Walt Disney World Cuts Longstanding Tradition of Free Hats and Noisemakers for Park Guests on New Year’s Eve

Katie Francis

Updated on:

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Walt Disney World Cuts Longstanding Tradition of Free Hats and Noisemakers for Park Guests on New Year’s Eve

Yet another budget cut has affected the holiday season at Walt Disney World. The victims of the latest cost-saving effort are the paper hats and noisemakers typically given to all park guests on New Year’s Eve.

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This year, only guests at select Walt Disney World Resorts are being given the paper hats, putting this once-complimentary holiday gift behind a paywall after decades of tradition. The noisemakers have not been seen, even for resort guests.

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This comes after a series of budget cuts reduced holiday decor around the resort, with none of the usual decorations inside restaurants or at Toy Story Land in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

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The hats and noisemakers were even given out last year when most offerings were still limited due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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23 thoughts on “Walt Disney World Cuts Longstanding Tradition of Free Hats and Noisemakers for Park Guests on New Year’s Eve”

  1. Disney may make up short term losses with all the growing list of cutbacks, but if something as simple as cardboard hats is too much for them to provide people who spend all this money to attend the resorts, I predict this will hurt them big in the long term. People didn’t fall in love with this version of Disney, they fell in love with the quality and magic that was there for nearly 50 years. Cuts are understandable especially due to the pandemic, but the amount in such a short time is drastic and will hurt the integrity of it for years to come.

  2. Yes, poor Disney. Their back to making millions per day and still getting as cheap as ever. They want YOUR money, but do not want to give anything in return. The parks have already turned into a haven for the Rich. Walt Disney’s dream of a park for Everyone sure went to Hell with Bob Paycheck running the show.

  3. bob the bean counter strikes again. when will this moron be gone? disney stock keeps going down. about time for the board to find a replacement.

  4. I’m waiting for the b.s. excuse/reply that this was done to protect the environment, or increase guest satisfaction.
    Greedy greedy chapek.

  5. Over the last year, has Josh actually done ANYTHING to improve the guest experience??

    Posters, please help me think of any.

  6. Seriously how cheap can you get. Also a big thing to do at WDW was go from resort to resort to check out the decorations. Newsflash Cheapskate that’s the reason people go at Christmas because it’s decked out for the holidays. Spending my money elsewhere Bob.

  7. So…. why does AllEars have a picture of the 2022 hat in front of Animal Kingdom on their website right now?

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