Evening Extra Magic Hours Policy Change Effective 9/7/08: Updated with Report

I forgot to mention in our last post that one time when we were at the Magic Kingdom for a late night I turned the wristband over and looked for the manufacturer's name and it turned out to be the same company we used for our wristbands at our local fair. When I stopped working with running of the fair about 5 years ago we were buying wrist bands in quantities of 50000 each year and paying about 5 cents per band. I am sure that WDW pays even less by virtue of purchasing so many more.

However, Captain Jessica Sparrow is correct that the cost of the wrist bands is fairly inconsequential. What costs Disney is everything else involved but most notably labor costs.

I liked the wristband idea. I am livid that this is changing, and what makes me REALLY upset about this, is that it is our ONLY day in MK this trip that this stuff is starting on. That is the EMH night for MK. So, the ONE day we have in the park there, will be using this new system, on it's first day? That just makes my stomach churn a little bit!
I am always very upset about people who like to buck the system. I hope that they have something that works this system out BETTER than what we IMAGINE! I would think that Disney should know even better than us, so I am going to try to have faith in their judgement, however, I see EMH's ending, as a benefit quite shortly. I agree that soon they will be selling these hours out anyways, and I guarantee you that if this happens,.....my family will be staying off site and splitting our time with Sea world, Universal, Disney, and The beach. I stay on Site for the few benefits they give us.

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Originally Posted by Vito

And I really don't think this is at all related to the cost of the wristbands. Those plastic/tyvek things are cheap as heck, especially in the huge bulk numbers Disney buys them in. In the grand scheme of the expenses Disney has, the cost of those bracelets is miniscule. They're probably a few pennies each... and how many people get them? Maybe 5,000 per EMH night? Is it even that high? That would be like $150 for 5,000 bracelets. Disney isn't going to cut out the bracelets to save around $500 a week. Believe me. That's not the reason for the change.

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It's related to the cost of the labor to hand out the wristbands and I read earlier people saying it was part of Disney going green which actually made me laugh since we all know Disney only goes green when they get big press from it.

Me personally I would rather them go back to E-ride nights and charge me a little extra and keep the crowds down.

I said it earlier this is going to make the EMHs so crowded with non-resort guests that they will no longer be worth attending.

I'm in agreement with most everyone else. Not a good idea with room keys. I'm thinking its a way to have them get lost easier. Keep showing your card and misplace it. Wristbands were better. Keeps the lines moving.

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Originally Posted by CaptainJessicaSparrow

Actually, it's more like 13,000, and that is for like AK and Studios. MK is usually around 20-30K. Also if you forecast for 13,000, you need to have in actuality around 20,000 just in case.

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Originally Posted by JPL

It's related to the cost of the labor to hand out the wristbands and I read earlier people saying it was part of Disney going green which actually made me laugh since we all know Disney only goes green when they get big press from it.

Me personally I would rather them go back to E-ride nights and charge me a little extra and keep the crowds down.

I said it earlier this is going to make the EMHs so crowded with non-resort guests that they will no longer be worth attending.

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I had no idea it had gotten that crowded. I am somewhat out of the loop as it was still E-Ride nights when I went last (and it was for MK only, of course), so I hadn't realized it had become so crowded during evening EMH.

I'm hoping when I go next month they'll have some of the kinks ironed out of the system at least in terms of card scanning or whatever they decide to do, and maybe the crowds will be thinner than during peak times.

Yeah, they do.

And it's really all the other things that add up, operating costs, labor costs, entertainment, etc. That's what add ups for the cost, not the bands.

See, I was under the impression that the CMs also used the wristbands to hoarde everyone out of the park who didn't belong. I guess this means huge crowds of people who just can't go on rides.

How about for the parties? They'll still need to use wristbands for getting people out before MNSSHP and such for the reason I mentioned above, right?

