Park Closing--Exit Time

[SuperTink]

Hi!

How quickly must guests exit a park when it is scheduled to close?

With the early closures in Nov/December, I'm worried we won't be able to get enough time at the park if we decide to return to the hotel to give the young ones a rest.

We leave November 30th. Getting excited!

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

Unless there is a ticketed event that night (Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party) the park closing is a leisurely kind of thing. The lines for the attractions will close off at the time listed for park closing, but everyone that is still in line will be able to ride the ride. The smaller shops will close but the main shopping in the park (example: The shops on Main Street at MK, Mouse Gear at Epcot) will remain open about an hour later than the park so that you can get that last minute shopping in as you are leaving. The do not "push" you out so to speak. In general on an average day the park is not clear of guests for about 1.5 to 2 hours "after" the offical listed closing time, again the rides will not be open and they will push you towards the front of the park, but you can mull around Main Street for a while shopping or taking pictures. Now if there is an event such as Mickey's Very merry Christmas Party on the paticular night, they will push you out if you are not there for the event.

 

[SuperTink]

Thanks for the info!

 

[marciemi]

Also they won't shut lines down until the posted closing time so if you got in line for something with say a 30 minute wait, you would end up riding it well after closing. This is actually fun to do because you squeeze one more ride in and by the time you're done all the masses have pretty much left so it's much more relaxing than trying to leave right at closing (especially if you're taking a bus back).

 

[Dan Murphy]

After park closing is such a pleasant time to be in the parks.

And welcome to the DIS, SuperTink.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Mind, at that time of year, line waits for attractions - depending - might not be very long, in which case it won't buy you that much time if you hop into a line just before park closing.

On the other hand, I don't know your children. Some kids are solidly fixed into a schedule (parents, too!), others are more flexible. You might find that it easier to go until park closing, going to bed early instead of napping.

 

[ArtsyPics]

I was going to post this in a fresh thread, but it seems appropriate for this one:

The other night I was at MK. The park closed at 10pm, and the last parade was at 10pm. My daughter and I saw the parade from terrific seats back near Pecos Bill. After the parade, we took our time walking up to the front. Not lolligagging or dawdling, but just strolling to the front.

When we got to the top of the monorail platform, she started to fuss a little so I stopped to talk to her a bit. The CM was standing directly behind us shooing us in. I asked him if he needed us to move and he said that Yes, we were the last family getting on the monorail.

There were tons of families still in the park. And what if we had just stopped to take one pic, or go to the potty, or whatever. We would have missed the monorail completely. How would we have gotten back to the TTC?

 

[fAnnF]

I was going to post this in a fresh thread, but it seems appropriate for this one:

The other night I was at MK. The park closed at 10pm, and the last parade was at 10pm. My daughter and I saw the parade from terrific seats back near Pecos Bill. After the parade, we took our time walking up to the front. Not lolligagging or dawdling, but just strolling to the front.

When we got to the top of the monorail platform, she started to fuss a little so I stopped to talk to her a bit. The CM was standing directly behind us shooing us in. I asked him if he needed us to move and he said that Yes, we were the last family getting on the monorail.

There were tons of families still in the park. And what if we had just stopped to take one pic, or go to the potty, or whatever. We would have missed the monorail completely. How would we have gotten back to the TTC?

The monorail runs for 2 hours after the park closes. You may have been the last family on the platform at the time. I would have politely said we were going to wait on the next one, or that we weren't ready to go quite yet.

 

[ArtsyPics]

See Ann, that's what I thought too. Which is why I took my time. But the CM had a rope that he was putting up behind me and said I was the last one for the night. I couldn't believe it!

 

[seashoreCM]

You were the last persons for that monorail train. The other monorail (serving the nearby resorts and also the TTC/parking) as well as the ferry would still be running for others coming after you.

I would not think the monorail would close down that soon unless there was a miantenance issue.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm