"Disney After Hours"...for the low price of $149/person...

BrettV said:
You'd be shocked how many parents tote their exhausted, miserable children around those parks in the middle of the night during Extra Magic Hours.

I was going to say something similar - I've been at DL and MK well after midnight many times and there's always plenty of kiddies around. Although honestly, the percentage of miserable to happy ones probably isn't that different from what it is any other time of the day. I would have definitely been one of those youngsters totally psyched to be there at 2AM.

Orlando Attractions Magazine has just posted that there's going to be an early-morning option as well.

Pay $69, get in the park 75 minutes before everyone else.

Me, I'd rather be in a park at 2am than at 7am....not that I haven't done both.

I've got to think that this almost certainly spells the eventual end of resort EMH, both morning and night extra ticket/up-charge events.

I doubt it. Extra Tragic Hours are pretty much an expectation for staying on-property.

Entice vacation planners with a "free" perk, Extra Magic Hours, and offer vacation planners the opportunity to enjoy an exclusive" experience ...

... especially for those staying at Deluxe resorts, dropping thousands of dollars on accommodations and hundreds of dollars on park admission, $150 a head for an uncrowded Magic Kingdom will probably be attractive.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/26/disney-world-is-so...liant.aspx

Oh to have a premium product that is in high demand....

It's such a horrible burden Disney has to bear....

WDW will apparently be offering Disney Early Morning Magic as well: 7.45 entrance, 3 Fantasyland rides and breakfast at $69 for adults, $49 for children.

Yet another example of Disney pricing the middle class out, as explained by the Dad guide to WDW website.

Some of my favorites:

...all of these new money grabbing programs come on top of the 5th year in a row you've raised prices 6% or so when the economy had a growth rate of 1% or less.

Silly Disney company, maximising profits....

Even the most recent "Value" Resort is a complete joke. There is no "Value" in something that starts at over $300 per night.

Value being in the eye of the beholder, of course, and twenty seconds of Internet research found Disney Value resorts at half that price.

When Walt died it cost less than $4 to get into the Magic Kingdom.

Which would be almost $24 in 2016, and in 1971, you had to buy tickets to ride the rides.

I'm tired of white victimhood already. How do you complain this much about something that has nothing to do with the regular day at the park? (And by the way, US GDP has been 3% or more for years.) Dude needs to get a life.

I think the morning thing is actually a pretty good deal. The Segway tour at Epcot back in the day was around $120, and they didn't include breakfast (at Sunshine Seasons) until the last year. I did the Epcot Sparkling Dessert Party the year before last for $50, and that's just alcohol, doughnuts en flambe and the best Illuminations viewing, and I thought it was totally worth it. Disney understands the presence of a benefit-oriented consumer segment, and they're going to go after it with as many of these extra-curricular activities as they can. They've been doing it for years, now they're expanding it. And guess what... they're still optional and beyond the core theme park experience, which is unchanged.

He probably stays at the Orlando Waldorf-Astoria while complaining that the Orlando Four Seasons is too expensive. :-)

I spend some time on Disney park fan sites, and this "how dare Disney charge more than I want to pay" attitude seems prevalent.

If you'll excuse me, I have to go complain to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse that they're pricing themselves out of the middle class.

This hobby used to be reasonably affordable. You guys talk like a Disney vacation is not a distant dream to a lot of people.

^It is, and that sucks. But that's more a governmental policy issue than a business issue.

From Disney's perspective, they want to give everyone a great experience, but they want to charge for as many "extras" as it takes for your family to feel as special as they can reasonably afford (which varies widely in terms of amount to spend as well as what amenities a person/family finds important enough to pay for). For some it's more riding, for some more shows, and for others, time to relax by the pool or play a round of golf...

Besides, if WDW were as "affordable" as it would need to be to be accessible to all, the place would have to accommodate 200K people per day, and it would be miserably packed - meaning almost no one would have a good time.

edit: (as an optional add-on, LOL) - thankful this hobby isn't Disney-focused, or it would have been out of my price range... ;-P

LostKause said:

You guys talk like a Disney vacation is not a distant dream to a lot of people.

Oh, it totally is. And so what?

It's not a distant dream for a lot of people too.

There are lots of discretionary things that are distant dreams to lots of people.

Interestingly, while the single-day ticket has essentially doubled in the last 20 years (adjusting for inflation), the multi-day tickets have less so. The 6-day in 1995 went from $47 (adjusted) per day to $59.

I won't even get on my priority and budgeting rant again, because no one ever agrees with me. :)

As it has been beaten to death on these boards in the past, the fact remains that "a" WDW vacation of some sort can be affordable and within reach of more income groups than the media (and Disney fanatics) will admit too.

Similar to attending a professional sporting event. You can sit in the cheap seats and not buy any $6 hot dogs and $9 beers and enjoy the same game as those watching from corporate suites and sky boxes. It's all relative.

To go with the sporting event analogy - when you compare the ticket prices for a day at a theme park to moderate to decent seats at an on-demand event - the value of the theme park wins hands down every time. A 2-3 hour sporting event plus parking often costs way more per person than what can be a 10-12 hour day at the park. I know Disney is the exception to the rule with this with multiple park days and a resort stay, but it's still a "better deal" if you ask me. But that is where my interests lie. And it's why I find much more value in spending a few hundred dollars on a Disney and/or Universal Annual Pass (or both!) and enjoying a year of theme park visits where I can come and go as I please rather than buying tickets to a few sporting events.

Jeff said:

I'm tired of white victimhood already.

I'm in no way defending this imbecile, or victimhood in general...and maybe I missed something from his stupid rant...but what does his being white have to do with anything?

I'm stereotyping the larger trend of white people who feel disadvantaged for [any reason here] or entitled to [something here], when in reality their lives are pretty solid. On the right it's the people scared of brown people, on the left it's the people scared of failure and rich people. In this case, it's people scared that Disney doesn't cater to them for free. :)

So if this guy was another race, his feeling of disadvantage or entitlement would be ok? I'm not seeing the connection.