I was also unaware of the notion that people who were not resort guests could stay in the park. That is not even right. That is not the way it is supppose to be. The park is suppose to belong to those who paid for it to belong to them during those hours. Disney is Double Dipping! I think that the laziness of the staff to correct this problem is definitely bad business and really should upset the resort guests. These people stay off property and get rental homes for $150 a night for a large family and on site guests pay for these benefits by twice that and more for a small family, and then they use our benefits to shop and eat ice cream?

We show our rooms keys at that other theme park for Express Pass, it hasn't been a problem. I realize the logistics are different. Jessica, have you heard anything about how it worked in Feb.?

This means you will have to let your kids carry around their cards in the park as well? Not always the best idea. I can certainly think of times when you might let a kid ride something by themselves, but you might not want them coming off of Space Mountain without their card and not being able to ride anything else the rest of the night.

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Originally Posted by jonahbear2006

These people stay off property and get rental homes for $150 a night for a large family and on site guests pay for these benefits by twice that and more for a small family, and then they use our benefits to shop and eat ice cream?

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Hahah. If Disney can get non-resort guests to hang around just to buy merchandise and food, I doubt they see a single problem with that.

Even when they had E-Ride nights, I don't think they threw everybody out of MK. I think you just couldn't ride anything without a wristband. It was simply a continuation of that policy.

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Originally Posted by jonahbear2006

I was also unaware of the notion that people who were not resort guests could stay in the park. That is not even right. That is not the way it is supppose to be. The park is suppose to belong to those who paid for it to belong to them during those hours. Disney is Double Dipping! I think that the laziness of the staff to correct this problem is definitely bad business and really should upset the resort guests. These people stay off property and get rental homes for $150 a night for a large family and on site guests pay for these benefits by twice that and more for a small family, and then they use our benefits to shop and eat ice cream?

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But see, you aren't paying for the time in the park. You're paying for a roof over you head for the night. Anything else they offer is called a perk. And in most cases, the people off-property have to pay more than those who are on property. Disney rooms start at around $80-100 for the Value resorts. A lot of the ones off property costs anywhere from $120 and up. Plus they don't get their own transportation that runs the entire time, like Disney resorts. They have a set schedule for what time their last bus leaves, which is usually an hour and 45 minutes after official park closing.

Plus it's not like they get free food or merchandise. They have to pay the same price as you, so it doesn't make a difference if they are there or not after EMH has started. You get to ride rides and go in shows. They don't. Who do you think is having more fun as a family? Do you know of any little kids that would be happy waiting until 1, 2 or even 3am to shop? And being expected to wait while Mommy shops? No, they'd be passed out or extremely unhappy.

Now, for MNSSHP, they do get about 99% of those day guests without tickets/bands out because of the parade and fireworks shows. It's very hard for someone to be able to stay in past an hour or so without completely hiding in bushes for hours. Once they are spotted without a band, they are escorted out by security. And that's when they can't go shopping. But then that is because those people are actually paying to be in the park with a separate ticket.

If you wanted, you'd be better off going to the E-Ride nights again. Then you could use the excuse you are paying for the time in the parks. Otherwise, you are just paying for a hotel room. EMH is just another perk - like contenential breakfast. It's nice, but not a requirement to give to you.

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Originally Posted by Jarrod

Actually, unless they check the dates on the cards, which would take even longer at each attraction, anyone who has a card will be able to stay. I could supply about 10 people expired cards just from this year alone. Not that I would ever do that, but my point is that the potential for abuse seems greater to me. At least with the wristbands the color changes everytime.

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Unless they start color coding the cards

The biggest problem I see aside from lost cards is the extra potential to damage the magnetic stripe of the card. When we visit WDW I treat the cards like they are made of eggs. The least little thing can demagnetize these cheap cards. Putting them next to cell phones, radios, cameras or any electronics will dramaitcally increase your chances of zapping the magnetic stripe. With guests take these in and out of pockets this increases the chances of contact with these devices in the hand or in the pocket. Mark my words you will see a increase in guests needing to replace damaged cards. Given previous posts about the cost of wrist bands and the distribution costs, how much is WDW going to save. I think they are going to shift the financial and staffing burden to card distribution at guest services or resort desks.

