Aargh! Disney Changes Park Hours and Messes up My Plans!

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Was so happy to get an 8 am ressie at BOG in July, and now I see that they have changed several July days, including the one of my ressie, to a general opening of 8 am. Boo! Guess we will skip BOG breakfast and just have an extra 45 minutes or so of riding.

Because we are near-required to be such planners for Disney, I sure wish they would pick a schedule and stick to it. We specifically chose this to be our MK day because of the opening time and the BOG breakfast.

What are the chances they will change back to a 9 am opening before our trip?

 

[mom2rtk]

Disney adds hours, but I have to say I haven't seen them reduce hours once posted.

I'm sorry you played by the rules and planned well in advance, only to have the rug yanked out from under you.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I'm sorry this happened. I'm sure it's disappointing. I would guess this close to the date that if they've changed the hours of the park to an 8am opening that they probably won't change them back.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Disney adds hours, but I have to say I haven't seen them reduce hours once posted.

I'm sorry you played by the rules and planned well in advance, only to have the rug yanked out from under you.

I'm sorry this happened. I'm sure it's disappointing. I would guess this close to the date that if they've changed the hours of the park to an 8am opening that they probably won't change them back.

Thanks for your condolences. First-World problems, I know. I am sure we will still have a fabulous trip. No wonder, however, that there are still so many July BOG breakfast ressies available. Most days when there are not morning EMH in July, MK now opens at 8 am.

 

[bumbershoot]

Because we are near-required to be such planners for Disney, I sure wish they would pick a schedule and stick to it.

YES. All the agreement in the world. It's nonsense.

It was one thing in 2010 when they opened MK earlier than previously planned, thereby messing up my CP ADR. But they weren't charging for missed ADRs then and YOU could change on the fly as well (we didn't, we ate, while the park filled and filled and filled some more), and while we had made that ADR 6 months in advance, we didn't have FP+s all set up like dominoes after that ADR and with that opening time in mind. Was a bit different then. But now...there's no way they should be doing this.

What are the chances they will change back to a 9 am opening before our trip?

0%.

 

[mom2rtk]

Thanks for your condolences. First-World problems, I know. I am sure we will still have a fabulous trip. No wonder, however, that there are still so many July BOG breakfast ressies available. Most days when there are not morning EMH in July, MK now opens at 8 am.

It's a Disney message board. I think they're pretty much ALL first world problems.

 

[disney world dreamer]

this is why i would never even try for a prior to opening ADR.

once they extend the regular opening to 8am its unlikely that they will change it back to 9am.

however i have experienced where there was EMH on a day i was going and then suddenly there wasn't.
this actually happened to me last july. i looked at the park hours the night before just to make sure and then the next night when there was to be EMH we realized that everyone was making their way to the exit tso we asked a CM and they said the EMH was dropped for that night prior to opening that day.
it was a bit ridiculous in my opinion!

 

[aVASTGrl]

however i have experienced where there was EMH on a day i was going and then suddenly there wasn't.
this actually happened to me last july. i looked at the park hours the night before just to make sure and then the next night when there was to be EMH we realized that everyone was making their way to the exit tso we asked a CM and they said the EMH was dropped for that night prior to opening that day.
it was a bit ridiculous in my opinion!

Same thing happened to us several years ago! We made all of our plans months in advance, then when I checked the night before our trip, all of the evening EMH's were gone. I posted here about it at the time, but nobody seemed to believe me

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Part of the reason this plan worked so well for us was because this is the only park day my mom will have with us. She has mobility issues and has to move slowly, so I thought it would be nice to give her time to slowly stroll up Main Street without feeling like she has to rush to keep up with the crowd. If we were to keep the ADR, would we still be let in early, or would everybody be let in the gate at around 7:45?

 

[SaintsManiac]

I took early ADRs off the table for this very reason. After looking at last year's hours I knew it was probably a waste of time.

Sorry it messes up your plans, OP. I know I would be so frustrated, too!

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

Was so happy to get an 8 am ressie at BOG in July, and now I see that they have changed several July days, including the one of my ressie, to a general opening of 8 am. Boo! Guess we will skip BOG breakfast and just have an extra 45 minutes or so of riding.

Because we are near-required to be such planners for Disney, I sure wish they would pick a schedule and stick to it. We specifically chose this to be our MK day because of the opening time and the BOG breakfast.

What are the chances they will change back to a 9 am opening before our trip?

They same happen to us on one of our MK days last week. We had a CP ADR. We cancelled it and was at the gate about 7:15 for the 8:00 a.m. opening. This for this past Wednesday. We too was annoyed with the change in the opening times so close to the date. I learned about it by another poster's title of their post. This was our 9th June trip in a row and the first time our MK opening got a scheduled opening moved up to 8:00 a.m. But we were surprised by the 15 minute early opening at MK last year while at CP. Luckily we were just about to leave anyway and was able to adjust quickly.

