Amazed and Disappointed

[squirrel]

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.

Please send off an e-mail to Disney letting them know about your experience. The more people that complain the better chance they will make changes in the future.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I just received a voicemail from DVC, as I sent them a letter as well -- I really covered all bases -- LOL! As a BLT owner, a key part of the purchase decision was a lot of easy access to MK. Cutting hours drastically like this in the summer diminishes the value for us.

I'll call them back when I have a chance. I'm sure it's just to say "thanks for sharing your feedback it's been shared with those higher up", but I suppose it's nice that they bother to call.

 

[Monykalyn]

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.

Please let guest relations know of your concerns-seriously. Only the squeaky wheel(s) get the grease-so the more the powers that be hear about the complaints the more likely they are to do something about it. I'd bet if a flood of guest complaints came roaring in things would change.

 

[DaisyJ]

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?

No. The stores are just as crowded at 10pm as they are at 2 in the afternoon.

 

[DaisyJ]

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!

When we were leaving the park at 10:10, the Plaza ice cream line was halfway back to the Hub.

 

[robl45]

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.

No you do need to fold the strollers up on the monorail, people just don't. I stopped doing it after the third time or so of watching people leave their strollers open while I dragged my sleeping kid out to make room for everyone. Think about how much quicker the lines would go on the monorail if people were folding their strollers up.

 

[robl45]

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.

It really aggravates me being a season ticket holder frankly. If it was a nominal cost to get in its one thing, but its rather aggravating when you have to tell friends you can't go with them to mickeys halloween/christmas whatever because you have annual passes and you aren't spending another 200+ dollars to take the family for a night.

 

[nicko]

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.

Great post JayHowell. I was right there with you last week. Leaving was very painful. We didn't even attempt to leave the park until 10:30 PM and it was still horrible. Many say that the crowds are down. Perhaps they were a bit, but they certainly were not down 13% (which is the percent reduction in MK park hours as compared to 2015). I think any perceived lesser crowds was just redistribution of guests to AK. At 9:45 PM, Peter Pan's Flight was still 35 minutes (and climbing). That's not "an empty park because most people have gone home". What originally hooked me on WDW was not the memory of waiting 90 minutes to ride Space Mountain or Splash Mountain. Sure I waited some back then during the middle of the day, but for the last hour of the day, I got rewarded with some short lines to re-ride favorite attractions. Now you get long waits right until closing. On top of that, you get to fight for 90 minutes to leave the park along with 40K other tired and cranky guests. Will first timers come home and rave about that kind of experience to their friends?

One last item...We left Peter Pan's Flight around 10:10 PM. I noticed lots of people milling about Fantasy Land presumably looking for something to do. It was obvious that a lot of guests simply were not ready to go home (as my family was not as well). I have been going to WDW for 9 summers in a row. I have never experienced an MK closing like this year (and I mean that in a bad way). Of course the same can be said for the early closing of Hollywood Studios.

I sure hope these early closings are not just a strategy to push folks towards future Disney After Hours events.

 

[I'mfarfaraway]

Try going near Christmas when the MK closes at 6:00 pm many nights and they charge you extra to go in the evening (called MVMCP).

Same at Halloween .... it is what it is.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Great post JayHowell. I was right there with you last week. Leaving was very painful. We didn't even attempt to leave the park until 10:30 PM and it was still horrible. Many say that the crowds are down. Perhaps they were a bit, but they certainly were not down 13% (which is the percent reduction in MK park hours as compared to 2015). I think any perceived lesser crowds was just redistribution of guests to AK. At 9:45 PM, Peter Pan's Flight was still 35 minutes (and climbing). That's not "an empty park because most people have gone home". What originally hooked me on WDW was not the memory of waiting 90 minutes to ride Space Mountain or Splash Mountain. Sure I waited some back then during the middle of the day, but for the last hour of the day, I got rewarded with some short lines to re-ride favorite attractions. Now you get long waits right until closing. On top of that, you get to fight for 90 minutes to leave the park along with 40K other tired and cranky guests. Will first timers come home and rave about that kind of experience to their friends?

One last item...We left Peter Pan's Flight around 10:10 PM. I noticed lots of people milling about Fantasy Land presumably looking for something to do. It was obvious that a lot of guests simply were not ready to go home (as my family was not as well). I have been going to WDW for 9 summers in a row. I have never experienced an MK closing like this year (and I mean that in a bad way). Of course the same can be said for the early closing of Hollywood Studios.

I sure hope these early closings are not just a strategy to push folks towards future Disney After Hours events.

To your point, wait times 5min before MK close today...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

To your point, wait times 5min before MK close today...

View attachment 257976 View attachment 257977 View attachment 257978 View attachment 257979

My phone is taking forever to receive e-mail so I can't show a screen shot but I already see 7DMT down to 40mins @2mins past closing..so 7mins later and it dropped 20mins from your time.

