Amazed and Disappointed

[Jadyreen1282]

Holding out hope times will change for the later by later in the month. Otherwise I'm guess we will walk to CR after. Grab a drink then take the Minnie van pack to POR.

 

[robl45]

Holding out hope times will change for the later by later in the month. Otherwise I'm guess we will walk to CR after. Grab a drink then take the Minnie van pack to POR.

If the minnie van is 20 dollars which I read, uber is far cheaper.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

If the minnie van is 20 dollars which I read, uber is far cheaper.

By the time we are done at CR we probably won't care. We budgeted gift cards for VA this year and bailed on that so cheaper is an really just an option.

 

[McKelly]

Does it help to dilly daily as long s possible after 10:00 or not? I am not used to the a rolling up of main street at the chime of closing time so my plan to avoid the end of he nigh traffic jam was to save a purchase of two for the end of the night as well as to just plain old dawdle while the bus line were at their worst. Will this not work?

Yes, this will work. We got in line for a ride at 9:55pm, and then went for ice-cream at the Plaza right after (Plaza has hours 40 minutes after park close) and ate it in the little area in front of it. We strolled out of MK at about 10:40 and got directly on a boat to the Poly.
We did this for the one 11:00pm close we had to. Who doesn't love ice-cream in the middle of the night! It is vacation after all!

 

[maryj11]

Yes, this will work. We got in line for a ride at 9:55pm, and then went for ice-cream at the Plaza right after (Plaza has hours 40 minutes after park close) and ate it in the little area in front of it. We strolled out of MK at about 10:40 and got directly on a boat to the Poly.
We did this for the one 11:00pm close we had to. Who doesn't love ice-cream in the middle of the night! It is vacation after all!

I read a post where someone couldn't even find a water because most places closed at 9:30.
So if we get in line for Splash Mountain at 9:55 or right before 10:00 they will still let us ride even if the park will be closing before we are finished riding?

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Holding out hope times will change for the later by later in the month. Otherwise I'm guess we will walk to CR after. Grab a drink then take the Minnie van pack to POR.

Is this running resort-wide now? Last I heard it was testing at BC and BW... Uber will work regardless... and probably be cheaper.

 

[maxiesmom]

I read a post where someone couldn't even find a water because most places closed at 9:30.
So if we get in line for Splash Mountain at 9:55 or right before 10:00 they will still let us ride even if the park will be closing before we are finished riding?

If they let you in line they will let you ride.

 

[robl45]

I read a post where someone couldn't even find a water because most places closed at 9:30.
So if we get in line for Splash Mountain at 9:55 or right before 10:00 they will still let us ride even if the park will be closing before we are finished riding?

almost all rides except maybe flight of passage will let you ride as long as you are inline by park close. They will literally stand there and hold the line open while people come running to the line at 9:59.

 

[DebbieB]

But that is the point. Magic Kingdom was open longer hours in June (Usually 11PM) than it will be in July or August (10PM). And it's open much longer in December than either of those months (Often 11 or midnight). So I'll reverse your statement on you! "Why should someone who goes in the winter get extra hours for free as opposed to someone who goes in the summer?" Because they ARE! And that is without EMHs. That is why it's a contentious issue.

And they DO need to draw. The figures last year indicated that (for the first time EVER) the total market share of attendance for the Florida parks was under 70% for Disney (69 point something). Their market share has been shrinking vs. Universal. So they do need to draw people. And Magic Kingdom is their flagship.

For the first 3 weeks of December, MK is closing at 6:00 for MVMCP four nights a week.

 

[DaisyJ]

They do bring a bigger boat out at closing time for the Poly-GF-Mk loop. We always got on the smaller boat, but there was a bigger one that they normally don't use.

Another thing that bothered me with the 10pm closings, was that most of the food and beverage places closed before that. At 9:30pm, after the fireworks, I had a heck of a time finding someone to sell me a bottle of water!

Yep. Most of them closed before the fireworks.

 

[twoplustwins]

For the first 3 weeks of December, MK is closing at 6:00 for MVMCP four nights a week.

Ugh. I always wanted to go early Dec on an anniversary trip. Guess not.

 

[robl45]

Ugh. I always wanted to go early Dec on an anniversary trip. Guess not.

You mean you don't want to pay an obscene amount of money to go to the park at night?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Ugh. I always wanted to go early Dec on an anniversary trip. Guess not.

Well the MVMCP dates have been known since 4/6/17.

