July 4th - Parks closed to capacity?

[jmdisney]

I read that there are times, holidays mostly, that parks can close, due to being full to capacity.
The article also said that a dinner reservation in the park, does not guarantee entrance in to the
park. On another note, it said that guests, staying at one of the WDW resorts (which I will be doing),
is guaranteed entry in to one of the parks, but it's not guaranteed which one.

Couple of questions... have you had experience, or do you have knowledge of the parks closing on July 4th? We have reservations at Epcot for that night. As a resort guest, with a dinner reservation at that park, could we get in, if the park was closed? How do they handle situations like that?

 

[Alesia]

I read that there are times, holidays mostly, that parks can close, due to being full to capacity.
The article also said that a dinner reservation in the park, does not guarantee entrance in to the
park. On another note, it said that guests, staying at one of the WDW resorts (which I will be doing),
is guaranteed entry in to one of the parks, but it's not guaranteed which one.

All of those things are correct.

Couple of questions... have you had experience, or do you have knowledge of the parks closing on July 4th? We have reservations at Epcot for that night. As a resort guest, with a dinner reservation at that park, could we get in, if the park was closed? How do they handle situations like that?

If a park is at a stage 4 closing, you cannot get in.

The good news is that Epcot is not going to reach stage 4. The last time it did was January 31st, 1999. The park will be unbelievably crowded, though. Give yourself plenty of time to make your way through the park.

 

[Dacky619]

From what I remember everything you read is correct. There are 4 closing phases at each park that range from they stop selling tickets (if you don't already have been one, you don't get in) to no one enters until xxx number of people leave the park. It does seem that holidays and spring break are the times that closures happen, but I think it is almost always just the MK that gets too crowded. Hopefully someone will come along and explain the levels of capacity.

 

[Alesia]

Closing stages:

Stage 0 - Due to limited available parking, Guests may be directed to alternate parking areas where they will use Resort transportation to travel to the park of their choice.

Stage 1 - At this stage each Guest in a vehicle must have a valid multi-day ticket. Also Guests with a Park Hopper or re-entering the Park, by showing a currently dated Parking Receipt, will be allowed in. Also, any Guests using Disney transportation are allowed.

Stage 2 - At this stage, Theme Park admission is limited to Disney Resort Guests*, Annual and Premium Annual Passholders, Guests with Park Hopper tickets crossing over from another Park, Guests re-entering this Park today. Guests with written confirmation of reservations for Dining or Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or The Pirates League within one hour are also admitted. Guests using Walt Disney World Resort Transportation will be admitted. Guests not meeting the above criteria are told the Theme Park has reached capacity.

Stage 3 - At this stage, Theme Park admission is limited to Disney Resort Guests*, Annual and Premium Annual Passholders. Guests with written confirmation of reservations for Dining or Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or The Pirates League within one hour are also admitted.

Stage 4 - Nobody is allowed in.

Also, if you are staying at a Disney owned and operated Resort and have a ticket, you are guaranteed entry into A park. Not necessarily the one you want (unless you want to go into AK). And if you have entered and left a park and do not have a hopper you may not get into anything.

*Guests of WDW Swan and Dolphin Hotels and Shades of Green at the Walt Disney World Resort are considered part of this group for Stages 2 and 3. In addition, Guests from Hotel Plaza Boulevard hotels arriving by bus are included.

 

[jmdisney]

Does Disney send out any type of alerts, if it looks like they are approaching level 4, such as text message?
How could I find out when the last time Epcot closed, or came close to closing, due to capacity?

 

[jmdisney]

Closing stages:

Stage 0 - Due to limited available parking, Guests may be directed to alternate parking areas where they will use Resort transportation to travel to the park of their choice.

Stage 1 - At this stage each Guest in a vehicle must have a valid multi-day ticket. Also Guests with a Park Hopper or re-entering the Park, by showing a currently dated Parking Receipt, will be allowed in. Also, any Guests using Disney transportation are allowed.

Stage 2 - At this stage, Theme Park admission is limited to Disney Resort Guests*, Annual and Premium Annual Passholders, Guests with Park Hopper tickets crossing over from another Park, Guests re-entering this Park today. Guests with written confirmation of reservations for Dining or Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or The Pirates League within one hour are also admitted. Guests using Walt Disney World Resort Transportation will be admitted. Guests not meeting the above criteria are told the Theme Park has reached capacity.

Stage 3 - At this stage, Theme Park admission is limited to Disney Resort Guests*, Annual and Premium Annual Passholders. Guests with written confirmation of reservations for Dining or Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or The Pirates League within one hour are also admitted.

Stage 4 - Nobody is allowed in.

Also, if you are staying at a Disney owned and operated Resort and have a ticket, you are guaranteed entry into A park. Not necessarily the one you want (unless you want to go into AK). And if you have entered and left a park and do not have a hopper you may not get into anything.

*Guests of WDW Swan and Dolphin Hotels and Shades of Green at the Walt Disney World Resort are considered part of this group for Stages 2 and 3. In addition, Guests from Hotel Plaza Boulevard hotels arriving by bus are included.

 

[jmdisney]

Thanks for taking the time to detail that info. I do appreciate it!

 

[jmdisney]

Does Disney send out any type of alerts, if it looks like they are approaching level 4, such as text message?
How could I find out when the last time Epcot closed, or came close to closing, due to capacity?

 

[Alesia]

Does Disney send out any type of alerts, if it looks like they are approaching level 4, such as text message?
How could I find out when the last time Epcot closed, or came close to closing, due to capacity?

No text messages or alerts.

As I said in post #2, the last time Epcot reached stage 4 was January 31st, 1999. You're not going to have a problem getting in.

 

[skuttle]

We were at WDW a couple of years ago for July 4th week. The morning of July 4th, we swam at our resort. Late afternoon we headed over to AK and stayed until it closed, then took a bus over to Epcot to watch the fireworks. No problem getting into either park. We knew better than to try MK or even DHS. THere was plenty of room in Epcot. We never ventured into World Showcase. There was a grassy area across from Imagination where we set up camp to watch the fireworks. There was plenty of room there. After the fireworks, we just hung out in that area until the masses left.