Evening Magic Hours for Deluxe Guests Only

[Roxyfire]

From the business side it makes sense. It's still a bad taste in my mouth. It's no wonder so many Disney fans are jumping ship to the competition down the street.

Of course, not very nice of them. I'm a DVC member myself, and I do feel like I'm giving them a bit of the figurative side-eye. People get their emotions wrapped up in it and I understand, I love going. In this situation, I benefit and feel like I get more out of my vacation dollars.

Unfortunately this negatively impacts others and yeah of course take the money elsewhere. The deluxe resorts at Universal are all fantastic and that Express Pass cannot be beat. Nothing wrong with shortening that disney stay and adding on a trip to Universal to get more out of your money.

 

[Meglen]

A value room is $188 with tax for our trip. Cheapest DVC rental was $400. That's not close.

what rental you looking at? most places charge 19-21$ a point.. at 7 days you need about 80 (akl) or 145 BLT whiche would be 2755 high end 380$ blt and 240 akl. are you talking cash deluxe and deluxe villa stays with disney?

 

[dato63]

I've been thinking about this, and again, while I think it's fine for higher tier guests to have more perks, lower tier guests need to get some perks to justify staying there. I mean, the rooms aren't that special - it's really about the location. What did they previously offer? DME from/to the airport, early FP booking window, booking dining through stay length, park transportation, and extra park hours, this being the most enticing thing as the prime location has everything to do with access to the parks. Now at Values and Moderates, they are basically only offering proximity to the parks, transportation, and an extra 30 minutes per day. That is a downgrade from pre-covid for sure. Park hours are the most important perk for many, and I think they need to figure out a way to enhance that for onsite guests. They ahve to offer SOMETHING - even bring back free parking would be a pretty nice thing, especially with DME being phased out.

I think they could do some hybrid of FP/EMH and make that work in tiers, where the higher cost stays get more access, but Value isn't shut out either. If they don't, those value resorts may lose a lot of business eventually, thought I doubt it will happen right away. They will probably do this for a while, then revise it when they need to, but it's unfortunate that they'll want to ride it out as long as possible.

I do agree with this. It seems as Disney removes magic, if they want to entice people to stay onsite - they should have added SOMETHING that makes it more special than staying offsite. At all levels. I get they are a business. . .and while some of them may truly care, their obligation to the bottom line will always come first. But if you want to charge $XX for a $X room, something has to make it look more appealing.

It has been a long time since we visited Disney. I was shocked that they charged for parking. That use to seem a perk to me. Not having to drive & pay for parking at the theme parks. But now, you pay for parking at the resort.

 

[Lewisc]

Perks - or benefits - will always be somewhat proportional to a participant's level of financial contribution. This is not an axiom exclusive to Disney - it pretty much applies to all things in a capitalistic society.

The bigger issue is clarity - or transparency of benefits. This piecemeal rollout of announcements and the ever shifting sands of benefits is absolutely maddening.

Every visitor or potential visitor to Disney - whether DVC or non-DVC - should have a clear understanding of the full spectrum of benefits, restrictions, and the associated costs. In that way, it would be far easier for guests to match available budget with potential benefits. In essence you could see what a benefit 'costs' and make an informed decision about whether or not you want it.

But thinking that Disney will be giving you that benefit for 'free' is a pipe dream. If those days ever existed, they are over now.

Its not for free. Guests staying at a WDW resort are paying a price premium. A premium which was sold based on included amenities.

Give Disney credit. Able to charge more and give less.

 

[Roxyfire]

Or, you know, encourages guests to go down the street and never come back.

Disney is no longer the only game in town when it comes to offering a nice (and actual premium) resort experience (often for less money). You would think they would step it up rather than nickel and diming their guests. But whatever! Disney can do what they want and I’ll vacation elsewhere until they make it worth my while to come back. And I’ll be damned if I’m coerced into paying deluxe prices just to have any chance of having a good time.