What's new is that they decided to close the park at 6pm rather than 7pm. That part was announced 6/28/17.

ETA: You can still shop and dine until 7pm as I understand it but you will be unable to ride rides after 6pm if you do not have a MVMCP ticket.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Well the MVMCP dates have been known since 4/6/17.

What's new is that they decided to close the park at 6pm rather than 7pm. That part was announced 6/28/17.

ETA: You can still shop and dine until 7pm as I understand it but you will be unable to ride rides after 6pm if you do not have a MVMCP ticket.

When the MVMCP started, that time of year was considered low season, now there is no such thing as low season and they cut the hour by 1??!!

I'm telling you DAH is coming to the new "low" season, July.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

When the MVMCP started, that time of year was considered low season, now there is no such thing as low season and they cut the hour by 1??!!

I'm telling you DAH is coming to the new "low" season, July.

From what I understand they are testing the 6pm vs 7pm. I personally haven't been there for Christmas (only fall time) so I don't know if this is done for crowd control or not.

 

[twoplustwins]

Well the MVMCP dates have been known since 4/6/17.

What's new is that they decided to close the park at 6pm rather than 7pm. That part was announced 6/28/17.

ETA: You can still shop and dine until 7pm as I understand it but you will be unable to ride rides after 6pm if you do not have a MVMCP ticket.

I'm just not thrilled with all these hard ticket nights. I understand one or two a week, but IMO four is a lot. They wouldn't do it if it wasn't working and making them money, so I get it. Not a fan.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

Getting to either the Poly or GF would be difficult because of the huge crowds on the monorail. Going to CR would be much easier since you can walk. Our first two nights we were at WL and our last nine at POR. It wasn't any easier getting to WL. Any form of transportation was jam packed!

As far as the transportation to/from the monorail resorts, we found it much easier to get back to the Poly than POR (split stay). But we had three strollers with us, so we're outside the norm. The big difference was that we had to fold up the strollers on the buses, which meant we had to carry tired/sleeping kids AND fold/carry strollers (plus bags), find a place to put the strollers on the crowded buses... At least on the monorail, we never had to fold any strollers up. We could leave tired/sleeping kids in them, and we didn't have to carry our bags. Same goes for the boats to/from the boardwalk area (they never made us fold up any strollers. Plus the walk to/from EPCOT was easy.) I'm sure WL is a bit different because the monorail doesn't go there and we've always had to fold up our strollers on those boats.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

Does it help to dilly daily as long s possible after 10:00 or not? I am not used to the a rolling up of main street at the chime of closing time so my plan to avoid the end of he nigh traffic jam was to save a purchase of two for the end of the night as well as to just plain old dawdle while the bus line were at their worst. Will this not work?

That's what we did this month (July 1-18) but just be warned that the shops tended to be quite busy (the Confectionary seemed esp crowded).

 

[JayHowell]

I finished my vacation last week. Back in Canada.

The biggest problem with the earlier closure at the park was INSANE wait times to get a ferry or monorail back to the ticket centre. When the park stays open even a little later, the traffic out is divided and smoothed out over a 2 hour period between 9:30 and 11:30. When it isn't the busy July crowd is crammed into a 1 hour window of mass exodus (9:30 - 10:30). So the crowd still takes until well after midnight to get out, but with EVERYONE just waiting outside the gates with nothing to do. Children screaming and crying and tired, seniors in discomfort.

We waited for the Ferry from 10:15 until 11:35 (only got out of the parking lot after Midnight). At one point we had to wait 30 minutes just for the electric boat thing from the GF and Ploy to travel by before ferries could start transporting again. Why wouldn't they take all of these things into consideration when deciding to close the park earlier at a busy time? I've been there at Christmas twice and it was NEVER this bad.

We had a great day at the MK, but it really was dampened by that exit. My mother and father (68 and 69) where so tired after standing around that long. They loved the fireworks and the castle projection show, but the exit is a magic killer. And the easy solution is one more hour of park time. I know many of you disagree with me (probably because you own stock and want more dividends ) but honestly it was the worst experience leaving I've ever had (and, like I said, I've been there at Christmas.)

C'est la vie! But that was my experience. Maybe others feel differently, and that is fine too. But Mid-July, in that heat and humidity, is not the time to have everyone exit at once.

 

[maxiesmom]

I read a post where someone couldn't even find a water because most places closed at 9:30.

For what it is worth, you can't buy water when the parks first open either. Most if not all of the carts are closed.