Memorial Day Weekend phase closing watch

[wdwmagic]

Phased closings are a real possibility this weekend - May 23 through May 25 2014. Studios in particular is expected to be extremely crowded on Sat and Sun.

Magic Kingdom
Friday: Opens on Friday at 6am through to Saturday at 6am.
Saturday: 9am to midnight
Sunday: 9am to 1am, with EMH 1am to 3am.

Epcot
Friday: 9am to midnight
Saturday: 9am to 9pm
Sunday: 9am to 9pm

Studios
Friday: 8am to 11pm with EMH 11pm to 1am
Saturday: 8am to 11pm
Sunday: 8am to 11pm

Animal Kingdom
Friday: 9am to 8pm
Saturday: 8am to 9pm Morning EMH 7am to 8am
Sunday: 8am to 9pm

 

[prberk]

Interesting. Looks like they are using late hours on Friday at Studios and EPCOT to help disburse crowds from the Magic Kingdom during the all-nighter. It looks like the early morning EMH for AK on Saturday may have the same effect (by making people who want to be there for EMH possibly call it a night earler the night before -- although you could possibly stay at MK until 6 a.m. and then go straight to AK... which would downright hurt my body!).

 

[Kman101]

I think it's smart actually for them to have Epcot and DHS open later for guests. I'm sort of surprised, like in CA with DCA, they don't have EPCOT open for 24 hours as well, but I'd imagine they would need a lot more things to do.

 

[WDWDad13]

great.. I arrive on Sunday

 

[cw1982]

Anyone down there now? How are the crowds?

And I wonder why MK is open until one on Sunday but not Saturday? Is Sunday usually busier for them than Saturday is? I think it's like that next weekend too and we get there next Sunday lol

 

[Kman101]

Maybe to not have such long hours today after the 24 hours yesterday? Just a guess, and Sunday is the Sunday before Memorial Day so maybe to make up for Saturday? Again, just a guess.

 

[cw1982]

Maybe to not have such long hours today after the 24 hours yesterday? Just a guess, and Sunday is the Sunday before Memorial Day so maybe to make up for Saturday? Again, just a guess.

I thought of that too, but I think next Saturday and Sunday's hours mirror this weekend.

Also, I was looking in MDE and wait times don't look too terrible for it to be a holiday weekend, at least at MK. I find this interesting, since Easter followed a similar pattern. Maybe this will translate into decently manageable crowds for our trip (at least one can always hope, right?)

 

[Kman101]

I have to admit the light crowds yesterday really thrilled me. I was dreading it but had one of the best times in a long time. It was so weird how a random Tuesday two weeks ago was completely insane but yesterday was a breeze with wait times very very reasonable. I think many were waiting to go late at night though, it seemed insane by 9PM and sounds like it got worse with the 300 minute wait for Scary Tale Hall and lines for the villains.

 

[cw1982]

I have to admit the light crowds yesterday really thrilled me. I was dreading it but had one of the best times in a long time. It was so weird how a random Tuesday two weeks ago was completely insane but yesterday was a breeze with wait times very very reasonable. I think many were waiting to go late at night though, it seemed insane by 9PM and sounds like it got worse with the 300 minute wait for Scary Tale Hall and lines for the villains.

I wish I could have been there! 24 hours sounds like so much fun

 

[DoctorDisney]

It was so weird how a random Tuesday two weeks ago was completely insane but yesterday was a breeze with wait times very very reasonable.

This right here the reason why those crowd estimators and crowd charts are complete and total garbage. They give a 1 or 2 for obvious low days during the year and an 8-10 for obvious high days (holidays) of the year. The rest of the year, it's a mixed bag and they throw random numbers up as guesses and everyone thinks they are incredibly accurate.

I live behind Magic Kingdom and am in the parks 5-7 days a week, and no I'm not a Cast Member. Aside from holidays and such, all days....crowds are random. Even holidays aren't even always that bad. Last year, the week leading up to 4th of July was incredibly light and then it got bad around July 6th for a while.

People base their trips around these crowd estimating sites and then get here and wonder, "So and so site said it would be a 3 and it's SOOOOOOOOOOOO crowded."

It's hard to judge. It truly is.

 

[Nubs70]

I have to admit the light crowds yesterday really thrilled me. I was dreading it but had one of the best times in a long time. It was so weird how a random Tuesday two weeks ago was completely insane but yesterday was a breeze with wait times very very reasonable. I think many were waiting to go late at night though, it seemed insane by 9PM and sounds like it got worse with the 300 minute wait for Scary Tale Hall and lines for the villains.

May be the random business in due to Victoria Day holiday in Canada. It would be interesting to get a consolidated calendar of holidays from the US, Canada, UK, Brazil, and Argentina to see how random busy days compare to non US holidays.

 

[cw1982]

May be the random business in due to Victoria Day holiday in Canada. It would be interesting to get a consolidated calendar of holidays from the US, Canada, UK, Brazil, and Argentina to see how random busy days compare to non US holidays.

Good point! As evidenced on these boards, lots of people who visit WDW are not from the USA. I'm bad about forgetting that sometimes.

 

[Jakester]

I think it's smart actually for them to have Epcot and DHS open later for guests. I'm sort of surprised, like in CA with DCA, they don't have EPCOT open for 24 hours as well, but I'd imagine they would need a lot more things to do.

TBH, MK is the only WDW park that could handle 24hours of operation. The other 3 don't have nearly all that MK does. In the future After some revamps id love to see seperated events for Allnighters at the other 3.

 

[cw1982]

One thing I was just thinking about, though, is that maybe what I'm seeing on MDE isn't really a fair depiction of the actual MK crowd, since SDMT isn't showing up as running, but it's likely taking in a pretty good size crowd. I wonder how much that ride is taking away from other attractions, in terms of wait times.

ETA: I stand corrected about MK's hours next weekend. They appear to be open until 1 am both Saturday and Sunday of next week, plus 1-3 am EMH on Sunday night.

 

[Violiav]

So how do they decide (at the parks) how late to stay open? When I look to the hours for my trip in July MK is scheduled to close at 11pm on Thursday and Friday. Is that a hard and fast closing time or do they usually send out a "stay open later" memo?

 

[DoctorDisney]

When parks decide to change hours in bulk, it is usually announced at least a month or so in advance.

When parks decide to up hours for one or two days, it is usually done the day of or the day before.

 

[deanaandrich]

I was at Epcot today. The park was empty until late afternoon.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I was at Epcot today. The park was empty until late afternoon.

The app was showing 50 minute waits for Maelstrom for a significant chunk of the day. Do you know what was going on with that?

 

[Hakunamatata]

The app was showing 50 minute waits for Maelstrom for a significant chunk of the day. Do you know what was going on with that?

Maybe an oil spill from the rig in the ocean scene.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

This right here the reason why those crowd estimators and crowd charts are complete and total garbage. They give a 1 or 2 for obvious low days during the year and an 8-10 for obvious high days (holidays) of the year. The rest of the year, it's a mixed bag and they throw random numbers up as guesses and everyone thinks they are incredibly accurate.

Well, I believe Touring Plans had the 24 hour day as a 6/10 on the crowded scale. They were right on the money.