When does Disney stop letting you enter attraction lines?

[DopeyDame]

Disney is extraordinarily good at getting people to do what they want. If Disney wanted you to leave the park at official park closing time, they could do that easily (and do, in fact, do that for party nights). Guests are welcomed and encouraged to stay and shop or linger and enjoy the atmosphere, and the CMs are scheduled appropriately to support that.

 

[mrzrich]

I want to add one more thing about ADRs at park closing.

They are very easy to snag vs ppo ADR's. And if you are excited about the idea of entering an empty park to get your beautiful early-morning pictures, you would flip at how lovely the park is when it's empty and lit up at night.

 

[Sea-Donkey]

Be aware of GROSSLY inflated wait times posted near closing. They'll post 45 minutes when the wait is actually 10 minutes as a tactic to discourage you from getting in the line

That's not correct. Do none of the Disney regulars on here not know where those times come from? The cast member at the beginning of the line scans a card (usually red) on lanyard and and gives it to a guest with instructions to give it to the cast member at the end of the line. The 2nd cast member scans it and the wait time pops up on the screen at the beginning of the ride (and in places like hub at Epcot where it shows current wait times).

So...at 11:50 pm, if it's saying the Space Mountain line is 120 minutes, that is how long it took someone getting in line at 9:50 to make it through. The times posted are only as accurate as the latest time they sent a card on a lanyard through...and they have no reason to mess with that within the last hour of park closing, it will be inaccurate as soon as posted.

 

[AngiTN]

That's not correct. Do none of the Disney regulars on here not know where those times come from? The cast member at the beginning of the line scans a card (usually red) on lanyard and and gives it to a guest with instructions to give it to the cast member at the end of the line. The 2nd cast member scans it and the wait time pops up on the screen at the beginning of the ride (and in places like hub at Epcot where it shows current wait times).

So...at 11:50 pm, if it's saying the Space Mountain line is 120 minutes, that is how long it took someone getting in line at 9:50 to make it through. The times posted are only as accurate as the latest time they sent a card on a lanyard through...and they have no reason to mess with that within the last hour of park closing, it will be inaccurate as soon as posted.

But they do and the can. Otherwise, you are right, the red cards do track wait times. And you are are wrong too, they can manipulate them manually. I won't attest to how often they do it but they can.
I think the drop in wait times at closing are more attributed to the lack of FP line than grossly inflated stand by times.
yes, it may be a 2 hour wait for stand by when they are filtering in mostly FP folks. When the last FP guest goes through the stand by line will drop faster

 

[mrzrich]

They absolutely do manipulate posted wait times as a way to manipulate crowds. They don't only do it at closing time either.

 

[Sea-Donkey]

And you are are wrong too, they can manipulate them manually.

I'm not wrong because I didn't say they couldn't. I just explained how it works and why it is inaccurate closer to park closing.

 

[AngiTN]

I'm not wrong because I didn't say they couldn't. I just explained how it works and why it is inaccurate closer to park closing.

Everyone here knows how the red cards work. They just don't agree with you that the CM don't have any reason to manipulate the waits at closing (and other times)

 

[Sea-Donkey]

I'm pretty sure Mickey Mouse is the one over riding the wait time data.

 

[wilkeliza]

That's not correct. Do none of the Disney regulars on here not know where those times come from? The cast member at the beginning of the line scans a card (usually red) on lanyard and and gives it to a guest with instructions to give it to the cast member at the end of the line. The 2nd cast member scans it and the wait time pops up on the screen at the beginning of the ride (and in places like hub at Epcot where it shows current wait times).

So...at 11:50 pm, if it's saying the Space Mountain line is 120 minutes, that is how long it took someone getting in line at 9:50 to make it through. The times posted are only as accurate as the latest time they sent a card on a lanyard through...and they have no reason to mess with that within the last hour of park closing, it will be inaccurate as soon as posted.

The red cards are not the only way wait times are posted. They can be manually adjusted in the computer system as well.


