One of the things that always made Disney World a special place was that it didn’t feel like they were nickel and diming you. Sure, you pay a lot upfront to be able to go. But once you get there everything is included, and you don’t feel like they’re trying to upsell you on things. Not like parks such as Six Flags where you can pay extra for front of the line passes, premium parking, using a one-time locker, and pretty much anything else they can think to charge for. Disney is better than that, it’s what makes them so special and worth the price.
Now, though, Disney has announced two new events that just seem like blatant money-grabbing to me, and it makes me sad. And I don’t believe this is taking anything away from me, at least not right now. It doesn’t hurt or affect me personally, but I don’t like how it looks for Disney. If you want to create special events that are above and beyond and worth the money, then by all means go for it. But to me they just don’t seem worth it – though I’d love other opinions on this.
Disney After Hours
This new event takes place in the Magic Kingdom. Guests who have a ticket can get in at 7pm (while the park is still open to regular guests) and then stay until 1am or 2am depending on the date. The park closes 3 hours prior to that so it is three full hours just for guests of this event. They are advertising some attractions open (mentioning Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan’s Flight, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, and character meets at Princess Fairytale Hall), as well as complimentary ice cream and bottle beverages.
How much would you be willing to pay for this?
The cost is $149 per person. For a couple you’re looking at $300, and for a family of 4 you’d be paying $600. Oh, and that’s before tax.
This seems to be a test run as it’s only available for select dates in April and May. And there’s still a lot we don’t know about it yet, but so far, here are my issues with it:
- It basically sounds like evening extra magic hours (if you stay at a Disney resort you are allowed to stay late in the parks certain dates – and it’s totally free!). The only difference I can see right now is free ice cream and beverages, as well as not having to stay at a Disney resort.
- Just how exclusive is this event? I’m sure Disney won’t release numbers, but how many people are there will make a huge difference in the value of the ticket.
- There are only 4 rides mentioned – how many others will be available?
- They make reference to character meet and greets – but is this just talking about the princess fairy tale hall? Or will they do something like at the Halloween Party or Christmas Party and have rare characters out? That could potentially add a lot of value to the ticket.
- It seems to be aimed to a limited number of guests – I can’t see resort guests paying for this when they have access to extra magic hours. I don’t see families doing it with such a late night and high prices. Maybe couples or groups of young people who don’t go to Disney often and want to take full advantage, or locals who are looking for something different.
I think this could potentially be a good thing if they made it more like the holiday parties – do something different and exclusive. The price should be half of that.
crowds descend on a Magic Kingdom morning.
Disney Early Morning Magic
This one is apparently not confirmed yet. But you can get into the Magic Kingdom an hour and fifteen minutes before the park opens to ride three rides: Peter Pan’s Flight, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. A quick service breakfast option is also included with items such as pastries, breakfast meats, eggs, Mickey waffles, and juice/coffee/tea. Theme park admission for the day is required.
How much would you pay for this one?
Price is $69 per adult, $49 per kid. That’s around $140 for a couple and $240 for a family of 4. And don’t forget that you still need to have park admission.
This one blows me away even more. Here’s my thoughts:
- It’s only an hour and fifteen minutes. And only 3 rides are open. Just get fastpasses for them and save yourself the money.
- Breakfast included is nice but still doesn’t make this worth the price. Maybe if all the rides were open or something.
- Remember that part about still needing park admission? At least with the evening event you can show up at 7pm and kind of make that your day from 7pm til 2am.
All in all this isn’t the end of the world. They’re not ending extra magic hours to replace them with a paid option (at least, not yet). It’s at a point of “pay if you want to do it, don’t pay it if you don’t want to.” And it doesn’t affect me. As a travel agent I just can’t see recommending this to anyone as a good use of their money unless we get more details. And I just don’t like the “money hungry” appearance it seems to be giving out. But I’ll be curious to see how many people will be participating in this and what the results are like.
And if one of these things sounds like a good option to you and you genuinely are interested, let me know why. I am curious and I’m sure there are things that I haven’t thought of about why it could be beneficial to some people!
Would you be willing to pay for either of these events? Why or why not?
Definitely not! I’m the same way as you–Disney never felt as if they were trying to find new ways to take my money until recently. The prices for these events are outrageous! If I’m dropping a hundred dollars a person for the regular hours, I’m definitely not spending more than that for night hours (and for just a handful of rides, too). I don’t see this going over very well because there’s just no value in it for the money.
I totally agree. I’m really hoping this test run will bomb and it will just go away. If I’m going to spend a little extra money at Disney it’s going to be for a really good meal or something super special!
