April park hours slaughtered

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Once again, those that control "The World" have been adjusting the closing hours for the four parks in April.
The following are amendments to the hours from when they were originally posted.
Magic Kingdom
From 1st to 11th - most days close at 7pm - closing up to 2 hrs earlier than originally posted.
From 12th to 24th - main change is 12th - a 9pm close which is a 2 hr loss.
From 25th to 30th - most days closing at 7pm which is a loss of 90mins.
EPCOT
No posted changes
MGM
From 1st to 12th - only changes are on Saturdays - 5th = 730pm and 12th = 830pm - both 90mins earlier
From 13th to 30th - 6 changes to 830pm - a loss of 90mins on each.
Animal Kingdom
From 1st to 12th - no changes
From 13th to 30th - 6pm close on each date - a loss of 2hrs

For goodness sake - this is the Easter Period and supposedly one of the busier PEAK TIMES - and I'll bet Disney are not dropping ticket or resort prices to reflect the loss of available time in the parks !!

 

[WDWspider]

I guess the parks are just closed in May. :lol:

It's like 7 weeks from May and no hours at all.

Well, maybe they will be open from 11 to 2 each day anyway.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Originally posted by spider-man
Well, maybe they will be open from 11 to 2 each day anyway.

Yeah, and closed for an hours lunch inbetween :lol: :lol:

 

[2much2do]

Don't want to start a fight, and I can certainly understand the feelings you all are having of disappointment ad anger, but I just want to say something from a person who is at the parks a lot these days: It takes A LOT less time to visit the parks when they are not crowded as they have been in recent weeks. Disney obviously is expecting smaller than normal Easter week visitors. When I visited as a guest last May, I felt much the same way you all seem to. But when we got there, and there where hardly crowds at all, we were able to tour everything in much, much less time. We really didn't need the parks to be open to 10PM. By 5 or 6 we were done, even with MK!

 

[WDWspider]

Originally posted by 2much2do
Don't want to start a fight, and I can certainly understand the feelings you all are having of disappointment ad anger, but I just want to say something from a person who is at the parks a lot these days: It takes A LOT less time to visit the parks when they are not crowded as they have been in recent weeks. Disney obviously is expecting smaller than normal Easter week visitors. When I visited as a guest last May, I felt much the same way you all seem to. But when we got there, and there where hardly crowds at all, we were able to tour everything in much, much less time. We really didn't need the parks to be open to 10PM. By 5 or 6 we were done, even with MK!

I perfectly understand that, and I have no issues with shorter times for smaller crowds. The problem i have is that for one they are not posting any hours, and two when they do post them they keep changing them. It makes it very difficult to plan a trip, especially making PS arrangements, when you do not know for sure the hours they are open and if they will change again. I like to be as effective as possible with my trips and I cannot really start to lay our next one out without some kinda guide lines on hours, and even then they may change again.

 

[bailey5697]

Originally posted by spider-man
I guess the parks are just closed in May. :lol:

It's like 7 weeks from May and no hours at all.

Well, maybe they will be open from 11 to 2 each day anyway.

Not funny!!

 

[Mr. Toad]

The other issue I have with the cut backs in hours is the lack of the night time parades and fireworks. When we were there last May there was only one night that we had an opportunity to see the parade and fireworks and we ended up missing them. I would at least like to see fireworks in the Magic Kingdom.

It is going to seem odd when I go in June if the parks close before it is dark out.

 

[bailey5697]

Originally posted by Mr. Toad
The other issue I have with the cut backs in hours is the lack of the night time parades and fireworks. When we were there last May there was only one night that we had an opportunity to see the parade and fireworks and we ended up missing them. I would at least like to see fireworks in the Magic Kingdom.

