Park Hours and Planning

[Herdman]

The park hours for November are just starting to extend into our trip to coincide with our 180 day ADR window opening on Sunday. WDW is sure making it difficult to plan. I'm struggling with what to do with AK. The current hours are 9:00 - 5:00 for each day of our trip so far. Most people seem to think the park will be open later than that with the new nighttime activities. I'm not going to be happy if I make my ADR's, and AK only ends up being open later a few nights during our trip, I guess wrong, and I can't change our plans. I think being in that park at night could be one of our trip highlights. Anyone else feeling my pain?

 

[AlanaH]

Yes, I am "feeling my pain" I am having the same thing at Fantasmic. I am going to WDW in Nov as well.

 

[lemon meringue]

The current listed hours for AK are 9am-5pm for every day of our next trip too, and we're going in July. At this point I've had to go ahead and plan as though AK at night is not an option.

 

[RememberWhen]

Same for September. We do FP in July. I'm hoping they post updated hours before then.

 

[bethymouse]

They just updated hours a couple of days ago for our June 2-8 trip. I guess they wait to see crowd levels and such plus wait until 20-30 days out or so the change the hours. I don't like that!

 

[lemon meringue]

They just updated hours a couple of days ago for our June 2-8 trip. I guess they wait to see crowd levels and such plus wait until 20-30 days out or so the change the hours. I don't like that!

I'm assuming you mean for AK at night? Were you able to make FPs or ADRs for AK at night (is the system set up to allow those yet for your trip), or is everything still basically a mystery?

 

[bethymouse]

I'm assuming you mean for AK at night? Were you able to make FPs or ADRs for AK at night (is the system set up to allow those yet for your trip), or is everything still basically a mystery?

Not able to make any ADRs for anything "new" at AK yet! (Tiffins). I guess they're not taking reservations yet.... maybe May 20th? No FPs for the "Interim" show yet that I know of. I keep trying and looking for a definitive date! They actually had MK hours only until 10 pm. They recently changed it to 11pm. Touring plans has park capacity at a 9! I'm wondering if they'll add even more hours ( like until midnight). Wishful thinking...

 

[cdeev8690]

Although none of my hours for my December trip are available, I have been anxious about the same thing as the rest of you! I'm going for a long weekend so I don't have the time to try AK on a different night in case the extended hours will only be on select dates in the winter. I'm placing a lot of hope that I can park hop from AM Epcot to PM AK. Fingers crossed that the extended hours they have for MDW through June go well and they update the hours through the rest of the year so we all can rest easier

 

[belledream]

I'm going in September and operating under the assumption that park hours for AK will extend into the nighttime...if not, it always makes for a fun evening spent somewhere else resort hopping. Here's to hoping we'll get the entertainment we're expecting though!

 

[Gurt]

Same problem, we have a September trip and I have made ADR for 5:15 at Sanna I figure if there are night time hours we can head back into the park after dinner and if not we can head to Disney Springs for the evening.

 

[Second Star to the Right]

Same problem, we have a September trip and I have made ADR for 5:15 at Sanna I figure if there are night time hours we can head back into the park after dinner and if not we can head to Disney Springs for the evening.

We are in the same boat for our end of September trip. I made reservations at Sanaa for 5:55, but I am operating under the assumption that AK will still close at 5.

 

[Gurt]

We are in the same boat for our end of September trip. I made reservations at Sanaa for 5:55, but I am operating under the assumption that AK will still close at 5.

To be honest I think it is quite a poor thing for Disney to not have the correct park times published, when they want you to book ADRs 180 days out, I know you don't have to make ADR's but when I tried to book the Rain forest Cafe at 180 days I couldn't get a reservation, it would be so helpful for planning and to know if the night time activities will be every night or just selected nights.

 

[Second Star to the Right]

To be honest I think it is quite a poor thing for Disney to not have the correct park times published, when they want you to book ADRs 180 days out, I know you don't have to make ADR's but when I tried to book the Rain forest Cafe at 180 days I couldn't get a reservation, it would be so helpful for planning and to know if the night time activities will be every night or just selected nights.

