Do they open International Gateway at Illuminations time?

[Brookie1972]

I heard that they open the gateway from the Boardwalk area and you can go into Epcot and watch without a ticket. I would love for this to be true, but have a hard time believing this, just wondering if anyone can confirm this. And if so was it recently.

We are doing the half marathon next week and would love to see Illuminations, but we are getting in late one day and didn't plan to do a park and if we did it the following night we would be out too late....we have to be on the bus the next morning between 3-4am.

 

[Calcio]

Sorry but the answer to your question is no. The International Gateway is staffed at all times and to get in you need an admission pass.

 

[Calcio]

Double post, gnomes at work.

 

[memphismovin]

I've never heard this before but would be very surprised if it were true. Not sure how that would work to keep people from going into the rest of the park. I have heard that FL residents can get evening passes at a discount with entry after a certain time that may be closer to the truth. If you want to go see a fireworks show and are not getting tickets the best place to go is the Contemporary. You can go up on the stairwell balcony and see wishes perfectly. They play the music too so the its a great experience even just as a different view of the show. You can also see Wishes from the beach at Fort Wilderness and they also bring in the music. Hope this helps

 

[Brookie1972]

I agree, I can't see how they would do that. I mean some people could just go in and ride rides, etc.

This is my first trip without kids and I have never seen Illuminations, thought it would be nice, but it would be getting us back to the hotel an hour later than if we did Wishes. Was hoping this was a really good secret.

This is what I read, got this document emailed me from someone on this site:

(7) Enter EPCOT for FREE! If you're anywhere near the International Gateway around 9pm, the CMs will open the gates and allow you in to watch Illuminations. This is a great way to start your trip with some extra magic, especially if you're staying at one of the Boardwalk area resorts and had an afternoon or evening arrival.

 

[michelleiada]

I don't think this is true. I have walked into the International Gateway from Beach Club while Illuminations is in progress and we needed to swipe our KTTW cards to get in. Sorry that you were misinformed.

 

[doconeill]

Years ago, that used to be true, and it was printed in some guidebooks in the 2005 era, although it probably stopped happening before that.

They COULD do it - since all the attractions close when Illuminations starts, they could open the gates at 9, and you wouldn't really get to do anything else but potentially shop.

But as far as I know they do not do it at all any more.

 

[Brookie1972]

I know they used to do a "Shopping Pass" years ago too, but no longer do it. Just want to confirm this before we go.....don't even want to make the trip to the Boardwalk if its not true.

If it was true, maybe they are hoping people come spend money on shopping/food if the rides were closed anyways???

 

[RMulieri]

Not anymore

 

[disnut8]

They COULD do it - since all the attractions close when Illuminations starts, they could open the gates at 9, and you wouldn't really get to do anything else but potentially shop.

But as far as I know they do not do it at all any more.

But they really don't close the attractions at 9:00 when Illuminations starts. Say they opened the International Gateway to anyone starting at 8:45. People could get in for free and sprint down to Soarin' or Test Track or Mission:Space and get in line for it by 8:59. They could still ride the attraction since they were in line before the ride closed. The only way to do this would be to only allow people in five minutes before the show started and then you'd have a glut of people standing along the bridge between United Kingdom and France because that's about the only place they could go to watch in that short amount of time.

Too messy all around.

 

[doconeill]

But they really don't close the attractions at 9:00 when Illuminations starts. Say they opened the International Gateway to anyone starting at 8:45. People could get in for free and sprint down to Soarin' or Test Track or Mission:Space and get in line for it by 8:59. They could still ride the attraction since they were in line before the ride closed. The only way to do this would be to only allow people in five minutes before the show started and then you'd have a glut of people standing along the bridge between United Kingdom and France because that's about the only place they could go to watch in that short amount of time.

Too messy all around.

But I was saying the could open the gates at 9, not 8:45...they would not be able to get in line then. Sure, you may miss the first couple minutes of Illuminations...but as you say, there would be too many people. There is a large viewing area towards France, but they reserve that now for VIPs.

 

[Robo]

They throw open the gates (front and International) when IllumiNations is over (about 9:15PM.)

 

[Traveliz]

But I was saying the could open the gates at 9, not 8:45...they would not be able to get in line then. Sure, you may miss the first couple minutes of Illuminations...but as you say, there would be too many people. There is a large viewing area towards France, but they reserve that now for VIPs.

The used to open them at just a couple of minutes before 9 - so really all you could do is get in far enough to get to the bridge as Illuminations was starting for the show. There is no way you could get to any rides. They stopped doing that some time ago.

Now the gates open closer to the end of Illuminations as people who have taken the boat cruises can get back through to get to the monorail.

Liz