Walking through Epcot after closing?

[mwoates]

Hi Everyone, We are staying at the Beach Club Villas in February. Epcot's closing hours are at 9pm...One of the perks of staying at our hotel is being able to walk to Epcot (or I was thinking take Monorail from MK and walk through Epcot on way home - MK also closes at 9pm in February). How long do they keep the Epcot gate open that connects the park and the hotels?

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

I think that if you are ALREADY in the park, they will let you walk through to your hotel.


But entering EPCOT after it's closure just to walk to the Int'l Nt'l Gateway does not sound like it would be allowed.

 

[disneygirl76]

Hi Everyone, We are staying at the Beach Club Villas in February. Epcot's closing hours are at 9pm...One of the perks of staying at our hotel is being able to walk to Epcot (or I was thinking take Monorail from MK and walk through Epcot on way home - MK also closes at 9pm in February). How long do they keep the Epcot gate open that connects the park and the hotels?

From what we experienced in November when we stayed at the Yacht Club, you have to be in the park before closing. Using the IG (backdoor) is the same as the entrance. Same exact system. So they won't let you if the park is closed - even if you want to cut through to your resort.

 

[Mr.EPCOT]

They do not let a single soul into the parks past closing. If you arrive to EPCOT off of the Monorail at 9:01 PM expecting to walk through the park back to the Resort area, you are out of luck.

Besides, do you really want to have to get on an Express Monorail at the Magic Kingdom, switch to the EPCOT Monorail, walk about a mile to the back of the park and either walk all the way to your Resort or wait for a FriendShip and ride that? As unpleasant and inefficient as the buses are, they would be a much quicker and direct option than that convoluted hour-long journey.

Long story short, don't expect to get into a park after it has closed.

 

[mwoates]

Thanks.

Thanks everyone....That is pretty much what I thought...

 

[WDWDREAMER]

EPCOT after closing

Security clears the park ASAP after closing. There are actually crews waiting to get into the park to service it. They cannot enter until the park is declared clear. We can start checking our individual attractions before the park is empty. We just have to wait until the building is clear and operations turns the ride over to Engineering Services. If we have to service anything outside the building such as the contrail at Mission Space we have to wait until the park is clear.

 

[AstareGod]

Security clears the park ASAP after closing. There are actually crews waiting to get into the park to service it. They cannot enter until the park is declared clear. We can start checking our individual attractions before the park is empty. We just have to wait until the building is clear and operations turns the ride over to Engineering Services. If we have to service anything outside the building such as the contrail at Mission Space we have to wait until the park is clear.

How soon after park close does Security wait until they start closing? I've stayed an hour-and-a-half after park close waiting for the inferno barge burnoff (which didn't happen) and then left. Granted I was sitting on a park bench motionless near the front of the park, and know Security starts from American Adventure and clears out WS first - but I'd think they'd make it to the WS Gateway by 1.5 hours.

 

[CaptainAshley]

As a boat captain, one of my responsibilities a few times a week was Park Clearing. We used to wait one half hour before starting at American Adventure. From there, 2 teams of 2 proceed out to Japan and Italy respectively and clear out WS. The fire barge used to go off anywhere between 40 min and and hour and a half after park closing, depending on whether the pyrotechnics crew or Cptains were done with their duties first. The Friendship boats and ROE barges all have to go under the China drawbridge so timing always was a bit of an issue. The barge does go off every night though because it can't be moved back behind China to the docks until all the gas is burned off. Park Clear usually took about a full hour but usually longer, because we had to wait til all the restaurants were empty. All 4 of us Park Clearers would then meet back up at Showcase Plaza and then would continue a sweep up through FW to the front gate. The minute we gave the closing park manager the all clear, the overnight maintenance and custodial crews would literally fly through the side entrances and start prepping for the next day. While, as a guest, i love the feeling of being in the parks after everyone's filed out, as a CM, it's completely different. I tried to remind myself of how exciting it feels as a Guest, but man, when you're a CM trying to get home and a couple is taking pictures in front of every country 2 hours after all attractions have closed, it's quite a test to "keep the magic" going!