MK closing at 10:00. Why?

[Rumrunner]

Maybe in the summer Disney should open the park at a later time in the morning and stay open until 1 or 2 in the morning. It would be cooler and more enjoyable. Besides the park is impressive at night. Our grand kids love the night time at MK.

 

[thomas998]

This bothered me the most. For the amount of money being charged to enter that park, a 10pm SUMMER closing time is outrageous.
Don't increase park prices AND reduce park hours; that's just slimy.

Pandora till 1AM is an outright joke.
I saw FOP up to 180 minutes @ 11pm!
Funneling everyone into a single land isn't really a good idea...at least keep the entire park open.
EDIT: a single land with only two rides!

You're right... they shouldn't keep it open longer at all, close the whole park at 8:00pm, who cares if people want to ride the new ride or see the new land, just close it up as soon as you close the rest of AK.

I understand your frustration.... but you have to look at AK as a whole, it was originally a very animal-centric park which is why it always closed earlier than most others... I think if you look back at the hours is used to have they were even earlier closing times than you have today because as noted the park was more like a zoo. And in general you find that zoos tend to close earlier because of the animals and the times animals require.

I recall back in around 2006 when we went that that I was shocked as the early closing times, but then you know that going in so your best option is just to get a park hopper and just hit AK early and another park in the evening.

As a stock holder in Disney I'm all for raising the prices. Raise them higher until the crowds start to thing, then back off a tad. Reality is the prices go up and up and people still show up so why not raise the prices? The reality of a theme park like Disney is that it has a limited amount of space for visitors and only a certain volume can ever enter the park on any give day. Populations of the world and hence the number of people that might visit goes up and up each year... So even if inflation didn't exist at all you would expect prices to go up just to maximize profits as the number willing to pay a given price should increase each year... the proper strategy is to try and skim the visitors from the highest income homes not make it accessible to the lowest.

 

[jloucks]

It seems rather cheap to be closing the MK at 10:00 in the summer months. Summer is the only time many can make the Disney trip and with the price of tickets why would they close at 10:00,
Does Disney care about its patrons anymore?

It's either money or logistics. And since money can solve most logistics I am going to go with money. It is not cost effective to keep it open. People must not spend much after 10pm. Meals are generally over but then and maybe people are too tired to carry trinkets from giftstores around.

Kinda off topic, but our local Six Flags, over the last 30 years, has been closing earlier and earlier. In Texas it would be better to go from 6pm to midnight instead of closing at 9 or 10 because of the heat. Shoot, sometimes the close at 7pm! But, again, must be too little profit in it.

 

[Rumrunner]

It's either money or logistics. And since money can solve most logistics I am going to go with money. It is not cost effective to keep it open. People must not spend much after 10pm. Meals are generally over but then and maybe people are too tired to carry trinkets from giftstores around.

Kinda off topic, but our local Six Flags, over the last 30 years, has been closing earlier and earlier. In Texas it would be better to go from 6pm to midnight instead of closing at 9 or 10 because of the heat. Shoot, sometimes the close at 7pm! But, again, must be too little profit in it.

The early closing is the exact reason we stopped going to Six Flags. Not worth the money-esp with the heat. Open later in the morning and stay open later. Disney should take a lesson from Six Flags as they struggle to stay afloat.

 

[21stamps]

It's either money or logistics. And since money can solve most logistics I am going to go with money. It is not cost effective to keep it open. People must not spend much after 10pm. Meals are generally over but then and maybe people are too tired to carry trinkets from giftstores around.

Kinda off topic, but our local Six Flags, over the last 30 years, has been closing earlier and earlier. In Texas it would be better to go from 6pm to midnight instead of closing at 9 or 10 because of the heat. Shoot, sometimes the close at 7pm! But, again, must be too little profit in it.

Cedar Fair parks have also reduced hours over the past few years.

 

[crxbrett]

Attendance seems to be about normal for summer so far. July and August have seen mostly 7s every day with some 8s and 6s peppered throughout on TouringPlan's crowd levels.

TouringPlans is currently predicting bigger crowds in late Aug and early Sep than in year's past this year. So that will be interesting to see if those crowd levels actually happen or not.

 

[po1998]

All one has to do is look at the historical park hour calendars on this site comparing August this year versus 2015 and 2016. As I posted in another thread on a similar subject, the best part of late MK hours in the summer...you get to tour the park without the blazing sun for 3-4 hours.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Maybe in the summer Disney should open the park at a later time in the morning and stay open until 1 or 2 in the morning. It would be cooler and more enjoyable. Besides the park is impressive at night. Our grand kids love the night time at MK.

Got back from Disney about two weeks ago... 10 pm at each park was perfect. Heck I just sat around EPCOT until 10 after illuminations.

 

[Rumrunner]

Got back from Disney about two weeks ago... 10 pm at each park was perfect. Heck I just sat around EPCOT until 10 after illuminations.

I am glad 10 works for you but you certainly can understand that it is not the best time to close for everyone. It is also a change in what has been done at MK in the past. It is my opinion that Disney is not giving much consideration to its patrons. Raising prices closing earlier and limiting extended hours can only be described as cheap on the part of Disney. Sorry you just had to sit around until 10.

 

[crxbrett]

I am glad 10 works for you but you certainly can understand that it is not the best time to close for everyone. It is also a change in what has been done at MK in the past. It is my opinion that Disney is not giving much consideration to its patrons. Raising prices closing earlier and limiting extended hours can only be described as cheap on the part of Disney. Sorry you just had to sit around until 10.

