Has anyone been 'kicked out' at closing time?

[sharadoc]

Back in the days of the "old" Main Street Bakery, we stopped for fresh cinnamon buns and muffins at park closing. By the time we were done, we were one of the last folks in the park. We were not rushed or no CMs bothered us, probably because we were so close to the front door vs. being further back in the park, so no need to usher us out. I can't remember if we took pictures, silly I know.

One other trip we had reservations at 50's PT at 8:30 when the park closed at 8:00. By the time we were done, it was at least 9:15. I am positive we were the last people in the park. We didn't even see any CMs and most of the lights were turned off. Eerily beautiful. That time, the only working camera was my DDs Hello Kitty camera. She took some great pics, then dropped the camera, the batteries fell out and everything was lost (cheap technology).

We have a Mama Melrose reservation at 7:30 on our upcoming trip and the park closing is listed as 7:00 although I think hours will most likely be extended.

 

[Ninja Mom]

I think I have seen a picture of you and your husband on his blog in a photograph of the two of your under a clock on Main Street USA that read 3:00am....just to show how late you were there. Is that you!?!

The trick to getting that picture is to wait for a night that the parks are open really late, like a 2 am closing time or even a 24 hour park event.

If you are closing, you clean your station, assist with closing if asked and change into your street clothes. You leave your work clothes there to be cleaned. By the way to those who thinks its ok to wander around the park after hrs, you are holding up many employees from going home. We used to get really pissed off when we encountered those visitors. How would you like it if someone shows up at your work and kept you from going home, just wandering around the office.

This concept of Disney employees being held against their will while waiting for tardy park guests to leave is not passing my smell test. I have spoken to many employees who have let me know that they are scheduled to work park closing until a certain time which includes an expected time of clearing the parks. I also know for a fact, based upon talking to many employees over the years, that when Disney needs the guests out of the parks they will TELL them that they have to exit the park immediately and escort them to the exit. An example of this would be when they need every moment of park closing to change over the decorations from Halloween to Christmas or they are hosting a special after hours event at the park or an area of the park.

Since Disney tightly controls the amount of overtime hours that non-managerial Cast members are allowed to work I find it hard to imagine that a regular cast member would be asked to stay OFF the clock to herd guests from leaving the parks. The concept that was presented to me was that managers that are the ones staying to clear the parks are assigned that duty... and as such have an obligation to do that within a specified time range. The managers are not being held up. They are expected to stay as part of their responsibilities and they are also expected to clear the park within a specified time.

Remember it's supposed to be Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency. Not "We used to get really pissed off"...

~NM

 

[Malibustyle23]

Really depends what day of the week you are there and when during the year. Winter was the best when it was freezing. There were low crowd and everyone rushing out of the park to get into warmth. Thursday,Friday and Saturdays were the worst nights to work and in the summer the park did not close till midnight. The restaurant workers had it the worst because there were always tables just sitting around sipping coffee staying for hrs and they could not just tell them to leave. Disney did not really care about its employees because they knew there was always someone to hire. I remember them making me work till close and having me open the following day. Those were the 5 hrs of sleep nights. Happened a lot.

Isn't there a union for the workers in place? It's not written into contract that workers allowed so many hours off between shifts or otherwise given overtime or other benefits?

 

[BabyFu18]

Once my sister and I stayed for evening EMH at Epcot, after they were over my feet were killing me so we sat down on a bench to switch shoes and ending up being there for awhile when we got up to head out there weren't huge crowds of people but still some were headed out. We weren't asked to leave by CMs or anything, and some people were still lingering, but when we got to the exit there was a CM yelling "last monorail is leaving" and of course we needed to catch the monorail to get back to our resort. So I asked the CM will there be a bus back to the monorail resorts if we didn't make that train and he said 'no' and told us to run and catch that monorail. We had to run up the monorail ramp and I have asthma (so running was difficult) and boy were we a sight to be seen by the time we managed to get on the train. That was an experience that taught me to make sure we left the park in plenty of time to make a slow exit and not have to run for it again.

I appreciate how nice it is to leave the parks slowly and get to see things as they quiet down but I also know the CMs don't want to have to stand around waiting for people who just want to linger. So now we do sometimes wait for the crowds to dissipate a little but we always make our way to the exits in a timely manner so that we aren't causing anyone to have to stay behind unneccessarily.

 

[Miskey]

Since it's policy to allow guests to get into ride lines right up until park closing, I would think they would expect some guest to be in the parks after closing. I would imagine for some rides like Soarin or Toy Story, it may take hour or more to clear out the line

 

[mondragon]

The trick to getting that picture is to wait for a night that the parks are open really late, like a 2 am closing time or even a 24 hour park event.