Also just a FYI hard close of any given park is not based on the buses. Buses will actually continue to operate until 2 hours after the last park closes (actually there is pretty much always a bus available if there is a guest in the park that is just a scare tactic) and hard closes of areas of the parks can be different then the full park. The hard close of Epcot main entrance is usually somewhere between 11:15-midnight depending on the Epcot restaurants. They start the hard close at 10 for a 9pm close so illuminations happens and then the hard close CMs have a break and then start doing final sweeps of the park staring form America and working forward. In Future World they hard sweep the general area and then will escort people off rides if they have already done the hard sweep of the rest of the park.
It is similar at the other parks where starting for the furthest point form the gate up to the front they hard close the park. So if they have already hard closed an area you won't be able to back track but may be able to hang out in areas that aren't hard closed. The longest one in main street. I've been on main street about 2ish hours past closing before a manager politely asked if we were waiting for anything particular or if he could help us find something (i.e. the nicer version of GTFO) We were actually waiting for the good night kiss so he let us know it wasn't on the schedule that night and usually happened before then so it probably wouldn't happen that night so we left. We were not the last group but I know Adventureland and Frontierland were already 100% closed.

 

[goofyernmost]

One other item to note, that helps those lines go fast, there are no, or few, guests with FP in the line so the stand by line moves fast, faster than when there are FP guests too.


The CM aren't held past their scheduled shift just because you get in line. And the shops operating hours are 1 hour after closing. No one should feel guilty for 1 more ride or buying that one more stuffed Mickey

That is not what I said. They stay open because that is the time allotted to have people leave. I didn't say don't get in the line, that is Disney's policy. If you are in the line by closing time you stay and ride. The same isn't true of the stores though. That should be a situation where when they ask people to leave (like an hour after) people should leave at that time. Many do not. That is what and whom I was referring too, not the legitimate customers that are generally expected to lag behind. I don't think that the operating hours are an hour longer. That's how long it takes to get people to stop entering and close up. I also didn't ask anyone to feel guilty, what I asked was that people show just a little concern over the people that have to stay longer because people think that they own the place and refuse to just get out.

 

[goofyernmost]

The CMs shift includes the couple of hours or so it takes after park closing to clean/clear the park and sweep any remaining guests out. No one is being kept overtime because guests are riding after park close or watching the Kiss Goodnight. If Disney needed guests out sooner, they'd sweep guests out of the park sooner.

They can't clean up and get closed until people leave. Get out and let them do their job. Just because they don't sweep you out doesn't mean that they don't want you too. It's not just those that are still there, the crew that comes in and does the necessary maintenance and overnight set up can't start in earnest until everyone is out of the park.

 

[AngiTN]

That is not what I said. They stay open because that is the time allotted to have people leave. I didn't say don't get in the line, that is Disney's policy. If you are in the line by closing time you stay and ride. The same isn't true of the stores though. That should be a situation where when they ask people to leave (like an hour after) people should leave at that time. Many do not. That is what and whom I was referring too, not the legitimate customers that are generally expected to lag behind. I don't think that the operating hours are an hour longer. That's how long it takes to get people to stop entering and close up. I also didn't ask anyone to feel guilty, what I asked was that people show just a little concern over the people that have to stay longer because people think that they own the place and refuse to just get out.

You would be incorrect.

And again, no one is being required to stay longer than their scheduled shift. If they didn't have a need to have CM there, then those CM would have fewer working hours. Meaning they'd make less money.

 

[Cinderella94]

No one is being made to work without pay. That makes it a non-issue.

 

[Dayzy]

That is not what I said. They stay open because that is the time allotted to have people leave. I didn't say don't get in the line, that is Disney's policy. If you are in the line by closing time you stay and ride. The same isn't true of the stores though. That should be a situation where when they ask people to leave (like an hour after) people should leave at that time. Many do not. That is what and whom I was referring too, not the legitimate customers that are generally expected to lag behind. I don't think that the operating hours are an hour longer. That's how long it takes to get people to stop entering and close up. I also didn't ask anyone to feel guilty, what I asked was that people show just a little concern over the people that have to stay longer because people think that they own the place and refuse to just get out.

