I'll be at Disney that week and I'm waiting to hear too!
I saw that there would be an after-hours event that night. And that was the night I was betting on!
An annual event where Disney celebrates their cast members with an event at MK just for cast members. They tend to do it in January, more off-season, and they'll close MK early that day to regular guests.
And it is apparently a ticketed event? So if you don't have a ticket then you have to leave the park at 4:30?
It's for cast members and their guests. No access if you're not a cast member. MK is closed to you that evening, so yes - out of the park by a designated time. I believe an event like this has been happening for many years.
Thank you
Thanks! Trying to make my plans (very early, I know) and I know from last year to accommodate for it. Last year we went to MK that day and then thought monorailing to Poly to VQ Trader Sam’s was a good idea, but apparently a lot of the CMs were hanging out there pre-appreciation. lol. No issue getting into Trader Sam’s though. They were just upstairs hanging at the bar that I am blanking on right now.I just saw on a FB group, someone suggested that perhaps Thursday January 30 could be the cast member event day with MK closing at 4:30. I have no concrete evidence or facts to back this but wanted to bring the info that I found. Hope Disney lets us know soon!
How were crowds during the day at MK? Low?
Yes, it has. I don't know if this is an anniversary celebration (like for cast members who have been there 10 years, etc) or maybe something else. But you're right, these are hard close events. So every single thing is closed at closing time, including all of the shops and even restrooms. Even on Halloween and Christmas party nights, they'll kind of phase people out and they can stop at the Emporium and buy a few things on the way out, but not on hard close nights.
I just envisioned the end of the Lion King Show with Timone in charge of clearing the theater!
I felt that they were really low. We got basically everything done that we wanted (kind of skipped Tomorrowland minus TRON because we didn’t prioritize it) and ate at Skipper Canteen. Now, we are childless, 32 & 68 yo, so we likely moved at a different pace and we prioritized things more geared to us. But I do still feel like it was very low crowds. TP had it being really low, so I went with it, and I was happy with our decision.