I couldn't check the other ones quick enough before MDE reflected things as closed now.

 

[maryj11]

I did read that someone saw a bus taking people to the TTC. Has anyone tried taking that bus? Just trying to figure out how we are going to get out of the MK when we go. We are staying at the Poly so going to the TTC would work for us. I just wonder how long the wait is for it though or do they even have it still running? I'm frustrated and I'm not even there yet

 

[rteetz]

I did read that someone saw a bus taking people to the TTC. Has anyone tried taking that bus? Just trying to figure out how we are going to get out of the MK when we go. We are staying at the Poly so going to the TTC would work for us. I just wonder how long the wait is for it though or do they even have it still running? I'm frustrated and I'm not even there yet

Buses do run from the TTC to the MK bus stop. They do not run at all times but mornings and at park close are when they usually run.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

My phone is taking forever to receive e-mail so I can't show a screen shot but I already see 7DMT down to 40mins @2mins past closing..so 7mins later and it dropped 20mins from your time.

I couldn't check the other ones quick enough before MDE reflected things as closed now.

Ok... PAST closing... not sure how that helps... I'm confused...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Ok... PAST closing... not sure how that helps... I'm confused...

Because in 7mins time it dropped 20mins-you said you checked 5 mins before close and I checked 2 mins past close where it had dropped to 40 mins already..my guess it is possible that at least some of those times (though not all) were padded a little which isn't unheard of. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that there isn't long lines at closing that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying it's possible those times you were seeing weren't 100% accurate for all rides/attractions.

 

[nicko]

Because in 7mins time it dropped 20mins-you said you checked 5 mins before close and I checked 2 mins past close where it had dropped to 40 mins already..my guess it is possible that at least some of those times (though not all) were padded a little which isn't unheard of. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that there isn't long lines at closing that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying it's possible those times you were seeing weren't 100% accurate for all rides/attractions.

My wait time for Peter Pan's flight was a full 35 minutes. When I exited the ride (around 10:15ish) the queue was at least as long as when I entered. I saw lots of folks joining the line after I did.

Are there some rides with a short wait and are queues stacked near closing? Sure, but the bottom line is that when you move MK closing from the traditional 11 or midnight close, you get much longer wait times at 10 PM closing. You pay more in 2017, but you get less.

(After re-reading your post, I think we are for the most part agreeing with each other.)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I can assure you that my ac

I can assure you that my wait time for Peter Pan's flight was a full 35 minutes. When I exited the ride (around 10:15ish) the queue was at least as long as when I entered. I saw lots of folks joining the line after I did.

Are there some rides with a short wait and are queues stacked near closing? Sure, but the bottom line is that when you move MK closing from the traditional 11 or midnight close, you get much longer wait times at 10 PM closing. You pay more in 2017, but you get less.

I can assure you I wasn't talking about each and every particular ride...

I just happened to notice and I didn't have enough time before MDE refreshed that it said 40mins for 7DMT. TP FWIW predicted that at 9:45 it would be 46mins at least according to their graph.

And I wasn't talking about in general about the closing times for MK nor about the whole "pay more get less" argument...all I was mentioning was what I would call a pretty significant drop in MDE wait time for a ride in 7mins time.

It was a simple comment..not an indepth one.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

*I responded to your post prior to you adding in the re-reading my post part*

Are there some rides with a short wait and are queues stacked near closing? Sure,

(After re-reading your post, I think we are for the most part agreeing with each other.)

The bolded is pretty much all I was getting at that at least it's possible. It just seemed interesting that at 10:02pm MDE reflected 40mins for 7DMT but just 7mins prior at 9:55pm it reflected 60mins. I mean 40mins is still long for being right around closing time but it's better than 60mins at least for me.

I just didn't have enough time to even check the rest of the attractions .

 

[Amy&Dan]

I did read that someone saw a bus taking people to the TTC. Has anyone tried taking that bus? Just trying to figure out how we are going to get out of the MK when we go. We are staying at the Poly so going to the TTC would work for us. I just wonder how long the wait is for it though or do they even have it still running? I'm frustrated and I'm not even there yet

We took it one night. I had seen them the night before so the next night we hustled out about 9:45 hoping it would go quicker. It was a long line and within a few minutes of us getting in it it was much longer and continued to grow. They send busses one right after the other but the line was huge. The worst I saw it was the night it was EMH and the monorail wasn't running.

We took it to the TTC so we could walk to the Poly and it worked but it wasn't quick. But I daresay it was quicker than the ferry.

 

[robl45]

To your point, wait times 5min before MK close today...

View attachment 257976 View attachment 257977 View attachment 257978 View attachment 257979

Hard to tell with that though, sometimes they just don't get updated right before close. but it definitely sucks as those were the wait times 2 hours before close when they closed at 12am