Anyone else a bit surprised?

[Blue32]

Is anyone else a bit surprised by some of the park hours in November? We are going Tues.-Fri. the last week in November(after Thanksgiving) and it looks like the Mon.-Thurs. hours will all be 10-8. For the last two years they have been 9-8.

I was just a little surprised to see this given that there have been many reports that this Fall has been busier than recent years and I was thinking the hours would be the same for this week. I know it is only one hour difference, but I was hoping for 9-8 I guess.

Is there one factor that Disney uses to decide park hours, like how many onsite rooms are booked? And if so, is this really the best way to judge how busy the parks will be?

 

[ballarinamom]

I think that may have to do with the EE for hotel guests everyday. The parks will still be opening at 9:00. They will just be opened to hotel guests

 

[ZoeisMommy]

 

[mydisneymoney]

I totally agree with you that is really is a bum deal. I had another thread about it opening late and if paying $1000 more to stay onsite is worth the EE hours.

 

[DSNY4ever]

Oh no, I am now very sad that we cannot (and probably never will) afford a Disney hotel 10 am is so late especially since we get up at 6 am. I thought for sure it would be 9 again. My son will already have had his first nap before the park even opens! Ugh. Thank you for posting this, I was so set on the historical hours I forgot to actually check when the real hours were posted .

How early does it open for the hotel guests- 8? 9?

 

[mydisneymoney]

Oh no, I am now very sad that we cannot (and probably never will) afford a Disney hotel 10 am is so late especially since we get up at 6 am. I thought for sure it would be 9 again. My son will already have had his first nap before the park even opens! Ugh. Thank you for posting this, I was so set on the historical hours I forgot to actually check when the real hours were posted .

How early does it open for the hotel guests- 8? 9?

Hotel guest can use Early Entry (EE) now and they can get in an hour early to one of the parks depending on the day. EE and Magic Mornings are the same days for DLR and will be at 9am while EE is on the opposite days for DCA and only hotel guest can get in early. There is no MM option for non hotel guests. This means that MM/EE mornings at DLR will be really busy since more people can use it. I think MM for DLR are now just Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays and EE is the other mornings.

 

[starshine514]

The shorter hours have typically meant smaller crowds, but our last trip last month I found that the crowds were a little large for the hours (which were 10:00 - 8:00). I think they may be including the EMH in their crowds equations. We're only there for 2.5 days this trip, but both morning we'll be starting in whichever park didn't have EMH that day. When we went last month, it was both parks every day, so this will be a big deal for us to have a shot at CA with slightly lower crowds.

10:00 is such a late opening time, though...makes for huge lines at the gate. I must say that our last trip, I had a difficult time rustling my group out of the room for either 8:00 or 10:00 opening. and we normally arrived after they had already started letting people in (though we still got held at rope drop inside a couple of times, so I guess we weren't that late). Our last morning, I had to drop something off at the DL Hotel and make a quick stop at the photo shop in DL before driving 10 hours home. So, we (my girls, sister and I) headed through security and acrosss DTD around 9:15 (park opening was at 10:00). The lines from both DL and CA stretched around the esplanade and overlapped in the middle! We ended up deciding to just take the monorail into the park from the other end of DTD and the park was quite full when we arrived in Tomorrowland at 10:05.

 

[DSNY4ever]

10:00 is such a late opening time, though...makes for huge lines at the gate. I must say that our last trip, I had a difficult time rustling my group out of the room for either 8:00 or 10:00 opening. and we normally arrived after they had already started letting people in (though we still got held at rope drop inside a couple of times, so I guess we weren't that late). Our last morning, I had to drop something off at the DL Hotel and make a quick stop at the photo shop in DL before driving 10 hours home. So, we (my girls, sister and I) headed through security and acrosss DTD around 9:15 (park opening was at 10:00). The lines from both DL and CA stretched around the esplanade and overlapped in the middle! We ended up deciding to just take the monorail into the park from the other end of DTD and the park was quite full when we arrived in Tomorrowland at 10:05.

This is exactly what I am worried about now, when it opens so late everyone is waiting at the gate before opening. I hate that. I like being up with the early birds and doing rope drop and having that hour (or two) before the parks really fill up for the day. Not looking forward to waiting in a huge line an hour before the park even opens.

 

[starshine514]

This is exactly what I am worried about now, when it opens so late everyone is waiting at the gate before opening. I hate that. I like being up with the early birds and doing rope drop and having that hour (or two) before the parks really fill up for the day. Not looking forward to waiting in a huge line an hour before the park even opens.

I know what you mean. I didn't realize I'd grown to accustomed to 8:00 opening, break, closing out the park at midnight. However, my girls are much better rested with the 10:00 - 8:00 hours, but I kinda wish they were 9:00 - 10:00 instead...

