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

But I question if they could get 10,000 paying patrons for an after hours event at the $150 price they are charging. Maybe it's possible. I guess it depends on marketing.

It's so funny how big a CoasterBuzz conversation can get with so little factual information. This is just that interesting, I suppose.

Tesla just presold 200k new cars that don't even exist yet. I'm sure Disney can get exactly what they want for what they charge.

LostKause said:

But I question if they could get 10,000 paying patrons for an after hours event at the $150 price they are charging. Maybe it's possible. I guess it depends on marketing.

I will always assume that Disney won't make moves like this unless they've got data and analysis supporting the concept. Whatever the number of guests Disney is planning on limiting After Hours to, they're proceeding based on the numbers their research has delivered.

For people dropping thousands and thousands of dollars to stay at Grand Floridian or Contemporary -- a few hundred dollars on exclusive access to the park is pocket change.

It's so funny how big a CoasterBuzz conversation can get with so little factual information. This is just that interesting, I suppose.

One of the reasons I love Coasterbuzz :-)

ApolloAndy said:
I bet they have about 500 attraction seats across the park between all the trains on all the coasters, and theater style sit down attractions (like the Tiki Room).

That's way low. I would imagine Hall of Presidents and Philharmagic are easily 1000 seats each.

slithernoggin said:

For people dropping thousands and thousands of dollars to stay at Grand Floridian or Contemporary -- a few hundred dollars on exclusive access to the park is pocket change.

That's why I think many of the guests who attend will do so through some sort of package at the Deluxe resorts. The eye-popping price in that case is mostly just to establish the value of the "included" perk.

Ride sessions, like they used to do at Indiana Beach - no idea how they work there now...hopefully soon I'll care again.

I remember discussing then what an innovative way to price an amusement park visit...by having morning and evening hours, they create a wider array of vacation packages for early-risers, night-owls, etc., and clean up in the process.The theoretical infinite spectrum of packages and times allows each family to maximize their utility within the budgetary constraints...meaning Disney can extract every dollar they can while making you as happy as possible. Win freakin' win.

So was it a complete failure or always meant to be a temporary test run (to either determine validity or necessary tweaks)?

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/21/disney-world-burie...er-ho.aspx

I'll go with the latter. I have a healthy respect for the Disney Company's business operations, but that doesn't mean I think they're infallible.

I'm not sure the price was driven by the desire for high margins as much as it might have been to cover cost. It's hard to know without knowing the number of tickets they intended to sell, what was open, etc. I doubt very much that perception had anything to do with it.

I've been trying very hard to think of who this customer is. When we go to Disney we plan a multi-day ticket, usually with park hopper. We pre-plan as much park experience as we can, FastPasses, etc, and wind up having a very full day. Maybe if we had that extra day that we spent around the resort pool we just might find the value in an after hours event. And that would be if we felt the need to bust out MK one more time, unencumbered by large crowds. Or... if I was in Orlando anyway and wanted to spend just one day at Disney (I have done that) I might choose this type of ticket. It wouldn't be that much more than the single day price, and once again, unlimited access to all my favorites.

But why would they choose to make this available on Thursday's? I've always been under the impression that the weekday vs. weekend thing we find at our regionals doesn't really apply at WDW. From my own experience I'd think weekends are what people use as travel days, and start their Disney Week on Monday. I've heard that Saturday and Sunday, while busy, aren't necessarily busier than any other day, and I've been there on some Fridays where I could barely move. (Maybe someone we know who lives next door and is a frequent visitor can set me straight on that) Anyway, my point is, Thursday seems like an unlikely day to offer it given that visitors, like us, have their plans set. What day would I have it if I was in charge? I don't know. Off-season weekends, like high season, offer later park hours anyway (Oh, I get it, due to crowds, right?), so there's that.

What are the habits of DVC visitors? The few that I know are big park- goers and fill everyday with Disney activities. Maybe Disney was counting on those folks as people who lounge around the resort all week and would love just one evening at the park. Well, I guess it's clear that whoever they are and whatever they do didn't lead them to bite into this, even at a substantial discount.

So, it's a fail, or at least a re-think. Maybe that's all I need to know for now.

Even if it was intended to be a short-term thing, I saw a number of reports of comp tickets, even after the first night.

Doing it during the slow season sure can't help, either. Why would you pay $600 for your family of four to get a few extra hours in when the park's not that busy anyhow.

If they did it when the parks are packed, then the value might be there. Sit by the pool all day then scramble around the park at night. Problem there is that the parks are open so late that the after hours thing probably isn't feasible.

So there lies my problem with the whole thing... when you can do it, you don't need it. When you need it, you can't do it.

I don't see DVC members going for this either. We (DVC members) get our Annual Passes at the Florida resident rate or better and are already committed to coming back again for the next umpteen years. Spending that much extra money for a couple hours doesn't make any sense for DVC members from my viewpoint.

It's a stretch at that, but I can only think of a couple of potential markets for this:

1) convention attendees that want to do the Magic Kingdom but know they won't get everything done in the few hours after their day sessions end. A one day ticket is $100, but you'll only get to use 4-5 hours of it in a semi-crowded park, or you can get a $149 ticket for an exclusive event ensuring you can do everything in the park.

2) Travelers only allowing a single day at Disney. We did Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party around 2008 or 2009 because we were in Florida for a cruise and only had the day we flew in for Disney World. Most things were open, crowds were very light, and the price included complementary cookies and beverages. Given our time constraints, it was worth it that time. We've been on property during the holidays almost every year since and have never considered doing the Christmas Party again.

Just noticed while looking at tickets for an upcoming trip... while they did away with this at night, they're still offering the "Early Morning Magic" at Magic Kingdom and they're going to expand it to Hollywood Studios beginning in August.

For $69 you can enter the park at 7:45am. It includes breakfast and 3 rides at Magic Kingdom, and breakfast and two rides plus pics with Buzz and Woody at HS. The parks open at 9, so you get 75 minutes before the commoners are allowed in.

So it looks like with the expansion of the early morning offering, it was probably just a case of more demand in the AM than at night.

Either that or Disney hates people who like to sleep in on vacation.

That's interesting because it establishes the price that Disney expects for the extra time.

The original "after hours" was $149 for three hours - $50 per hour.

This "morning magic" thing is $69 for 75 minutes - $55 per hour.

They've pretty much valued any additional time in the park at $50 per hour.

At Epcot, $50 buys you a good viewing spot for Illuminations, flaming doughnuts and as much bubbly as you can drink. That's the deal I like.

I so need to do that. I meant to last trip but forgot to make reservations the one nite I could go.