When Do Cast Members Kick You Out of the Park After Closing?

[DisneyFamily123]

Just wondering... If there are no evening extra magic hours, when do the cast members kick you out of the parks? Please share your experience. Thanks!

I've heard of people staying several hours past the closing time to just sit and relax, walk around, enjoy a quiet park, etc... I've also seen dining ADR times close to park closing time or even after (Hollywood Studios).

I know that it may be possible to get on a ride if already in line at the time of closing. And of course, it takes a while for the crowd to exit. But if you decide to just hang out, do cast members ask you to leave? At the end of MNSSHP and MVMCP, I remember cast members encouraging people to head to the exit... but I've never tried to stay past closing time on regular nights.

At Epcot, have you ever been able to enter the park after closing (at International Gateway) to get from the Epcot resorts to the Epcot bus transportation?

 

[Robo]

Just wondering...

1- If there are no evening extra magic hours, when do the cast members kick you out of the parks? Please share your experience. Thanks!

2-I've heard of people staying several hours past the closing time to just sit and relax, walk around, enjoy a quiet park, etc...

3- I've also seen dining ADR times close to park closing time or even after (Hollywood Studios).

I know that it may be possible to get on a ride if already in line at the time of closing. And of course, it takes a while for the crowd to exit.


.

4- But if you decide to just hang out, do cast members ask you to leave? At the end of MNSSHP and MVMCP, I remember cast members encouraging people to head to the exit... but I've never tried to stay past closing time on regular nights.

5- At Epcot, have you ever been able to enter the park after closing (at International Gateway) to get from the Epcot resorts to the Epcot bus transportation?

1-Just to be clear, they don't kick you out even if there ARE Extra Magic Hours.**

2- "Several hours" would be quite a stretch.
We have been in the park after closing on regular hours nights a bit over an hour.

3- Yes.
If you are there "very late" after an ADR meal, security can often be around to point you along to the park exit.

4- We have never been asked to leave in the 60-75 minutes following a park's regular hours closing time.
I know that if guests linger deep inside Epcot's WS, at some point security will begin sweeping the areas (starting at USA) and those guests will be asked to move toward the front of the park (or Int'l. Gateway) exits.

5- Yes.


** At the END of PM EMH time, all of the shops will be closed promptly and guests are usually funneled to the exits without too much delay.

 

[imthatgirl]

The stores will stay open for as long as there are people buying things. They don't ever "kick" you out.

We've gotten some great pictures later at night by waiting around, but we've never stayed to be the last people in the park.

The CM's do start to "cattle" people through the park at the end of this night, getting everyone up to the front.

I would be interested in knowing how long it takes for them to say to someone "ok it's time for you to leave"

 

[KBoopaloo]

I used to work in a shop on Hollywood Blvd and we had a way that we closed and locked the shop doors that herded everyone towards the door closest to the exit but we never kicked anyone out.

One night we had a family that lingered in the shop for quite a while, aimlessly browsing but clearly not buying. They were the last visitors in the Shop. The mom told us they were on a Make a Wish trip and it was their last night and they just didn't want to leave so they were lingering as long as they could. We let their older daughter help us with the locking of some of the doors and let them stay as long as they felt like they needed.

I am sure at some point CMs will finally say "you have to leave," but I never saw it happen.

 

[cuchu2005]

I guess they might get a bit worried (and might as well say something) if they see you making yourself comfortable on a bench with a sleeping bag

Now, seriously, we are DIYers when it comes to EMHs. We stick around every shop until we are one of the last. We do shop, but we make every moment at WDW count.

We've never been asked to leave. On our last trip, we were at the Villains / Treats shops at DHS, and they did start locking the doors, but the registers were still open until we came around with our last purchases.

I guess you can go take a couple of looks more around the park. In fact we have a pic at DHS with TOT on the background and you can see a totally deserted Sunset Blvd.

C'mon, what's your plan?

Mx

 

[HelenParr]

More input on Question #5: we have been able to enter through International Gateway after park close, as Robo indicates, but we've been held until after Illuminations. Not sure if this is S.O.P. or just our experience. but each time we have tried to enter between 9 and 9:15(ish), we've been kindly asked to wait. And then we were allowed to enter and proceed into the park.

 

[Robo]

More input on Question #5: we have been able to enter through International Gateway after park close, as Robo indicates, but

1- we've been held until after Illuminations.

2- Not sure if this is S.O.P. or just our experience. but each time we have tried to enter between 9 and 9:15(ish), we've been kindly asked to wait.

1- Yes.
2- Yes. (Unless you have -and want to use- a valid ticket.)

 

[kadesha]

I have been in the parks at least an hour and a half past closing time. I just take my time walking around and shopping. I have never been asked to leave but have been among the last in the park. I don't know how long the ferry boat at MK runs after closing but once when I was on my way out the boats weren't running anymore.

