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Epcot Hours??

Figment632

New Member
Original Poster
I love Epcot its my favorite but there is something that I have never understood about Epcot. Why does it have such weird hours. Usually during the summer when there are no EMH"s Future World closes at 7PM and the World Showcase at 9PM. Why do the to lands close at different times? I understand Soarin and TT usually stay open, but this seems wierd to me because you dont see Fantasy Land and Adventure Land close before the rest of MK.
 

DTM93

Member
I have thought about this also.

I remember one day in December 2008 when I was there, they extended Future World until 9.00pm the same time as World Showcase for a couple of days I think.
 

goodtimes5286

New Member
its probably a cost thing. Its cheaper to shut down areas of the park that don't get a ton of attendance (innovations, etc) and send those workers home 2 hours early, while still getting people in the park (b/c its open til 9), and selling food and merchandise. Since Epcot is like 2 parks in 1, it makes it easier to be more economical than closing down fantasyland and keeping tomorrowland open.

I'm guessing most guests go futureworld and then the countries. So people still have attractions to hit at 7pm in the countries, but most are futureworld'ed out

The reason why I think that TT, MS etc would still be open would probably to be because of the consumer demand. i dont always remember it being this way, so people probably complained until they gave it a shot, food and merch rev's increased, so they kept the ball rolling.
 

Pioneer Hall

Well-Known Member
its probably a cost thing. Its cheaper to shut down areas of the park that don't get a ton of attendance (innovations, etc) and send those workers home 2 hours early, while still getting people in the park (b/c its open til 9), and selling food and merchandise. Since Epcot is like 2 parks in 1, it makes it easier to be more economical than closing down fantasyland and keeping tomorrowland open.

I'm guessing most guests go futureworld and then the countries. So people still have attractions to hit at 7pm in the countries, but most are futureworld'ed out

The reason why I think that TT, MS etc would still be open would probably to be because of the consumer demand. i dont always remember it being this way, so people probably complained until they gave it a shot, food and merch rev's increased, so they kept the ball rolling.

This is a big reason why it is done, and the same reason why World Showcase opens up 2 hours later than the rest of the park as well.

By 7pm, most guests have made their way to World Showcase for dinner and have started to seek out spots for Illuminations. Attractions such as Innoventions, Universe of Energy, etc are empty at this point. It is much more cost effective for Disney to just close these rides for the night instead of taking the loss that is needed to run them (Innoventions requires a lot of cast members that are all interactive as well). The popular attractions can stay open because there are still some people sticking behind to see them and skipping the nightly events in World Showcase. From a business stand point, it makes complete sense that they do this on nights when they don't have extra magic hours.

In response to the OP, you don't see this at other parks because people are scattered throughout them. However, you do often see later openings in the other parks as well. Attractions that people usually don't visit until later in the day or that take a long time to walk to from the entrance (World Showcase fits here, as does Toontown in the MK) are often opened later. If it is going to take a guest say half an hour to walk somewhere it just pays to open the place an hour or two later. This way they aren't staffing an area that has no guests and just throwing money out.
 

DisneyPrincess5

Well-Known Member
This is a big reason why it is done, and the same reason why World Showcase opens up 2 hours later than the rest of the park as well.

By 7pm, most guests have made their way to World Showcase for dinner and have started to seek out spots for Illuminations. Attractions such as Innoventions, Universe of Energy, etc are empty at this point. It is much more cost effective for Disney to just close these rides for the night instead of taking the loss that is needed to run them (Innoventions requires a lot of cast members that are all interactive as well). The popular attractions can stay open because there are still some people sticking behind to see them and skipping the nightly events in World Showcase. From a business stand point, it makes complete sense that they do this on nights when they don't have extra magic hours.

In response to the OP, you don't see this at other parks because people are scattered throughout them. However, you do often see later openings in the other parks as well. Attractions that people usually don't visit until later in the day or that take a long time to walk to from the entrance (World Showcase fits here, as does Toontown in the MK) are often opened later. If it is going to take a guest say half an hour to walk somewhere it just pays to open the place an hour or two later. This way they aren't staffing an area that has no guests and just throwing money out.

Hmm this makes sense...I've always been curious too. Thanks!
 

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