are a lot of questions... as well as hidden indirect benefit for DVC owners:

First, the questions:
- Do they open the turnstiles exactly 30 minutes prior to official opening, or even earlier. If they open the turnstiles at the 30 minute mark, can still have a 10-15 minute line to get into the park (or longer). So this "extra" time could be reduced to 15 minutes.
-What, IF ANY, attractions are open during this time? If I want to be a real pessimist, I'd point out that they only are calling it "early ENTRY" -- The announcement doesn't explicitly say attractions will be open. This might be nothing more than putting on-site guests in front of rope drop.
- Now, if they open turnstiles a good 40 minutes early... and start attractions 30 minutes early, that's actually a decent onsite benefit. Since it's every park, it would theoretically be less crowded than when they did different parks on different days.

I think it will all depend on guest behaviour.
If a very large queue will start to form an hour before early entry, like it used to do at some parks before Covid, like AKV, they'll start opening the parks before 30 minutes, early enough to let everyone in when the 30 minutes begin.
What I hope is that there won't be need for that. Before Covid, offside guests had a terrible chance to get FP+ for the headliners like FoP or Slinky. Their only options to do those attractions with minimal queue was rope drop or last thing at night. This put high importance on being among the firsts to enter the parks and caused people to arrive earlier and earlier.
For the new early entry, only onsite and partner hotel guests can enter early, they're spread over 4 parks and they're on holiday, meaning not everyone will want to wake up early, compared to an AP or local who will visit just for the day and will want to maximize his time in the park.
Hopefully we'll be able to arrive 5 or 10 minutes before early opening and walk to our first attraction with no queue.

 

[havoc315]

Hopefully we'll be able to arrive 5 or 10 minutes before early opening and walk to our first attraction with no queue.

*IF* that's the case, then it's actually a pretty big win for on-site guests. And a big loss for off site. (No matter what, it's a loss for off site).

Then it's truly "extra magic half hour" for every park, every day. And it can really give every on-site guest the equivalent of an extra headliner FP per day. (the chance to ride a headline with low wait).

It also could gradually cause off-site guests to arrive later, as there is really no incentive to get there before park open, as they are essentially ineligible for rope drop.

Anyway, I'm not that confident it will work that way for onsite guests. But I'm truly hoping you're right.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I think it will be good. Especially for those attractions that are difficult to ride after opening. A head start on the non-resort guests will be an advantage. We have teenage daughters and they liked the evening EMH, but they also enjoyed the times we did rope drop (we did it last trip to ride Avatar).

For those questioning if Disney will be able to have a system that distinguishes resort guests from non-resort guests, how hard can that be? I mean, everything is linked on Disney experience. When your magic band is scanned at the entrance, it will either say you are "cleared" or not cleared. I actually think it would be fairly easy to do that. If a guest wants to utilize EMH in the morning, they will need to make sure their resort stay is linked on the Disney experience app. Not hard to do.

 

[sethschroeder]

For those questioning if Disney will be able to have a system that distinguishes resort guests from non-resort guests, how hard can that be?

They already do thats what I don't get. When I have went (don't normally do morning hours) they always checked. Remember at AKV there was issues I guess at the main entrance so they were letting everyone in but anyone onsite went to the left, was checked by an ipad and let to go, other side was offsite and held back.

I don't go during Christmas and such though so maybe its different then.

Fair certain anyone from offsite also shows up blue upon tap from reading but can't verify. Also not sure if they could get in to trouble over false advertising as well if they weren't not preventing offsite guests from entering.

 

[hp_lovecraft]

Just like they used to hold offsite guests as well. I am not sure why everyone thinks Disney will outline this benefit and then not put in place the controls they already had in the past.

I think we are just wondering with just a 30-min window, how will that work.
We always avoided EMH days since it just meant huge lines, thus counterproductive. So for those that have done a morning EMH, did they still let onsite through the turnstiles before rope drop? For off-site, did they not allow early turnstiles?

That would make the most sense, let onsite tap in early, head for ropedrop, hold offsite until actual open time.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

They already do thats what I don't get. When I have went (don't normally do morning hours) they always checked. Remember at AKV there was issues I guess at the main entrance so they were letting everyone in but anyone onsite went to the left, was checked by an ipad and let to go, other side was offsite and held back.

I don't go during Christmas and such though so maybe its different then.

Fair certain anyone from offsite also shows up blue upon tap from reading but can't verify. Also not sure if they could get in to trouble over false advertising as well if they weren't not preventing offsite guests from entering.

Exactly. Anytime we did rope drop you had to scan your magic band first. And I definitely don't think they are going to advertise the new EMH being only for on-site guests and then let in off-site guests. Especially knowing that many people are upset at the change and there will be a spotlight on it.