Amazed and Disappointed

[Designed4dis]

The problem we have with those hours is we go in August and it feels like 100 degrees in the middle of the day. There is no way we can stand the heat in the middle of the day waiting in lines. We take a break and go back for evening when it is cooler. It is going to cut our hours down with the early closing. Also with the 10:00 pm closing it is causing a hoard of people leaving at the same time.

I get what you are saying but by taking time to back and forth for a break you are limiting your own hours.

 

[maryj11]

I get what you are saying but by taking time to back and forth for a break you are limiting your own hours.

Not to much we are staying at the Polynesian it is on the monorail loop.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I get what you are saying but by taking time to back and forth for a break you are limiting your own hours.

No. I'm touring the way our family has enjoyed these vacations for 20 trips now. If we have to stop hopping to get things done, we won't go nearly as often. And most certainly not in the summer.

 

[pigletto]

The problem we have with those hours is we go in August and it feels like 100 degrees in the middle of the day. There is no way we can stand the heat in the middle of the day waiting in lines. We take a break and go back for evening when it is cooler. It is going to cut our hours down with the early closing. Also with the 10:00 pm closing it is causing a hoard of people leaving at the same time.

This is my issue exactly. Add in that we are staying offsite, and getting out of MK for a mid day break from the heat and back later in the day takes up a good chunk of time. I even suggested to DH that we not leave for a mid day break this time. He quickly reminded me of how awful we all are when we are hot and exhausted and that we made the break rule for a reason. It just works for us. It's going to be a break or we are going to be leaving by supper time which isnt ideal either. And I don't even have little kids.. I have a 13 and a 20 year old. I can't imagine trying to get through that afternoon heat with little ones.

 

[JungleCruiseFan]

I don't understand why people feel the need to say it's ok they close early because ALL the other theme parks do. Not only do all the other theme parks not close that early, there are lots of examples that are closing later this summer, but this is the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, the most visited theme park in the world!! It SHOULD be open longer and later than any other theme park in the world!

 

[wdwlver]

I get what you are saying but by taking time to back and forth for a break you are limiting your own hours.

Spending pool time at resort and going back to parks at night is the best reason to go in summer. Spending all day at park is not enjoyable to us in heat of summer. That's why cutting MK hours at night is a problem for us. YMMV

 

[robl45]

Sure. This year, though, I can achieve 2.5 hrs worth LESS in MK PER DAY throughout my 11-day Aug trip. That matters to us. Perhaps not to others. And that's fine.

Really a much bigger loss than you are making it to be because those 2.5 hours at least the last 2 or so the rides would have minimal waits if any. Compare that to earlier in the day and its probably like 4-5 real hours you are losing per day or so.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Well if those 2.5 hours are important to you I can see why you are upset. But I always look for the bright side. Last year you had MSEP which most people get a spot for half and hour before so by the time you have waited, watched the parade and walked to the next attraction you have spend an hour to and hour and a half. This year you have that time back to do other things, that means you have lost 1 hour. Now I haven't seen it yet but you are allowed on Main Street early now right? Before official opening?

Now the thing that is bad here is we have lost a night time parade, they are limiting hours and prices are rising

During the summer, the parades were often performed twice. The most efficient plan was to re-ride some headliners with little to no wait while the masses were lining up and waiting for the first parade. Then you could attend the 2nd version, which was much less crowded, without the wait.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Really a much bigger loss than you are making it to be because those 2.5 hours at least the last 2 or so the rides would have minimal waits if any. Compare that to earlier in the day and its probably like 4-5 real hours you are losing per day or so.

Agree 100%!

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

During the summer, the parades were often performed twice. The most efficient plan was to re-ride some headliners with little to no wait while the masses were lining up and waiting for the first parade. Then you could attend the 2nd version, which was much less crowded, without the wait.

Exactly what we did.

 

[StraightToDumbo]

Really a much bigger loss than you are making it to be because those 2.5 hours at least the last 2 or so the rides would have minimal waits if any. Compare that to earlier in the day and its probably like 4-5 real hours you are losing per day or so.

Perhaps that's why they close earlier. If the last two hours are dead, the ROI is much lower than closing the park when it's still fairly busy.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Perhaps that's why they close earlier. If the last two hours are dead, the ROI is much lower than closing the park when it's still fairly busy.