 

[Robo]

I have been in the parks at least an hour and a half past closing time. I just take my time walking around and shopping. I have never been asked to leave but have been among the last in the park. I don't know how long the ferry boat at MK runs after closing but once when I was on my way out the boats weren't running anymore.

The boats are nearly always the last to start running in the mornings and the first to stop running in the evenings.

The MK Express monorails will stop running before the Resort Monorails, so if the Express has stopped for the night, the Resort Monorail will still be able to take you from MK to TTC.

Nobody is ever left stranded at a WDW park.
Security can summon transport for you, even in a worst-case scenario.

 

[TaraPA]

We were in Epcot one night 2 1/4 hours after closing - and we didn't even know it! After Illuminations we started watching The Lights of Winter - and were just totally mesmerized by it. We were chatting & just taking it all in, when we noticed it was quite empty in the park. We looked at our watched & went OMG!! It was 11:45pm! We were not the last people in the park, there were some CM's leaving still there (we saw some leaving as well), and some guests still waking around. No one asked us to leave. We were nervous that we wouldn't be able to get out at the International Gateway (we were staying at The Dolphin) but it wasn't a problem at all.

 

[imthatgirl]

Nobody is ever left stranded at a WDW park.

...but wouldn't it be nice. Just once?

 

[Robo]

...but wouldn't it be nice. Just once?

The stuff dreams (and books like "Kingdom Keepers") are made of.

 

[WDSearcher]

I would also remind those people who want to see how long they can linger that the CMs don't live at WDW. They like to go home at the end of their shifts like everyone else.

People sometimes forget that CMs have closing procedures they need to do and that they have counts and cleaning and such to complete before they can leave. And that CMs cannot do a lot of that "closer" work while Guests are still present.

So while no one will literally "kick you out", there is a time when they will most definitely point you towards the door and suggest that it's time to leave now. Because those who work at WDW want to go home too!

 

[Bullseye]

We were in Epcot one night 2 1/4 hours after closing - and we didn't even know it!

Ya know it seems like Mousegear stays open forever after official closing time...cause I'm always like practically curling up in clothes rack for a little shut eye while the DW and kids are shopping for what seems like an eternity after the park is officially closed.

 

[EastonCat]

...but wouldn't it be nice. Just once?

You don't want to be there when the lights come on -- it's like magic draino.

 

[sharadoc]

We have stayed until close to 1:00 when MK closes at 11, and there was an 11:00 MSEP. That didn't hit Frontierland until 11:30 or later, then by the time we walked to Main Street, stopped at the bakery and had cinnamon buns and drinks, then strolled through the shop, etc. we were walking out around 12:45, so technically almost 2 hours after closing.

We also did the MK/Epcot monorail one night around 12:30 and we were the ONLY ones on the entire monorail. When we were walking to our car, there were people walking out of Epcot and it had closed at 9. I said to DH - wow, they must have watched Illuminations at America, then shopped their way out the door.

Definitely have been second to last at DHS once. We had dinner ressies after park closing at 50's Prime Time so were were walking out around an hour and a half after closing. Most of the stores were closed by that time - it was February so it wasn't a pleasantly warm night. We could have shopped at the little Crossroads gift area in front, though or where you return the strollers.

 

[KJay]

Given that people linger, and they'll let you shop for a while, I wonder what time a closing CM is actually scheduled to end their shift. If the park closes at 11:00pm, they're probably on the books until 12:30 am or so..... some much longer I bet! Likewise, I've always wondered what time the openers come in. Someone's got to be first one in, right?

 

[SnowWhite33]

I want to be one of those people who grab an ice cream and a bench and watch the crowds roll out.

DH thinks opposite-get to the bus/monorail as quick as you can, I don't know maybe he thinks he's gonna turn into a pumpkin if he stays too late

 

[KBoopaloo]

Given that people linger, and they'll let you shop for a while, I wonder what time a closing CM is actually scheduled to end their shift. If the park closes at 11:00pm, they're probably on the books until 12:30 am or so..... some much longer I bet! Likewise, I've always wondered what time the openers come in. Someone's got to be first one in, right?

If I remember correctly (and it was a million years ago!) my shifts were usually 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm at DHS on nights when we had a 7:30 Fantasmic although we sometimes got out earlier. I remember pulling out of the DHS parking lot to the end of Illuminations a lot of nights.

 

[LBIJim]

Years ago before Fastpass, we got into line at Space Mountain seconds before closing time. The wait was still about 90 minutes. When we exited the ride, CMs were in the area shooing people toward the exit. Main Street shops were already closed, and there were CMs every 100 feet or so directing the last minute stragglers toward the exit. The monorail was still running back to the parking lot, and the tram was still running.

Jim