It has been said before that Disney has seen the success of SeaWorlds Discovery Cove in that there are people will to pay for a lower capacity premium experience. Some expected Disney to open another park to offer an "adults only" premium experience.
In actual fact it seems Disney are offering premium experiences at their existing parks. Events like Harambe Nights and Epcot After Hours offer an "adult" dining experiance. Disney have also realised with the success of the Fantasmic (at Disneyland) and Wishes (at WDW) dessert parties they can offer this with other fireworks and are doing so at IllumiNations and the new Studios fireworks for Frozen & Star Wars.

If guests are willing to pay for these I see no reason not to offer them, particularly as the main offering is a dessert party, its not just about the reserved seating/viewing. However if they start sellign so many "reserved" places for a show that there is no chance a regular guest will get in (ie 80% is reserved) then they should sell that show as only paid for and remove the free option.

Annual pass holders are taken for granted by universal and disney

I will not be paying a hard ticket for villains

Annual pass holders are taken for granted by universal and disney

I will not be paying a hard ticket for villains

I'm hoping that a lot of these extra ticket prices are just to help minimize the financial impact from all of the new construction happening right now.. Wishful thinking haha hopefully disney has not lost the sight of where it has come from and Walt Disney's original dream

Ok, first of all, not having the villains event hard-ticketed last year was a huge mistake. It became one of the biggest cluster messes that Disney has ever seen because attendance wasn't limited by having a ticket. I think making it hard-ticket is absolutely necessary and smart. Mickey's Not So Scary is hard ticketed as a special event and no one seems to mind that.

Second, let's not have false advertising in this article. The Feel the Force package only gave you VIP viewing to the motorcade and fireworks and the "light snacks" were ice cream and deserts. It did NOT include seating for any of the shows. There was a second, much more expensive package that DID give guaranteed seating to the shows, an included lunch, exclusive shopping time before the park opened, and time to ride the rides in Studios without having to previously book a fastpass in addition to the benefits of the Feel the Force package. Because of the price point, it did not sell out every day like the other package, but listen. They ARE giving various options while not shutting everyone out from annual events. If you wanna go at your own pace and on your own time have at it. If you have a little more to spend and you want even more of the experience, go for it.

If you don't like any of this, then stay home. Disney is by no means going to crumble without you visiting. There are annual passholders who don't renew their passes everyday, yet Disney is still thriving. Knock off the sense of entitlement and/or find a new place to enjoy if you can't handle these events and their special packages.

I wouldn't mind paying if the prices weren't so expensive. $59 for reserved seating, desserts and open bar (which I don't drink so that's a waste)for the Frozen Summer - no thanks, Disney. If they had a $30 option for those who don't drink, I'd think about it.

Or like with Star Wars Weekends. The character breakfast was $47.99 - for breakfast? No character breakfast should be almost $50. Maybe if you got to dine with Mark Hamill, but I think it was too expensive for what you got.

But as long as they can get guests to buy at these prices, they'll keep charging them.

I think people are willing to pay, I think as an AP, i dont mind waiting in a few lines sometimes, but for an event such as this.. or if I am out on a date, i dont want to fight crowds for everything, and in the scheme of things $60 is not a lot, especially when it includes an open bar

I really think the only reason that the Villains Unleashed party is a hard ticketed event, is because the last one reached capacity so quickly and people could barely move or see anything. If it had been less crowded, I don't know if they would have hard ticketed it.

Just paid for the desert fantasmic and fireworks package at Disneyland $60 per person for reserved seats, drinks, and deserts for fantasmic and fireworks. Seems like a similar idea.

We are regulars to WDW also and always loved the shows and events....but when we made our reservations this year we were told that the dinner packages with events I.e. Candlelight Processional were going to be 2 points on the dinner plan instead of the usual one that they normally charge ...it is not in effect yet but just another way to exclude some because of already too high costs.

Now I am also a Disney regular an a premium passholer and I know how the parks can get they can be terrible. But it seem that Disney is nickel and dime us. We pay a lot to go to these parks and as a pass holder and as someone just going for the day. If this trend keeps going I will just not renew my pass and probably go to universal. What is next paying for fast pass I know they are a business but enough is enough. Last year Disney hiked their admission price and parking. So sad

In reply to by Michael (not verified)

Universal already does charge for its Fast pass though, so you can certainly choose them over Disney, but they're all in it to make money. I choose both. You don't have to pay for the premium features. These parks are still way above other theme parks around the country even without them.

In reply to by Michael (not verified)

Universal already does charge for its Fast pass though, so you can certainly choose them over Disney, but they're all in it to make money. I choose both. You don't have to pay for the premium features. These parks are still way above other theme parks around the country even without them.

We went to the original Villians Unleashed last year before they decided to make it a hard ticket event. It was awful. I'm a Disney regular and have never had such an awful experience. There were so many people you could barely walk. We heard traffic was backed up to the highways. Quick service had hour lines to get a pizza. We waited 3.5 hours to meet Maleficent. I'm glad that this is a hard ticket event now, it will make the entire event much more enjoyable for all involved.

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