Agreed. I think in summer, and summer meaning til the Labor Day weekend, the MK should be open til midnight Fri-Sun and 11p Mon-Thu; Epcot should be 10p every night and the Studios and AK should be 10p as well. On evening magic hours the MK should close at 2a, Epcot should be midnight and the Studios and AK should be 11p. The parks are closing about 2 hours too early in summer and about an early too early in off-season times.

 

[POLY LOVER]

Just saving a buck, no more no less. They should be open to at least midnight. They used to be. I always appreciated the late night hours. Let's not make excuses.

 

[HansGruber]

You're right... they shouldn't keep it open longer at all, close the whole park at 8:00pm, who cares if people want to ride the new ride or see the new land, just close it up as soon as you close the rest of AK.

But you couldn't go on the rides, that's the point! FoP was EASILY in the 120-180 minute wait range at 11p! That's not a realistic wait time. Pandora doesn't have enough attractions to justify it being the ONLY land open at that time of night.

180 minutes @ 11p gets you back to your resort at 3AM. Absurd.

 

[Jeff456]

Maybe in the summer Disney should open the park at a later time in the morning and stay open until 1 or 2 in the morning. It would be cooler and more enjoyable. Besides the park is impressive at night. Our grand kids love the night time at MK.

I wouldn't sacrifice early mornings for later openings, getting there for rope drop is a bigger advantage than staying late for lines.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I am glad 10 works for you but you certainly can understand that it is not the best time to close for everyone. It is also a change in what has been done at MK in the past. It is my opinion that Disney is not giving much consideration to its patrons. Raising prices closing earlier and limiting extended hours can only be described as cheap on the part of Disney. Sorry you just had to sit around until 10.

By 9 I was exhausted because we had done everything. So eh. It's not that cheap by Disney. Universal Studios' parks always close between 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm so I still don't know why people would be complaining.

Not that many people are in the parks past 10:00 pm. It wouldn't make sense for a company to keep the parks open 2 or 3 hours longer. They'd probably be losing money than making any because by then there isn't really anyone in the parks to profit from merchandise and food compared to the cost they have to operate the attractions, plumbing throughout the park, cast members.... Yea nah I can see why Disney does it the way they do.

 

[Rumrunner]

By 9 I was exhausted because we had done everything. So eh. It's not that cheap by Disney. Universal Studios' parks always close between 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm so I still don't know why people would be complaining.

Not that many people are in the parks past 10:00 pm. It wouldn't make sense for a company to keep the parks open 2 or 3 hours longer. They'd probably be losing money than making any because by then there isn't really anyone in the parks to profit from merchandise and food compared to the cost they have to operate the attractions, plumbing throughout the park, cast members.... Yea nah I can see why Disney does it the way they do.

I don't particularly care what they do at Universal Studios but I do care what they do at Disney. Disney promotes themselves as something special and have prices to match. MK is always crowed at 11 and even crowded at one on extended hours nights. One of the reasons to stay at Disney resorts is to enjoy the late hours at the parks. We will just agree to disagree. For my family the night time at Disney is magical. Cancelling of the night parade was another cheap move by Disney.

 

[Rumrunner]

I wouldn't sacrifice early mornings for later openings, getting there for rope drop is a bigger advantage than staying late for lines.

Opening later in the morning would not eliminate rope drop. Just would be a different hour of the day.
We do not get up at 6 am when we are on vacation but if that works for your family I am happy for you. The late hours work for my family. Closing early, eliminating the night parade, etc are just signs of Disney being cheap in my opinion. What is coming next from Disney? No telling.

 

[HansGruber]

I wouldn't sacrifice early mornings for later openings, getting there for rope drop is a bigger advantage than staying late for lines.

Couldn't disagree more.

Rope drop gets you on one or two rides, TOPS, before the crowds roll in. And you might already be competing with FastPassers.
Plus, you still have to wait for the rope drop AND there are times were Disney will open the park early, unannounced; effectively negating the rope drop benefits. (happened to us 2 months ago)

The 10pm-1am hours can be walk-on for a lot of stuff...eventually becoming a walk-on for everything towards the last hour.

 

[21stamps]

Couldn't disagree more.

Rope drop gets you on one or two rides, TOPS, before the crowds roll in. And you might already be competing with FastPassers.
Plus, you still have to wait for the rope drop AND there are times were Disney will open the park early, unannounced; effectively negating the rope drop benefits. (happened to us 2 months ago)

The 10pm-1am hours can be walk-on for a lot of stuff...eventually becoming a walk-on for everything towards the last hour.

That should explain why they are no longer staying open from 10pm- 1am.

 

[HansGruber]

That should explain why they are no longer staying open from 10pm- 1am.

But even today, the last few hours are still close to walk-on. So long as there is a morning, afternoon, evening and night component to the park hours, there will always be walk-on options towards the end of the night.

I do think more people would be up-in-arms if they delayed the park opening rather than close the park early, but that doesn't mean park opening is somehow "better" than later hours.
IMO, for every single parking opening benefit, there are two park closing benefits.

 

[ford91exploder]

It seems rather cheap to be closing the MK at 10:00 in the summer months. Summer is the only time many can make the Disney trip and with the price of tickets why would they close at 10:00,
Does Disney care about its patrons anymore?

Nope they only care about their SHAREHOLDERS , from yesterdays earnings call 'we will be increasing margins at the parks'. One way you do that is by closing early