MK closing at 4:30pm 5/15?

[disneyworldsk]

We arrive the same day and I had a MK park reservation but switched it to Epcot when I saw the closing time. I wondered the same thing, looks like a party for the CM’s maybe. Have a great trip!

arriving in a.m. may 15th. I have epcot and a park hopper. and a 7p.m. adr in epcot. I was thinking to actually change it to MK with less crowds and then going to steakhouse 71 for dinner at 5 ish. I thought epcot may be packed with fireworks too. opinion? can't decide. it is a pain to now start switching my adrs plus my park reservations for four people. Also, by the time I arrive at resort from mco, probably be 11 a.m. ish. Maybe not a good idea to go to mk with only a few hours there? I can't decide!!

 

[CarolynFH]

I noticed on May 15th MK closes at 4ish. What is the reason and what should my strategy be if i am park hopping? May 15th will be my arrival day with an epcot adr for dinner at 7. thanks!

What time do you expect to be able to enter a park? If it’s in the morning, starting at MK then hopping to Epcot after MK closes makes sense. If you’re more likely to be entering a park in the late afternoon, making Epcot your reserved park seems more reasonable to me. IOW, how much time do you think you’d have to spend in MK, on a day that’s likely to be low attendance?

 

[disneyworldsk]

What time do you expect to be able to enter a park? If it’s in the morning, starting at MK then hopping to Epcot after MK closes makes sense. If you’re more likely to be entering a park in the late afternoon, making Epcot your reserved park seems more reasonable to me. IOW, how much time do you think you’d have to spend in MK, on a day that’s likely to be low attendance?

thank you . i land at 8:30 a.m. ish mco then to pop via car service. drop off our luggage and maybe grabbing something to eat then going to park. so noon? maybe?

 

[CarolynFH]

thank you . i land at 8:30 a.m. ish mco then to pop via car service. drop off our luggage and maybe grabbing something to eat then going to park. so noon? maybe?

In that case, I’d probably book MK and hop to Epcot when MK closes. You should have time to enjoy several MK attractions that morning (you might arrive at Pop as early as 10ish) and afternoon. Unless you’re starving by the time you arrive at Pop or there’s something quite appealing at Pop’s food court, you could plan to eat at MK. Lots of QS and snack options there.

 

[disneyworldsk]

In that case, I’d probably book MK and hop to Epcot when MK closes. You should have time to enjoy several MK attractions that morning (you might arrive at Pop as early as 10ish) and afternoon. Unless you’re starving by the time you arrive at Pop or there’s something quite appealing at Pop’s food court, you could plan to eat at MK. Lots of QS and snack options there.

what is bothering me is that i have to decide now. i'm frustrated that i can't make this decision when we arrive and just hop over to either epcot or mk depending on the starvation of my group or if the plane is delayed. this park reservation system is what is glitching me up.

 

[CarolynFH]

what is bothering me is that i have to decide now. i'm frustrated that i can't make this decision when we arrive and just hop over to either epcot or mk depending on the starvation of my group or if the plane is delayed. this park reservation system is what is glitching me up.

Considering the time you're expected to land, I'd book MK. If delays end up meaning you need to go to Epcot directly, most of the time it's easy to cancel MK and book Epcot. May 15 is not an especially busy time at WDW - Spring Break is over, most schools are still in session - so it's not at all likely that the parks will be booked up like they are currently.

 

[joy13]

what is bothering me is that i have to decide now. i'm frustrated that i can't make this decision when we arrive and just hop over to either epcot or mk depending on the starvation of my group or if the plane is delayed. this park reservation system is what is glitching me up.

Considering the time you're expected to land, I'd book MK. If delays end up meaning you need to go to Epcot directly, most of the time it's easy to cancel MK and book Epcot. May 15 is not an especially busy time at WDW - Spring Break is over, most schools are still in session - so it's not at all likely that the parks will be booked up like they are currently.

I agree, book MK now - enjoy the low crowds if you get in on time. If you get delayed, switch it to Epcot. We don’t land until afternoon and it just changed to be an hour later already - so we won’t be at Pop (maybe we’ll see you) until close to 4:00 probably so I don’t even know if we’ll go at all or just go to Disney Springs.

 

[PittPantherfan]

what is bothering me is that i have to decide now. i'm frustrated that i can't make this decision when we arrive and just hop over to either epcot or mk depending on the starvation of my group or if the plane is delayed. this park reservation system is what is glitching me up.