Totally and it probably will. But you cannot ignore that they probably identified a pattern (you can see it on these boards, social media, etc) of consumers wanting to avoid the fear of missing out. I'm just stating what they are probably hoping will happen, their overall strategy. Again, I'm curious to see what will happen in the coming months with FP and the like. I think these discussions will all have the same tone.

 

[Kmedders]

for how long tho? which room type?

Sorry I saw that you were responding to another poster so I deleted my response so I wouldn't clog anything up. But I checked the pricing I found on David's for the week of Labor Day, staying Saturday to Saturday.

 

[mshanson3121]

It absolutely does in most cases. It's matter of choices and priorities. If you're going to WDW and staying on site at all, you have more money than most people. I'm sure your choice isn't between eating and staying Deluxe. Maybe it's a newer car, vacations somewhere else, a nicer house, better furniture, dining out more than cooking at home- there are literally hundreds of ways people can choose to spend their money.

I took a quick look and the difference between staying at AKL standard and AOA standard is about $1500 for a 5 night stay, 4 adults with tickets in Feb. That's not a huge amount of money and as I said, if you can stay on site, then you aren't paycheck to paycheck, barely feeding your family. There are ways to save that amount of money over a years time. It may not be worth it to you, but that's not the same as I can't possibly pay that kind of money.

What I'm denying and will continue to deny is that I'm not in the 1%, I'm not wealthy or rich and I don't have "means". I have no doubt I am on the lower end of the spectrum in income for those who go to WDW. I scrimp, I save, I sacrifice other things in order to stay where I want to stay. For the love of God, I did a re-fi cash out on my home to pay for our first trip.

Absolutely, difference being - I don't try to deny that. Some here are.

Speak for yourself. $1500 is a huge amount of money for us. But then again the only reason we've ever been able to afford Disney period, is because our inlaws travel with us and pay for half of it. Which kind of proves my point right there about how clueless some people on this board are, when it comes to other people's budgets and realities.

If you are at Disney, you have a certain level of means. That includes us. If you can stay at Deluxe - you have means. Quit pretending you don't. It's elitist.

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

Posters who are defending Disney, Would you have the same opinion if later Disney decided to limit this to club level guests?

I'm not "defending Disney". It simply doesn't matter to me or I'm agnostic about the issue. Ultimately, I wouldn't be bothered if WDW further limited the proposed extra park benefit to solely CL guests at deluxe resorts. I'd still go to WDW if this was the case and have a good attitude to have fun and a good time. I'm sure Joe Rhode, somewhere, is ticked that I want to have fun on my vacation at WDW.

I don't lose my mind that some guests who stay at the POLY or CR can sit in their room and watch MK fireworks. Meanwhile, POP and CBR guests have no ability to watch MK fireworks from their rooms (or even their resort grounds?). I won't lose my mind that folks who are going to stay at Star Cruiser are supposedly getting a private excursion to Batuu and are allegedly getting to ride RoTR and MFSR as part of the excursion. Meanwhile, CSR and YC/BC guests have no ability to get into Batuu for a private excursion and those guests are using virtual queues and/or standby queues to ride RotR and MFSR.

At the end of the day, the reality is each person needs to make his/her vacation special or miserable, good or bad, worthwhile or waste of time. It's up to each person to make it his/her own.

 

[mshanson3121]

It was not a perk for everyone. It was a perk for onsite guests-then they extended it to "partner" hotels.

If you can afford to stay at a value then you can afford to rent points and stay at a deluxe villa. Standard view studios are low points at AKV.

It is possible to stay at a Deluxe villa/resort for less also by going in off season, annual pass discounts, etc.

No, you can't. DVC points is still much more than a value room, almost twice as much.

 

[Lewisc]

There were some distressed DVC reservations being sold/rented for top dollar.

