Closing the Park. What guests do.

[Epeyon]

Actually, at MK anyways, the BGM shouldn't be off until the park is clear. The lighting does stay on for our third shifters and vehicle traffic. There are times where we will have to wait for Guests dining or still in line during attraction downtimes in order to clear the area.

Maybe it's just the Plaza and Main Street, but I have been there when the BGM cut off and when the non-necessary lights cut off, and there were still guests around.

[Zazu]

Maybe it's just the Plaza and Main Street, but I have been there when the BGM cut off and when the non-necessary lights cut off, and there were still guests around.

If that's true, then standards have slipped a lot since I left. I used to close Toontown and Frontierland, and I almost always got asked by Maintenance if the area was clear before they shut down the BGM. I never did see area lighting turned off --- remember, guests at BLT, Contemporary, and other nearby resorts would see it if Main Street was turned off. We get comments enough about it when they dim the lights for Spectro.

[Unknown Delight]

-

I was able to experience EPCOT after Park close during the 25th Anniversary fan event that was held back in 2007.
This was the Event put together by park fans, so most of the attendees were Guests and CMS off duty. Great day....lots to remember.

We had a special dessert party for viewing Illuminations to finish the evening, and with Disneys okay our large group, well over 100, was allowed to stay late into the evening after all other Guests had left. I will always remember how quiet it was when our group finally decided to leave almost near midnight, being escorted by several still on-duty CMs who had joined us for the Event.
It was eerily quiet, but our group suddenly decided to start singing old, long gone Epcot attraction theme songs as we marched from Italy to under the monorail beam, heading to the front entrance.
That was pretty surreal.....but probably not as surreal as it was for the third shifters wondering who the hell these freaks were as we trudged by singing !They were all watching us go by as they were transplanting plants, watering the shrubbery, and trimming the then newly planted trees next to SSE. I dont know if they realized what we were all singing, but i will say this - the driver of the Earth Barge LOVED it. The horn honk nearly gave you a heartattack. Good times...good times!

Yeah...it was pretty surreal...but really neat for me to see these unsung workers of the Parks doing their thing...with my own eyes. The park was clear, but our group was still there, but i do remember all the BGM being turned off. It was a interesting and different way of experiencing the Park.

That was a great night.

[kerbear135]

on our trip last May, we had the latest reservations possible at Yak and Yeti. It was a late closing night for AK anyway (when they still did them). We have a 5 person group, so it takes us awhile to eat anywhere. When we got ready to leave, we were the only people left in the park (that we saw anyway). There were 2 nice CMs that followed us out (but allowed us to stop and take a few pics of the Tree of Life at night with nobody in the way) and then a nice CM at the bus station asked us where we were going and put us on a bus labeled "Rapunzel" that took us and a few other stragglers directly to our hotels instead of making us wait for our individual busses. I felt kind of bad because I'm sure they had to wait for us to leave so they could go home, but it was cool having the park to ourselves for that few minutes. Especially since the entrance to AK is usually packed and it's virtually impossible to get a pic of the ToL without abunch of people bombing the picture.

[Zazu]

Don't feel too guilty about being the last one out of the park at the end of the night. On a number of occasions I was that quiet cast member who followed folks out, sometimes well after my official off time. On every single occasion, Disney paid me for the overtime. (Had they not, I'd have stopped doing it.)

Please don't take this as justification to dawdle, but neither should you feel sorry for the CMs so delayed.

[Big Wallaby]

I am reminded of the time when I was parked at DHS, went to Epcot to see Illuminations and then got on the Friendship boat to go back to my car. One of the skippers was asking where everyone was going and got really upset when I said my destination. He even informed me that he wanted to go home.

Well, you know, buddy, you probably don't belong in transportation.

I ALMOST got off, walked, and made sure to grab a manager or something.

[Epeyon]

I am reminded of the time when I was parked at DHS, went to Epcot to see Illuminations and then got on the Friendship boat to go back to my car. One of the skippers was asking where everyone was going and got really upset when I said my destination. He even informed me that he wanted to go home.

Well, you know, buddy, you probably don't belong in transportation.

I ALMOST got off, walked, and made sure to grab a manager or something.

But he's not in transportation, he's in attractions. But either way that's incredibly unprofessional. But that's a good difference between friendship, sassagoula and MK, Sass and MK both do all the stops and keep going until they're told they can shut down for the night. Going off of what you said they can cut it short.

[Big Wallaby]

Yes, Friendship is attractions. Attractions in a transportation role. Kind of a scary thing, when you really think of it. Transportation should not h ave an attractions mentality.

[Epeyon]

Yes, Friendship is attractions. Attractions in a transportation role. Kind of a scary thing, when you really think of it. Transportation should not h ave an attractions mentality.

Yup, but somebody realized they could call Friendship an attraction and not have to pay the CMs as much. So now they're an attraction. Same thing with the railroad inside of MK.