Ever since Toy Story Land opened earlier this summer in Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort, getting reservation times to ride its two new attractions have been among the top Fastpass+ goals for many Disney visitors.
So of course now Disney is offering an alternative for guests who are willing to pay extra to get a no- or low-wait-time visit in the resort's newest land. Disney World is extending its Early Morning Magic program for Disney's Hollywood Studios guests, allowing them 90 minutes of extra time in the land for $79 plus tax per adult and $69 per child (ages 3 to 9).
Unlike the Disney After Hours event we wrote about last week, this is not a hard-ticket event that is separate from regular park admission. You must have a DHS ticket in addition to the Early Morning Magic to get into the park for the extra time. But Disney is also throwing in a breakfast to help make the value proposition more appealing to visitors.
The event starts at 7:30 am on select Mondays and Wednesdays (as not to conflict with the Extra Magic Hours that Disney's on-site hotel guests at no extra charge). That gets you 90 minutes of reduced crowd time in the land to ride the Slinky Dog Dash family roller coaster, Alien Swirling Saucers spinner ride, and Toy Story Mania before the park opens officially to everyone at 9am.
Breakfast will be served for participating guests at the ABC Commissary between 8:30-10am, so the strategic play here would be to ride as much as you can or care to first, then hit up the breakfast after the park opens and the land fills with day guests.
Note that the ABC Commissary is not located in Toy Story Land, where the only eatery is the walk-up Woody's Lunchbox window. The spread will include a choice of breakfast entree, along with a buffet of yogurt, cereal, fruit, and pastries so that you can eat as much value as possible before heading back into the park for the rest of your day.
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So now we know the cost of a ride on SDD - "$80 Ned". Considering the Disney Drones have more money than sense, I expect it to be quite popular. This will be yet another variable "regular" (non-on-site-resort, non-obsessive planing, non-extra fee paying) guests will have to consider when figuring out which WDW park to visit on each day of their vacation. Visiting DHS on Monday's, Wednesday, and other EMH days will now be untenable, unless you don't care about TSL.
This leads me to believe that Disney will be even more aggressive when Galaxy's Edge opens next year, probably charging $100 or more for an extra hour or two of exclusive access to the highly anticipated Star Wars land.
This is really a great business decision. Build two cheap mediocre rides with downgraded light theming, make them very low capacity and create "solutions" with obscene prices and the idiots will come and pay to play.
You beat me to it, Russell. I was thinking exactly the same thing. We all know that Disney have some kind of extra charge tactic up their sleeves, for Galaxy's Edge. I totally accept that new rides etc are, for the most part, going to be insanely popular, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to experience them, unless you're prepared to pay quite a bit extra for the privilege. So, a lot of people are going to have no option but to miss out. Or of course, spend half your day queuing up for two rides!
The thing is, even though I complain, I'll probably be one of the "idiots" who pays the upcharge!
Irritating! I agree with everything said so far. The new rides probably aren't worth riding (I'll find out in November). In fact, visiting HS may not be worth it. Disney needs more good rides with shorter lines. In place of more good rides, they have added a couple cheep rides generating long lines (because they're new) and they will rip off the guests for extra cash. I am hearing (from other family and friends) that Disney isn't what it used to be. They quit going.
Hmmmm .... my prediction of Disney charging for morning early hours took a lot less time to come to fruition than even I expected.
My next visit to DHS will be sometime after Star Wars has opened on a cold, gray and wet Florida day. Can’t beat those days for a nice quiet wander around the park ... works like a charm.
Believe me...I just got back from Disney Land and I live in Florida and went to Hollywood studios this last weekend. Disneyland is still my favorite of the two because it still holds true to the essence of the creator. Florida has become to corporate and all about cash. All about star wars already was mentioned this past summer that once it opens California will charge $1000 a day for guest willing to go and enjoy just that section for th day with limited guest so it can be enjoyed only by paying that guest. IT'S Insane!!!!! But people will pay it....I for one won't pay outrageous prices when it will be there way after the hype.....best thing is go when it's a dead time of year and go late to park when crowds dye in Orlando.... California go early in the morning and leave by 1pm.,...
The comments above are mostly absurd: Nobody likes going to Disney World anymore because the lines are too long. Why don’t people understand the basic illogic in this? Do any of you have children? Have you ridden Dumbo? A terrible ride, the same as it was 40 years ago. You can wait 45 minutes to go around in a circle 10 times. Kids love it! They love it so much, they built a second FastPass Dumbo right next door. People have a great time or their Disney vacations and they keep coming back. The success of the theme parks speaks for itself.
Apart from opening day never really found Toy Story Land that crazy busy . It’s always easy to get a fast pass for Toy Story Mania and swirling saucers is usually a 35 min wait , Slinky Dog comes In under an hour most days performing much better capacity than Mine train ride.
Not sure there is a crazy demand to pay extra for this
"The comments above are mostly absurd: Nobody likes going to Disney World anymore because the lines are too long. Why don’t people understand the basic illogic in this?"
Hey, maybe Yogi Berra is posting anonymous comments from the Great Beyond?
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Disney is leading WDW off a cliff. This is getting beyond ridiculous. How about removing these absurd money grubbing ploys and simply adding more capacity friendly attractions instead of sitting on your hands for nearly 2 decades?
Virtually everyone I speak to now that travels to Disney World HATES it. They complain that it is almost torture. Too expensive. Too much pre-planning. Too crowded. In other words, no fun.
DHS has the same amount of rides it had in 1999. The Magic Kingdom has the same amount of rides it had in 1992. Epcot actually has LESS rides than they did in 1989!
Disney World has been coasting on reputation for far too long. Unless something changes in their business model soon, it's going to bite them... and bad.