When is a park closing not a park closing?

[Chumpieboy]

Yesterday, ML closed early at 430 for XMAS parade-related activities. We overheard from some CMs while in line to enter the park that due to the unique situation they would allow single day tickets to be used as park hoppers for that day.

Fast forward to around 400. We left since we had some FPs at DHS. The bus line for the DHS transfer bus was long - overflowing the switchbacks and spilling into the larger walkway. Ten minutes later a bus arrives. It sits there for almost another ten minutes since people wouldn't move to the back and give as much room as possible. Also there was a driver shift change which took time for some reason.

So that bus leaves and it's at least 30 mins before a second bus comes.

Why do they not treat this instance of a park closing as a real park closing? They really need more bus drivers. Maybe allocate some of the ridiculous price increases towards better wages for the drivers?

 

[Dis703]

Are the buses to other parks usually more prevalent when another park closes? I know the resort buses are but I didn't think they increased the park to park buses. Aside from that the only thing I can think of is the fact that it's still mid-day for the rest of the parks so the buses are still pretty busy with those runs. And park attendance is usually lower on those early closing days as well.

I haven't seen this mentioned before so I'm not sure if it's a frequent problem or more of the random sometimes bus service stinks and other times it's great. There's definitely room for improvement either way.

 

[joelkfla]

Yesterday, ML closed early at 430 for XMAS parade-related activities. We overheard from some CMs while in line to enter the park that due to the unique situation they would allow single day tickets to be used as park hoppers for that day.

Fast forward to around 400. We left since we had some FPs at DHS. The bus line for the DHS transfer bus was long - overflowing the switchbacks and spilling into the larger walkway. Ten minutes later a bus arrives. It sits there for almost another ten minutes since people wouldn't move to the back and give as much room as possible. Also there was a driver shift change which took time for some reason.

So that bus leaves and it's at least 30 mins before a second bus comes.

Why do they not treat this instance of a park closing as a real park closing? They really need more bus drivers. Maybe allocate some of the ridiculous price increases towards better wages for the drivers?

You have a valid point.

In response to PP, no, there aren't normally extra park-to-park buses scheduled at park close, but nevertheless, IMO an extra bus should be sent whenever a bus fills up.

The bigger problem is the lack of communication and planning amongst different departments. Park management should have foreseen the problem well in advance -- far enough in advance to coordinate with Transportation to handle the extra crowds. It's probably not Transportation management's fault this time; most likely they were blindsided because Parks didn't let them know what was coming. It would take at least 3 weeks to schedule additional drivers through normal procedures. Extra shifts could have been opened up the week before, but that's not the optimal way to handle it, and extra drivers may or may not have volunteered at that point.

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

ML closed early? Magic Land? Mystery Land? Excuse my ignorance, but what is ML ?

 

[Hopefully]

ML closed early? Magic Land? Mystery Land? Excuse my ignorance, but what is ML ?

Magic Kingdom (MK) closed at 4:30. It had nothing to do with Christmas parade related activity.
It closed for the annual, long ago announced, Cast Member Recognition Event.