bhg469 said:
i was also wondering where they have this info posted for the upcoming months like i dunno august??
Ask and ye shall receive...a link...
http://www.allearsnet.com/tp/emhour.htm
I think they use the phrase "up to three hours" because sometimes the parks are open extremely late anyway and this gives them the option of closing a little early. For instance, I can't remember for sure, but when I was down there this year during Easter Week (in case you were wondering...yes, it was a little bit crowded
), the Magic Kingdom was open late every night of the week. I think the Wednesday it had extra magic hours, the park's official close time was midnight, so the extra magic hours lasted till 2 am. If I'm wrong, anyone can feel free to correct me.
Regardless, I suspect at this point, extra magic hours are here to stay, and a main factor for people deciding to stay at a Disney resort as opposed to a nearby hotel. A few years back, when they only had extra-early morning hours (no late night EMHs, except for E-Ride nights at the MK which cost extra and were sporadic), and the economy wasn't so good, Disney temporarily ditched all extra hours in the park. To compensate, they created a "Character Caravan," buses filled with characters that would visit various hotels throughout the week, giving families a chance to get their pictures of Mickey taken without waiting on line in Toontown for hours, or paying for a character meal. At least, that was the theory. Supposedly, the lack of any early morning hours made resort occupancy decrease even more sharply, as people started feeling that it wasn't worth the extra $$ to stay on property if they couldn't get extra access to the parks.
Sure, the extra hours the parks are open costs Disney money, but it's part of the reason their resorts have such a high occupancy rate, Once WDW realized they shot themself in the foot, they brought the early morning hours back. And at the beginning of the year, they included nighttime extra magic hours, which for my GF and I is a blessing. Not only can we bate late risers, but her complexion is so pale the Florida heat destroys her. She's practically an albino. She enjoys WDW immensely, but the sun and heat take even more out of her than it does most other people. Being able to visit some attractions after the most intense direct sunlight passes really enhances our time there.