Typically people hope they're able to rent points for about the price of a moderate

 

[Jrb1979]

Totally and it probably will. But you cannot ignore that they probably identified a pattern (you can see it on these boards, social media, etc) of consumers wanting to avoid the fear of missing out. I'm just stating what they are probably hoping will happen, their overall strategy. Again, I'm curious to see what will happen in the coming months with FP and the like. I think these discussions will all have the same tone.

They are hoping that will happen. I see that once this pent up demand goes away that they will have issues filling rooms. I think once Epic Universe comes and Disney is still playing the money game they might be in trouble. Already people who only did Disney are now deciding on Universal.

What once was a place for everyone is now becoming a place for those who wish to spend big bucks. All the power to those that do. I have no issue with you. I just think they are traveling down a slippery slope.

 

[Meglen]

No, you can't. DVC points is still much more than a value room, almost twice as much.

I mean look at Oct prices.. 280 for pop.. I payed 17$pp for AKL for 7 days came to about 285$ a day... 380+ for CBR....

 

[BrianL]

Just a thought as to how it could be tiered, maybe they could do something like have 3 FP for Value, 4 for Moderate, 5 for Deluxe, then also have a typical EMH schedule for the week, and you can choose to attend a certain number of them, maybe pre-selected. Like a Value stay can choose up to three to attend, Moderate 4, etc. This may vary with length of stay, etc, but I think it could be worked out. Disneyland has had a similar thing where offsite guests with a 3-day ticket can choose one "Magic Morning" as it is offered to their resort guests - resort guests can go to each one, but offsite could only do one, so something like that maybe. I don't know, just tossing around ideas.

 

[mshanson3121]

No, that's not close. But, look at other weeks throughout the year. I pulled up Labor Day week at AKL and you can rent a standard room for $157 per night. That's less than your value room.

Not everyone has flexibility in when they travel.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

So those posts that claim deluxe guests are rich, wealthy and in the 1% are equally ignorant? I don't see you insulting those people. Funny how that works. But you seem to want to go down a road I don't care to travel, so enjoy the solo ride.

Because the deluxe guests are rich. Rich to me. And $1500 is a huge amount of money for us.

 

[Sue M]

Also, early hours- which seem very similar to EMH- are available to all resort guests.

cut in half! Only 30 min early EMH. That gives you time to walk to attraction you want and get 1 ride in. Used to be 1 hr.
WDW keeps cutting back perks while raising prices.

 

[ChipnDale79]

No, you can't. DVC points is still much more than a value room, almost twice as much.

the cost to rent has skyrocketed in the past couple of years. It wasnt that long ago, like 3 or 4, that you could rent points for 13-14 per point from some of the companies, they're up to 19-20 a point now. it aint cheap.

 

[Meglen]

if you are at Disney, you have a certain level of means. That includes us. If you can stay at Deluxe - you have means. Quit pretending you don't. It's elitist.

How is it elitist to point out you can stay deluxe cheaper? Just because I do research and budget and stay in that budget and sometimes it gets me into a deluxe over a mod.. im elitist? if you go on vacation your better off than most of the US... lets all just be grateful for what we have and can afford and stop looking at our neighbors and seeing the lambo they have and getting upset..

 

[Kmedders]

Not everyone has flexibility in when they travel.

Obviously. But my argument has been that if you can afford to stay at a value, you can afford a deluxe. People aren't always paying more to stay at a Deluxe. I have been on more than one trip where it was cheaper for me to rent DVC at a deluxe than it was to stay at the cheapest value. It just may take some maneuvering to get the pricing to make sense. But blanket statements regarding pricing are not helpful, nor are they accurate.

 

[Meglen]

Because the deluxe guests are rich. Rich to me. And $1500 is a huge amount of money for us.

I might come off like an jerk.. but its not meant to be.. if you get to visit due to your choices with inlaws and such shouldnt you jsut be happy ot be there and enjoy the time? why we calling folks elitiest? I am not rich.. we budget for our trips.. I was dirt poor growing up and never went on a single vacation till my dad took us on our 1 and only trip in my life.. like take it down a notch..