Walt Disney World Park Hours cut starting September 8 2020

[GoofGoof]

I just tried to pull a table service res on a random weekday (2/11/21) with a 7pm close - can get a seating at 6:55 at Biergarten or 6:45 at Coral Reef, but nothing else available after 6:30, and pretty limited dinner options overall (a handful of 5pm openings, nothing available at all for dinner at the more popular options). I suspect actual sit-down dining capacity is still a major issue at Epcot.

I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe they don’t want too many people hopping there for dinner because of capacity. I do think as park capacity expands they are going to need to address the dining issue either way. Maybe use some of the venues reserved for special events as overflow seating for dinner. Expanding hours helps too as you spread out seatings over more time.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

I changed my reservation from CSR tower to a preferred room at SSR. I never thought I 'd stay at this resort, but with the Boardwalk area being so dead and with Epcot closing early Disney Spring seems like the place to be in the evening. The rooms have also had a nice upgrade they look the Riviera.

We ate at DS three times on the last trip and I thought the food was better than anything in the parks. I plan on eating in Disney Springs every night of our seven night trip so If you have any recommendations let me know.

I didn't upgrade to park hoppers. I plan on spending a lot of the time at the resort relaxing. I'm hoping it's similar to our August trip without the heat.

Was at the Boardwalk area 2 days ago. You're right. It's dead. Seems most of DS is open. Weekdays were nice but the weekend was a bit too crowded for me.

 

[legwand77]

WDW extended park hours by one hour again like they have been doing every couple of weeks out, now for the week of Jan 24-30

 

[legwand77]

More hours extended, MK now open till 9pm on next four Saturdays, till 8pm on Sunday

Other parks extended, one hour earlier and HS and AK and one hour later for Epcot.

 

[legwand77]

And it continues hours being added, and it some cases a good bit. Four hours added for MK on 2/12-13

MK
2/7 open till 8pm was 6
2/8-11 open till 7pm was 6
2/12-13 open till 10pm was 6pm

EPCOT

2/7, 12 open till 9pm was 7
2/8-11 open till 8pm was 7
2/13 open till 10pm was 7pm

DHS

2/7-13 open at 8AM was 9

AK

2/7-12 open at 8 was 9
2/13 8pm-7pm was 9am-5pm

 

[GoofGoof]

And it continues hours being added, and it some cases a good bit. Four hours added for MK on 2/12-13

MK
2/7 open till 8pm was 6
2/8-11 open till 7pm was 6
2/12-13 open till 10pm was 6pm

EPCOT

2/7, 12 open till 9pm was 7
2/8-11 open till 8pm was 7
2/13 open till 10pm was 7pm

DHS

2/7-13 open at 8AM was 9

AK

2/7-12 open at 8 was 9
2/13 8pm-7pm was 9am-5pm

President’s Day weekend. That was traditionally back in the day the end of the dead season and the start of the pre-Spring break crowds, also when hotel prices went up . With kids off from school for the long weekend (my kids have a 4 day weekend since they made Friday a teacher in-service day) I wouldn’t be surprised if the crowds spiked some.

 

[legwand77]

President’s Day weekend. That was traditionally back in the day the end of the dead season and the start of the pre-Spring break crowds, also when hotel prices went up . With kids off from school for the long weekend (my kids have a 4 day weekend since they made Friday a teacher in-service day) I wouldn’t be surprised if the crowds spiked some.

yup that is why the 10pm close for MK

 

[GoofGoof]

yup that is why the 10pm close for MK

I wonder why they don’t add more to DHS. Seems like it would needed if overall crowds are up. Could be a lot of people hopping to MK at night now that they brought park hopping back.

 

[legwand77]

I wonder why they don’t add more to DHS. Seems like it would needed if overall crowds are up. Could be a lot of people hopping to MK at night now that they brought park hopping back.

maybe to prevent park hopping to DHS, since it is the smallest of the parks

 

[GoofGoof]

So it seems we are back to the heavier weekend, locals crowds from pre-holiday season. I saw on another site that the RoTR boarding groups for 1PM have stayed open for several hours on some weekdays recently and I also saw that in MK several quick service restaurants are going to be open weekends only. Seems like lighter crowds are back mid-week. As cases start to drop nationally and the vaccine rollout is ramping up it shouldn’t be long before the tourist crowds return. I’m still not confident in a huge boost for Spring Break, but summer is looking pretty good.

 

[Jrb1979]

So it seems we are back to the heavier weekend, locals crowds from pre-holiday season. I saw on another site that the RoTR boarding groups for 1PM have stayed open for several hours on some weekdays recently and I also saw that in MK several quick service restaurants are going to be open weekends only. Seems like lighter crowds are back mid-week. As cases start to drop nationally and the vaccine rollout is ramping up it shouldn’t be long before the tourist crowds return. I’m still not confident in a huge boost for Spring Break, but summer is looking pretty good.

