Reservations at Closed Parks

[Termite4]

My family and I are going to be in Disney World the week after EASTER! We know it is going to be a crazy week and there is a good chance that some of the parks may close early due to the large volume of people. What happens if we have a reservation at a restaurant in a park that is closed because it has met its "people capacity"?

 

[__disneygirl]

I thought that the park stays open LATER when there is a high volume of guests? I guess i'm wrong, lol. I think that the restaurant will stay open for everyone already eating there, but will not accept any new parties.

 

[Termite4]

That question wasn't clear...

Parks have been know not to let anymore people in because they are already filled to capasity. If this happens, what happens if someone has reservations at a restaurant in the park and they are NOT already in the park when it closes?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Having an ADR is not grounds for allowing a person into a Park if it has reached a stage where that person would not otherwise be admitted.

Stage 1 -- No cars allowed into parking lot.

Stage 2 -- Ticket windows closes and Ticket Vending Machines turned off. Only people who already have tickets are allowed in.

Stage 3 -- Only Annual Passholders and Disney Resort Guests are admitted.

Stage 4 -- Completely closed to entry.

There is no way to verify an ADR at the gates and working the gates at Epcot on NYE I was not told of any exceptions to the stage closings.

 

[WDWbride2007]

I honestly don't think that the parks will close. We were at Epcot for New Year's Eve this year. They said that Epcot has a huge capacity and has only closed once (New Year's Eve 1999). Magic Kingdom does usually close on New Year's Eve, but I don't know how likely it is to happen during Easter.

 

[majortom]

I honestly don't think that the parks will close. We were at Epcot for New Year's Eve this year. They said that Epcot has a huge capacity and has only closed once (New Year's Eve 1999). Magic Kingdom does usually close on New Year's Eve, but I don't know how likely it is to happen during Easter.

Whoever told you that was just wrong. EPCOT often hits stage 4 closing and before Disney MGM Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom opened it used to happen even more often. If one can get to the park gate, one can usually wait until some people have left and they start to admit some replacements. This can take a while.

/carmi

 

[WDWbride2007]

Whoever told you that was just wrong. EPCOT often hits stage 4 closing and before Disney MGM Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom opened it used to happen even more often. If one can get to the park gate, one can usually wait until some people have left and they start to admit some replacements. This can take a while.

/carmi

I spoke with one of the managers at Epcot's guest relations. I am going with what I have experienced on one of the busiest days of the year. Everyone has to decide for themselves what to believe. Good luck!

 

[kcashner]

We were at MK at Christmas when it closed. Fortunately, we had just been admitted as AP. The key is that people were told it would re-open when a certain number of people left the park. Of course, they have no control over when people will leave.

My suggestion would be that if you have ADR on a holiday, go to that park quite early. Holidays are not a time to spend the day at MK and plan to run over to Epcot for dinner.

For what it's worth, the we checked out the next day...had a character breakfast and caught our plane. The rumor at the resort was that MK had closed again.

 

[alwdisney2]

We were at MK at Christmas when it closed. Fortunately, we had just been admitted as AP. The key is that people were told it would re-open when a certain number of people left the park. Of course, they have no control over when people will leave.

My suggestion would be that if you have ADR on a holiday, go to that park quite early. Holidays are not a time to spend the day at MK and plan to run over to Epcot for dinner.

For what it's worth, the we checked out the next day...had a character breakfast and caught our plane. The rumor at the resort was that MK had closed again.

What days were you there when the MK closed? Is it simply the actual holidays - Christmas Day - Christmas Eve - New Year Eve when things close or would any day during that two week period be just as likely to close?

I have a parade at the MK this year on December 29th that I HAVE to see, but I didn't think I wanted to spend the whole day there. What do you guys think?

Thanks.

 

[Ms.Mouse]

We went during the Christmas and I asked about this before I would exit the park. The CM told me that it wouldn't be a problem because I was staying in a WDW resort (don't know if this was so) and they would let us in. Also, we were elbow-to-elbow Christmas Day and the day after and the parks did not close. I can't imagine that Easter could be more crowded than on those two days.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

The days I have seen MK close are Christmas, ~2 days after Christmas because it was the weekend, and July 4th. Otherwise it has just been busy on some of the other days but not actually at capacity.