Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Hello everyone. I am finally home from an 8 day stay at Walt Disney World. And I regret that I have something to complain about. For the most part Walt Disney World is looking great. OK, so on with my grip. As you can probably tell from the topic of this thread it pertains to the Pirate's and Princess Party. On the night of February 1st my party was at the Magic Kingdom watching the Wishes fireworks ( incredible ). OK, so the fireworks are all over and the park is closing early, 7pm for the Pirate's and Princess Party. So they announce on the loud speakers that the park is now closed and everyone must least because of the party. So now you have THOUSANDS of people stampeeding for the only exit at the end of Main Street USA. Meanwhile! Apparently on February 1st Disney management thought it might be a good idea to cordian off the entire sidewalk infront of the candy shop on Main Stree USA for the day ( its the sidewalk on the right had side of Main Street USA ). SO you have hundred of people, strollers, wheelchairs, etc or people ENTERING the park and trying to make there way UP Main Street USA for the party. Disney Cast Members were shouting to the crowds ( told to leave ) to stay on our right handside of the street. Then we get outside and you have more of the same. Thousands tring to board the monorail, boats and resort buses to exit the park. While hundreds are tying using the monorail, boats and resort buses trying to ENTER the Magic Kingdom. I just thought the whole things was planned, organized and excuted by a 5 year old. If this is the best that Disney can do then boy are we doomed! First off, why tell everyone who was not participating in the Pirates and Princess Party that "they had to exit the park"? Why not give us all time to get out instead of throwing us out. OK, then why yell at us while we are trying to exit the park since we are only following instruction? Needless to say that by the time my party got to the resort bus we were extremely angry with Disney. So much for having a Magical Day! Any splendor of watching the incredible Wishes fireworks and lighting show was quickly lost. Seems to me Disney could do a much better job of getting ( unwanted ) quests out of the Magic Kingdom while attempting to get ( over priced paying guests participating in a private Disney party ) into the parks. It was chaos.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>For the most part Walt Disney World is looking great.<< That's wonderful. I too have noticed they are trying. PI in particular looks better as well, if only a bot short on shoppoing or other things to do. DAK and EPCOT have always been the best parks in that regard. Thanks for the update.
Originally Posted By leemac <<First off, why tell everyone who was not participating in the Pirates and Princess Party that "they had to exit the park"? Why not give us all time to get out instead of throwing us out. OK, then why yell at us while we are trying to exit the park since we are only following instruction?>> Tom: my question is when the park closes at 7pm when does it close in your mind? My point is that I think a lot of us have been conditioned into believing that a 7pm close is really more like 8pm and expect that. A hard close is needed in these types of circumstances and WDW does a pretty good job of advertising the "early" closes and offering alternatives. That said it isn't right for you to be shouted at for following their instructions. That is poor show indeed and should be addressed.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>A hard close is needed in these types of circumstances and WDW does a pretty good job of advertising the "early" closes and offering alternatives.<< Maybe they should go back to doing things the way they did before when the park closed around 6pm, while guests entering hard ticket events were helf off at the TTC until 6:45pm or so.. That allowed the MK to close off and let the crowds leave in a more organized manner, with out running into the incoming crowd for the party. Why can't things be done as before anymore?
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom My only comment here is that I have attended MVMCP and MNSHP on several ocassions. In ALL those cases quests were not thrown out of the Magic Kingdom. Normal quests were still allowed to remain in the park so they could shop or whatever. Oh course you had to have a wrist band to go on the rides ( kinda like what happens most nights now with the Extra Magic Hours ). Thats the thing that boggles my mind. Disney does Extra Magic Hours virtually everynight. Guests participating in the Extra Magic Hours get wrist bands and you have to show the wrist band to get on a ride. Normal day quests ( to my knowledge ) are not thrown out of the parks. I just though the whole thing was a complete mess. BAD SHOW!
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I can only take a guess on this but maybe they learned from the fact that for the MVMCPs, they saw an increase of day guests who stayed at the park and enjoyed some of the Xmas party offerings for free. Because I did witness two instances of day guests trying to get into gift shops pass 10pm but were denied for not having wristbands. They were clearly daytime guests who got to stay for the party for free...being able to enjoy party offerings like the Xmas parade and fireworks..
Originally Posted By gaston lives It was such a disappointment that my group of 13 (even when split up, which was 99% of the time) didn't walk away with one complimentary gift in over one week. some dream, huh?
