P & P Party Rant.

[lclark0621]

While I understand the frustration, the OP was in the wrong.

Whether or not, on "normal days" the shops are open later, on THAT night the park closed to ALL non P&P party guests. It was a hard close to anyone not attending the party.

The OP stayed 45 minutes AFTER the park closed. That is a LONG time to stay after a park is closed. Would you stay in a local store 45 minutes after closing?

I have not seen how Disney is displaying the park is closing for the P&P Party, but Disney always displays when the parks close. And that night the park closed early for non P&P guests, and the OP stayed anyway.

Trying to particpate or not, your day at the park was over. Your ticket that day was until the close of the park to all non P&P Guests, not until 45 minutes after the park closed for everyone else.

And the OP was told at one store they could not go in, but they continued trying to shop.

People have complained A LOT about non tickted guests being in the parks after close. Whether it is an EMH or a party, there are always complaints of people being there who are not supposed to be.

Now people are complaining about Disney actually making people who are not supposed to be at the event, leave.

What are they supposed to do? If they let guests stay, people complain, if they kick guests out, people complain.

Everyone will never be happy, so Disney is going to do what they think is best. And making sure people who have not payed to be at a party, or not staying on property to be EMH guests, need to leave when their day is over. Not 45 minutes later.

 

[dawgsgirl]

Why is everybody being so rude and ugly????

 

[beattyfamily]

Why is everybody being so rude and ugly????

I don't see anyone being rude and ugly. Could you quote some of the rude posts??

I only see opinions being voiced and they are mostly opposing opinions but that doesn't mean they are rude.

I don't see it.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Using your logic not one guest should have entered the park for P & P until 7pm not 6:59 or 4:00.

It's not actually mom2of2's logic, it's Disney's. Their hard-ticketed events (MVMCP, MNSSHP, P&PP) run from 7 PM to midnight. Aside from that many party Guests are probably 'entitled' to be in the Magic Kingdom by dint of their regular park pass, trying to get 25,000+ Guests into the park at exactly 7 PM so they can enjoy every second of party time is, well, impossible. So Disney lets the hard-ticket event Guests enter gradually over a period of three hours, so that they can be there when the party starts. "Regular" Guests are entitled to, and get, every minute of open-to-the-public park time to which they're entitled. They/we can enter the park as soon as it opens and stay all day, or (as I did last fall) enter 45 minutes before the party starts with the full understanding that we have to leave when the park closes to us.

I think there's a better way to handle this.

Absolutely. The BEST way to handle it would be for Disney go back to the "old" way - close the park to the public at 6 PM and open it for the party Guests only at 7. Problem is, given how long it would take for 25,000 Guests to enter the park right at 7, to get everything minute of party for which they've paid, it just won't work.

If they always kept to a strict closing schedule, I could see the complaint but they don't.

But they DO now always keep to a strict closing schedule for hard-ticketed events.

 

[Dreamseeker]

Why is everybody being so rude and ugly????

Rude, how? Because most posters are not giving the OP the answer he would have liked to hear. I didn't see anyone being disrespectful or mean in this thread at all!!

 

[MichelleVW]

It's not actually mom2of2's logic, it's Disney's. Their hard-ticketed events (MVMCP, MNSSHP, P&PP) run from 7 PM to midnight. Aside from that many party Guests are probably 'entitled' to be in the Magic Kingdom by dint of their regular park pass, trying to get 25,000+ Guests into the park at exactly 7 PM so they can enjoy every second of party time is, well, impossible. So Disney lets the hard-ticket event Guests enter gradually over a period of three hours, so that they can be there when the party starts. "Regular" Guests are entitled to, and get, every minute of open-to-the-public park time to which they're entitled. They/we can enter the park as soon as it opens and stay all day, or (as I did last fall) enter 45 minutes before the party starts with the full understanding that we have to leave when the park closes to us.

Absolutely. The BEST way to handle it would be for Disney go back to the "old" way - close the park to the public at 6 PM and open it for the party Guests only at 7. Problem is, given how long it would take for 25,000 Guests to enter the park right at 7, to get everything minute of party for which they've paid, it just won't work.