This concept of Disney employees being held against their will while waiting for tardy park guests to leave is not passing my smell test. I have spoken to many employees who have let me know that they are scheduled to work park closing until a certain time which includes an expected time of clearing the parks. I also know for a fact, based upon talking to many employees over the years, that when Disney needs the guests out of the parks they will TELL them that they have to exit the park immediately and escort them to the exit. An example of this would be when they need every moment of park closing to change over the decorations from Halloween to Christmas or they are hosting a special after hours event at the park or an area of the park.

Since Disney tightly controls the amount of overtime hours that non-managerial Cast members are allowed to work I find it hard to imagine that a regular cast member would be asked to stay OFF the clock to herd guests from leaving the parks. The concept that was presented to me was that managers that are the ones staying to clear the parks are assigned that duty... and as such have an obligation to do that within a specified time range. The managers are not being held up. They are expected to stay as part of their responsibilities and they are also expected to clear the park within a specified time.

Remember it's supposed to be Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency. Not "We used to get really pissed off"...

~NM

Hey I am going back 15 years. That was the way we did it then. I have no idea and really have no interest on what the policy is today. So you go around to Disney employees and ask them thing like that while on vacation?? Do you ask how much they make along with if they are happy working at the parks. Disney is a miserable place to work. That is what most of them want to tell you along with how much they hate working there.

For someone who has never worked at the parks, you sure know a lot about their policies. We were never forced to work off the clock. What happened is if there was no overtime approved (usually in the low part of the season), then whatever overtime worked will be reduced the next time you worked. In season, they will ask for employees to work overtime (working a double shift or staying late for some sort of function which happened a lot). Both managers and regular cast members closed and escorted guests out the park. Managers were also paid hourly but not much more.

 

[Ninja Mom]

Hey I am going back 15 years. That was the way we did it then. I have no idea and really have no interest on what the policy is today. So you go around to Disney employees and ask them thing like that while on vacation?? Do you ask how much they make along with if they are happy working at the parks. Disney is a miserable place to work. That is what most of them want to tell you along with how much they hate working there.

For someone who has never worked at the parks, you sure know a lot about their policies. We were never forced to work off the clock. What happened is if there was no overtime approved (usually in the low part of the season), then whatever overtime worked will be reduced the next time you worked. In season, they will ask for employees to work overtime (working a double shift or staying late for some sort of function which happened a lot). Both managers and regular cast members closed and escorted guests out the park. Managers were also paid hourly but not much more.

Nope, I don't go around asking how much they make. For someone who has worked in the parks you sure assume an awful lot about everyone else. To me it seems that your negative attitude is coloring your response to the topic. Hopefully it will occur to you that not everyone finds working in a Disney park such a horrible experience.

~NM

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Nope, I don't go around asking how much they make. For someone who has worked in the parks you sure assume an awful lot about everyone else. To me it seems that your negative attitude is coloring your response to the topic. Hopefully it will occur to you that not everyone finds working in a Disney park such a horrible experience.

~NM

I like how you are telling an employee who has worked there how they should feel about their job

 

[Ninja Mom]

I like how you are telling an employee who has worked there how they should feel about their job

Nope, I don't go around asking how much they make. For someone who has worked in the parks you sure assume an awful lot about everyone else. To me it seems that your negative attitude is coloring your response to the topic. Hopefully it will occur to you that not everyone finds working in a Disney park such a horrible experience.

~NM

I'm not telling them how they should feel, I'm making an observation about what they are saying. I disagree with what they are saying. That is my opinion. Everyone has a right to express an experience or a sentiment and others have a right to disagree with what someone is saying. That's all.

~NM

 

[kbelle8995]

I used to a CM in the parks eons ago. One time I was on my cart working late and cleaning up. A family came by yelling "We're the last one in the park." What they didn't realized was that there was a security guard following them from a discreet distance making sure they exited. I knew this person and he wished me good night as he passed.

 

[mondragon]

I'm not telling them how they should feel, I'm making an observation about what they are saying. I disagree with what they are saying. That is my opinion. Everyone has a right to express an experience or a sentiment and others have a right to disagree with what someone is saying. That's all.

~NM

You have no idea what's it like to work in Disney. You go by what a few kids told you who very well may have been playing around with you since you had the audacity to ask what their duties are and how things run in the park. Here is something that may make you a little sad but most of the employees hate the guests. Especially those who hold up the lines. I remember hearing them in the break rooms complaining about this idiot and that idiot.

 

[egjlsmommy]

You have no idea what's it like to work in Disney. You go by what a few kids told you who very well may have been playing around with you since you had the audacity to ask what their duties are and how things run in the park. Here is something that may make you a little sad but most of the employees hate the guests. Especially those who hold up the lines. I remember hearing them in the break rooms complaining about this idiot and that idiot.

