Extended operating hours for Disney's Animal Kingdom now available

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Mikejakester

Active Member
This is great and all... but I have a hard time understanding how AK (a half day park) gets longer operating hours than EPCOT and Hollywood studios... *baffled* o_O It would make more sense if Pandora was already open I guess...

Am I the only one that finds it odd that Epcot closes at 9PM and AK at 11PM? o_O Am I alone on this? I would hang out all night at the world showcase if they let me...
 
djkidkaz

djkidkaz

Well-Known Member
11pm seems awful late. There isn't THAT much to do in DAK and some of the trails won't be open. Even with Avatar it seems late. I feel eventually it will be scaled back closer to 9pm.
 
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Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
djkidkaz said:
11pm seems awful late. There isn't THAT much to do in DAK and some of the trails won't be open. Even with Avatar it seems. I feel eventually it will be scaled back closer to 9 eventually.
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I assume 11pm was chosen to allow multiple night time shows at a time of year when sunset is at its latest.

For this reason, it'll probably be 9pm in the fall/winter.
 
bhg469

bhg469

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
I assume 11pm was chosen to allow multiple night time shows at a time of year when sunset is at its latest.

For this reason, it'll probably be 9pm in the fall/winter.
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That is most likely, but I still agree that a 9:00 closing time for world showcase is inexcusable. No way should that park, especially world showcase, close before 10 any night of the week.
 
glvsav37

glvsav37

Well-Known Member
AJH219 said:
Bring it on! I've never had the pleasure to be in DAK after dark so I'm pretty excited to finally experience it!!
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wdwgreek said:
For what it is I'm excited to come latter in the evening and see the park at night. Its going to feel a little awkward until Avatar opens, but consider it growing pains, once avatar opens no one will complain there is not enough to do or its too late.
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I'm very excited to see what this park looks like at night. Its amazing in the day, I can only imagine. They are adding a few entertainment options throughout the lands that will hold people for a bit, but (selfishly) I'm hoping that a bunch of people still feel like this is a 1/2-3/4 day park and the 9-11 hours are pretty much a ghost town.

What i'm most looking forward to is that it gives us the ability to slow down. I'm not choosing or rushing b/t FoLK of Nemo shows b/c they closed at 5, I can stroll and look though Harambee area, and we very rarely do any sit down eating there.
 
wdwgreek

wdwgreek

Well-Known Member
glvsav37 said:
I'm very excited to see what this park looks like at night. Its amazing in the day, I can only imagine. They are adding a few entertainment options throughout the lands that will hold people for a bit, but (selfishly) I'm hoping that a bunch of people still feel like this is a 1/2-3/4 day park and the 9-11 hours are pretty much a ghost town.

What i'm most looking forward to is that it gives us the ability to slow down. I'm not choosing or rushing b/t FoLK of Nemo shows b/c they closed at 5, I can stroll and look though Harambee area, and we very rarely do any sit down eating there.
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On my last trip I did a day at Animal Kingdom from 9 am to 5 pm, and didn't have time to do any of the Dino land attractions other then Dinosaur, I didn't do Everest, flights of wonder or planet watch. I ran out of time! Another day I went back at 2 and tons of people were leaving and I was able to wait relatively short times for the Safari, Dinosaur, and Everest! I am very curious to see how this spreads out the crowds in the park!
 
S

scv87

New Member
Has anyone been able to get a fastpass for the safari after 6:00? Other attractions are showing up with late times, but nothing past 6:00 for it. I didn't know if they were already gone. I was looking at June 8th.
 
Rider

Rider

Well-Known Member
Maybe night safari will be a seperate attraction listing for FP?

It would be nice if they did that. Then you could schedule a day and night FP without needing to use your first 3 and worrying if they run out.
 
Kman101

Kman101

Well-Known Member
Yay! I love this park and seeing it more at night is a huge plus for me. I forsee spending a lot of nights there (when I renew my pass ... maybe next year because other Disney parks, renewing my Universal pass and other travel is a priority over something I'm an hour-ish from).

I just wanted to reiterate Cap's point in that it's maybe not about someone spending park opening to park closing at AK. Now a family can choose to spend from say 4-11 at night instead of 9-3. It could very much help with crowding at the MK at night. It's probably not so much that they see AK as a "full day park" even though they are touting it that way. I love me some AK but they do need a few more things to flesh out the park which gives people more options to choose from. Not everyone rides everything or sees every show. I mean, I've gone to AK for the day and I can just spend time walking around and enjoying being there.

It doesn't make sense though that Epcot closes promptly at 9. I hate that. Epcot should be 11, at all times, and AK/HS probably 9/10 (varies on the time of year) though 11 for all of them would be a better idea.

The problem they don't seem to realize is that they have been forcing everyone to the Magic Kingdom because the other parks (Epcot and AK) have such limited hours. Well, I guess they do realize that but not in the way I think they should.
 
OvertheHorizon

OvertheHorizon

Well-Known Member
I suspect that after a shakedown cruise of sorts, the hours for AK will look a lot like the Hollywood Studios hours, since both require darkness to appreciate Fantasmic and Rivers of Light (I'm being optimistic they will resolve the problems with that show).

I note that during the Food and Wine Festival last year, Illuminations at Epcot was often put off until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
 
Ali Mouse

Ali Mouse

Active Member
scv87 said:
Has anyone been able to get a fastpass for the safari after 6:00? Other attractions are showing up with late times, but nothing past 6:00 for it. I didn't know if they were already gone. I was looking at June 8th.
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I have also been looking at June 8th and nothing is after 6. I already have my morning 3 which I made back when the park was not scheduled to be open so late. But now I am trying to figure out what I want to do...I really want to be there at night but I have a hard time seeing us being there all day. I either have to give up my morning fast passes and go somewhere else in the morning and head there around 4 or take a long mid day break....? But it is hard to give up my morning fast passes when they're not offering any after 6!
 

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