But they DO now always keep to a strict closing schedule for hard-ticketed events.

Good post.....and as someone who was at the first party, I was happy to see them shooing people out!!

 

[mattsdragon]

I can see the CM's pushiness.

Dude, you weren't a couple of minutes late in leaving, you were 45 minutes late, that's excessive. There were already events going on, you should have been a little more purposeful in your exit.

How P'O'd would you be if you went to a movie, and it started 45 minutes late?

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

I really dont understand why you're upset. You knew the park closed at 7pm. If you knew you wanted to stop and get things on Main Street, why didnt you plan on getting out of there earlier?

You have to see it from Disney's POV. They get HUNDREDS of complaints each night of these parties, about seeing guests without wristbands in the park. Because they only sell so many, and its not fair to have non-paying guests at the party. She was firm with you because many people arent as honest. And the second the CM was out of site, may have tried to go back down Main Street and try and participate.

It doesnt matter how much money youve spent, or how many times youve gone. The park closed at 7. And you were STILL there at 7:45.

I completely agree. My family has been to Disney and we will go again this year at Christmas time. We pay for and attend the MVMCP. I spend above and beyond the regular admission price to attend this party. I take great offense that there are people who will push my kids off the curb as they try to stay and watch the parade and fireworks for free when I have paid extra for the ability to have a good seat for the parade and fireworks.

If you wish to stay int he park later than the official park closing then you should pay for the hard ticket and stay.

 

[rie'smom]

I think that the problem here was that when the park normally closes at a certain hour, the stores stayed open a while longer to accommodate people exiting the parks. This helped WDW put more $$ in their pockets as well as alleviated some of the traffic of everyone leaving the parks at the same time.

Since that was the "normal" closing, people might not realize they have to reorganize their park schedules to ADD their exiting shopping back into their time tables on days that the park closes for special events.

I think a notice stating that the stores will be closing promptly at 7pm for non-special event guest to be posted with the special events posters at the entrance will really help out the CMs enforcing the rules as well as the guests. Additional signs on the store entrances will prevent people entering the stores past the time allowed by mistake.

Absolutely,WDW always keeps the stores opened,thus the OP didn't think it was out of the ordinary to finish up the shopping. IMO,they should allow the P & P people in at 7 and not at 4. It would help too if they started announcing about 6:15 or 6:30 that the park is closing at 7 to all guests who do not have a wristband. These are 2 really simple things that could relieve a lot of problems.

 

[KirstenB]

Rie's Mom,
Amen sister. We don't want to intrude on someone's hard ticket event. We just need to know about it before 7 pm the night of it.

 

[MichelleVW]

Rie's Mom,
Amen sister. We don't want to intrude on someone's hard ticket event. We just need to know about it before 7 pm the night of it.

I really don't understand how someone can be on the Dis and not know about the party?? talk of this party has been all over this board for months! There was also a set up in front of the park that had all the dates for the party, along with the posted closing time of 7 P.M...

 

[disneyloveNY]

As for culture education of the CM, maybe you should learn to spell 'told' before you are critical of others.

I agree with the tone by some being somewhat rude.
This above statement was pretty rude and uncalled for especially since the OP spelled the word properly the first time and the misspelling was most likely a typo-

 

[fairestoneofall]

When we were there in November, on the nights of MVMCP, there were several signs all over the entrance stating that the park closed promptly at 7 pm. Our final night in the park, we did not have party tickets and were at Main Street by 7 pm. We entered one of the stores and they did allow us to shop (but we were not there until 7:45). I noticed that they put CMs at the store entrances at 7 pm to prevent any non-wristbanded guests into the stores. They did allow those of us already in the store to finish shopping, but nobody else could come into the store.

I most certainly was not upset by this. As someone who had attented the party on a previous night, I was extremely glad that they enforced the wristband rule. In fact, when we were there at the party, CMs checked for our wristbands several times.