I hear ya'! And I am very much a planner but this trip between the park reservations, the "can't hop until after 2" rule, ADRs and the looming Genie+ - it's doing this planner in!

 

[BJoy82]

This happened to us end of Jan. It was slightly drizzly for most of the day, and we could hardly believe the lack of crowds. (For example, just off the top of my head, we rode Space Mountain 3X in a row within 30 minutes and rode Seven Dwarves Mine Train twice.) I think it was the combination of the weather and people not reserving MK that day because of the early closure.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Can someone please speak to what the end of day is like on a day when MK closes early?
1) Can you still jump in line at, say, 4:15pm if the park is closing at 4:30?
2) Do the stores on Main Street stay open for an hour past closing on early-closure days?
TIA

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Can someone please speak to what the end of day is like on a day when MK closes early?
1) Can you still jump in line at, say, 4:15pm if the park is closing at 4:30?
2) Do the stores on Main Street stay open for an hour past closing on early-closure days?
TIA

You can jump in line as late as 4:29. Not sure about the stores though. It’s probably based on when the cast party starts.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

My flight the other day was delayed 5 hours, so maybe take that into consideration when deciding on park reservations when a park closes early like this. But you can switch reservations day of.

 

[mistysue]

UGH! This makes me so mad that they make you reserve parks and dining, but can't even bother to tell you the park is closing nearly 5 hours early. That should pop up when you reserve the park, like how any/every bit of work pops up when you pick a hotel.
Lighter crowds or not, that is utter disrespect for people who are using days of overpriced tickets to begin with. I'm not happy that I figured this out AFTER a week of stressing out trying to get our dining plans, so we now either give up half a day of park time, or risk not being able to get reservations.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

They did tell us, that's why we have this thread. the announcement was made before the 60 days opened to book dining, and park reservations can be switched, so I haven't had a problem with it. It should be relatively easy, if ADRs havent' been made yet, to make them in a different park. In fact I'm going to MK on the 15th and booked lunch at Skipper's Canteen

 

[Sunshiney_Disney_Momma]

fingers crossed for light crowds on that day!!

 

[georgina]

fingers crossed for light crowds on that day!!

Yeah, I changed my park reservation to MK for that day when I saw the hours released.

 

[mistysue]

They did tell us, that's why we have this thread. the announcement was made before the 60 days opened to book dining, and park reservations can be switched, so I haven't had a problem with it. It should be relatively easy, if ADRs havent' been made yet, to make them in a different park. In fact I'm going to MK on the 15th and booked lunch at Skipper's Canteen

Nothing told me and I picked days a couple months ago. My brother just made his family's park reservations a couple weeks ago and nothing told him. When I went to book dining at 5:45 in the morning last week nothing told me. I was actually searching for touring plans for little kids because we're traveling with another family when I found out this morning. I had a hell of a time making reservations for 8 and 10 on our various days, so yes it is a HUGE deal to me. If I had known about 10 days ago, we would have completely different plans. My family has a lot of allergies so not getting into table service can mean either skipping the meal completely or having to leave the park.

This is enough of a change to warrant an email or notification as soon as they know to the people who booked that park already.

 

[disneyworldsk]

I still can't decide...

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Not sure what to say as this was announced weeks ago.

 

[FinnsMom7]

Nothing told me and I picked days a couple months ago. My brother just made his family's park reservations a couple weeks ago and nothing told him. When I went to book dining at 5:45 in the morning last week nothing told me. I was actually searching for touring plans for little kids because we're traveling with another family when I found out this morning. I had a hell of a time making reservations for 8 and 10 on our various days, so yes it is a HUGE deal to me. If I had known about 10 days ago, we would have completely different plans. My family has a lot of allergies so not getting into table service can mean either skipping the meal completely or having to leave the park.

This is enough of a change to warrant an email or notification as soon as they know to the people who booked that park already.

Didn't you wonder why there were zero ADRs after 230 across all of MK? That should given you at least a clue to check the very publicly posted park hours. Now that the park reservation system is in place it should make you double check park times for planning. Disney constantly changes park times, while normally that benefits people it doesn't always. I'm sure if you call and tell a cm your food allergy issues they will try to help you. We are after all only talking about 4.5 hours one single day.