Closing Time vs. "Closing Time"

[britlightyear]

In January we made our third trip to WDW. Our first 2 trips the only night-time show/fireworks we stayed late enough at night to watch was Fantasmic! And the minute that was over we exited the park because it was after the scheduled closing time.
Well, on this most recent trip I forced my husband and son to stay and watch Wishes because it was something I had always wanted to see and that's when we discovered something. The parks "closing time" was 8pm, Wishes was at 8pm, but even after the fireworks they were still letting people on rides. I mean we rode Space Mountain 6 times with virtually no line! Well, it was the end of January so there wasn't really a line the rest of the week but this was amazing, just walking right on!
So I guess to get to the point, I was wondering at what point do they actually stop letting people onto the rides? If we hadn't already spent the whole day at MK we probably would have stayed there til they kicked us out.
So what do you think is the real "Closing Time"?

 

[disney4life2008]

In January we made our third trip to WDW. Our first 2 trips the only night-time show/fireworks we stayed late enough at night to watch was Fantasmic! And the minute that was over we exited the park because it was after the scheduled closing time.
Well, on this most recent trip I forced my husband and son to stay and watch Wishes because it was something I had always wanted to see and that's when we discovered something. The parks "closing time" was 8pm, Wishes was at 8pm, but even after the fireworks they were still letting people on rides. I mean we rode Space Mountain 6 times with virtually no line! Well, it was the end of January so there wasn't really a line the rest of the week but this was amazing, just walking right on!
So I guess to get to the point, I was wondering at what point do they actually stop letting people onto the rides? If we hadn't already spent the whole day at MK we probably would have stayed there til they kicked us out.
So what do you think is the real "Closing Time"?

Are you sure it wasnt an EMHs night? When the park officially closes, the rides shut down until the last group are let on. The stores along main street remain open for a limited time after closing.

 

[britlightyear]

Nope, not EMH. The park closed at 8 but I think our last ride was about 8:50 and then we walked back to the Contemporary. They had EMH the night before this.

 

[Captain Hank]

I've heard of this happening a few times before, however, it's by no means common. 99.9% of the time, all attractions will close promptly at the park's listed closing time. However, every once in a while (and I'm not sure why) a major attraction will keep allowing guests on afterwards.

 

[Yensid_Robert9]

My guess would be from my experience working at EE when we went 101 a few times a day and people still had fastpasses, we'd let anyone on who still had them as long as it took to kill the line. Of course standby would have to close due to the popularity of the attraction.

But is it possible that due to some difficulties during the day, they stayed open a little bit longer?

 

[britlightyear]

Space Mountain wasn't the only ride letting people on after closing. We talked to a couple behind us in line on our last time riding that night and they said they had just walked onto BTMRR and then they came over to Space to see if they could get on that too.

 

[krankenstein]

Do you remember the date that this happened?

 

[noflashphoto]

I think that's highly unusual. When I worked at GMR the listed closing time was our closing time. We didn't hang around for anything. If the scheduled closing time was 10pm we would shut the doors at 10pm. If you were not in the doors then you didn't get to ride. Even if people were walking towards us we shut those doors at the exact time...

 

[peter11435]

Outside of some very rare exceptions the rides do not stay open past closing time. If you know what date you were at the park I could give you more information about why they were still open.

 

[britlightyear]

It was Jan. 26th.

 

[WDWFigment]

Outside of some very rare exceptions the rides do not stay open past closing time. If you know what date you were at the park I could give you more information about why they were still open.

I don't know about very rare. We only go twice a year, but I've found this happens all the time in the summer.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

I wonder if this is done @ EPCOT?:lookaroun

 

[archangel2790]

I wonder if this is done @ EPCOT?:lookaroun

If it is, it's never been my experience.. they always seem to be just waiting to shut down FW... :brick:I can see them now, standing at the hallway by Innoventions, ropes in hand... GRRRR...:fork:

LOL...

It'd be cool to find out they did here next week when I'm there..

 

[peter11435]

It was Jan. 26th.

Magic Kingdom had EMH on January 26th from 8pm - 11pm.

 

[peter11435]

I don't know about very rare. We only go twice a year, but I've found this happens all the time in the summer.

With very rare exceptions the rides will close at the park closing time. However sometimes when the park is busier than forecasted they will make a late minute decision to extend the park hours by an hour or so. This last minute decision is usually made a few days in advance or sometimes on the morning of if they can find the staffing to cover. Since times guides are already published this change is rarely communicated to all guests.

 

[britlightyear]

Then it was the 27th because we had been there until 10:30 the night before this happened. Sorry, I was just guessing at the date, it was vacation I didn't write down th dates everything happened.

 

[WDWFigment]

With very rare exceptions the rides will close at the park closing time. However sometimes when the park is busier than forecasted they will make a late minute decision to extend the park hours by an hour or so. This last minute decision is usually made a few days in advance or sometimes on the morning of if they can find the staffing to cover. Since times guides are already published this change is rarely communicated to all guests.

Thanks, but I'm not inept enough to not know when the park is closing for the given evening I'm attending the parks. There have been several occasions when we've been allowed to queue up when the attraction clock is clearly 5-10 minutes past the closing time. We are typically in the parks for 1-1.5 hours after closing, so, in any case, we'd come to realize the park was still open even if the actual hours were unpublished.

 

[Rob562]

I wonder if this is done @ EPCOT?:lookaroun

For the first few years after Test Track opened, it was fairly common for them to keep it open after park closing time, often an extra 30-60 minutes. At first this was unpublished anywhere, but then they started putting out a few signs around TT saying that they would be open later that night. We liked watching RoE and then heading over there by way of the Odyssey and hopping on for an extra ride or two before leaving.

-Rob

 

[voodoo321]

Magic Kingdom had EMH on January 26th from 8pm - 11pm.

I was there on the 26th and it was indeed Evening EMH.

 

[Texas84]

I was at MK in December a few years back when the CMs started getting the word around that the park would be open an extra hour that night. So yeah, it happens.