Originally Posted By Disneybrad "Disney does Extra Magic Hours virtually everynight." Acctually it's only one night a week at each park. So only 4 nights a weeks, thats hardley everyngith
Originally Posted By CTXRover They probably should go back to the hour buffer between park close and when the special parties start as they have done prior to the most recent MNSSHP and MVMCP. It seemed to allow a more organized and less stressful clearing of the park for both guests and CMs. I suppose enough complaints of the "early closings" prompted the change though. As for the traffic jams created by the blocking of parts of the Main Street, it may have to do with finishing the replacement of the walkways along the streets that apparently started sometime before the Christmas season. The new and old are very apparent when side by side. The old is simply a red and the new is a red with small beige and gray colored stones throughout it. At first it may look like worn cement when side by side, by on its own it looks great. In fact, for most of the holiday season, there was one part in front of the Bakery that was simply wooden pieces of plywood painted red. In order to finish the much needed replacement of the walkways on Main Street, parts need to be blocked off from time to time. There is also a section currently blocked off in front of the bakery that may be required as they expand the bakery's seating area and move the glass shop.
Originally Posted By Friar Tuck and Roll I think part of the reason for the non-hard close has to do with holding the guests coming into a hard ticket event. My first hard ticket event was Night of Joy back in 1990 and then we were held at the TTC. (and this was when the TTC only had chain link fence and was more of a prison yard than the small garden it is now). Even then I saw that trying to hold about 15,000 rowdy teenagers in the small space between the ticket booths and the fences could be a safety disaster, we teens doing things like crowd surfing. This is why Disney started letting groups in at 4pm and not making regular day guests leave right at close, only using wrist bands to allow entry to the attractions. I do not see why Disney couldn't do the earlier entry for those going to the P & P event and not have a mass exodus at posted close time.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<I do not see why Disney couldn't do the earlier entry for those going to the P & P event and not have a mass exodus at posted close time.>> Disney was doing early entry for the event. There were plenty of people walking around in Pirate and Princess costumes with wrist bandsprior to park closing. I forget how early you can get the wrist bands. But they are available at City Hall.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Trip report from yesterday... <a href="http://mb.laughingplace.com/MsgBoard-T-84125-P-1.asp" target="_blank">http://mb.laughingplace.com/Ms gBoard-T-84125-P-1.asp</a>
Originally Posted By Labuda "Acctually it's only one night a week at each park. So only 4 nights a weeks, thats hardley everyngith" Try again, Brad. You should know this since you work there. On my upcoming trip, of the nights I'll be onsite, 6 of the 8 have EMH in the evenings.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom I was just at WDW for 8 days last week. There are no EMH in any Disney parks on, I believe thursday nights. Unless of course the schedule of EMH changes. Which I'm sure it does every month or at least seasonally.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 The best way to handle this situation is the simplest. You don't leave the MK open until 7 with a party starting at the same time or 30 minutes later. You do what Disney always USED to do. You hard close at 6 and have signs saying that so no one is upset they can't linger on Main Street until 7:43. You also do NOT let anyone in for the parties until the park is clear. Period. None of this crap where people with tickets for a party can suddenly enter in costume at 3:45 in the afternoon. Oh, and on the EMH front, while in January it is one park, once a week as far as evenings ... during busier periods, it is much more frequent.
Originally Posted By Labuda Tom - when I'm there, Thursday night will be MK EMH @ night. The schedule does indeed change.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> None of this crap where people with tickets for a party can suddenly enter in costume at 3:45 in the afternoon. << I don't understand your objection to this one, other than it makes it harder to "clear the park" at crossover time, of course. One reason they like to allow this one is for marketing value -- more people visible in the parks in costume gets people thinking about maybe attending themselves.
Originally Posted By WolvesTwilight You also have to remember that Disney isn't just trying to cater to the PnP guests. If we hard closed now at 6, guests who only paid for the day wouldn't get to see Wishes. The evening sky isn't dark enough until around 6:30, and Wishes is pretty much a staple item of a Disney Day at the Magic Kingdom. Its hard to know when to bend the rules a bit. We sometimes have to sacrifice show for efficencey. We want all the guests able to enjoy Wishes completely, but we also want the guests who paid a bit extra to enjoy the party, too. We try to make both groups happy. If a cast member is shouting its also, usually, for a good reason. At least that's how it is at my work location.