I would tell you that if you aren't trying to get to 7DMT or A&E, I would hang back and wait for the hordes to past to give your mom the room and time to move down Main Street without being packed in with the quickly walking crowd.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

They same happen to us on one of our MK days last week. We had a CP ADR. We cancelled it and was at the gate about 7:15 for the 8:00 a.m. opening. This for this past Wednesday. We too was annoyed with the change in the opening times so close to the date. I learned about it by another poster's title of their post. This was our 9th June trip in a row and the first time our MK opening got a scheduled opening moved up to 8:00 a.m. But we were surprised by the 15 minute early opening at MK last year while at CP. Luckily we were just about to leave anyway and was able to adjust quickly.

I would tell you that if you aren't trying to get to 7DMT or A&E, I would hang back and wait for the hordes to past to give your mom the room and time to move down Main Street without being packed in with the quickly walking crowd.

We have SDMT FPs for a couple of other days on our trip, and we have an A&E FP for this day in the evening, so no rush to get to those. I was just trying to get all the way through Fantasyland by noon or so with as little waiting and as little rushing as possible. I guess the 8 am opening may give us even more time to do that.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

We have SDMT FPs for a couple of other days on our trip, and we have an A&E FP for this day in the evening, so no rush to get to those. I was just trying to get all the way through Fantasyland by noon or so with as little waiting and as little rushing as possible. I guess the 8 am opening may give us even more time to do that.

We did the 8:00 a.m. opening on Wednesday and an early ADR with a 9:00 a.m opening on Friday. Not sure what all you are wanting to get done in FL but so far as crowds, it really seemed like the masses showed up about the same time on both days. So if you aren't trying to go with the crowds for those 2 things I mentioned, you may have get more done in that first hour than with that early ADR and a 9:00 a.m. opening. I'm sure you could do PP, Pooh and IASW before 9 or 9:30. Seemed like PP was the only thing that had a wait worth mentioning by 9.

 

[Stlhawkeye]

Part of the reason this plan worked so well for us was because this is the only park day my mom will have with us. She has mobility issues and has to move slowly, so I thought it would be nice to give her time to slowly stroll up Main Street without feeling like she has to rush to keep up with the crowd. If we were to keep the ADR, would we still be let in early, or would everybody be let in the gate at around 7:45?

You will still get in before everybody else. We had an 8:05 res at the castle on what turned out to be an 8:00 open and we had plenty of time to get there.

It wasn't much time if I recall before everybody else, but we did get to linger and take pics on Main Street. It might have been 10 minutes earlier, maybe 15.

 

[AngiTN]

Sorry you got bit by this. It happens so much now I give the advice to never, ever plan an pre-park open ADR at MK. Not if you really want the ADR. Anytime I see someone post that they've done this in hopes of getting either a: a jump on the crowds or b: a chance to see an almost empty Main St. I advise that it may well not work that way. That you'll either have to drop your ADR, and probably loose that meal totally since most get changed too late to move it to a later time or you'll loose the hour of low crowd touring. It's just too much of a risk in my opinion. The only time I'd suggest it is if you book that meal JUST to hope you get in early, not booking a meal that you really want to have, like a one time chance to eat in the castle.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

You will still get in before everybody else. We had an 8:05 res at the castle on what turned out to be an 8:00 open and we had plenty of time to get there.

It wasn't much time if I recall before everybody else, but we did get to linger and take pics on Main Street. It might have been 10 minutes earlier, maybe 15.

And how were the crowds once you were finished with breakfast?

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

I still say that if your main goal is to get to the rides in Fantasyland, then cancelling the breakfast and coming in at 8 right behind the hordes headed to A&E and 7DMT will get more done. We just did both ways last week and I say that we got more done by 10 on the morning that opened at 8 than the morning we had the early breakfast with a 9 a.m. opening and out before 9. We even did the march to 7DMT on that 8 a.m. morning. That first hour everything was walk on except for the 2 that the hordes were headed to at RD. About 10 or 10:30, the crowds start to build and you've lost that first golden hour sitting inside eating. We weren't trying to ride everything in Fantasyland but being there at the 8 a.m. opening, I would think that you could get most everything done by 10 or 10:30 if you started touring at 8 and be moving on when the crowds start to build. My advice is, if your goal is to get the rides done before the crowds build, cancel the breakfast and start touring at 8. If your goal is to walk down an empty Main Street, keep the ADR but know that the wait times will be up a bit by the time you get out of your breakfast and there is a good chance you will still be touring Fantasyland when the crowds start to build.

 

[hvanes]

What is the most reliable source for checking park hours updates? We are also visiting in July, and according to my MDE itinerary, there are no AM changes yet. I have a BOG early ADR that I definitely want to cancel if MK opens at 8.

 

[AngiTN]

What is the most reliable source for checking park hours updates? We are also visiting in July, and according to my MDE itinerary, there are no AM changes yet. I have a BOG early ADR that I definitely want to cancel if MK opens at 8.

I use Josh at EasyWDW. He tends to be on top of the changes and posted them very quickly.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

What is the most reliable source for checking park hours updates? We are also visiting in July, and according to my MDE itinerary, there are no AM changes yet. I have a BOG early ADR that I definitely want to cancel if MK opens at 8.

I just checked Disney's site online for park hours. I find it has more info than MDE. Initially, their site said the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of our week was opening at 9 am, with EMH on Thursday. Now it says 8 am for all of those days. So for our week, MK opens at 8 am M-Th, with a 9 am opening on Friday, Sat, and Sun (which stinks because we will be there Sun - Fri).