Do wait times still go down right before park closing even with the early closing hours?

[EpcotNerd]

Back in the pre-Covid days most rides became walk-on right before closing. Now that parks close at 5:00/6:00/7:00 (in January), is that still the case? I wasn't sure if back in the day the crowds were leaving because it was late at night or because the park was closing and they wanted to beat the crowds to the buses/parking trams.

 

[yulilin3]

Back in the pre-Covid days most rides became walk-on right before closing. Now that parks close at 5:00/6:00/7:00 (in January), is that still the case? I wasn't sure if back in the day the crowds were leaving because it was late at night or because the park was closing and they wanted to beat the crowds to the buses/parking trams.

Still the case.
Did MMRR last week at the end of the night with a10 min wait

 

[Shellyred8]

Still the case.
Did MMRR last week at the end of the night with a10 min wait

When we were there last week most rides had shorter lines in the last couple of hours of the day, but there were a few exceptions. TOT still had a really long line at HS. At MK, seven dwarfs was also pretty long right up until close.

 

[newdeal]

I wonder what the effect of the lack of fireworks is on end of day wait times?

 

[Skywalker3]

Yes! At during Thanksgiving week. We figured that out about halfway through trip. I think a lot had to do w no park hopping and no fireworks/night time shows. We walked right on MMRR around 6:15 (7PM closing,)
Epcot was the best. DH and DS got about 5 rides done in 1 hr 30 mins, almost all walk on. or minimal waits. Frozen still looked long tho. Did MK twice, and same. we ended up doing rope drop, long afternoon break, back in the evening. Might change if they bring Park hopping. more might show up late to ride, if they've been elsewhere all day

 

[EpcotNerd]

Yes! At during Thanksgiving week. We figured that out about halfway through trip. I think a lot had to do w no park hopping and no fireworks/night time shows. We walked right on MMRR around 6:15 (7PM closing,)
Epcot was the best. DH and DS got about 5 rides done in 1 hr 30 mins, almost all walk on. or minimal waits. Frozen still looked long tho. Did MK twice, and same. we ended up doing rope drop, long afternoon break, back in the evening. Might change if they bring Park hopping. more might show up late to ride, if they've been elsewhere all day

I didn't even think of that, I'm sure you're right about park hopping changing things!