After hours in the parks

[jmako]

I love the after hours shots in the parks when they’re empty. Is this regularly permitted? Are you restricted to certain areas? Escorted? I’d love the opportunity to stroll around without the crowds to get some cool shots.

 

[pjacobi]

I booked an early breakfast at Crystal Palace and was allow into MK before it was officially opened. We got to stroll down an empty Main Street.

-Paul

 

[zackiedawg]

Generally, when the parks 'close', it takes a good hour or more to actually get everyone out - that's the time you can linger. The parks will typically clear first in the sections farthest from the exits, and away from restaurants that may have late diners...so stake out a spot near there so you can judge when the last crowds seem to have faded. The cleaning crews will eventually start working on cleaning the parks shortly after the last people have gone - they usually wait until after the last reservations in restaurants have wrapped up their meals, and when the only people left in the parks are mostly near the entrance/exit and filtering out - so if you stay really far back in the park you may run into them as they start, and they are the ones who will force you to move along...usually in a friendly manner. I've actually headed out of the parks by staying about 2 buildings ahead of the cleaning crew, doing long exposures on tripod until they start to catch up to me, then I sprint ahead a few more buildings and shoot again - as long as you don't slow them down or interfere, and when the security asks you to move along, you do so, they are usually pretty tolerant.

Some parks will allow you to get shots with little to no crowds on extra magic hour nights - especially the parks where all of the ride action on EMH are in one section of the park - you can often walk to the other parts of the park that have no rides open, and fire away with no problems...I've done this around Epcot's World Showcase, where the last remaining folks are over in Future World section hitting the rides...and Animal Kingdom around the Africa and Asia villages when the only action that time of night is around Everest and Dino-land.

 

[KCmike]

The parks usually stay open at least one hour after official close.


On This Magic Night by Mike Day, on Flickr