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Walt Disney World Park Hours cut starting September 8 2020
- Thread starter durangojim
- Start date
and more hours extended up to mid March
MK
Open until 8pm March 5th weekend was 7pm
During the week open until 7pm instead of 6pm
March 12th weekend open until 10pm
EPCOT
Open until 9pm on the 6th
Open until 7pm during the week of the 7th
Open until 10pm March 13th
HS
Open one hour earlier at 9am
AK
Open one hour earlier at 8am
MK
Open until 8pm March 5th weekend was 7pm
During the week open until 7pm instead of 6pm
March 12th weekend open until 10pm
EPCOT
Open until 9pm on the 6th
Open until 7pm during the week of the 7th
Open until 10pm March 13th
HS
Open one hour earlier at 9am
AK
Open one hour earlier at 8am
Hours extended again, of note more 10pm closing for MK with a weekday 10pm. Also new is HS also closing at 8pm for a few days. I imagine these extensions will continue and get even later for the rest of March.
Magic Kingdom:
9am open
Closing times
2/28 8:00 PM
3/5 – 9:00 PM
3/6 – 10:00 PM
3/7 – 10:00 PM
3/8 – 10:00 PM
3/9 – 8:00 PM
3/11 – 8:00 PM
EPCOT:
11 am open
Closing
3/5 – 9:00 PM
3/6 – 11:00 PM
3/12 -9:00 PM
3/13 -11:00 PM
Hollywood Studios:
9:00 am open
closing:
3/12 – 8:00 PM
3/13 – 8:00 PM
Animal Kingdom:
8am open
closing:
2/28 – 7:00 PM
3/6 – 8:00 PM
3/11 – 6:00 PM
3/12 – 7:00 PM
sidenote: loved the shoutout @GoofGoof ha, you are correct.
Magic Kingdom:
9am open
Closing times
2/28 8:00 PM
3/5 – 9:00 PM
3/6 – 10:00 PM
3/7 – 10:00 PM
3/8 – 10:00 PM
3/9 – 8:00 PM
3/11 – 8:00 PM
EPCOT:
11 am open
Closing
3/5 – 9:00 PM
3/6 – 11:00 PM
3/12 -9:00 PM
3/13 -11:00 PM
Hollywood Studios:
9:00 am open
closing:
3/12 – 8:00 PM
3/13 – 8:00 PM
Animal Kingdom:
8am open
closing:
2/28 – 7:00 PM
3/6 – 8:00 PM
3/11 – 6:00 PM
3/12 – 7:00 PM
sidenote: loved the shoutout @GoofGoof ha, you are correct.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Spring Break is the last week of March. Based on President’s Day Weekend crowds I assume we will see extended hours and larger crowds then too. Disney has to be itching to get rid of those ride vehicles distancing restrictions pretty soon to expand park capacity. If vaccines continue to ramp up and roll out it Could happen in as soon as few months along with the return of some people eating shows.
Totatlly agree, big maybe but could, the key is more attractions need to open, or relax the six foot rule (which will take much longer to actually happen)
GoofGoof
Premium Member
My gut feeling is that if they keep distancing in ride queues and in restaurants (places that are indoor with > 15 mins of exposure to strangers) and if they keep masks then the distancing on ride vehicles can be relaxed. The official guidance references 15 mins of exposure which is longer than almost any Disney ride (queues can be longer than 15 mins but not the actual ride). Airlines made the change to allow customers to sit closer than 6 feet apart as long as they use masks and they are on flights much longer than 15 mins. I’m not saying it happens overnight, but if you double ride capacity on a lot of popular rides plus bring back some people eating shows it’s possible to significantly increase overall park capacity. More capacity means more money coming in which will allow for more extended hours and ultimately the return of more expensive entertainment like night shows and fireworks (which in a month or so after daylight savings time also means more extended hours to get to darkness). It’s a trickle down effect that I think starts with increasing ride capacity.
SpoiledBlueMilk
Well-Known Member
I'm heading down the last week of March and hoping that the screwy school schedules around the country are going to disrupt the normal spring break crush of people.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
I don’t think it will be anything like normal crowds for Spring Break. I’ve been at WDW several times over Spring Break and always found it to be manageable if you get to the parks early and the weather is much more pleasant than Summer. It was really stuff like the night parade and fireworks that got crazy crowded but unfortunately that’s not going to be a problem this year
Miss Bella
Well-Known Member
People are reporting big crowds this week which is not normal for this week. Since Florida theme parks are one of the few vacation options for 2021 I wonder how WDW is going to manage the crowds and the long wait times. I'm glad we took our two trips when we did because it's not sounding too fun right now.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
3 possible solutions I can think of:
- Expand hours even more. Spread crowds out over more time in the day. That will only get you so far and also comes at an economic cost.
- Expand ride capacity by relaxing distancing and/or bring back more shows and attractions currently closed
- Reduce park capacity meaning less people get in but those who do have a better experience.
Miss Bella
Well-Known Member
I would like to see them only allow resort guests in before park opening. You should get some consolation for paying 400 dollars a night for a room that would cost 100 off property.
I know some people are replacing their cruises with WDW trips and with borders most likely staying closed this summer people are looking for something to do. Along with all of that there is a lot of people that haven’t missed a paycheck that will get big stimulus checks. I think WDW will come out of this OK.
The one thing I hope never returns is fast pass plus. I would like to see some sort of fast pass system. Maybe something like DL has.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
They can't stack people up at the gates while trying to filter who gets in. That's about the worst thing they could do from a distancing perspective.
Park Pass sort of does the same thing that FP+ did in terms of requiring you to plan ahead, except now you lose the benefit of those reserved ride times. If they're going to have Park Pass, they might as well bring back FP+ too.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
They can just not open the parking lots as early. If the parks open at 9 for the general public but 8 for resort guests you just keep the lots closed until 8:30 or 8:45. Let the cars line up if they want to. By the time you park and walk to the gate it will be 9am for most people. Resort guests who want to take advantage of the early hours just have to use the Disney transport or wait with the general public to park.
The extensions are coming fast and furious. Disney just extended the hours for week of March 13-20. First full week of 11pm closings for EPCOT. MK will most likely extend to 10pm as the week gets closer. Wonder if the 11pm EPCOT closing for the entire week means anything.....
Hours for the entire week:
MK open 8AM-9PM
EPCOT 11AM-11PM
HS 9 AM- 8PM
AK 8 AM - 8PM
Hours for the entire week:
MK open 8AM-9PM
EPCOT 11AM-11PM
HS 9 AM- 8PM
AK 8 AM - 8PM
Last edited:
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Agreed. The former Disney World legacy FP, and all the versions of Disneyland FP were much better and more fair in my opinion.
Maybe use the Disneyland system but give Resort guests the equivalent of max pass as the advantage.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Why on earth does DHS have the fewest hours?
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Smallest park? Less attractions due to all the shows being shut down? That’s all I’ve got...not exactly good answers. It makes no sense to not want to spread SW crowds out.
I bet if they opened up a third boarding group, and opened it to hoppers they could keep that park hopping as late as they wanted to.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
SW is what puzzles me. The three newest rides with enormous demand.
But DAK and Epcot get an extra hour. Those are the parks “no one visited” last summer and fall.
Why not pull Epcot back to 9-9? Those 11 am opens need to stop before summer. I miss Epcot less than 90 degrees. The 84-degree air is so pleasant at 9 am in June...