MK closing at 6pm in October??

[Court7321]

I just got a notification that park hours have been released for the week of Oct. 13 and on Sunday the 14th MK is closing at 6pm?! I realize the MNSSHP is taking place several days that week, but usually the park is open until 7pm on those nights. If it's closing at 6 now, that is a real bummer.
And I just made my ADRs for the week

 

[KrazeeK120]

The park is closing at 6 pm on party nights this year.

 

[mom2rtk]

It's the new normal for hard ticket party nights.

 

[CAS239]

It's 6pm this year to make sure it's cleared out for party guests in time. This was announced a month or so ago

 

[sharonabe]

I just got a notification that park hours have been released for the week of Oct. 13 and on Sunday the 14th MK is closing at 6pm?! I realize the MNSSHP is taking place several days that week, but usually the park is open until 7pm on those nights. If it's closing at 6 now, that is a real bummer.
And I just made my ADRs for the week

Do you have an ADR at MK for that evening? If it's past 6:00, you may want to check to see if it has the line, "party ticket required to eat at this time" or something like that.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

This started last year for MVMCP.
If you had looked at the August/September calendars you would have realized its taking place for the MNSSHP this year.
If you want more hours then go on a non party day.

 

[Court7321]

Thanks all. I was just using the touringplans calendar as my guideline, and they were still showing 7, so I just didn't think about it. We are planning on going to MK two days anyway, so I think overall we'll have enough time. It just hurts me to use a ticket at a park that's only open from 9-6.

 

[Louie7080]

Thanks all. I was just using the touringplans calendar as my guideline, and they were still showing 7, so I just didn't think about it. We are planning on going to MK two days anyway, so I think overall we'll have enough time. It just hurts me to use a ticket at a park that's only open from 9-6.

Not sure if it is true of WDW, but at Disneyland, parks with a party are usually less busy than they normally would be on days that there is a party. If so at WDW, that would be a positive. WDW has more party dates though, so it may be different in how crowds disperse because of a party - maybe the effect is more or less pronounced. If I had only one day at MK and wanted to see the fireworks and also didn't have a park hopper and wasn't going to a party then I would definitely go to MK on a day with no party so I could see the fireworks, though it might be more busy than usual. If you don't want to see the fireworks, then maybe going on a party day would be best to avoid the crowds - you might get just as much done between 9 and 6 on a party day as you would from 9 to 9/10 on a non-party day. Just speculating here, you may want to see how much more busy MK is on non-party days during party season. Alternativley, it could be that most people visiting at that time have party tickets so they would just stay at MK all day on the day they have the party ticket.

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

Thanks all. I was just using the touringplans calendar as my guideline, and they were still showing 7, so I just didn't think about it. We are planning on going to MK two days anyway, so I think overall we'll have enough time. It just hurts me to use a ticket at a park that's only open from 9-6.

You would get 2 times as much done on this day than another day, so I would suggest its a very good use of a ticket.

 

[JerseyJanice]

We did not find party days to be any less busy last September. IDK if it was because we were there right after Irma.

At 4:00 when they let in the party guests, the park became unbearably busy each of the days we were there.

After our experiences in September 2017 and October 2016, I will no longer recommend fall as being a good time to go to WDW.

 

[sharonabe]

At 4:00 when they let in the party guests, the park became unbearably busy each of the days we were there.

I agree with you about the 4:00 on time frame...it becomes a madhouse.

However, all the hours before that have been golden for us. We even experienced a 5 min wait for 7DMT around 2:00 in the afternoon.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I agree with you about the 4:00 on time frame...it becomes a madhouse.

However, all the hours before that have been golden for us. We even experienced a 5 min wait for 7DMT around 2:00 in the afternoon.

We were there through Matthew in 2016 and came days after Irma in 2017. Bad luck for us! It seemed like loads of people rescheduled for the week after Irma when we were there.

Fingers crossed that we will have better luck in May.

 

[SarahC97]

We did not find party days to be any less busy last September. IDK if it was because we were there right after Irma.

At 4:00 when they let in the party guests, the park became unbearably busy each of the days we were there.

After our experiences in September 2017 and October 2016, I will no longer recommend fall as being a good time to go to WDW.

I agree - we went October 2016 and September 2017 and didn't want to go in fall again after that. So we went January/February 2018 and that was a total bust too! We're going to stop going during what is considered "slow times" and go instead when it suits our schedule. If my last 3 trips are any indication, the differences between the time of year you go are fewer and fewer. I'm now more inclined to go when there's no parties and longer hours.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I agree - we went October 2016 and September 2017 and didn't want to go in fall again after that. So we went January/February 2018 and that was a total bust too! We're going to stop going during what is considered "slow times" and go instead when it suits our schedule. If my last 3 trips are any indication, the differences between the time of year you go are fewer and fewer. I'm now more inclined to go when there's no parties and longer hours.

Most of my travel group had APs. I had a park hopper. With so much of the Studios down and F&WF, Epcot was slammed much of the time. We did go there every day of our trip. I do love a Festival and we stayed at the Swan—so convenient to Epcot which is my personal favorite park.

I’ll be trying Flower & Garden next month, and there are no parties to deal with. Maybe May will be my new “Fall.”

 

[SarahC97]

Most of my travel group had APs. I had a park hopper. With so much of the Studios down and F&WF, Epcot was slammed much of the time. We did go there every day of our trip. I do love a Festival and we stayed at the Swan—so convenient to Epcot which is my personal favorite park.

I’ll be trying Flower & Garden next month, and there are no parties to deal with. Maybe May will be my new “Fall.”

Have fun! We're trying August this year... staying at Boardwalk. We shall see!

 

[JerseyJanice]

Have fun! We're trying August this year... staying at Boardwalk. We shall see!

If you catch the start of F&W, don’t miss the Grey Goose frozen martini at the French Festival kiosk. Last year’s LePassion was to-die-for!