Fax from Disney re: Surprise Mornings

[All Aboard]

I think one of the main problems with this topic is that folks tend to believe that most folks think like they do. (Come to think of it, perhaps that's true of every topic.) I know that I am guilty of it. I think that EE was one of the greatest amenities. We used it on every trip, without fail.

I can attest that many, many others did as well. Often, we would have to wait for more than one bus at 7:00am on a Saturday or Monday morning on our way to MK EE. I can also attest that Saturday MK crowds are very large right now and EE would still be a highly valuable amenity. As for the other parks, I'm not sure. The one thing I can't figure out is why they cut Saturday MK EE.

As for WDW giving away something that was not making them any money. On this I disagree. The reason WDW introduced EE was to sell it as an amenity to fill the rapidly growing base of on-site rooms and help justify the fact that on-site room rates are (in general) quite a bit higher than off-site options. We've gone round and round about the quality of the All Stars and whether they belong at WDW. Many have likened them to Motel 6's. One of the chief reasons folks have mentioned on the Resort Board for choosing the All Stars over cheaper off-site alternatives is the existence of EE.

Early Entry was a major part of every print ad that WDW ran for its resorts. Costly, perhaps. Underutilized, maybe. But valuable - absolutely.

This will, no doubt, have an impact on on-site occupancies. Every decision does. The question is will the losses in guest revenue be greater than the savings for EE elimination. I guarantee there is somebody running those numbers. Now, how good of a job has he/she done at projecting the revenue impact? Who knows. Time will tell. Trouble is, it's often very difficult to assign cause and effect.

 

[daannzzz]

It is funny. The only reason I would think of not staying on site would be if it got too expensive or the resorts got run down and dirty. EE is a nice addition but I don't use it as much as many others. Even so if Disney cut all trasnportation from their hotels to the parks
(a stupid move and not a great choice of example but it will have to do) I would still stay at the Disney resorts as I love their hotels and always reant a car anyway. I would stay at Disney resorts even if there were not parks around.
I am surprised at how much more money people will pay per night just to get the EE advantage.
This is not to say that those of you who use EE all the time should not be disapointed. I think it was the wrong move for Disney to make ( among a few others these last few years). I also think the fax is rather condescending and is most likely wrong.

 

[Captain Hook]

I think the Character Caravan was put in place as alow cost alternative to give the resort guest some sort of entertainment. From what I saw last week Disney has no reason to keep EE. There just is noone in the park except for the weekends. The only line i waited in was for a backpack check when I entered the park. The longest wait was 10 minutes for most e ticket rides, cars running quarter full, and even on Holloween night in MK. The only way Disney will reinstate E nights and EE is for the guests to return to the parks.

 

[Bob O]

With disney forced to close hotels and not open hotels that are almost completed doesnt disney need to give people a reason to stay on site??? And with reduced park hours doesnt that make EE a even more important perk than before???
I dont think a caravan with 3 characters a couple times a week compares to EE.

 

[tasbm1]

EE was a WONDERFUL perk.
Having a small child, we could get on alot of rides, without long lines, at the beginning of the day and then take our good natured time doing everything else the remainder of the day. A childs energy level is alot higher early in the morning and even they slow down (just slightly) as the day goes on. While other people were standing in long lines for rides later in the day, we would use FastPass to get in some rides, catch shows, get character autographs, take long lunches, go swimming or just explore the parks. I have to be honest that it was the main reason I spent more to stay on Disney property because I knew the advantages of using EE. Without EE, I would be more likely to stay off site at a cheaper hotel rate, use the extra money to rent a car, and visit some other tourist traps in Orlando instead of spending the whole week at Disney.

 

[doombuggy]

Either somepeople are completely forgetting a few things or just not mentioning them, so I will.

Does everyone realize what's going on in our country right now?? Maybe it's just me because I have family in the military, and I live on the East Coast in a very large city. I work at a small company (and we are tied to the financial markets) and wonder if our company will end up closing. While I have a second job that I can depend on a little, it's not enough. Our travel industry is really suffering and so is the tourism business. WDW's division of the WDCO has bills to pay, just like the rest of us. We have all had to make adjustments to our lives as a result of the events of Sept. 11.

