Closing early?

There's a lady at work who just got home from WDW. She took her family last week (January 18-22) and she is telling everyone at work that she's really disappointed in her trip. She claims that there was almost no one there, and since the crowd was so low, they closed parks early and cancelled the fireworks on several days that they were there.

I told her that can't be true, but she swears it happened. I explained that the park hours change from month-to-month and even week-to-week depending on the expected crowds and other factors, but they would never close the park early on a day's notice. I can't come up with an explanation as to why she thinks they cancelled the fireworks.

Does anyone know what she's talking about?

Parks DO regularly close early during this time of year. But it is scheduled that way - no surprises. This is the time of year when we often go.

AK is open only until 5.
MK and DHS - 7 or 8 (usually 7)
Epcot is 9.

Now with those shortened scheduled hours, I do not see how the parks can close any earlier. Cast members would have to usher everyone out if they changed it the day of. What a mess that would be.

I don't know about the fireworks, though.

It's all in the schedule...the bonus is that the crowds are lower and you can do so much more in the time they are open.

I guess this is one of the beautiful things about Intercot...none of these things comes as a surprise! Our 1st January trip this year was way different than our August trips...not bad...just different....we loved it and plan to go back next January :thumbsup:

We were there the 13th-17th and things closed earlier than they do in Sept but it was all scheduled that way. Some hours changed giving us more hours in the park but that was about a week before we went that they did this. The only thing different we noticed was that Tinkerbell didn't fly off the castle during Wishes which was disappointing. The weather was really nice that night too. So since it was our first "winter" trip, not really sure if that is a regular thing or if it had something to do with the refurb and big crane behind the castle. It in no way ruined our trip but felt bad for the first timers travelling with us.

as everyone has said, the hours are scheduled by week, so there are no last minute changes in park closures

We had some pretty bad rain storms last week. Maybe they caused the fireworks to be cancelled?

Maybe that's it -- the rain. I don't know why she thinks they cancelled the fireworks because of the crowd! Maybe she'd done a little too much wine tasting on her trip around World Showcase!

whenever disney makes a change in the schedule within a few weeks of our trips it has ALWAYS been to increase park hours or to add another parade or show. They have never shortened hours or taken away anything at the last minute in my experience.

We were there over that stretch and just returned home today. The hours were what we expected and I don't recall them canceling any fireworks. However, there was lightning in the area one of the nights that Fantasmic! was supposed to happen. We were gonna head over to catch it, but decided against due to the weather, so I'm not sure if they ended up having it or not. Maybe that's what she's talking about?

The only parks that have been closing early (or not opening at all) are the water parks, during the unusually cold weather we had earlier this month.

Did your co-worker look online at the park hours prior to her trip? It seems odd that Disney would all of a sudden just change their hours w/o notice. Every time we've gone, we've looked on line at their park hours, which days had extra magical hours etc and those held true when we were there. Maybe she went on an assumption of what the hours were or heard from someone else what the hours were that weren't typical for January? :confused:

No, I'm sure she didn't plan ahead. I'm guessing she went under the assumption that the hours were all the same all year in every park. That's what it sounds like to me, anyway. I straightened her out on that point so that she and others at work will know better than to assume that next time!

As for the fireworks, I'll bet she was thinking the canceled Fantasmic because of crowds, but I'll bet it was because of the weather. I know that can happen.

I just don't want anyone spreading any bad rumors about the Happiest Place on Earth!

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Originally Posted by Pepefan

As for the fireworks, I'll bet she was thinking the canceled Fantasmic because of crowds, but I'll bet it was because of the weather. I know that can happen.

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Uh....you did make her aware that Fantasmic! does not have showings every night anymore? It's been down to two or three nights a week since last summer.

I was just going to say that same thing that Fantasmic isn't shown anymore everynight. Its only performed about 2 times now during any given week (more if its crowded) but I'm thinking that is what she was talking about. Has she been before? That just means she was used to it being every night and then when she saw that it wasn't it can be kind of a shock if you don't have intercot to keep you updated on these things :)

As far as the park hours....no they do not close early that day based on low attendance.

We were just at WDW over the dates your co-worker is referring to. We go just about every January and actually, this year was more busy than normal and park hours were typical for this time of year, if not a little better. We weren't disappointed at all with the schedule and didn't experience any cancelled fireworks. We saw Wishes three nights and Illuminations five different nights, so I'm not sure what she's referring to. The wait times on rides were longer than we typically experience. Just about all week, TOT was 60 min waits, longer than TSM at times. On an up note, we only experienced about 30 mins of rain in 11 days of our trip even though perhaps other areas of FL got more. In addition, the temps were perfect, so it was all good! :thumbsup:

Wow! As other posters said if you look at the calendar for January the parks typically close earlier than they would say in July. Did she not check any of this out?

It's amazing to me that with this awesome thing called the Internet, how little research people do on places they are going.

On our last trip we stood next to a family (I think there were 6 of them) at SpectroMagic. They came all the way from England and were staying for 2 weeks and had no idea what the meal plan was, ADR's, EMH, etc. I couldn't believe it-to spend all that money and no planning!!!

As an avid planner this effected me greatly!:mickey:

As we all know those January hours were released some time ago. I did all my planning around them and I had no surprises and no cancelled fireworks.

Did she stay in a Disney Resort?
As we know, they give you the park hours and fireworks times when you check in. The list of Extra Magic Hours are in the rooms by the phone. Very handy.

If she didn't have this info before leaving she would have got it then.

I've been two times in Jan.. this year it was surprisingly busy but the days were plenty long enough. Last time I had a January trip we were able to get everything done long before the early park closure.