Oh Those Changes

Policy changes made by the Walt Disney Company in recent years have forced guests to adjust their approach to Walt Disney World vacation planning. In this session, let's explore these changes and discuss how to deal with these changes.

From Magic Kingdom Club to Disney Club

Ah yes -- the Magic Kingdom Club. The concept was simple and effective: Establish a discount club that offers its members savings on vacations and merchandise, and use corporate America to distribute free membership cards to its employees.

Magic Kingdom Club members used their cards to defray the cost of Disneyland or Walt Disney World vacations and merchandise from the Disney Store. These discounts became second nature for guests, who may not have been able to afford a Disney vacation without the MKC card.

Walt Disney Co. began phasing out the Magic Kingdom Club two years ago, replacing it with the Disney Club. The Disney Club offers the same discounts and benefits that had been offered by the Magic Kingdom Club Gold Card.

Once again large companies could distribute membership cards to their employees, but only at a discount. The days of free memberships were over. The going price for a Disney Club membership is $39.95, but employers could offer a reduced price of $29.95.

After many years of getting free cards from their employers, many felt the new Disney Club was not a good deal and chose not to join. Some felt that a membership fee was wrong, and stopped visiting Walt Disney World because they felt that their usual discounts on vacation packages and room rates were taken away from them.

Others have purchased and use these cards just as they had used their old Magic Kingdom Club cards.

Impact on vacation planning: Those who had previously used the Magic Kingdom Club to get on-site discounts may now stay off-site. With the expansion of non-Disney attractions such as Sea World and Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, the lure of non-Disney hotels has grown. In the long run this may mean that the average visitor to Orlando will spend less time at a Disney theme park than in the past.

To determine if the Disney Club is for you, estimate what you would normally spend on Disney goods and services throughout the year. Since the Disney Club usually offers a 10% discount, the card is worth it if you expect to spend somewhere between $300 to $400 on goods and services.

More importantly, join the Disney Club if you plan to visit a Disney destination and stay on Disney property. Although you must now pay for a membership that used to be free, you are still better off getting discounted rates on services and goods than no discount at all. Hotel reservations and discounts on park admission alone should make up for the cost of your membership.

Annual Pass Renewal Policy Change

Walt Disney World veterans always recognized the advantage of the Annual Passport (AP). Besides providing park admission 365 days of the year, the AP also offers discounts to such gated attractions as Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach Pleasure Island, and Disney Quest. Annual Passholders also enjoyed discounts at specially designated WDW restaurants. Most importantly APs offer outstanding resort discounts in the form of AP specials.

Basically the AP pays for itself through these specials. Stay eight days on an AP special and for the most part you've saved enough to cover the cost of the AP.

In the past, smart AP holders renewed their APs at a reduced renewal rate, and enjoyed the big advantage of holding onto a renewal voucher that carried no expiration date, thereby freezing the price of the AP, which usually increases annually. The renewal voucher could be put away for one year, two years or more, and used whenever the owner returned to Orlando.

That was then. This is now.

About a year ago, the Walt Disney Co. implemented a very unpopular AP renewal policy that stamps a one-year expiration date from the date the vouchers are issued. No longer is the clock frozen until the first day the individual activates the voucher into the actual AP. This shift has changed the frequency of visits to Orlando for some AP holders.

One longtime WDW veteran said this change has made her rethink her vacation plans. The flexibility she once had regarding APs was taken away from her, and she felt she was being told when she could and couldn't go to enjoy her AP privileges. She has since changed her plans from normally going for a week to 10 days every year to 8 days every other year.

Another WDW veteran pointed out how risky this policy change is because of the present economic climate and downsizing that is taking place in many companies. This makes long-term planning a gamble. "Why should I commit to investing in something like going on a vacation within the next year when I don't even know if I'll have a job?" Some longtime WDW guests have thus shortened their planning times to three to six months.

As with the Disney Club, view the Annual Passport as another tool to make your Walt Disney World vacation as affordable and enjoyable as possible. If you are using APs to get good rates on WDW resort hotels, remember that only the person making the reservation needs to have an AP. The rest of the party do not need APs, so you might consider Ultimate Park Hopper passes or alternative admission media for everyone else.

If you visit WDW annually, try visiting twice in a 12-month period to get the most out of your AP.

Early Entry Exit and Reduced Operating Hours

One of the biggest perks of staying on Disney property was the advantage of getting into the theme parks early on their designated day. In the past, these days were known as "Surprise Mornings " and more recently "Early Entry Days." In late 2001 this perk was replaced by Character Caravans, which visit the resorts in the morning to greet guests.

Many WDW veterans have been very upset over this policy change because it has taken away what they have felt was a keen advantage that on-site guests had over off-site guests.

For many, it takes away yet another reason for staying on Disney property as it removes quality time from the theme parks.

Some have had to rethink how they tour the theme parks. Without these early entry days, they are more anxious about their family's ability to do all of their favorite attractions before the crowds build up.

Although this move may save WDW on overhead by not having cast members in the park for that first hour, no one knows how much revenue is lost in that first hour from shopping and food, not to mention the loss of revenue from guests who no longer see the need to pay premium prices to stay on-property.

Representatives from the Walt Disney World Executive Offices informed me that they felt that the expansion of all the Orlando attractions, both Disney and non-Disney (such as Sea World and Universal Studios) was such that guests would not need EE days to get comfortable access to their favorite attractions.