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Originally Posted by jonahbear2006

I liked the wristband idea. I am livid that this is changing, and what makes me REALLY upset about this, is that it is our ONLY day in MK this trip that this stuff is starting on. That is the EMH night for MK. So, the ONE day we have in the park there, will be using this new system, on it's first day? That just makes my stomach churn a little bit!
I am always very upset about people who like to buck the system. I hope that they have something that works this system out BETTER than what we IMAGINE! I would think that Disney should know even better than us, so I am going to try to have faith in their judgement, however, I see EMH's ending, as a benefit quite shortly. I agree that soon they will be selling these hours out anyways, and I guarantee you that if this happens,.....my family will be staying off site and splitting our time with Sea world, Universal, Disney, and The beach. I stay on Site for the few benefits they give us.

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WRITE to them and TELL them that!! We need to be giving them feedback! And as much as the cynics might say that they don't care what we say, they DO care if we start staying elsewhere and spending more time at other parks! So tell them this will be the last straw!

Bottom line I liked it when "resort guests only" PAID for the extra hours and they had a "limit" on how many were sold (I don't recall being able to buy them BEFORE that night either...we ALWAYS got them when we wanted them).

I personally see room for "abuse" on this one. Someone could easily give their room key to someone else and just say they lost their key and get a new one.

I HATE to see extra night hours going away. I really despise mornings...I'm more of an owl.

There are a LOT of reasons why a person might choose to stay off site. There's really not a WHOLE lot of amenities to being a resort guest but it is "convenient" and it depends on if you're the type that would take advantage of those amenities.

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Originally Posted by JPL

Me personally I would rather them go back to E-ride nights and charge me a little extra and keep the crowds down.

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I agree. We LOVED :cloud9: E-Night. We would also much rather pay a little extra to have less crwods.

We treat our room keys as if they were pure gold...charging priveledges and non expiring tickets are pricey! I always take my card out with great care. I love the conveninece of having everything on one card. I guess I need to rethink this process :confused:

It always amazes me how critical people are with the mention of any little change. Before it's even been implemented, there are countless scenarios that people get all bent out of shape over.

I say give it a chance before casting judgement. Perhaps, it'll work out ok. Perhaps through previous trials and analysis have proven it to be a workable change.

Personally, I don't see how it's really much different. If the card gets demagnetized, simply stop and have it reinitialized. Sure, people could bring old cards and cheat, but then I have at least 5 colors of old wrist bands laying around, so I could do the same with those. Instead of flashing my wristband to get on a ride, I now have to flash my card, doesn't seem like any real hardship to me. It's just different.

But then what do I know. I'm naive enough to think that the Disney folks might be able to make intelligent decisions once in a while instead of automatically thinking every decision they make is destined to fail.

So I'll give the new system a fair chance before I judge it's effect.

I'm not happy about this. Now if your an adult without kids it's not a big deal but if you have kids and a big family and your carry your families cards and you have to show them to get on every ride that's a lot of going in and out of your pockets, purses, whatever you store them in. They should now provide all guests staying on site free layards to carry them in, not that I want anything hanging around my neck either. I hate digging for stuff and if your there to do the rides you'll be doing it a lot. If you keep them in your pockets, they are going to get lost with as many times as you will be getting them in and out. We'll see what happens once this starts and what feedback they get back, things could change before we go again.

Maybe this will thin out the crowds a little. Maybe everyone who thinks this is too much of a hassle won't go to the parks anymore for EMH's. Personally, I can put up with a little hassle - I'm at WDW.

Jessica, you'll have to let us know how this is working out from a CM standpoint - what you hear and what you experience for yourself. I know you'll be in Entertainment by then, but I suspect that you'll still be picking up shifts on JC!