I’m going to admit, it’s been a hot minute since I came across a special after-hours ticketed event that I wasn’t counting down the days till. Jackie shared details of the new Disneyland After Dark: Star Wars Nite earlier in the week, and while it sounds like a fun event, it’s just not on the cards for me this year. However, when arranging my park reservations for my trip this April, I started to think about the warning notice that appears on the same dates as the party, cautioning that the park will close at 8 pm for a special ticketed event.
Of course, I’ve seen this countless times before, but this time, it sparked a new train of thought: Is that really fair? Of course, paying an additional fee to attend the event is understandable, but if my park day is being cut short because of it, should I be paying the same cost as a regular day-pass ticket? Take a look at the admission price calendar, and I’ll show you what I mean:
For instance, April 16th is an event nite that will close early at 8 pm, and yet, it is the same price as the next day, the 17th, which doesn’t close early. The 23rd is another early closing night for the event, the same price as the regular hours on the 24th. The same can be said for the 30th, an event night, and the 1st, a regular hours day. The cycle goes on, as you can see above.
So my question then became, why? I’m not usually one to complain when it comes to Disney. I believe that we are lucky to live in a world where things like this exist, even if, at times, they aren’t perfect. However, there was something about this one that just irked me. Given that Disney already offers variable ticket pricing, if my park time is being shortened by a few hours, why isn’t that reflected in the price difference of admission?
I want to know your thoughts. Does it seem odd to you that there isn’t any sort of differential in pricing to allow for the shortened park hours for planned events? I’m not looking for a bandwagon of Disney-bashing because, let’s face it, we would all like everything to be cheaper these days, but when something like this comes along that doesn’t seem to make sense, I am curious to see if I’m alone in my thinking.