Actually, many retail establishments have staff working at least 1 hour past closing. The management knows this and they schedule people accordingly. I worked for a major supermarket chain for 15 years as a closing bookkeeper. We locked the entrance doors at midnight but always had people still shopping. We were scheduled until 1 am and that's when we left. Nobody had to stay longer, it was already on the schedule. I'm sure the shops at Disney are the same way. My guess is that these people are scheduled to work past the closing time so that guests can enjoy some shopping on the way out.

 

[Alicenwonderment]

I did my first CP Program in Fantasyland Merch. (almost 15 years ago) Scheduled shift went more than an hour after MK closed. I worked at Sir Mickey's many nights and they were open until the last person left the shop. All the Main St. stores are kept open an hour after park close. Disney tries to push guests to the front of the park. After park close cast members do the registers and restock the store. This can take a while. I think some of my shifts let out around 2:45 am. I found it was mostly CPs that were on the late night shifts. We also were given walk time. After we are done in the stores we still must get out of costume and get to the cast member bus (in the back of MK). Then we ride that bus to staff parking near Partners branch. Disney used to factor in the time it took to do that. It was called Walk Time and we left 20 minutes before our scheduled end of shift. I think Disney got rid of the walk time but not sure.

 

[AngiTN]

They can't clean up and get closed until people leave. Get out and let them do their job. Just because they don't sweep you out doesn't mean that they don't want you too. It's not just those that are still there, the crew that comes in and does the necessary maintenance and overnight set up can't start in earnest until everyone is out of the park.

If they don't want guests in the park past closing just why does MK do the Kiss Goodnight?

 

[whiporee]

This is why we can't have nice things. People push the limits as far as they can be pushed, and then it becomes standard, and then it becomes strategized for, and eventually WDW ends up feeling as though they have to take something away in order to operate the way they feel they need to.

Of course you CAN get into line up until they say you can't. I do think the question of SHOULD is reasonable to ask -- should one, knowing the published hours of an establishment, actively work to stay in the establishment beyond those published hours? I'm of the opinion that getting into a line knowing and planning that you'll be there beyond park hours is an abuse of a kindness WDW shows it's guest by not rushing them out. I'm part of a very small minority, I know, but I'm tossing it out just to let the opposite opinion be heard.

 

[mrzrich]

This is why we can't have nice things. People push the limits as far as they can be pushed, and then it becomes standard, and then it becomes strategized for, and eventually WDW ends up feeling as though they have to take something away in order to operate the way they feel they need to.

Of course you CAN get into line up until they say you can't. I do think the question of SHOULD is reasonable to ask -- should one, knowing the published hours of an establishment, actively work to stay in the establishment beyond those published hours? I'm of the opinion that getting into a line knowing and planning that you'll be there beyond park hours is an abuse of a kindness WDW shows it's guest by not rushing them out. I'm part of a very small minority, I know, but I'm tossing it out just to let the opposite opinion be heard.

But using this logic explain to me why they take ADR's 5 minutes before a park closes?

 

[AngiTN]

This is why we can't have nice things. People push the limits as far as they can be pushed, and then it becomes standard, and then it becomes strategized for, and eventually WDW ends up feeling as though they have to take something away in order to operate the way they feel they need to.

Of course you CAN get into line up until they say you can't. I do think the question of SHOULD is reasonable to ask -- should one, knowing the published hours of an establishment, actively work to stay in the establishment beyond those published hours? I'm of the opinion that getting into a line knowing and planning that you'll be there beyond park hours is an abuse of a kindness WDW shows it's guest by not rushing them out. I'm part of a very small minority, I know, but I'm tossing it out just to let the opposite opinion be heard.

Again, if they didn't need CM to work those hours it would mean the CM would get their hours cut. Since if no one stayed longer and got in the ride then you would be in essence, the reason someone's hours got cut. So wouldn't it actually be unkind to not get in line?
So yes, you should indeed get in line within their allowable time, which is up till closing.
No one is being required to work beyond their scheduled shift. Or working without being paid.
What is hard to understand about that?

 

[AngiTN]

But using this logic explain to me why they take ADR's 5 minutes before a park closes?

And why do they do the Kiss Goodnight when they do it?