We finished our shopping quickly and were not followed by any CMs, or even told to leave the park. I think the reason why the OP was is because it was SO late. I'm sorry his family missed the signs at the entrance--I know they were all over at MVMCP. But, I could understand 10-15 minutes. But the CMs have to do their jobs, and 45 minutes is a lot late.

 

[karibritt01]

Didn't read all comments, so forgive me if this was said already. I think the real problem that the OP had was the way the CM acted, not that he was being asked to leave. While I certainly agree that he shouldn't have been in the park at 7:45, that doesn't excuse rudeness on the part of the CM. The CM asked him to exit the park, and he replied that he was waiting for his wife to finish her purchase, and they would leave. At that point, the CM should have waited patiently to escort them from the park. A bad attitude is never excusable in a customer service oriented business. Had the CM been pleasant while waiting, the point would have been gotten, the OP would have still been escorted from the park in exactly the same amount of time, and would have had no reason to complain. Not excusing the OP, just think diplomacy on the part of the CM was called for.

 

[Dawgdad]

Why is everybody being so rude and ugly????

GO DAWGS!

I'm really not following you around, but when I see the big "G", I can't resist.
BTW - I agree - move on - if you see that someone has already disagreed, why post another "disagree" post? This dead horse has been beaten enough. Many should apologize to the OP for being rude - no matter what they did after park closing. Can't we all just get along?

Also, I have seen many rude comments - like the one from the "spell check" guy. Come on, are we really down to making fun of spelling and grammar?

Russ

 

[mking624]

Ok I've gone through all these posts and haven't seen anything that I would interpret as rude or ugly and yet I see a comment that says "why is everyone being so rude and ugly?" Everyone? Hardly. Just because people are disagreeing with the OP doesn't make them rude or ugly.

I completely understand the CM's frustration. 45 minutes is excessive, no matter how one tries to justify it. It doesn't matter if WDW tends to keep their shops open past closing...the OP was already turned down at one store and was very clearly told shopping was a no-go for nonparty ticket holders and yet the family continued to try and shop elsewhere. That's just not right. And now you have a CM who was probably dealing with other people trying to get around rules still 45 minutes after general public closing. I'd be frustrated too. And as a person who has attended hard ticketed events, it's good to know that there are CMs who are enforcing this and trying to make it fair to people who paid for the event.

Spending all kinds of money at WDW doesn't make one more priviledged to continue to be in a park long after it has closed. If you haven't purchased a ticket to that event, you really don't have the right to be there no matter how much money you've spent for the trip and no matter if you were in that park all day or not. You were told the park was closing at 7pm, you were told by one store you couldn't come in and you continued to get around it. Why would you expect a different reaction from the CM? You were already there for 45 minutes past the time you were supposed to leave. Exactly what was to stop you from staying even longer had the CM not escorted you all out other than your word? Because the reality is there are A LOT of people who do try to stay...and many of us hard ticket attendees have seen it happen.

I really don't understand how someone can be on the Dis and not know about the party?? talk of this party has been all over this board for months! There was also a set up in front of the park that had all the dates for the party, along with the posted closing time of 7 P.M...

I agree. There's always talk of special events here on this site...not to mention park hours and special events are posted on disneyworld.com. So you have plenty of time to find out specifics during your time of travel well before you actually travel.

 

[KirstenB]

I really don't understand how someone can be on the Dis and not know about the party?? talk of this party has been all over this board for months! There was also a set up in front of the park that had all the dates for the party, along with the posted closing time of 7 P.M...

In our situation, we were at WDW in mid-November.

1. It just never occurred to me that MVMCP would start running before Thanksgiving. Lesson learned.

2. We had a 15 mth old with us, so I wasn't interested in MVMCP because her bedtime is 7:30. Therefore I didn't click on any related threads.

3. The only thing I saw at the entrance to MK was a sandwich board sign stating the park closed at 7. No reference to MVMCP was on the sign.

4. Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Because I worked at a theme park for 8 yrs, I knew no sensible park would close it's shops with folks still in the park. Seriously, at our park you would have been fired for that. Therefore, when I saw the 7 pm close, we headed toward the main gate and tried to stop in one store. They wouldn't let us in the stores at 7:01 because it was MVMCP. If there had been MVMCP signage up in the park, I would have been clued in.

 

[MissyDVC]

I myself am surprised there is even a debate about this. The party was at seven, OP was there knowingly at 7:45 without a ticket. Whether you like the rules or not, they are there for a reason....so that Disney doesn't have to do anything to disappoint their Guests....ie have to kick them out of a shop when they don't have a ticket. The shops are open at 7:45 for the event guests. And why should Disney have to disrupt the whole mood of the park for a few guests who need them to blast an announcement over the speakers to follow a rule that they surely know. I am glad they enforce the rule and will be glad again when we attend the P & P Party.

 

[timkin]

This is funny. FIrst of all there is no Disney policy I can find that says there is a "hard close". Every time I have been to MK the stores are open after the stated close time. Second let me rettrace my steps.

At about 6:58pm we got in line for Buzz one last time. I told the kids in front of a CM that we probably have to go because the park closes at 7:00. The Cm told us we were fine. We knew nothing of the party until I asked a woman in line with a Pirate costume on. Went on ride and headed for the exit. Walking down maistreet we walked into the ice cream shop and bakery thinking nothing of it because nobody said the stores were closed to us. Ate our snack and headed to the front. My wife wanted a postcard so she headed toward a shop. She was told" you can't shop at this store unless you have a wristband, but if you are leaving the park you can make a final purchase. Ok so now we understand. We only have been to MVMCP and there was an hour between the park closing and when that party started. We walked past all the other stores because they had CM's at the entrance. The candy store at the end of mainstreet did not have anyone at any of their doors so we figured this store might be open. It is now 7:20pm. My wife got in line to purchase the hats and I picked out the taffy. I went to pay and was asked for the wristband. A man with a wristband offered to buy the taffy for me so they took my money and off I went. So we sat down outside the store waiting for my wife.

The only reason Disney decided to change their party policy is to save money.

So tell me how many people have entered the shops after the official closing time of the park.

The attitudes of the workers have changed over the years. It is a shame. AS for explaining to my kids, they are 10 and 12, they form their own opinions from the life experiences they have. They know what type of parents we are and the values we teach. The situation was handled wrong. I know every time someone posts a negative disney issue you get bashed on this forum but look at my past posts.

 

[princessesrule4]

Ok I've gone through all these posts and haven't seen anything that I would interpret as rude or ugly and yet I see a comment that says "why is everyone being so rude and ugly?" Everyone? Hardly. Just because people are disagreeing with the OP doesn't make them rude or ugly.

I completely understand the CM's frustration. 45 minutes is excessive, no matter how one tries to justify it. It doesn't matter if WDW tends to keep their shops open past closing...the OP was already turned down at one store and was very clearly told shopping was a no-go for nonparty ticket holders and yet the family continued to try and shop elsewhere. That's just not right. And now you have a CM who was probably dealing with other people trying to get around rules still 45 minutes after general public closing. I'd be frustrated too. And as a person who has attended hard ticketed events, it's good to know that there are CMs who are enforcing this and trying to make it fair to people who paid for the event.

Spending all kinds of money at WDW doesn't make one more priviledged to continue to be in a park long after it has closed. If you haven't purchased a ticket to that event, you really don't have the right to be there no matter how much money you've spent for the trip and no matter if you were in that park all day or not. You were told the park was closing at 7pm, you were told by one store you couldn't come in and you continued to get around it. Why would you expect a different reaction from the CM? You were already there for 45 minutes past the time you were supposed to leave. Exactly what was to stop you from staying even longer had the CM not escorted you all out other than your word? Because the reality is there are A LOT of people who do try to stay...and many of us hard ticket attendees have seen it happen.


I agree. There's always talk of special events here on this site...not to mention park hours and special events are posted on disneyworld.com. So you have plenty of time to find out specifics during your time of travel well before you actually travel.

I was going to post but you summed up my thoughts!