I've always been curious to see what the parks look like after everybody has left and the gates close. I guess that this is when they clean and fix things up.

Any CM's care to share? I'd like to see some pictures too - haven't had any luck searching for them on the Internet.

You may not have too much luck with photos - Disney is pretty strict about photos 'backstage' and even 'onstage' during non-park hours. I've done some tours of Epcot World Showcase before park opening, and we could take pictures if we wanted, but ONLY if there wasn't anything 'different' going on in the pictures (aside from there being no people in the background :D) So no taking pictures of the guys pressure washing the walkway, etc.

You may have better luck winning a night in Cindy's Royal Suite! Which is to say, it's going to be darn hard!

The closest we ever got to seeing things after hours was when the park closed at Midnight. We caught the last showing of Philharmagic and when we came out, the place was like a ghost town. Everything in that general Fantasyland area was closed and empty. It was a real cool experience since you never see it so calm and quiet.

You can get a late restaurant reservation, just before park closing. They will not rush you out, and you can have a leisurely walk out of the park more than an hour after closing.

One of my scariest dreams from when I was a kid was when I dreamt that I was at WDW at night; there was no one there but all the rides were operating. It was just so spooky; I've never forgotten it. Now, of course, I'd love to be in the park alone at night with all the rides running. What a blast it would be.

I was at Epcot after park closing back in 2005 by accident. We parked there, took the monorail over to MK for EMH that ended at 2am. We went to hop on the monorail at 1:30 to head back to Epcot and they were like are you serious? So we hopped on the MGM bus which for some reason was still running and he dropped us off at Epcot. The bus stops at Epcot aren't by the parking so we had to walk. It was the strangest thing. You normally hear all that futuristic music playing in Epcot, but not this time! When we passed by the bathroom we heard some rap music and the guy was singing and he walked out and saw us walking past. I think we scared him! We saw a few people cleaning and fixing things up on the outside. I can only imagine everything that was going on inside!

I need inside pictures!!

Park was still open at Epcot, but we were some of the very few at World Showcase after Illuminations. We leisurely walked all the way around, then back towards the main entrance. It was very empty. We did feel like we had the park all to ourselves. Plus, we didn't have to wait in a long line to leave.

We had a CRT reservation for 7:45 when the MK closed at 8:00. When we left the park after 9:00, Main Street was absolutely empty. We took our time going down and took lots of pictures. The castle with no one in front of it, empty streets, except for our group and a few wandering security people who didn't care if you took your time at all. The only place I've actually been able to see the after hours care of a park was when I've gone to Disneyland and stayed at either the Grand Californian Hotel or Paradise Pier Hotel in a theme park view room. In fact, I did that this week and could see cars driving down the streets, and see them testing rides. One time I was sleeping in my room and heard a noise outside and saw them practicing the High School Musical parade.

There was a tv special years ago from DL starring Harry Anderson. He was taking the train around the park, and going back in time to recap the history of the park. One of the segments was all about the work they do in the parks "after midnight", and featured Clapton's song of the same name. It really was a cool montage of shots, including steam cleaning, lightbulb replacing, painting, divers working the waterways, and programming consoles coming out to touch up AA movements.

When I close down a park, I always stay late and enjoy the vibe of the place once most of the people leave. This works especially well in Epcot. After watching IllumiNations, go in the OPPOSITE direction around the World Showcase Lagoon from all the people leaving. In just a few minutes the crowd thins out, and you have the whole park practically to yourself. Very cool!

On our trip in Dec 07, we took the first Segway tour around World Showcase of the morning. We got to see some of the pre-opening stuff, which was mostly guys pressure-washing the sidewalks. That was fun, though I didn't have the presence of mind to take pictures of them when I had the one opportunity. The tour was at 7:45am. We got to the Epcot gates at 7:15, and were the first ones there. We were treated to something strange: a woman from groundskeeping was using a leaf-blower at low setting to blow-dry the banks of poinsettias outside the gates.

Was she really drying them, or just blowing dead leaves and petals away?

I'm pretty sure she was drying them! No dead leaves or petals that we could see. They were planted too thickly together. They were wet from the sprinklers, and she was obviously using it over all the plants until they appeared dry, then moved on to the next bank. We couldn't get up the courage to ask!

My friend and I had a fun time hanging out under the Lights of Winter at Epcot in early Dec. We just stayed and watched them for a few hours, until no more people were coming out of World Showcase. Then we got up and went under the lights and started being silly, dancing around to the music and just being giddy because we felt like we were the only people in all of Epcot. It was getting pretty late, and we finally decided to leave as we saw a CM security guard heading our way. So we began walking out and we passed him and he says Where are you heading? And we say, the parking lot, and he says, You have a car parked there? And we're like, uh, yeah! Why else would we go to the parking lot? But anyway, it was really really fun to be the last people at Epcot!

We had 5:00 dinner reservations at Tusker House in January, which was the same time the park closed. We left at 6:15, in the rain, over an hour after closing. It was surreal, walking through an empty closed park. I was surprised that it was very dark. I would have thought that the CMs would need more light than that to work. I was also surprised how many CMs must work there during the day. While we waited for a very long time for a bus (one of the problems with being there so late), we watched so many CMs board the employee buses. They have a much bigger staff than I realized.

I need inside pictures!!

there is no picture taking allowed--CMs really want to keep their jobs so I guess you will have to "get locked in" heehee or get a job here--believe me, you will get LOTS of closing shifts and see the park completely empty with power washers cleaning the street!:rolleyes:

...so I guess you will have to "get locked in" heehee or get a job here

Someday! That's my sem-retirement plan! :)