Do Parks close doors when full?

[Phrank40]

We usually go to WDW in the off season, but this year we are going to see our daughter's school marching band in Magic Kingdom the Sunday before Easter. I realize it will be crowded in the MK, and I have read online that the TTC parking lot closes at times park is really crowded. I guess my question is do the Parks ever just not let any more people in (can't imagine Disney turning down $$), or is it just the parking lots that are closed. I want to make sure I get into the MK to see her, but do I need to get there at 8 in the morning if she plays at 3 in the afternoon. Any help appreciated.

Phrank

 

[anne60]

They will close the park to offsite guests. I am not sure about onsite folks. Don't know if this will help, but here in Massachusetts, our Easter break (for public schools) is the week AFTER Easter, not before. However, parochial schools will have the week before, because it is Holy Week. When we there during that week, the only thing I remember being closed was Blizzard Beach, and it filled up around 11 am. I would say that if you get there before 10:30, you should be okay, even if it is a very busy time. Hope you enjoy your trip!!

 

[drusba]

The three stages of full are (a) no more cars allowed, then (b) no off-site guests, then (c) no on-site guests. It rarely if ever reaches the third stage -- New Years Eve it can happen and sometimes at MK during some other Christmas week days and Easter and the day before or after (but even that is not usual). It has to my knowledge never reached it on Palm Sunday which is actually the day before the full Easter crowd hits.

 

[allshookup]

We were at Epcot on New Years Eve 1999 and let me tell you if they didn't close the park to on-site guests that night....I don't believe they ever do! They closed Epcot to outside guests at 8:30 that morning, but we were assured and reassured that on-site guests would get in no matter what and we did. We could only walk between Mexico and China for hours due to the crowds, but we were in! LOL

 

[InstImpres]

Originally posted by allshookup
We were at Epcot on New Years Eve 1999 and let me tell you if they didn't close the park to on-site guests that night....I don't believe they ever do!

Guess everyone was afraid to fly with the change of the millenium (my family included). We saw out 2000 and all 3 parks were closed even to on-site guests. I have never seen anything so crazy.

 

[allshookup]

Originally posted by InstImpres
Guess everyone was afraid to fly with the change of the millenium (my family included). We saw out 2000 and all 3 parks were closed even to on-site guests. I have never seen anything so crazy.

Wow that is amazing! Disney Resort guests must've been very upset that day! I thought I'd seen a park as crowded as it could get....but maybe it was worse in 2000. I know a lot of people cancelled for the millenium because we had just decided to go that November and there were still rooms available. It was still impossible to move through Epcot but there were also stages set up for bands, live broadcasts, etc. causing a grid-lock at many locations.

I knew we were in trouble when we couldn't get a bus to Epcot since they had closed it down to outside guests, but all the Disney buses were stuck in the traffic they were trying to turn away. We watched fights break out at the bus stop and people were screaming at the cast members. We waited and waited starting at 8:00am at CSR for a bus with hundreds of other people but there was no line and everytime a bus would pull up, people would just run to the bus and push people out of the way and then they'd get angry because they weren't Epcot buses. The whole experience was rather frightening! We finally managed to get a bus to Boardwalk after a couple of hours and we waited in line for another 2 hours. It was after noon time by the time we got into Epcot. Don't think I would ever attempt New Years Eve again!

 

[kilee]

Last year on the week leading up to Easter, the MK was closed to no off site guests by noon for 3 days.

 

[InstImpres]

It was amazing. We were told to get in the park we wanted to be at by 11am and stay there. It was also one of the coldest winters FL had. We kept on our winter coats, zipped up with hoods and still froze. We ended up spending NYE in our room and going our on the Boardwalk at 11:45. It was amazing to see - they did special fireworks by the beach, we could see the ones over the castle and the ones over Epcot.

Definetly, an unforgetable experience but I will not go that time of year again...guess that only leaves 355 other days for me

 

[Nancybell]

I was at EPCOT for 4th of July - 2002 - they told us early that morning if we wanted to get to the park to go extra early because of the holiday they would probably have to close the doors. That was told to us by a CM.

 

[Memph1s]

Last 4th of July we had a hard time getting to FW to check in because MK was full and they were turning people away at the parking toll booths. A lot of the people were arguing with the CMs and would not drive through. They had signs up way before you got to the booths saying the park was full but people still wanted to argue about it.

 

[grinningghost]

Unfortunately yes. We were turned away from MK once when we were off-site guests. We were also turned away from TL once. We did try MK later in the evening and got in. I will always stay on-site now. It's pretty heartbreaking to have them say you have to leave.

 

[currycook]

I have been to the parks many many times, but I usually go when crowds are low. So I was surprised to hear that MGM or Epcot was closed on July 4 and Dec 31st. Those have to be the very rare exceptions. Now it is known that in the summer that MK will become full and they will close the MK. The MK is the smallest park and usually has the largest crowds during peak season so dont be surprised if the MK closes due to crowds.