Kicked Out of MK for the Christmas Party

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I was working at Disney on 05/05/05. They were having The Happiest Celebration on Earth that day and I really disagreed with how they did it. Guests were allowed in the park until a certain time (and as I recall, it was really early like around noon) and after that, they were ushered out to make room for various celebrities that were invited to take part in the celebration. It seemed to me, Walt would have wanted all of the guests to be part of this huge celebration, rather than just the various celebrities that were invited. I also really disagreed with how the guests were ushered out - it was rather rudely, in my opinion, at least in my area from one of my managers. Now, MVMCP and MNSSHP are different situations in that guests do have the ability to stay, but I do not see a reason to kick them out before 7. I do seem to remember that there were times that we were shutting down various areas of the park prior to the park actually closing. I might not be remembering correctly, though.

 

[Peter Fan]

The park is closed to guests without wristbands at 7pm...if your at POC at 6:45, you're still a 15 minute stroll from the park exit, so you would be leaving at 7, when you're supposed to...

What am I missing?...

Is this the same with normal park closing? If park closes at 11 do they start asking you to leave at 10:45?

 

[Cyrano]

Moving to trip reports

 

[Laketravis]

I just had to jump in here because I absolutely admire Disney for figuring out how to double-dip admission many nights a year for these ridiculous "parties".

The number of people who happily over-pay for a few hours in the park with a small number of over-promoted "extras" just blows me away.

I don't fault Disney one bit for trying to hustle out the first group to make way for the second because, well....PT Barnum said it best.

 

[carrie1626]

Totally agree-your admission that day should have included any of the parks rides and attractions ETC until 7:00pm.

on a side note , I did a MNSSHP and decided that its insane to pay a second admission price to do what can be done for "free" when I visit in AUG. ( later park hours).

This is just my opinion but I will never open my wallet for those specials again.

 

[Joanna71985]

Is this the same with normal park closing? If park closes at 11 do they start asking you to leave at 10:45?

No they don't

 

[anonymoose]

We've been to the WDW Christmas Party in the past but skipped it this time because our kids are 2 and 5 and just can't stay up late enough to make a 7pm-midnight venture worth it. So when we went to MK last week we knew we'd have to leave at 7pm promptly and it was no problem for us.

However, we noticed that certain areas of the park were shut off to people without party wristbands 15-20 minutes before 7pm. This was a bit frustrating since we assumed we were completely welcome there until the park officially closed at 7pm.

In fact, my wife and 2 year old went on Pirates at about 6:30pm while my 5 year old and I walked around and waited. At exactly 6:45pm I decided to wait in the Pirates gift shop since that's where all riders exit but the shop was mostly closed off with a cast-iron gate. When we tried to enter a CM at the doorway asked if we had wristbands. I said "No, but it's not 7 o'clock yet." She said "I know but we're clearing out our day guests." I replied, "But it's not 7 o'clock yet. Why can't I wait for my wife and son in the gift shop?" She just again said that we couldn't come in because they're clearing out their day guests.

I'm sorry, but we paid our admission to be there until the park officially closes and that wasn't until 7pm. And 15 minutes of Disney time is a lot to us so it bothered my son and I quite a bit. Why would they do this to their customers? Is a 15 minute jump on the evening that big of a deal that they have to start treating "day guests" like second-class citizens? I just don't understand.

As others have already stated, it would probably take you close to 15 minutes to get out of the park. What is to be done with those guests who hide or lie to stay? Or worse - those who pin a manager against a wall, because he/she tells them they have to purchase a ticket or leave, because one person in their party does not have a wrist band?

It takes quite awhile for all of the day guests to leave the park. Some scream at CM'S, because they are Annual Passholders and think they can still be there to watch all of the shows without an extra ticket. How is it fair to those who have paid extra for the extras when so many day guests stay to watch the parade or Castle show?

Personally, I think all day guests should be escorted out starting at 6:30 (at the latest) and not let hard ticket holders in until the park is clear.

Just my two cents.

