Operating hours at Disney's Animal Kingdom extended for Pandora's opening

omurice

Well-Known Member
This is tremendous news - now if they would just update the calendars to have any other park open past 9pm in June. The June TAC calendar pdf dated 2/10, as of today 3/24, still has the three parks open 9 to 9 for the entire month, and AK from 9 to 10. May TAC was in roughly this condition too until a few days ago. Hard to make solid plans when park hours get shuffled at 5 weeks out (less sometimes).
 

BoarderPhreak

Well-Known Member
I hope they extend them later into the summer; specifically end of July... When I plan to be there. :p

It finally feels like AK is getting some serious love with these long hours, if only temporary. I was pretty bummed as most of my visits there saw the park closing at 5pm. Some of the best visuals the park has to offer are at night! Maybe not animals, obviously... But attractions, pathways, stores and restaurants.

 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
I hope they extend them later into the summer; specifically end of July... When I plan to be there. :p

It finally feels like AK is getting some serious love with these long hours, if only temporary. I was pretty bummed as most of my visits there saw the park closing at 5pm. Some of the best visuals the park has to offer are at night! Maybe not animals, obviously... But attractions, pathways, stores and restaurants.

If you are going to be out til 1 am, I dare say the bulk of your time will be spent looking at the pretty lights with 40000 of your closest friends.
 

The real rescueranger

Well-Known Member
If you are going to be out til 1 am, I dare say the bulk of your time will be spent looking at the pretty lights with 40000 of your closest friends.
Yep, I think this is a disaster waiting to happen. Honestly, if they're going to do this every night, they ought to assign different resorts to different nights. One night can be 4 of the resorts, the next night 4 different resorts, and so on till all of the resorts have at least one night in a week.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Yep, I think this is a disaster waiting to happen. Honestly, if they're going to do this every night, they ought to assign different resorts to different nights. One night can be 4 of the resorts, the next night 4 different resorts, and so on till all of the resorts have at least one night in a week.
Guests should pre-reserve. Cap it at 5000 spots. They cannot fit more than that, let alone guarantee a ride on even one of the two rides.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Wow, they certainly are expecting a huge influx of guests at AK because of Pandora, aren't they? I wonder how many nights the park will be relatively deserted after, say, the second RoL show?

Edit: Of course, now that I think about it again, it's the start of the summer season, so bigger crowds are the norm. So, the hours are probably not too outlandish.
 

BoarderPhreak

Well-Known Member
I'm certainly no stranger to crowded parks. During my younger years (admittedly quite some time ago now) my parents thought it best to go between Christmas and New Years. Each year set a new record in attendance. So anything less than that is a... Walk in the park. :p
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
I don't think 11pm-1am EMH would be that crowded. First of all, a lot of people won't stay up that late. Second of all, guests will naturally segregate to different days; I'm skeptical that you'll have a ton of people hopping over DAK for that late hours if they do another park. They'll probably just spend 1 or 2 late nights at DAK at most during a vacation. And I'm not sure a lot of guests have park hoppers anyway. Since the EMH is for resort quests, it will mostly be people who have bought tickets for the specific trip, not passholders.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Guests should pre-reserve. Cap it at 5000 spots. They cannot fit more than that, let alone guarantee a ride on even one of the two rides.

Yeah, something has to be done otherwise it will be mayhem.

Expect to see what happened to the Potter Lands: there was hours long line just to get into the land, let alone lengthy queues within the land.
 

Buried20KLeague

Well-Known Member
This is tremendous news - now if they would just update the calendars to have any other park open past 9pm in June. The June TAC calendar pdf dated 2/10, as of today 3/24, still has the three parks open 9 to 9 for the entire month, and AK from 9 to 10. May TAC was in roughly this condition too until a few days ago. Hard to make solid plans when park hours get shuffled at 5 weeks out (less sometimes).


I don't see why you care. It's not like you have to decide months in advance where you're going to be, what you're going to be doing, where you're going to be eating...

Oh wait.
 

No Name

Well-Known Member
I think this is a great addition. But isnt this only Pandora not the whole park?

No, this is the whole park.

Yep, I think this is a disaster waiting to happen. Honestly, if they're going to do this every night, they ought to assign different resorts to different nights. One night can be 4 of the resorts, the next night 4 different resorts, and so on till all of the resorts have at least one night in a week.

We'll see. I agree with the doc above. I actually don't think it'll be bad at all.

I can't imagine families with youngish children taking advantage of 11PM to 1AM extra magic hours. I just can't. And while guests come in every shape and size, the vast majority of WDW guests who sleep at Disney hotels are families with youngish children.

When DAK first started late hours back last May, crowds were apparently lighter than expected, so if anything, I'd be glad to see the park pulling in a decent crowd through the morning.
 
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bhg469

Well-Known Member
I've never noticed dak to be too dark on any of my nighttime visits. Certainly no darker than many locations in the other parks.
I really wanted to see it in the dark but the day I managed to visit a few weeks ago, it was princess marathon weekend and really busy. Every dining location was packed and I went the entire day without eating. I do not recommend that. I made it until 4:00 and my entire body was cramping and I finally had a chance to eat. Too bad it was electric umbrella and wow was that terrible!!

I left the parks at 6:00 and never got to see what I had hoped to at DAK
 

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