I completely agree. It's a bit frustrating. I honestly planned my trip around the dining, and it's irksome when it is not clear what times the parks will be open, or when the fireworks will be taking place. I am dealing with the same dilemma for our last night there. I made reservations at Cali Grille 180 days out, but there was no information whether or not Wishes would be taking place, so I just made an earlier reservation.The idea was to be able to see the fireworks while eating dinner at CG, but I've noticed some of the "shows" do not take place every night during the off-season months. Now, it looks like it's one of the nights of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween, so they will have those fireworks going on, but now I can't get a later reservation. I will continue to try, as I know people cancel, and I know we can go back up to the lounge later that night if we would like, but it's just frustrating that I didn't know this in advance. Still, I am very excited about all the good reviews I'm seeing about CG, so no matter what it will be a great night.

 

[Gurt]

I completely agree. It's a bit frustrating. I honestly planned my trip around the dining, and it's irksome when it is not clear what times the parks will be open, or when the fireworks will be taking place. I am dealing with the same dilemma for our last night there. I made reservations at Cali Grille 180 days out, but there was no information whether or not Wishes would be taking place, so I just made an earlier reservation.The idea was to be able to see the fireworks while eating dinner at CG, but I've noticed some of the "shows" do not take place every night during the off-season months. Now, it looks like it's one of the nights of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween, so they will have those fireworks going on, but now I can't get a later reservation. I will continue to try, as I know people cancel, and I know we can go back up to the lounge later that night if we would like, but it's just frustrating that I didn't know this in advance. Still, I am very excited about all the good reviews I'm seeing about CG, so no matter what it will be a great night.

We are going to Cali grill too and not on a party night but the latest reservation I could get was 5.40 so we are going to dine then do a loop of the monorail and check out the other resorts, or in my case go and try a Lapu Lapu the go back to the contemporary for Wishes.

 

[Second Star to the Right]

We are going to Cali grill too and not on a party night but the latest reservation I could get was 5.40 so we are going to dine then do a loop of the monorail and check out the other resorts, or in my case go and try a Lapu Lapu the go back to the contemporary for Wishes.

I like the idea of the monorail loop! I've seen people do some of the bars/lounges stops along the loop and that sounds fun!

 

[Gurt]

I like the idea of the monorail loop! I've seen people do some of the bars/lounges stops along the loop and that sounds fun!

Im really looking forward to it, I can't wait! Are you going to any of the MNSSHP nights?

 

[Second Star to the Right]

Im really looking forward to it, I can't wait! Are you going to any of the MNSSHP nights?

Yes! I have never been before, so I figured this year it should finally happen. We are going on the Thursday night of our trip. After seeing the Hocus Pocus show last year, this got added to my "must-do" list immediately. How about you? Have you been before? Any tips?

 

[Gurt]

We are not doing this year we did it on our last trip in 2013 but it was really fun, I would say have a good look at the party night map (different to the daytime map) for the trick or treating stations, (and other party specific things) we didn't know they were on the map and didn't get to visit as many as we would have liked, not that they are hidden away but it was only when we looked at the map on the bus back to OKW we realised we have missed loads of them, also we really enjoyed the parade watching from Frontierland quite a bit less crowded than Main Street, it's an amazing parade I loved the grave diggers, there are a lot of special characters that are not normal meet & greets so check the website for a list and where they will be, as they are special characters they do get long queues so maybe pick just a couple in area close to each other and get lined up as soon as the party starts, also they have a photopass photographer near HM that does a HM related magic shot.

 

[JohnD]

Yes, I am "feeling my pain" I am having the same thing at Fantasmic. I am going to WDW in Nov as well.

I started a separate thread on Fantasmic under "News and Rumors" because I didn't see Fantasmic open up for November. Several chimed in that CMs told them over the phone that Fantasmic is under refurbishment in November. Haven't seen anything officially about that, though.

 

[JohnD]

The current listed hours for AK are 9am-5pm for every day of our next trip too, and we're going in July. At this point I've had to go ahead and plan as though AK at night is not an option.

I don't know. To my knowledge it wasn't going to be seasonal. Right now they have it as 11pm through June 30 but haven't just extended the late hours yet. I'm planning as if it will be at night in late October / early November.