Animal Kingdom Park Closing Early?

[J-Dog]

Hi everybody!

I apologize, because this is probably one of those questions that's been asking 1000 times on here - but I couldn't seem to find the answer.

The question: why does Animal Kingdom close early on random days?

I was planning for our May 2020 trip (Yay! ADR's started today!!!), and noticed that in April and May, AK is generally open until 8pm on weekdays and 8:30pm on weekends. However, on Tuesday, April 21st, AK closes at 5pm. And Tuesday, April 28th, AK closes at 6pm. And then again on Wednesday, May 6th, AK closes at 6pm.

Does anyone know why AK closes early on these seemingly random days?

Thanks!

 

[J-Dog]

EDIT: I just looked on TP, and they say that they don't have any schedule for AK on those particular days.

Which is weird because they do have schedules on every other day around that timeframe.

 

[siren0119]

Could be a few things - I'm not sure if they close parts of the park to other guests when they run the Circle of Flavors dining event, but it could be that. It could also be corporate or cast member events that close part or all of the park to the public. The fact that it's on Disney's website but not TP would lean me in the direction of a corporate event of some kind.

 

[J-Dog]

Could be a few things - I'm not sure if they close parts of the park to other guests when they run the Circle of Flavors dining event, but it could be that. It could also be corporate or cast member events that close part or all of the park to the public. The fact that it's on Disney's website but not TP would lean me in the direction of a corporate event of some kind.

Thanks for the reply!

That makes sense, and I had considered that, but it seems weird that they would close early once a week for 3 weeks in a row just for different corporate events. Are corporate events really THAT common?

We were planning on AK on May 6th, but if it closes early, and so far there is no schedule for ROL that day - then I will definitely need to change to another day, I think.

Thanks again.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Typically 6pm closings are for special events or corporate buy outs. Some big WDW conventions, sporting events, etc will host special private park events for their guests throughout the year. No common, but does happen occasionally.

 

[Roscoe18]

I don't know the answer to this question, but someone had tipped me off to this in a different thread and it helped greatly in planning what park we're doing on what day. In the May 2020 thread, this was added as an "alert" in the first post for anyone traveling at that time.

Side note - come join us in that thread! https://www.disboards.com/threads/y...thread-flowers-are-starting-to-bloom.3733317/

 

[J-Dog]

I don't know the answer to this question, but someone had tipped me off to this in a different thread and it helped greatly in planning what park we're doing on what day. In the May 2020 thread, this was added as an "alert" in the first post for anyone traveling at that time.

Side note - come join us in that thread! https://www.disboards.com/threads/y...thread-flowers-are-starting-to-bloom.3733317/

Thanks so much! I didn't even know that thread was a thing. I will look at it for sure.