Pandora after dark when park closes at 5

[goofyernmost]

Its just hard to take what you say seriously. You raise some legitimate points sometimes, but you just use so many hyperboles you almost sound like a shill for the other side of the argument. In my opinion, all you had to say was, "I mean, that could work, but think of the wait staff too." You didn't have to tear into her for no reason.

I'm sorry, but it you think I was tearing into her, seriously, I was tearing into anyone that is thoughtless enough to show up 5 minutes before a place is supposed to close and park their butts at a table for extended periods of time. Like the world revolves around them. It doesn't. It was a general statement, which I do often because someone brings up a topic that I feel strongly about. It shouldn't be considered tearing into any singular individual. It's more of an if the shoe fits situation.

 

[goofyernmost]

While I respect what you are saying and they do have homes to get to, you are stating this like it's not their job. Their job is not 8-5. They probably did not come in when the park opened, but came in like 11 or something. If they are done early, they get paid less hours. If they work late, they get paid more hours (something most of them appreciate). Their "scheduled" time is probably around 7pm.

We are talking about Disney here. They are not paying anyone overtime. If they work an extra hour tonight they will be asked to come in an hour later tomorrow. And they are not there for the pleasure of serving us, they are indeed doing their job and considering the degree of politeness of the general public lately, their job is very tiring and they want to go home. Anyone in any Disney restaurant is on vacation and not trying to fit family into their schedule. We seem to forget that we go on vacations to places like Disney and tend to think that because they work in a theme park that it is just like being on vacation for them.

 

[FreeTime]

I'm sorry, but it you think I was tearing into her, seriously, I was tearing into anyone that is thoughtless enough to show up 5 minutes before a place is supposed to close and park their butts at a table for extended periods of time. Like the world revolves around them. It doesn't. It was a general statement, which I do often because someone brings up a topic that I feel strongly about. It shouldn't be considered tearing into any singular individual. It's more of an if the shoe fits situation.

Last I checked Disney restaurant hours are posted as “serving until X” time. This is different than hours that say “dining room closes at 9”. Patrons expect to be served until that time and know they can eat for a reasonable period after. Businesses schedule staff to account for this. My business, we close at 7:30. We take the last appointment at 6:45 knowing on average how long it takes. If it is longer, then the staff member gets to leave early or come in late another day.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

We are talking about Disney here. They are not paying anyone overtime. If they work an extra hour tonight they will be asked to come in an hour later tomorrow. And they are not there for the pleasure of serving us, they are indeed doing their job and considering the degree of politeness of the general public lately, their job is very tiring and they want to go home. Anyone in any Disney restaurant is on vacation and not trying to fit family into their schedule. We seem to forget that we go on vacations to places like Disney and tend to think that because they work in a theme park that it is just like being on vacation for them.

Right, but as myself and others have pointed out, if the location says serving until 5, their schedules are created to accommodate that guests will stay a reasonable time after that. Not saying you should try to sit there until 9pm - that's obviously NOT reasonable. But their schedule is usually an hour or two later to accommodate the guests eating as well as cleaning up at night. It's not like they were scheduled to leave at 5.

 

[HiStitch626]

OP, I apologize for causing issues with your question. I have removed the offending elements from my posts.

 

[Trackmaster]

I think a big part is that if you have small kids, odds are they are early to bed, early to rise. Evening hours were never an option for us when our kids were nodding off at 8pm and waking at 6am.

But I would think that kids shouldn't be going at all this time of the year Monday through Friday. Don't they have school? It shouldn't be all adults who can take PTO or don't work M-F schedules? Short of that, to encourage scholastic responsibility, if its all about the kid's schedules, they shouldn't open until 4 PM or so on those days that the majority of the American school districts are in session.

 

[Trackmaster]

I'm sorry, but it you think I was tearing into her, seriously, I was tearing into anyone that is thoughtless enough to show up 5 minutes before a place is supposed to close and park their butts at a table for extended periods of time. Like the world revolves around them. It doesn't. It was a general statement, which I do often because someone brings up a topic that I feel strongly about. It shouldn't be considered tearing into any singular individual. It's more of an if the shoe fits situation.

I think that you have a point, but it was your absolutism that's the problem. I think that the moral thing would be to try to plan to go to the restaurant at a time where you'd be leaving at close or within a reasonable time afterwards. But I don't think its wrong to show up later if you in good faith are hungry and hadn't thought to plan ahead earlier. Don't shut down your dinner plans or go hungry just because the hunger big hit you later and it slipped your mind earlier.

In this case I would tend to agree that you'd be acting in bad faith if you showed up 5 minutes before closing time as a strategy (and the whole point was getting to stick around later by doing this) when you could have planned to go much earlier.

 

[Trackmaster]

We are talking about Disney here. They are not paying anyone overtime. If they work an extra hour tonight they will be asked to come in an hour later tomorrow. And they are not there for the pleasure of serving us, they are indeed doing their job and considering the degree of politeness of the general public lately, their job is very tiring and they want to go home. Anyone in any Disney restaurant is on vacation and not trying to fit family into their schedule. We seem to forget that we go on vacations to places like Disney and tend to think that because they work in a theme park that it is just like being on vacation for them.