I know that I said this in another post, but I am going to say it again, so that more people can hear it. A co-worker of the company with which I have a part-time job with was on her way to Disneyland from Boston when her plane was hijacked and flowen into the WTC. Marianne will never be able to visit a Disney park again. She'll never be able to do anything again. Be happy that you are alive and able to go to a Disney theme park. Some aren't so lucky.

I agree with what someone said about people parking at the resorts to avoid the parking fees at the parks. If you try to park at the resorts & you don't have a room there, you are given a parking slip that has a time limit on it. Weather or not they check....

Just my opinion - I'm glad to be alive!

 

[All Aboard]

Nope Doombuggy, I don't think anyone has lost sight of the evnets and the impact on the travel industry. Many companies across America are facing reduced revenue right now and are making decisions on how best to soften the blow. They are also challenged with making decisions that will help to keep them strong in the event of a return to normalcy and a strengthened economy. The wise companies (and eventual long-run winners) will be the ones that maintain their customer base and keep their product as strong as possible.

In my opinion, WDW is making some decisions right now that don't fit that mold very well.

 

[d-r]

hey-
we got a new disney catalog yesturday, with an add to stay at all stars for $77 a night, most nights from 1/1/2 to 2/15/2 or something like that, it talked about early entry to the theme parks as the perk for staying onsite.

Also, we just got back from Disneyland on Sunday. They have early entry at disneyland EVERY morning. The printed information before hand said every morning except for Wed. and Sat., but they had it on Sat. as well. They do it differently there, people staying at "good neighbor" (non disney) hotels are eligible, and if you buy a multi day ticket you get one morning of early entry with it. You can also get a free breakfast with a package at buzz lightyear's (it isn't a bad breakfast either). One thing is, the three disney hotels (grand californian, paradise pier, and disneyland) are all the same direction from disneyland, whereas the transportation from the good neighbor hotels is in the other direction. The amount of people coming from the good neighbor hotel direction was HUGELY more, amazingly more, than the number from the disney hotel direction. Because we are used to eastern time, we went to early entry each morning. Overall, except for Sat. every attraction at disneyland was a walk on (including haunted mansion holiday, the mountains, small world holiday, indiana jones), and everything was a walk on at ca. adventure (there was about 5 minutes of line to ca. screamin and soarin over ca.) Ca. adventure had much shorter hours (10-6 weekdays, 10-9 sat.) whereas MK had longer hours (7:30 am early entry to midnight on Sat.) To give you a feel for the crowds, we experienced every single attraction in disneyland on Thurs., with the exception of autopia because we never got around to it (I am not exaggerating here, we did every single thing else) and we did every single attraction in CA. adventure on Friday (no exaggeration here, either, including tortilla factory - in fact, we did them all between 10 am and 5 pm, riding some many times and eating lunch at two different places (my wife and I wanted different things and just hung out with each other). Specifically, we rode pirates 5x, haunted mansion 5x, indiana jones 4x, space mt, star tours, matterhorn 3x, toad 3x, small world 2x, soarin 3 times (each row, cool), ca. screamin 3 times, grizzly 3 times, maliboomer 2x, and every other thing except autopia once. Saturday we split between them and rested and watched the electric parade, which we sat for on a park bench and no one stood in front of us. It was very hard to find something to eat, most of the restaurants in the parks were closed. The only time it felt crowded was Fri. night at the believe fireworks because people crowded on to main street for the snow, and Sat. night at disneyland (a one hour wait at haunted mansion holiday).

DR

 

[Bob O]

Im glad to see disneyland still being rum in a more common sense manner and im looking forward to going about 1 yr from now and hopefully EE wil still be a perk when i saty onsite.
I would agree with gcurling's last post. Every company has to evaluate what they do but by reducing on site perks it doesnt inspire people to stay on site when there are so many other options available, most alot cheaper with alot of amneties.

 

[poly3026]

Silly question...but since when and more importantly, why, do three characters need a bus? And does three really make a caravan