Are Magic Kingdom stores closing right at park closing time?

[Aurora]

Monorail thread went off on a tangent, so I thought I'd start the other conversation here.

Some have reported that the Magic Kingdom shops are closing their doors right at park closing time, rather than staying open an hour or so after the rest of the park closes.

Have you experienced this? What are your thoughts?

[mainemajor]

Never experienced this and doubt Disney would give up thousands of dollars in sales every night. I know I spend time & money on my way out every night

[Kairi_7378]

Was there during "slow" season in September and the stores were open after closing, showing no sign of closing! We were also in Mousegears at Epcot for quite a while after park closing.

[buddie]

I'm not aware of shops now closing at park closing time. I doubt that they would do that. That pretty much gets everyone moving towards the front at the same time and that can't be a good thing. It's bad enough as it is now. Transportation, except for the MRs, runs for about two hours or until the parks are clear, so they expect people to linger.

[Butters]

There is too much money to be lost doing this... doubt it will ever happen

[coneheads]

I was there over Labor Day and the shops did close exactly at Park closing. Many others reported the same on the Monorail thread. Our routine is usually to go to the Bakery for a treat at closing and let the crowd thin out a bit. Sunday night of the Labor Day weekend was EMH at MK, got to the Bakery right at 1 am and the manager was locking the doors. Monorails were not running and everyone had to exit the Park at the same time, not surprisingly the Bus loop was a madhouse.

I think the policy will change when they get the retail sales figures and see a drop, closing time has always been a very busy time in the stores.
Not sure they will change the Monorail Policy though as it doesn't really generate business.

Andy

[MickeysBestPal]

I was there over Labor Day and the shops did close exactly at Park closing. Many others reported the same on the Monorail thread. Our routine is usually to go to the Bakery for a treat at closing and let the crowd thin out a bit. Sunday night of the Labor Day weekend was EMH at MK, got to the Bakery right at 1 am and the manager was locking the doors.

MK "closed" (regular hours) at 10PM on Labor Day.

What you experienced at 1AM was the end of PM EMH.
The shops DO close at the exact end of PM EMH...
that's how PM EMH normally works in relation to the shop closures.

There is no new policy of shop closure in place.
As always, some of the main shops DO remain open for up to an hour (give or take) following the end of "regular" (non-PM EMH) hours at the parks.

[Tygger7]

I know someone commented on this and said that sometimes they do close up promptly when there is significant work to be done by the night crews. For example, putting up or taking down holiday decorations, or if additional maintenance needs to be completed.

I will also put this on the table...put yourself in the CM's shoes. You've worked a full day and are exhausted...you just want to go home. You're ready to close up, and a herd of people come into the shop. My DD19 worked at the Disney store in the Mall and this happened all the time...it would be 5 minutes or less until closing time, and people would run in at the last minute and wander around for 20-30 mins...and then not buy anything. They couldn't start the floor reset until the store closed, so they were late getting started.

Yes, I know Disney vacations are expensive and that entitles us, as guests, to certain experiences. But the next time you get frustrated with a shop closing at the scheduled closing time, think about your own job and how you feel when something or someone keeps you late at work.

Ok, off my soapbox now

[buzznwoodysmom]

I know someone commented on this and said that sometimes they do close up promptly when there is significant work to be done by the night crews. For example, putting up or taking down holiday decorations, or if additional maintenance needs to be completed.

I will also put this on the table...put yourself in the CM's shoes. You've worked a full day and are exhausted...you just want to go home. You're ready to close up, and a herd of people come into the shop. My DD19 worked at the Disney store in the Mall and this happened all the time...it would be 5 minutes or less until closing time, and people would run in at the last minute and wander around for 20-30 mins...and then not buy anything. They couldn't start the floor reset until the store closed, so they were late getting started.

Yes, I know Disney vacations are expensive and that entitles us, as guests, to certain experiences. But the next time you get frustrated with a shop closing at the scheduled closing time, think about your own job and how you feel when something or someone keeps you late at work.

Ok, off my soapbox now

I do feel for the CMs. However, what I think Disney should do, if they aren't doing this already, is set up the CMs schedules to include those hours after the park officially closes. If they CMs are scheduled to work 2 hours (or more depending on what needs to be done after the stores close up) past closing then they wouldn't expect to go home right after the parks close. This way no one would be "kept late at work", or complain that they had to stay late because of guests. Just build those expected hours into the schedule. I know CMs have lives of their own and families to go home to. But this is no different than other people all over the world who work night shifts (such as nurses), or late closings at stores or restaurants. Its just a part of some jobs.