Wow. It's audacious to ask someone about their job? I don't think that there's anything wrong with asking someone about their job and how they do things. I've done it before. (For the record, I've done it at other places too.) Disney World is a very special place and is very interesting. I think it's natural for people to be curious about how things are done there. And as far as most of the employees hating the guests...that does make me a little sad. But as long as they keep faking it, I'm cool with that. If Disney wants guests to clear out of the park sooner, then they should change their policy.

 

[mort1331]

I don't get why so many people don't understand how rude they are being. The park is closed, the Cast Members would probably like to go home. How many of you would like it if someone showed up at your job and kept you a few hours past when you were supposed to leave? I work retail, and I can tell you it is not fun with it happens. And if you are strolling around someplace that is officially closed you look like a jerk. They may smile at you, but inside they are thinking Geeze, I would like to leave already!

Well if its anything like the place I work, then you have a schedule that actually has that extra time booked in. If park closes at say 10pm we would have people scheduled till 12am or 1am just from experience. You know people linger, you know your not going to kick them out so its not like your taking them away from their closing time.

 

[ZoZo]

We got prevented from going deeper 1 minute prior to close, was within 1 minute of haunted mansion and security told us to go the other way. So much for 1 last ride.

I think you have to actually be in line already at park closing, not walking toward a ride.

 

[Robo]

when we got to the exit there was a CM yelling "last monorail is leaving" and of course we needed to catch the monorail to get back to our resort. So I asked the CM will there be a bus back to the monorail resorts if we didn't make that train and he said 'no' and told us to run and catch that monorail. We had to run up the monorail ramp and I have asthma (so running was difficult) and boy were we a sight to be seen by the time we managed to get on the train. That was an experience that taught me to make sure we left the park in plenty of time to make a slow exit and not have to run for it again.

The CM lied to you. (Probably thought he was being "funny.")
They operate buses after the monorail shuts down.
Every. Night.

No guest gets left stranded at a WDW park.

 

[neto0312]

Yep, that's me!

I have been asking if the park really does close that late....we are going in Dec and I know I will have a hard time getting my group up early so I'm glad to hear that they do stay open that late...when did you go that it was open that late? Are any attractions open...TIA for all of your answers

 

[Robo]

.when did you go that it was open that late? Are any attractions open...TIA for all of your answers

When the MK is scheduled to close at 11PM and there is a PM EMH that night, the MK will close to WDW resort guests at 1AM.

When the MK is scheduled to close at 12 Mid and there is a PM EMH that night, the MK will close to WDW resort guests at 2AM.

When the MK is scheduled to close at 1AM and there is a PM EMH that night, the MK will close to WDW resort guests at 3AM.

Except for a few minor exceptions, most MK attractions are open for PM EMH.

DHS and Epcot also offer PM EMH on an average of at least once per week.
The same "2 hours past posted closing time" and many/most attractions being in operation apply at those parks, as well.

 

[mort1331]

You have no idea what's it like to work in Disney. You go by what a few kids told you who very well may have been playing around with you since you had the audacity to ask what their duties are and how things run in the park. Here is something that may make you a little sad but most of the employees hate the guests. Especially those who hold up the lines. I remember hearing them in the break rooms complaining about this idiot and that idiot.

It is like every job out there. There are a few that are never happy about their jobs or who they work for, if thats the case move along. But for majority of people working in their jobs they like them.
As for gripping about guest and the such, again that happens everywhere. You have to blow off steam, but to say they hate the hand that feeds them. Seems a little much for me.
I have worked in both service and management for the fields so I can relate to both sides, and yes some days we all have bad days.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Every time we've been to MNSSHP we sit and watch the CM's trying to herd non-ticketed party goers toward the exit. Its interesting to watch people's (both the CM's and the patrons), reactions. Every year we see lots of guests get REALLY testy.

From what I have read, it seems that MNSSHP is a very different situation than park close. People pay a lot of money to go to the Halloween Party and it is not fair to them for people who have not paid to be clogging up the paths. At least, that may be what Disney is thinking. Makes sense to me. Some people go to the party primarily to see the Boo to You Parade, and it starts about an hour after park close for non-party guests. There are probably many who try to stay and see the parade without paying for the party.

We have a 6:35 ressie at Tony's on a MNSSHP night (and we won't have party tickets). Of course, we would love to see the parade, but I imagine they will be shooing us out ASAP.

 

[danny1649]

Disers just because another poster disagrees with you please don't take it personal.Please, don't become argumentative everyone is entitled to express their opinions.As long as it is not obscene or name calling and on topic.