Maybe you could call the Aug 2016 MK hours 12a-1a "dead-ish". But not 10-12. At close now ride waits are still 1hr+ on many attractions. That's ridiculous.

 

[maryj11]

This is my issue exactly. Add in that we are staying offsite, and getting out of MK for a mid day break from the heat and back later in the day takes up a good chunk of time. I even suggested to DH that we not leave for a mid day break this time. He quickly reminded me of how awful we all are when we are hot and exhausted and that we made the break rule for a reason. It just works for us. It's going to be a break or we are going to be leaving by supper time which isnt ideal either. And I don't even have little kids.. I have a 13 and a 20 year old. I can't imagine trying to get through that afternoon heat with little ones.

I cant imagine having little ones either and staying all day. My 15 year old the past two years started getting cranky and hot around 1:00. It is not worth to stay if everyone in the group does not feel good. I can tolerate the heat better than her but it makes it no fun for me if she is cranky.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Perhaps that's why they close earlier. If the last two hours are dead, the ROI is much lower than closing the park when it's still fairly busy.

The lines do decrease after 10 pm, even though the posted wait times don't reflect this. However, the gift shops are packed during these hours. Closing early may have the unintended consequence of running off some paying customers and actually negatively impact the ROI.

 

[spcol03]

During the summer, the parades were often performed twice. The most efficient plan was to re-ride some headliners with little to no wait while the masses were lining up and waiting for the first parade. Then you could attend the 2nd version, which was much less crowded, without the wait.

We used to love the 2nd parade. Especially in the back of the park you rarely ever had to get a spot early.

 

[twoplustwins]

We used to love the 2nd parade. Especially in the back of the park you rarely ever had to get a spot early.

We loved the second parade too! We could walk right up to the curb at the start of it without having to stand behind people. Claiming a spot an out early isn't my idea of fun, especially when my four children were little.

 

[maxiesmom]

We used to love the 2nd parade. Especially in the back of the park you rarely ever had to get a spot early.

Which kind of proves the point that the park wasn't all that busy. Which would be why they cut out the second parade. If not that many people were watching it makes no sense to run it.

 

[spcol03]

Which kind of proves the point that the park wasn't all that busy. Which would be why they cut out the second parade. If not that many people were watching it makes no sense to run it.

Not all that busy relative to 9 pm maybe, but that doesn't mean not busy. Main Street was still crowded for the second parade. The big rides still had waits at that time usually too. It's a bit of a moot point talking about the need for a second night parade when there is currently no night parade.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So FWIW with respects to talking about crowds and park hrs- Park hrs were just updated for my September trip. Here's what it is with respects to just my trip (but I'm also going to Universal so what I'm listing is all park days including WDW and USO).

MK has 11pm close time instead of 9pm on Saturday September 9th
MK has 10pm close time instead of 9pm on Monday September 11th
MK has 11pm close time instead of 9pm on Saturday September 16th

*Wednesday September 13th closes at 9pm but has EMH from 9pm-11pm--these hrs haven't changed in a while*
*Thursday September 14th remains at 9pm*

Sunday September 10th, Tuesday September September 12th and Friday September 15th are MNSSHP so park closes at 7pm.

AK is still at this point just 9pm with no additional nighttime EMH announced at this time.

Touring plans has the crowd levels low at this point other than Saturday the 9th which is listed as a 5 for MK, Monday the 11th which is listed as a 4 for MK and Saturday the 16th which is listed as a 6 for MK, but I will be interested to see what it's like when we're there and what the crowd calendar is updated with ones those days have past (given past records I'm assuming they will update the crowd calendar once the day has passed).

 

[jennypenny]

We're wrapping up our normal summer trip this weekend. The early closing at MK is a bummer, and extra hours at AK don't count since only two rides are open and one has 2+ hour waits every night. Staying at BLT was almost worthless. We like to stay here so we can head back to MK at night to get in a few extra rides. Won't bother again.

We have always enjoyed our summer trips but the hours make me question what kind of pass we'll buy next time and where we'll stay. My kids are already talking about skipping next year's trip. It's fairly empty here compared to previous August trips, and I think Disney mostly has itself to blame.