Any chance for the parks to be open till 1 like they used to?

[DarkMeasures]

I don't mean specialy occasions or After Dark. I am talking about how years ago the parks were normally open til 1.

Any news on if would ever happen again?

 

[Disney2002]

The only way that disney would do this is if it were profitable.

However, closing the parks at 10pm or 11pm does not really detract people from visiting, so no lost revenue there.

Moreover, Disney often keeps the parks open for shopping after hours, when the rides have closed, to keep the money pouring in.

There just doesn't seem to be that great a chance if you ask me.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Assuming the new Extra Magic Hour in the evening is successful, no. They will never have the parks open past 11 pm or MAYBE 12 am (for Spring Break and Christmas) if they are keeping a park open 4 nights/week for 3 hours after close.

 

[mkt]

other than July 4/New Years Eve... I highly doubt it

 

[AndyP]

Doubtful, but if you get there at 9am, you must have some real stamina to keep going til 1am! I'd love to try it though!

 

[se8472]

yes there are many reasons for the parks to not stay open that late. Even 12am closing are pushing it.

 

[mkt]

and just as many reasons to do it....

don't forget, for many MANY years, 1 AM closings were commonplace

 

[Dizknee_Phreek]

why DID they stop doing the 1am closings anyway? i thrive on late nights, and i just loved it when Disney closed at 12 or 1. was it because of bad economy or something else? and if it was because of bad economy, then why wouldn't they start the late closings again once the economy gets back to a good place?

 

[ToTBellHop]

they stopped keeping the parks open that late because it wasn't usually very crowded that late at night...which was nice for those of us in the parks, but I guess Disney figured they wouldn't tick off too many guests by closing a bit earlier...and they just kept shortening the hours. 9/11 just made it worse, and park hours are only now back to being respectable...I know I'm pleased with my May park hours, but I also have evening Extra Magic Hours

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Originally posted by ISTCNavigator57
...and they just kept shortening the hours. 9/11 just made it worse, and park hours are only now back to being respectable...

I don't visit the parks half as much as the majority of contributors to this site but in my experience 9/11 had only a temporary affect on park hours. Our Easter visits to WDW saw park closing hours virtually the same pre 9/11 as well as post 9/11.
Easter 2003 saw MK closing at midnight - as it used to pre 9/11 - and it did the same this year as well.

I never knew that the parks saw a 1am closing - was it all parks or just MK ?

 

[se8472]

Just from my observation I think its hard to mantain the parks closing so late.

 

[ToTBellHop]

for a year following 9/11, Epcot opened at 10 am and in summer 2002 and 2003, MK was closing at 10 pm most nights, MGM at 9 pm every night but one each week. That appears to be changing only now. During the very busy seasons, this may not have been felt, but the rest of the year...yep. The introduction of the 6 pm closing of the Magic Kingdom with great frequency was a great travesty. Good to see that has ended.

 

[mkt]

Originally posted by se8472
Just from my observation I think its hard to mantain the parks closing so late.

eh... not really. The parks have been closing earlier, and by that logic, the parks would have plenty of time to be properly maintained... well it's not happening.

Cutting back hours AND maintenance.. not the way to go. If they REALLY wanted to... they would up training and hiring in ride and show engineering (aka- Maintenance), as well as 3rd shift custodial... then stay open late again, knowing full well that they have the manpower to do more in 8 hours than they currently do in 11-16

 

[se8472]

Originally posted by mkt

Cutting back hours AND maintenance.. not the way to go. If they REALLY wanted to... they would up training and hiring in ride and show engineering (aka- Maintenance), as well as 3rd shift custodial... then stay open late again, knowing full well that they have the manpower to do more in 8 hours than they currently do in 11-16

I am just saying from what I have seen at space. 3rd shift will sit there and start there working while the ride is still running. Having us store trains for inspection and so forth because they say they won't be able to get it done if they didn't start right then.

That is just my only reason for not wanting the 1am closing. I don't want to lose ride safty because guest want to stay in the park all night.

 

[JackSkellington]

I miss the 1 A.M. closings out at DL. There were so many things to see and do. And the traffic home was non existent.

 

[Disney2002]

Originally posted by AndyP
Doubtful, but if you get there at 9am, you must have some real stamina to keep going til 1am! I'd love to try it though!

I remember one trip about 10 years ago with my family. My father announced that it was going to be a 'closing the parks' vacation. We did indeed stay active in the parks from 9am until midnight every night of the trip. Granted, that was back when I could do that.

 

[JackSkellington]

So is there an official 1 A.M. closing time marked???