[Tygger7]

I do feel for the CMs. However, what I think Disney should do, if they aren't doing this already, is set up the CMs schedules to include those hours after the park officially closes. If they CMs are scheduled to work 2 hours (or more depending on what needs to be done after the stores close up) past closing then they wouldn't expect to go home right after the parks close. This way no one would be "kept late at work", or complain that they had to stay late because of guests. Just build those expected hours into the schedule. I know CMs have lives of their own and families to go home to. But this is no different than other people all over the world who work night shifts (such as nurses), or late closings at stores or restaurants. Its just a part of some jobs.

I can only speak from my DD's experience working at the Disney store. For example, she would be scheduled 2pm - 10pm. The store would close at 9pm. They have an hour of work that needs to be done after the store closes. By getting started late, instead of getting off at her scheduled time at 10pm, it ends up being 10:30pm or 11pm due to the store not being able to close on time. So yes, from my experience with my DD, they do try to schedule so that CM's plan to be there past closing. However, they plan for the work that needs to be done after the store closes. Regardless of when the last customer leaves, there is still a set amount of work that needs to be done. They try to plan accordingly ,but it's not always possible.

[ILoveMickey'77]

what I think Disney should do, if they aren't doing this already, is set up the CMs schedules to include those hours after the park officially closes.

I would bet they already do this. The bakery and shops have always been packed right after park closing and I doubt Disney would "give up" this opportunity to make money. I would assume that they plan to stay open late. I think if Disney wanted you out of the park, they'd get you out of the park.

[coneheads]

I understand it was EMH, I said so in my post. I've been there many times at the close of EMH even at 3 AM but this was the first time I have seen them close the stores exactly at Park closing. IMO Park closing is when they say over the PA "Thank you for coming we hope you enjoyed your day here at the Magic Kingdom" regardless of whether it's an EMH night or not.

Just because they don't close the doors at Park closing doesn't mean they can't have set, regular hours. They have to be able to control labor costs, overtime is expensive, and have predictable schedules for the cast members. It's just that I think they can do both by setting the store closing 30 minutes after Park closing they could take advantage of the sales demand of the guests boosting sales for the day, having regular scheduled hours for the cast and ease the transportation crush that has happened from reducing the transportation options for getting back to your resort.

Andy

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

For the original poster.... I will be in the world next week and will include the store closing at close information in my trip report!

[ransam]

i think that the fact they can make so much money, it would be silly for them to close the stores.

[Wolf]

When we were there this weekend they closed right at park closing It was awful, I actually missed out on a lot of the shopping I really wanted to do because I was only there for three days I couldn't justify wasting park wandering and ride time for shopping...guess they will survive without my money but I wish I could have picked up a few more things seeing as I won't be able to afford to go back for awhile..

[MickeysBestPal]

When we were there this weekend they closed right at park closing

What night, what shops, and at what time?

[buddie]

When we were there this weekend they closed right at park closing

The time schedule for all the shops for this past weekend shows that they staggered the closing times. Which is normal. Some shops do close at closing time, others don't.

[Main Street Jim]

However, what I think Disney should do, if they aren't doing this already, is set up the CMs schedules to include those hours after the park officially closes. If they CMs are scheduled to work 2 hours (or more depending on what needs to be done after the stores close up) past closing then they wouldn't expect to go home right after the parks close. This way no one would be "kept late at work", or complain that they had to stay late because of guests. Just build those expected hours into the schedule. I know CMs have lives of their own and families to go home to. But this is no different than other people all over the world who work night shifts (such as nurses), or late closings at stores or restaurants. Its just a part of some jobs.

If you go back to the "Monorails" thread, you'll see that I posted this info on Cast scheduling.

"Closing" Cast are scheduled at least an hour after the park is closed for evening - whether it be an EMH night, party night, or just a "regular" night, if there is such a thing This includes all Attractions Cast, Merchandise, most quick-service and table service places, etc.

This gives time to get the last guests through the attractions, and to do a "ride-through" (in Attractions, of course) to make sure the last guest is off of the ride, or out of the store, or out of the restaurant. As for Merchandise, there's a whole separate overnight crew (at least there *was*) that comes in after the last guests leave for restocking. But the "closing" CMs can't leave, and the restocking crew can't start restocking, until that last guest is out of the store at the end of the night.

So, yes, the time is "built in" to the CM's schedule. If those last guests take longer than past that *scheduled* end time (i.e., you're scheduled until say, 11:00pm, park closed at 10:00pm, but the last guest doesn't leave your store until say, 11:45), then the managers have to go in to the computerized time-clock system and manually change the end time - *and* pay overtime, depending on how many hours that CM worked that day.

So...whether or not the stores close *at* park closing now - I can't say. I haven't been to a park since January. But, I *can* tell you that CM's *do* have a scheduled "end time", not just a "5:00pm to close" shift. It's a defined time.