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

[Lynn J Mc]

This is great news. Have you seen the lines to get a wristband? And you could use an old one to get a wrist band so what is the big deal? Our ticket and room key is always one and the same so we always have them all with us.

[DisneyDudet]

I like all of the points you make, and I agree with the majority that I don't think this is a good idea. However, If a family has Key to the World cards, how can they only bring one? Wouldn't they need to bring them all to get everyone through the turnstiles???????

Unless your park tickets are on your KTTWC, you really only need one card per family (of course, unless you plan to partake in EMH).

I cannot offer a solution to this problem. No matter what you do, there will always be groups out there trying to abuse the system.

Do I like this new arrangement? I can't say that I do. It does seem to be tedious (that is if the CMs DO check the dates), but could be a waste and open the door to scams (if they don't check the dates at each ride).

I hope this does turn out well, for our sake, and for the CMs.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

Not everyone has their tickets on the cards. In fact, most really don't.

A lot of people get tickets from other places like the Disney Stores, AAA, tourist vendors, or they are CM's, passholders, comp tickets.

Trust me, it's a bad idea.

[disneygeek84]

Wow, this just does not seem like a good idea to me. I really hated having to stand in line to get a wristband, but at least I didn't have to dig around everytime I wanted to get on a ride. My sister used to work down there and still has a few friends that do and she called me yesterday after her friends were texting her telling her about it. They don't seem too happy about it either.

I wasn't going to get a lanyard, but seems like I'm going to have to now since some of the shorts I bought to wear on our trip don't have pockets.

[felix18]

This will make it way too easy to lose your key since you will need to have it in hand for every ride--not a good idea--just my opinion!!

[valjane]

Ugh. I can't imagine any benefits to this change.

If they DO decide to check cards at the entrance to every ride, how much of a PAIN that is going to be for those of us who carry our resort ID cards in our wallets, which are carried in purses or backpacks. Major hassle!

[BMan62]

Well, they should sell more ticket lanyards because of this!!

No, I don't think that this is a good idea either, but it doesn't look like Disney is worried about having people leave at the beginning of Evening EMH hours.

It won't be long until there are no more EMH evenings. They will be replaced by hard ticket events like P&PP, MNSSHP, MVMCP, etc. Yes, I know that, for right now anyway, these are all in MK. Just wait. The writing is on the wall.

[yjgirl32]

Either way they do it is a hassleheir pros and cons. If Disney never tried to do anything new they would still have all their old rides from when it first opened up. They may eventually go back to the wristbands if they feel this new way is too much of a hassle. Either way i'll do what they ask.

[countrycharmer]

To me I worry that using key cards may cause more aggrevation than good... i.e., now most have park passes (some for more than one day) with other things like, room, dining, etc.

Chances are increased significantly of "losing" room keys if need to keep pulling in and out of safe keeping to be scanned, etc.

Think of the aggrevation for the guests as well as Disney staff when cards lost?!

[biodtl]

I'm afraid it will makes lines longer, but my biggest fear is that every time we take our cards out is one more chance to lose them. And since at least 2 of the 4 will have charging priveledges, that is NOT something we want to happen.

[xipetotec]

The Walt Disney World resort has internally announced that it will be discontinuing its wristband policy for Evening Extra Magic Hours effective September 7, 2008.

In lieu of showing wristbands at each operating attraction, eligible resort Guests will now be required to show their Key to the World Card or eligible Resort ID/Key.

This procedure was previously tested for several days in February 2008 at the Magic Kingdom park.

wow! We were there for that testing phase, and let me tell you WHAT A HASSLE!!!!
Instead of lining up for a bracelet with our card ONCE, we had to have our cards out at all major attractions. Really don't appreciate this additional hassle. yet another "cutback" in my eyes.

[4myprincesses]

I don't know that I will be putting charging priviledges on my card anymore. I would hate to lose the card and have the hassel of disputing charges. Plus, as anyone with young children knows, they want to present their own card. So for each ride we will be handing out the cards to all the kids, then collecting them back, then putting them away, and then doing it all over again at every single attraction. The girls are going to love it, I might lose my mind in the process.

If it is anything like getting into the park, what a hassel. If you are ever going to the parks and find yourself behind a 6ft blond with Asian twins in a stroller and two other girls all holding their own tickets do not get in line behind us...it takes us forever to get through the gate!

If I had to guess, the attraction CMs have to think this is not the brightest idea. Just a guess, though.

[Missy_Mouses_Dad]

What happens if the end result is that you lose your card? We have always had our park passes on the room key card. Definitely won't be charging on the card...

[Vito]

If they do decide to go with a system where you have to scan your card every time, it won't really bother me. I guess I just feel like I'm taking a card or ticket out all the time to get fastpasses, that this doesn't seem much different to me. I could see how for children it might come into play.

But again, for me personally, I don't mind taking my card out and putting it back.

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.

[elmjimmlm]

I don't care how it is done just as long as we get in...On the other hand my kids love wearing their bracelets the entire trip and by the end of the week they have several and don't want to take them off...Its like an extra little souvenir that they can keep...

[DizneyRox]

Maybe they are hoping that as people dig for their KTTW cards, money will fall out of their pockets as well so this actually turns into yet another revenue stream.

[dnickels]

Hard to imagine that Disney hasn't considered the pros and cons discussed in the thread but on the face it really seems like this would create more hassle than convenience.

Maybe if they plan to install turnstile type entrances with card swipes at the major attractions but otherwise ????

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

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.

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.

And they cost more than a "few pennies" each. Also, you have to pay the CM's for the setup, work time (which is more than just the 3 hours of EMH), pay for the bags they hold them in, pay for the signs, pay the operations coordinators supervising the wristbands distribution. There are usually at least 5-7 locations that give out bands, each one with about 6-8 CM's working there for about 5-6 hours. The costs add up, really fast.

[Imagineer1981]

I guess the guest "losing" their cards is no different then guests using them over and over for f/p...probably just as much of a chance of losing them

[Jasper]

Is it possible that Disney just doesn't care about the cheating and may be going to a wide open policy with longer hours for everyone or something of that sort?

I used to be involved with our county fair here for many years and there were times when we changed policies on attendance at certain events because there was no good way to control the cheating so, I can see Disney doing the same thing. (Don't get me wrong, I know a one week county fair is nothing compared to a 365 day a year WDW theme park. But, people are people and will do the same thing at WDW as they do anyplace else.)