I have my doubts that by summer crowds will return. IMO travel will be awhile before it returns. Mainly due to financial reasons not Covid. I see this summer the same as last summer in that most will take vacations close to home. When you add all the cuts the Bob's have done, outside of the hardcores here I don't see many running to visit Disney

 

[GoofGoof]

I have my doubts that by summer crowds will return. IMO travel will be awhile before it returns. Mainly due to financial reasons not Covid. I see this summer the same as last summer in that most will take vacations close to home. When you add all the cuts the Bob's have done, outside of the hardcores here I don't see many running to visit Disney

There won’t be a return to normal summer crowds this summer. International travel may or may not be back by then depending on worldwide vaccinations and different variants popping up. 20% of normal WDW crowds come from international travel. There’s a decent shot that the U.K. and Canada have made really good progress on vaccinations by this summer and therefore travelers from those countries may be back in the mix at WDW. They are the biggest demographics for international visitors. If International flights are still restricted this summer (likely) it could actually help WDW and other domestic travel destinations. If Mexico, Europe or parts of the Caribbean aren’t in as good shape as the US it’s possible American tourists stay domestic and some people who otherwise would not have gone to WDW take that trip. FL beaches may do really well too.

On the domestic front, most economists are saying they are seeing a large amount of pent up demand, especially for travel and leisure activities. Depending on the vaccine roll out that demand could be unleashed by this summer. The economic crisis is very fragmented with large portions of the economy being fairly untouched. There are reports showing only about 30% of the relief checks sent out were totally spent. Many people who are still working have that extra money just waiting to deploy it once stuff reopens. All that being said, I don’t think WDW gets back to full pre-pandemic crowds until 2022 at some point. The early Spring isn’t looking great right now. Depending on vaccine rollout (especially JnJ announcement coming next week) the summer could go either way. For WDW there‘s a good chance that all kids aren’t vaccinated by the summer so that could stifle crowds if people don’t want to risk bringing their unvaccinated kids into crowds.

I think the other factor is what comes back. If Covid restrictions fade out and lots of the missing entertainment and attractions come back there will likely be a surge in demand. If those things don’t happen the surge will be much smaller. I think Disney will look to bring back the crowds so if the situation allows it will push for being as open as possible.

 

[Miss Bella]

I was looking at the discounted hotel rates for June. They are higher than what we paid in 2019. Disney is going to have to do better to get people back in this economy.

 

[legwand77]

Late Feb hours extended, Epcot to 11pm on President day weekend. Wonder if we see midnight come Mid-March for some parks

MK
2/16 open till 10pm was 9
2/19 open til 8pm was 7pm
2/21-25 open till 7pm was 6
2/26 open till 8pm was 6pm
2/27 open till 9pm was 6pm

EPCOT

2/13-14 open till 11pm was 10
2/21-25,27 open till 8pm was 7
2/26 open till 9pm was 7pm

DHS

2/21-27 open at 9AM was 10

AK

2/21-26 open at 8 was 9
2/27 8pm-6pm was 9am-5pm

 

[bpiper]

Late Feb hours extended, Epcot to 11pm on President day weekend. Wonder if we see midnight come Mid-March for some parks

MK
2/16 open till 10pm was 9
2/19 open til 8pm was 7pm
2/21-25 open till 7pm was 6
2/26 open till 8pm was 6pm
2/27 open till 9pm was 6pm

EPCOT

2/13-14 open till 11pm was 10
2/21-25,27 open till 8pm was 7
2/26 open till 9pm was 7pm

DHS

2/21-27 open at 9AM was 10

AK

2/21-26 open at 8 was 9
2/27 8pm-6pm was 9am-5pm

Feb 15-19 is winter vacation week for New England schools.....

 

[Miss Bella]

Disney extending hours and a Superbowl win. Good times for Florida.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Feb 15-19 is winter vacation week for New England schools.....

The places that require quarantines after you come back from Ronny’s rocking Florida??

(Aka I don’t think it’s Massachusetts influx)

 

[Touchdown]

The places that require quarantines after you come back from Ronny’s rocking Florida??

(Aka I don’t think it’s Massachusetts influx)

There’s always the Live Free or Die state, New Hampshire.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

There’s always the Live Free or Die state, New Hampshire.

They’re more “granite” these days

 

[Touchdown]

They’re more “granite” these days

Something close to 95% of my relatives were either born there or still live there, Live Free or Die is in the DNA. Only state in the nation without a seatbelt mandate for adults.