Park hours and dining

[Disneynewbie]

We are staying on property without a car, so will be dependent on Disney transportation. We are going in February, so the park hours will be shorter. We made ADRs for a couple nights close to park closing time. I have a couple questions:

It seems the restaurants stay open past the closing hours of the parks, is this right?
Will there be transportation available back to the hotels after the parks close - or does it coincide with when the restaurants close?
It seems like some of the night light shows take place at the same time or after the parks close (ex: Illuminations takes place at 9 when Epcot closes at 7 and Wishes take place at Magic Kingdom's closing time)? Could this be right?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[tjmouse]

Usually the buses run one hour past park closing. Downtown Disney is always open late though so you can always use that as a transfer location. Or, call a taxi.

 

[Eljay]

Sometimes you do have to take a taxi. We once had 9:30 pm ressies at the California Grill at the CR. We finished dinner and arrived at the monorail station for a quick return trip to the Poly, where we were staying. We arrived at about 11:02, just in time to see the last monorail pull out of the station. We went down to the lobby of the CR, where a taxi was sitting, just because this happens often. We made a quick $5 trip to the Poly.

Same thing happened one night at the Boardwalk. We ate at the Flying Fish after walking from Epcot's International Gateway. Unfortunately, we got back to Epcot after they locked the gates to the IG, so we returned to the Boardwalk Inn where we caught a cab to POFQ.

Actually, the WS side of Epcot stays open till 9:00, when Illuminations starts.

Unless you want the hassle of bussing over to DD then catching a resort bus, taxi cab is the way to go.

If you are talking about a late dinner inside the parks, check the official times that transportation stops and make a point to finish and allow time to get to the bus, monorail, boat, whatever, in time. Or, cab it.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

As noted, Epcot normally does not close until 9pm with Illuminations. Future World "officially" closes at 7pm but the popular attractions like Soarin', TT, Spaceship Earth, maybe one or two more, stay open until 9pm every day.
I agree that if you want to relax and make your life easier plan on taking taxis after your late dinners. From Epcot you can exit at the International Gateway (near United Kingdom) and walk to the Beach Club (or any Epcot resort) and get a taxi from there. From the MK walk to the Contemporary or monorail there or to any MK resort. From the Disney Studios I understand taxis are waiting past the bus stops. Your other option from the Studios is to boat or walk over to the boardwalk area and take a taxi from any resort there.

 

[freediverdude]

In my experience, if you're inside the theme park, they have a policy of not stranding anyone at the theme parks. For resort guests they tend to keep a few buses waiting outside at the bus stops to take stragglers to their resort after they have stopped the regular service, until they're pretty sure the park is cleared out. Last time this happened was at Epcot between 10 and 10:30- they had just closed the monorail, and I was staying at the Contemporary, so they put me on a bus by myself and hauled me over to the Contemporary. The person with me was at Caribbean Beach, and they put her on a bus marked "Special" to there as well. If you're dining at a resort though, you're more on your own, either to bus to Downtown Disney and then to your resort, or to take a taxi.