I am waiting MOSTLY to see what night they will have the Spectromagic parade. Although, the way it seems now they could change it anytime between now and May. That darn parade was one of the main things I remember as a kid in Disney and I want my 6 year old to see it! I'm hiping that in at least 1 of the 6 days we are there the parade will be there. Please Disney, Please! :animwink:

 

[pheneix]

You know, just to keep my burning bird man reputation alive, I figured that I would post the hours that Sea World has up for April (I'm not even going to do Universal, as their hours are far and away longer than any other park in Central Florida). Keep in mind that this is a park that has historically had a 1/3 of the daily attendance that the Magic Kingdom gets (to keep things simple, I'm just using that park as a basis for comparison).

Apr. 1 -11 7 p.m.
Apr. 12 - 27 10 p.m.
Apr. 28 - 30 7 p.m.

This park only gets 5 million people a year, and it is running hours comparable to the (now) 3rd most attended park in the world (currently Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland in California have higher attendance than the Magic Kingdom does in Florida).

This is just insane. I am horrified at what the hours will be like for early June when I am down there

 

[disneydentist]

Personally, I'll happily trade shorter hours for lower crowds. Here's always World Showcase, Downtown Disney, or minigolf in the evenings.

As far as ticket prices being the same with shorter hours, let's not forget that they don't go up when hours are longer (and the parks are more crowded). It only seems unfair when your trip is planned for a time wit shorter hours.

Missing the parades or fireworks can be a bummer but we've all gotten spoiled in recent years. In the early 90's if you didn't see them on Saturday in the off season (Sept) then it seemed like you didn't see them at all. This was a problem for us since we usually went Sat. to Sat.

As far as trip planning, I have to admit that until a couple of years ago we didn't even look at park hours until we got there. It is easier to have them ahead of time but we never hold to our pre-planning religiously. There is always some give and take when we get there.

 

[CDS Disney]

Thats what happens durring a bad econ and durring wartime/ war time limbo

 

[jwbeck3]

Originally posted by CAPTAIN HOOK
Animal Kingdom
From 1st to 12th - no changes
From 13th to 30th - 6pm close on each date - a loss of 2hrs

When is DAK ever opened until 8?

 

[FormerCM]

EPCOT
No posted changes


Hate to be the barer of bad news but I'm almost definite that on this site somewhere I saw they were closing Future World early and it was to be indefinite as to how long it would be.

 

[imagineersrock]

Re: Re: April park hours slaughtered

Originally posted by jwbeck3
When is DAK ever opened until 8?

lol i was about to ask th exact same question; i cant imagine AK at night, certain areas would be pretty cool i guess (Like dinoland...)

 

[DisneyPhD]

When we were there last week I never once felt that Disney was stuggling for people, especailly at MK. IMO there was too long of wait for rides at not normally busy times of days. Some times they weren't even running Fast Pass and the wait was over 25 min. Often they had the wait time listed wrong (said 10 and it took us 20 to get through the line. When you have a kid that wait time and fast pass are important.

I think if they would just keep MK open a few extra hours on the weekend it would really make a lot of people happy, and bring some in for that mater. I would rather have 2 extra hours one night a week then early entery or enights anyway. (and EE is really as waste for any other park then MK since most of the rides aren't open anyway.)

Oh yes and more then one option to see the night parade, it gets too busy on Saturday because of this reason.

 

[Mary Poppins]

Re: Re: April park hours slaughtered

Originally posted by jwbeck3
When is DAK ever opened until 8?

It isn't. The latest it stays open during the summer and Christmas seasons is 7pm.

 

[CTXRover]

Originally posted by pheneix
I'm not even going to do Universal, as their hours are far and away longer than any other park in Central Florida.

I have to disagree with here (sorry )

I agree that there are some days (now that Disney has changed their hours) that Universal is open a little longer, but there are many more days where the Magic Kingdom, MGM and Epcot (which is almost always open to 9pm) are open longer or just as long as Universal. In fact, there are several days (7 to be exact) in April where the Magic Kingdom is open to 11pm. Also, there are many days where MGM is open to 8:30pm and Universal is only open to 7pm.

Not to pick a fight, but in comparison, the hours between the two "theme park resorts" are more or less equal. By no means do I think Universal or Seaworld are open "far and away longer".

These are tough times and it sometimes takes a smart company to make tough decisions. I respect Disney for that. They have cut their hours before and when things picked up they were extended. In fact, this Christmas season we saw the parks open much later than the previous Christmas. It all depends on the crowds.

If a war does break out, they may need to cut their hours more. If everything returns to "normal" the hours may be extended. I think they are being cautious for the "worst".

 

[pheneix]

>>>I have to disagree with here<<<

Show up at USF next Saturday and see which park is open later*.

If you take a look at the March calendar for IOA, there are two Saturdays that the park is open till 9, and starting this Friday they will be open until 8 till after Spring Break. The latest that the MK is open this month on any day is 8 PM, and that is only on the four Saturdays and this past Monday (March 1 not withstanding, as they were open till 9 pm who who knows why).

If you were to take a cumulative total of the hours for both the MK and IOA for the month, IOA would definitely pull ahead. When you take a look at the attendance totals for these two parks, it is easy just to scratch your head and ask, "what the hell is with this?"

Epcot is kind of a wash, as the whole park is not open for a 1/4 of the day.

>>>These are tough times and it sometimes takes a smart company to make tough decisions.<<<

It also takes some common sense to know that you need a park that is fully staffed and has a proper amount of time allotted for the guests to have their maximum enjoyment. The Magic Kingdom is failing in both regards, and management is not doing a damned thing about it. In fact, they are cutting back even more.

* Universal's Mardi Gras entertainment does not even start until 8pm, and usually does not end until 10pm on a concert night.

[EDIT: Duh, I just saw the April calendar for the Magic Kingdom. I had previously understood the first post in this thread to say that *all* of the days during the Spring Break holiday were closing at 9. My mistake.]

 

[CTXRover]

Originally posted by pheneix

>>If you take a look at the March calendar for IOA, there are two Saturdays that the park is open till 9, and starting this Friday they will be open until 8 till after Spring Break. <<

Oops, I wasn't looking at the March calendars, but you are right. Cumulatively, IOA is open 1 hour longer for the entire month of March, but that isn't the case for April (i think, I didn't add them up).


>>When you take a look at the attendance totals for these two parks, it is easy just to scratch your head and ask, "what the hell is with this?"<<

I think their hours are comparable right now because attendance levels are about the same for both right now (Spring break combined with the declining attendance of international visitors and people who can't drive there easily). During busier times (Christmas comes to mind), MK and MGM were open longer, which makes up for the major difference in TOTAL attendance at the end of the year. (just a guess?)

>>Epcot is kind of a wash, as the whole park is not open for a 1/4 of the day.<<

I have never found it a problem to have parts of Epcot open and others closed. The place is HUGE! World Showcase alone (granted not a lot of rides, but I still can spend a half day + wandering through the pavilions and eating :slurp: ) is more or less the size of IOA


>>It also takes some common sense to know that you need a park that is fully staffed and has a proper amount of time allotted for the guests to have their maximum enjoyment. The Magic Kingdom is failing in both regards, and management is not doing a damned thing about it. In fact, they are cutting back even more.<<

If the attendance isn't extremely high and the lines aren't extremely long, then you are probably getting just as much accomplished as you would on an extremely, insane busy day when the park is open till midnight. You just can't experience the magic for as long

I do agree that closing stores and such doesn't help Disney though and people can't have their maximum enjoyment then.

>>* Universal's Mardi Gras entertainment does not even start until 8pm, and usually does not end until 10pm on a concert night<<

I didn't know this. During this time, is the only thing you can do is "Mardi Gras" stuff? (Which is probably fun). Unfortunatley I can't make it down there for it, but if I get a chance I would love to. (I always also wanted to do HHN at Universal, maybe someday)

***Sorry about using the way you quote things. I can't think of a better way right now to distinguish between the parts.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Originally posted by jwbeck3
When is DAK ever opened until 8?

Read the first post in the thread :hammer: When the hours for April 2003 were first posted on the official Disney website, AK had its closing times in the second half of the month posted as 8pm - therefore if they are now posted as a 6pm close, that is a loss of 2 hours per night. Thank you.