Um... I don't think anybody is stupid enough to think that employees who are working are on vacation. They see the uniforms. People have brains. They put two and two together.

 

[Dug720]

But I would think that kids shouldn't be going at all this time of the year Monday through Friday. Don't they have school? It shouldn't be all adults who can take PTO or don't work M-F schedules? Short of that, to encourage scholastic responsibility, if its all about the kid's schedules, they shouldn't open until 4 PM or so on those days that the majority of the American school districts are in session.

A) There are a lot of people who homeschool and can take vacation whenever.

B) Some schools are on year-round tracks so will not necessarily have breaks at the "traditional" times.

C) Now that a lot of schools are doing remote learning, technically the kids can be wherever.

D) Some parents will just take their kids out whenever rather than over holidays.

 

[goofyernmost]

I think that you have a point, but it was your absolutism that's the problem. I think that the moral thing would be to try to plan to go to the restaurant at a time where you'd be leaving at close or within a reasonable time afterwards. But I don't think its wrong to show up later if you in good faith are hungry and hadn't thought to plan ahead earlier. Don't shut down your dinner plans or go hungry just because the hunger big hit you later and it slipped your mind earlier.

In this case I would tend to agree that you'd be acting in bad faith if you showed up 5 minutes before closing time as a strategy (and the whole point was getting to stick around later by doing this) when you could have planned to go much earlier.

It isn't that they go right at closing, it's that they linger because they have all the time in the world and don't care about anything else. They didn't plan ahead and remember that they are hungry all of a sudden. That would be saying that they aren't even responsible for ingesting food that keeps them alive. There are other places to get snacks if they didn't get in a particular restaurant. And yes I stated that with absolutism because I absolutely feel that way. I think it is rude and entitled to take up other peoples time without giving a single thought about the people that they are inconveniencing. Disney didn't plan extra time in anticipation of people lingering, they put it in as a reaction to people that just assumed it would be OK and they needed the staff to stay. I don't do those late dinner things so I don't know exactly when they stop accepting reservations, but I doubt it is within 15 minutes of closing.

Um... I don't think anybody is stupid enough to think that employees who are working are on vacation. They see the uniforms. People have brains. They put two and two together.

Oh, they know, they just don't care and that is what is offensive to me. However, I guess it is pretty representative of our society today.

 

[goofyernmost]

Right, but as myself and others have pointed out, if the location says serving until 5, their schedules are created to accommodate that guests will stay a reasonable time after that. Not saying you should try to sit there until 9pm - that's obviously NOT reasonable. But their schedule is usually an hour or two later to accommodate the guests eating as well as cleaning up at night. It's not like they were scheduled to leave at 5.

But that is what they do. And do they say serving until any specific time that close to closing time. Again it is not those that have a late dinner and take care of business and leave as soon as possible, it is those that sit and sit and sit because they have all the time in the world. It wouldn't surprise me that the last ADR you can get is an hour before closing. And if they show up 45 minutes late for their ADR, whose fault is that?

 

[disneygirlsng]

I worked in a restaurant as a waitress and it was often the case that people came in 5/10 minutes before the closing time. That’s just how restaurants work. I always knew my work day would be done ~2 hours after the official close time. But I also would also tidy up, roll silverware, break down the salad bar etc. while the last tables wrapped up. That is not me trying to nudge people out the door, that’s me wanting to get home at 1am instead of 3am. You can definitely go eat late but don’t be surprised if they start shutting down the place early.

I do just want to point out though that it doesn’t get dark right at sunset. So it won’t be Pandora after dark—more like pandora at twilight. Still pretty, but don’t want u to be disappointed.

I'll just add that I actually prefer Pandora at twilight opposed to fully dark. When it's actually dark it is very hard to see. Having just a little bit of light makes it far more pretty IMO.

 

[Disnsyncey]

Just to add, when I worked at Cindy’s, our last ADR during the summer was at 9:35 (I think? Maybe 9:45) and our “walk time” was 11:10 (or 11:20, I might be going crazy to forget these, but it was back when they had walk time, so back in the day) as a “seater” (host). So it’s true that the restaurants staff for time after, and we normally had people out of the restaurant by 11 or 11:15, but sometimes is was much later. We started out closing sidework as soon as the last guest was seated, and we were normally busy until we left. But I might like to offer a different idea, most restaurants are designed to be pleasing when they have people in them. If I was the last family in any restaurant, it would feel weird and I wouldn’t be feeling at ease or relaxed, especially when I was seeing other people doing their cleanup work, even if it was on the other side of the restaurant. I think I would probably think about how empty it was at Cindy’s if there were less than 5 tables there. It would be noticeable, even if you were one of the oblivious taking their time families.

But at a qs restaurant, there is a difference between sticking around and taking 30 min to eat after you order and an hour plus.

I agree about twilight!

I would go with the ride strategy, that way you can meander out and not stop any particular place from closing normally.

 

[Bullseye]

OP, just get in line for FOP before closing time. That's your best bet and no ones sensitivities gets offended because that's always been acceptable at WDW. By the time you get out of FOP it will be as dark as you can hope for and you can linger on your way out.