 

[mcraige]

I agree that you should have been allowed to stay till 7:00pm, but don't understand how this bothered your 5 yo son to not get to wait in the Pirates gift store...

 

[Dan Murphy]

I agree with you, OP. And this is a trip report?

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

From what I have herd during parties and regular park closing they begin by closing the back areas of the parks first and then ask everyone to move to the front of the park. In the case of the parties this may mean they close some places early as they need to have them clear for the party guest at 7:00 pm when the party starts officially. Yes it may be unfortunate to the OP that they couldn't get into the gift shop because they didn't have a wrist band, but it may have just been part of the process having no new guest enter from the front of the shop and only from the exit of the ride, to help with crowd control with the later.

 

[fla4fun]

Personally, I think all day guests should be escorted out starting at 6:30 (at the latest) and not let hard ticket holders in until the park is clear.

Just my two cents.

That's how they used to do it. I think the park closed at 6pm though. But I can remember many years waiting at the turnstiles to get in while they cleared the last of the day guests out. It gave the party a more exclusive feeling.

They probably don't have the room to do that anymore. People would be squashed together as far as the eye could see waiting to get in. With the bag checks and fences, they probably just can't hold that many people anymore.

 

[smidgy]

That being said, on the opposing side in 2010 we went to the Christmas party and they let everyone stay in the park until 8 p.m. but just wouldn't let them on the rides. There wasn't a real push of people out of the park until 8 and then it was like a mass movement and was totally distracting to the people that had paid tickets.

While I agree that you have until 7 p.m. they were probably thinking that it would take you at least 15 minutes to get out of the park so they wanted to "help" you along.

I really think it's a lose-lose situation. I personally think the park should close at 6:30 for those without wristbands. Of course it should be advertised ahead of time so that people are aware of it. Then they have the ability to push people out at 6:45.

BAD, BAD idea. park is open until 7 PM, it is open until 7 PM. NOT 6:45. just like closing time any other day, you can get into a line. can be in a shop.. they let the "hard ticket" holders, for the party, which starts at &pm, in at 4 pm!!!

That policy is that guests can stay in the parks and get in attraction lines right up to park close--in this case 7:00p--like any other night.

Don't misunderstand, once the clock strikes the top of the hour then day guests turn into a pumpkin again, but they should get every minute due them until then.

 

[jimsanfilippo]

Luck-of-the-draw with CM's, again.

You were likely confronted by a "vigilante CM" (or group of 'em)
taking on the mantle of deciding what policy to enforce and when,
regardless of if it was actually a real Disney policy, or not.

Your PROBLEM was with one (or more) individual CM('s.)
Your COMPLAINT is with WDW Guest Relations.
They need to be told (and re-told) of the improper guest treatment
by their cadre of "vigilante CM's."

I did file a complaint three days ago but haven't heard anything from them yet.

 

[jimsanfilippo]

I agree that you should have been allowed to stay till 7:00pm, but don't understand how this bothered your 5 yo son to not get to wait in the Pirates gift store...

Not sure what you don't understand. The boy loves looking at all the massive amounts of cool Disney stuff and enjoys going in almost every gift shop, as I'm sure most kids do. The Pirates gift shop is one of the coolest in his eyes.

 

[jimsanfilippo]

From what I have herd during parties and regular park closing they begin by closing the back areas of the parks first and then ask everyone to move to the front of the park. In the case of the parties this may mean they close some places early as they need to have them clear for the party guest at 7:00 pm when the party starts officially. Yes it may be unfortunate to the OP that they couldn't get into the gift shop because they didn't have a wrist band, but it may have just been part of the process having no new guest enter from the front of the shop and only from the exit of the ride, to help with crowd control with the later.

Then that's a pretty crappy "process" that needs to be reconsidered.

 

[craxyfox]

As others have already stated, it would probably take you close to 15 minutes to get out of the park. What is to be done with those guests who hide or lie to stay? Or worse - those who pin a manager against a wall, because he/she tells them they have to purchase a ticket or leave, because one person in their party does not have a wrist band?