Dovetailing the removal of EE days comes a reduction in Park operating hours. This means a shorter window of time to enjoy your favorite attractions. It seems that the WDW guest is thus challenged to seek out ways of getting the same amount of "quality time" at the parks with less time to work with.

In the early 1990s, Epcot opened both its Future World and World Showcase attractions at the same time. Then around 1994 they started staggering the hours as we see today, thus only Future World attractions would be open during the first few hours and World Showcase would open mid-morning. For wise park-touring guests this policy change played havoc with their touring plans to do World Showcase first and eventually move to Future World. Ever since this change Epcot has had a difficult time drawing crowds from the Magic Kingdom and MGM Studios.

Personally I rarely used EE days because of the above-average crowds that would swarm theme parks on those particular days. But for those who have enjoyed EE days in the past here are my suggestions. Plan to visit the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Crowds are usually lowest during those days.

To deal with the reduced operating hours, get to the park 30 minutes before the turnstiles are scheduled to open, especially at the Magic Kingdom. Resort guests still have an advantage over off-site guests because resort buses go to the front of TMK, while off-site busses drop their passenger at the TTC.

Once in the park, plan on using Fastpass, but do this as soon as possible. By mid-afternoon the more popular Fastpass attractions may show inconvenient return times. This applies to Epcot as well.

Finally, if E-Nights are offered at the Magic Kingdom, make use of them, as they are on-site perk.

Attraction Downsizing

This topic is mostly related to the peak summer seasons. In the past, nighttime spectaculars such as Fantasmic and the Magic Kingdom's nighttime parade usually had two performances. The later performances allowed guests to visit other attractions with relatively uncrowded ease during the first show. That option is no longer available.

Also, such favorites as the Magic Kingdom's Carousel of Progress and Timekeeper have had spotty schedules. This has disappointed guests, who looked forward to seeing these attractions only to find them closed.

As fewer options are offered to guests, the best action to take is to be proactive and adjust your schedule accordingly. If you are an early bird, don't change a thing. Find out as far in advance as to what the schedules are for the parks and attractions you will be near, and plan accordingly.

For nighttime spectaculars, plan to attend certain parks during certain days of the week. For instance, Epcot is best on Mondays and Fridays. Both MGM Studios and the Magic Kingdom are crowded on Mondays and Saturdays, thus are best visited on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Sundays are tough to predict although historically all parks are light because it is a popular travel day for those leaving Orlando.

For single night parades, find viewing spots deep into the parks. Many guests will look for spots closest to the exits as the Magic Kingdom's nighttime parade is at the end of the day.

The single Fantasmic performance pretty much makes a strong case to make use of the Fantasmic lunch/dinner package. This package offers reserved seating, eliminating the need to go to the amphitheater early for a good seat.

Mug Refillable Policy

A lot has been said about the change in this policy. After much research I feel somewhat strongly that this is not a policy change but a policy clarification. It's easy to remember what the new policy is. Your refillable mug is active for the duration of your stay at that resort, period.

Does this impact the way people plan their vacations? Not really, but if you add this to the changes with the Disney Club, AP renewals, reduced hours, attraction downsizing, and Early Entry removal, it is understandable why some long-term WDW veterans have lowered their frequency of visits to Orlando.

Final Comments

There is no doubt that many -- if not all -- of these changes have been influenced by the poor economy, compounded by the negative impact that September 11 has had on tourism in general. As a result, Walt Disney World is experiencing a very poor booking rate, perhaps it's lowest booking rate year ever.

As these policies change, so do our vacation and touring habits. A Disney Vacation Club member gave me the best advice: "I'm not too crazy about these changes, but I'll find ways to work around them and still enjoy my vacation."

Next time

As we approach the somber anniversary of September 11, we explore the patriotic side of Walt Disney World.

Class dismissed.

Photos on this page by Brian Bennett unless otherwise noted

Here's a list of the trip reports that Mike has written that are part of MousePlanet's archives!

Michael Scopa -- August 1999 -- Walt Disney World (CSR)

Michael J. Scopa -- July 1997 -- Walt Disney World (WL/CBR)

Mike Scopa -- July 1994 -- Walt Disney World (WL / CBR)

Also, don't miss Lani Teshima's column, "The Trip Planner" for more travel planning information!

Brian Bennett, author of MousePlanet's WDW Trip Planning Guide (and publisher of the Disney Trip Report Archive), writes:

The first Disney trip report that I ever read was a report by Mike Scopa that I downloaded from the America Online travel library in late 1994. The report was a detailed description of the Scopa family's trip to WDW in the summer of that year.

As soon as I was done reading it, I was hooked.

I picked my own brain and documented my own trips and the things I'd learned from my own experiences. Then, in 1995 I actually wrote a report as the trip unfolded. I took a laptop with me and spent some time in the evenings documenting what had happened that day. (I've repeated that process for my own reports ever since.)

In July 1996, I started my Disney trip planning Web site. Besides including my own reports, I asked for permission from the authors of several other reports and added them to the offering. Since then, the number of reports has expanded greatly. In 1997, I added an information summary for each report to make it easier to sort through the reports that are available.

I still 'blame' Mike for hooking me on this Disney habit.

Thanks Mike!

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