I wouldn’t pay for the extra hours, especially the morning hours. Only 3 rides are open and it’s only 1 hour and 15 minutes?! It’s enough that they raised the price of the tickets again!
I totally agree! The price just seems crazy to me.
Hmm… I’ve been there a million times (used to live in Orlando) and I definitely would not do those extra hour things. While it’s cool being in a park extremely late or when it’s not crowded, this is just not worth it. HOWEVER, if I was coming from far away, I might consider it. I’m curious to see what limits they are putting in.
I agree, I definitely need to hear more about it and if there are any other extra perks. Maybe if it was a once in a lifetime trip and you really wanted to make it extra special?
Are they doing away with the magic hours for those staying on property? If so I wouldn’t pay for it.
As of right now they are still keeping extra magic hours for those on property – they will just be on different days. Though there is speculation that if this goes well they’ll get rid of them.
We definitely thought it was! Thanks for sharing all the different options.
I definitely recommend the normal extra magic hours that are an included benefit of staying at the resort (and one of the reasons why I recommend staying on property!), but these new options where it costs an extra $150 per person seem a little crazy to me!
Wow. That is so expensive. There’s no way we would pay for either of those things. It doesn’t seem worth the price at all.
I’m totally with you. I can’t see doing it with just myself and my husband, so I can’t even begin to fathom how a family could do it.
Nah, I wouldn’t pay this. I’d rather come on time and get whatever I can get done by the time the park closes and I won’t regret anything.
That’s what I think too. Who knows how many of the rides will even be open for this.
Way too expensive and not enough information about it yet. I totally agree with you that Disney is expensive up front, but not being pressured all the time for the extras is what makes it all worth the price. I don’t like the way this is being handled so far.
Yup, I totally agree. My biggest fear is that they’ll start charging for fastpasses. I’ve always appreciated the fact that Disney doesn’t charge for it’s version of the “front of the line pass.”
Is a Disney day ticket $150? I thought it was closer to $100, which really makes the price of the evening event seem really excessive. I’m a “budget” traveler, and definitely neither of these would be options for me.
Yup, a one day ticket is around $100 right now. I think they’re trying to do the evening ticket at $150 by advertising it as an “exclusive experience” to be in a relatively empty park late at night. But I’m also very budget minded so there’s no way I’d pay for this. If I’m going to splurge on vacation it will be on something very special.
$149 a person to stay later?! INSANE. Nope, sorry I couldn’t justify that either!
Yeah, I just really can’t wrap my head around it!
I’m going to Disney for the first time in September for a bachelorette weekend. I don’t think we’ll be doing this if it’s an option. Haha
Haha I wouldn’t either – September is a great time to go, and it’s usually not overly crowded then anyway!
Hmm, these are some interesting news! The late opening hours could potentially be worth it if it’s styled like an event.. The early morning one seems ridiculous to me, but at the same time – if it’s someone’s first (and maybe last) visit they may feel it’s worth it to get a head start on those rides, and are thus able to use their fastpasses on others 🙂 I guess only time will tell how popular this is..
— LisaLDN.com
Yeah that’s what I was thinking – if they bring out some rare characters or do something special people might pay for it. But the way they’re describing it now just boggles my mind haha.
I cannot justify the extra cost at all, seems outrageous to me! I have never been to Disney so will just have to find out how much I like it, you roosts make me want to go there soon for sure 🙂
xx, Kusum | http://www.sveeteskapes.com
I really think if you go to Disney you can get so much out of it with just the “regular” tickets, you don’t need to pay a ton extra for something like this!
We priced out Disney for our vacation this year and for a family of 6 it is just way to expensive. Just makes me sad!
It makes me sad too. I’m lucky that I can go just myself and it’s not nearly as expensive. Even when it’s my husband and myself things start adding up so I can’t imagine a whole family!
This seems crazy expensive! I’m going to disneyworld for the first time this year and we’re hoping to do the not so scary halloween party – I didn’t realise it would be that kind of price!!
The Halloween party is actually cheaper than this event – around $65-80 per person depending on the date. I think that’s a much better deal and you get a lot more!
Now that I’ve worked the After Hours events, I have mixed feelings. They have 3000 tickets, but usually only sell about 200 a night, plus some that they just give away to boost numbers. Almost every single ride is open, and you get the free ice cream and drinks. Even rides like Mine Train are rarely more than 10 minutes all night. I can see why people think it’s worth it, but I still think it’s way too expensive.
It kind of seems like the thing that makes it worth it is the really low number of ticket sales. So it’s kind of a gamble. If they actually sold 3,000 tickets the lines would be longer and I don’t know if it would be worth the price.