It takes quite awhile for all of the day guests to leave the park. Some scream at CM'S, because they are Annual Passholders and think they can still be there to watch all of the shows without an extra ticket. How is it fair to those who have paid extra for the extras when so many day guests stay to watch the parade or Castle show?

Personally, I think all day guests should be escorted out starting at 6:30 (at the latest) and not let hard ticket holders in until the park is clear.

Just my two cents.

Although I agree that CM's shouldn't be pushy in getting guests to leave early even though the close time was technically 7pm, I also have to agree with anonymoose. It's not fair for those who paid for the hard ticket events to be stuck waiting, while those who didn't pay get to wonder around the park. Some people can be incredibly slow

And to be fair, the CM that was mentioned by the OP didn't technically push for them to leave, but was just making sure noone re-enters I suppose.

 

[Cree629]

We had a similar experience that irked us a bit last month. We were in MK on all day on Sunday, November 25th but did not have tickets to the party. At about 6:40 we were leaving the Liberty Square area and heading toward the hub to get our first real look at the castle lit up from the front.

We were really excited to see it (probably me the most!!). But when we approached the side of the castle from Liberty Square, we were not allowed to continue toward the castle, as it was roped off with CM's telling us we had to instead go over by Crystal Palace and out of the park from there. We did as we were instructed, but I was definitely bummed as I was trying to get a good look/picture of the castle. Once we got to Main Street, I was able to turn around and see the castle, but not up close as I had hoped.

We stopped to wait in line for a Photopass picture with the castle lit up behind us, but with all the CM's directing non-party goers out, I almost felt like I was "cheating" and trying to sneak something I wasn't entitled to... It was about 6:45 by then.

It started snowing on Main Street at about that time (maybe 6:50), so I will admit that I was happy to get to see that on our way out. But I really thought we would be able to take full advantage of the park until 7:00pm.

At 7:00pm, yes, stand in front of rides and shops checking for wrist bands. But to close off pathways, rides and shops and start not-so-subtly herding those not paying for the party out of the park 20 minutes before closing time just doesn't seem fair.

The party starts at 7:00pm. Yet, as a bonus/courtesy, they let party-goers into the park at 4:00pm. I learned firsthand that this does, in fact, impact the experience of daytime park-goers, as the park got much more crowded at that point and lines and crowds throughout the park increased. I paid to be there during the day, those paty-goers did not, but they got to stay for 3 "bonus" hours.

So, to say that it's fair to start ushering day guests out at 6:45 since it can take 15 minutes to get to the exit is kind of absurd. Day guests should get a courtesy similar to the part guests who get to enter early, and be allowed to enter any ride/store/area they want until 7:00pm. And if it happens to be 7:30 by the time they finish that last ride (or whatever) and make it to the exits, so be it.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Then that's a pretty crappy "process" that needs to be reconsidered.

Why so they can have guest lingering in gift shops at the back of the park well the party is beginning? I get yes it can make for a bad experience for non party guests but it's the same thing they do for EMH when they check for resort Id cards during the first hour, no card no entry. The parties are the same way no wrist band no entry.

 

[Cree629]

It's not fair for those who paid for the hard ticket events to be stuck waiting, while those who didn't pay get to wonder around the park.

And some might say it's not fair to those who paid to be there during the day to be "stuck waiting" in longer lines and dealing with bigger crowds after 4:00pm because party go-ers who "didn't pay" to be there during the day get to come early. And those early party arrivals aren't just "wander[ing] around the park." They are able to take full advantage of attractions for three extra hours.

 

[craxyfox]

yea that's true, it's just one of those win-lose situations (unless some people see no light to the situation then it would just be lose-lose for them :\ ). Maybe the crowd of day guests left in the park was large, so the staff needed guests to be ushered out promptly? Some CM's are a bit cranky maybe?

It depends on the perspective in which you see it. I think if people are seriously concerned about leaving 10-15mins (20 would be where the line is drawn) earlier than the close time, then perhaps it would be easier to go on a day where an event isn't scheduled