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I will admit right away that my family and I love Disneyland's extended hours. We can head through the gates of Disneyland at 8 AM and know that entertainment is available to us any time all day until we choose to sleep. That being said, find me any other non-Disney park where you can frequently expect to visit at 8 AM or even 9 AM. I think Universal in Florida opens at 8 AM for it's busiest days of the year around Christmas/New Year's and opens at 9 AM on lots of days the rest of the year. Otherwise, typical theme park norm is to open at 10 AM, and some theme parks open even later sometimes or have days when they are closed all day. Unfortunately, if you want to be sure to get into Disneyland at 8 AM, you need to choose a peak time of year to visit. The trade-offs for the hope of smaller crowds (not so much smaller anyway with the increased popularity of the parks these days), off-season hotel deals, and cheaper air fair can be shorter hours, more refurbishments, reduced ride capacity, and so on at DLR.

 

[DSNY4ever]

Does anybody know when the Downtown Disney restaurants and hotel restaurants open for breakfast when the parks open this late? We usually eat in our room, but maybe to kill time we will do more nice breakfasts and do cheap/fast dinners in order to spend that time in the park.

 

[mydisneymoney]

Unfortunately, if you want to be sure to get into Disneyland at 8 AM, you need to choose a peak time of year to visit. The trade-offs for the hope of smaller crowds (not so much smaller anyway with the increased popularity of the parks these days), off-season hotel deals, and cheaper air fair can be shorter hours, more refurbishments, reduced ride capacity, and so on at DLR.

My issue is that the opening time to the general public for the past few years has been 9am and this year they choose to make it 10am. I was not anticipating that when I choose when to go. It also makes me concerned that with the crowds being much larger this fall (20,000+ more per day) and you open an hour later, then that just makes it more crazy in the park.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

My issue is that the opening time to the general public for the past few years has been 9am and this year they choose to make it 10am. I was not anticipating that when I choose when to go. It also makes me concerned that with the crowds being much larger this fall (20,000+ more per day) and you open an hour later, then that just makes it more crazy in the park.

I agree that it is disappointing for those who are going and have been planning. Unfortunately past patterns just don't hold up right now as Disney figures out how to manage park operations in the era of post-refurb DCA. Last year the weekend after Thanksgiving, DCA did not open until 10 AM each day since DCA (with only a few exceptions) only ever opened at 10 AM. This year DCA opens at 8 AM each of those two weekend days. So from Disney's perspective that is 4 extra hours of theme park operation for the general public. Also, I suspect that Friday Nov. 30 (hours for which haven't shown up on the calendar yet) will have opening hours of 9 AM which is probably the same as for DL last year but a full hour earlier for DCA this year. Again, that first weekend of December will possibly have more DCA open hours than the equivalent weekend of last year. From Disney's perspective, they will have more hours open during which they have to pay people and run operations, so I suspect the change from 9 AM to 10 AM Disneyland opening that week is the adjustment being made to compensate for some of this. Again, I recognize that this doesn't help you, just my two cents on trying to understand why this change in hours from past expectation possibly makes sense.

 

[starshine514]

It also makes me concerned that with the crowds being much larger this fall (20,000+ more per day) and you open an hour later, then that just makes it more crazy in the park.

Agreed. My experience last month was that the crowds were larger than they should have been for the hours.

 

[Heymy]

Actually we went at the exact same time last year (week after Thanksgiving) and the parks didn't open till 10 am at least Mon through Wed. I was so disappointed for such a late opening, but it actually worked out in the end as far as crowds and getting things accomplished were concerned. I know this year will be different, but I'm hoping it will still be somewhat smaller crowds. But just in case, we've decided to make this our last trip for awhile are are springing for the GCH. That way, we get that extra morning and my folks (the earliest of risers) don't have to complain that nothing is open.

Also, I believe Downtown Disney restaurants were open by 8, if not definitely 8:30. I know we ate at Rainforest and La Brea last year and had plenty of time to make it to the gates.

 

[michelleh1]

The posted hours are definitely disappointing, especially since it sounds like there will be a lot more people there this year!

 

[Blue32]

Agreed. My experience last month was that the crowds were larger than they should have been for the hours.

So what time do people reccomend getting to security to be towards the front of some of these lines at the gates? MM and on Non-EE days? I know people on the boards here and Ridemax software reccomend being at the gates at least 30 minutes before park opening, but I am thinking with these late hours, getting to the gates much earlier than that may be necessary...

 

[DSNY4ever]

So what time do people reccomend getting to security to be towards the front of some of these lines at the gates? MM and on Non-EE days? I know people on the boards here and Ridemax software reccomend being at the gates at least 30 minutes before park opening, but I am thinking with these late hours, getting to the gates much earlier than that may be necessary...

I was thinking about this too. I am going to try for 45 minutes early instead of our usual 30. My extended family is going to hate this! They will not want to get in line that early (they are not commandos).

 

[skellinton]

When will hours be posted for the first week of December? Are they likely to be the same?

 

[Rhonna]

When will hours be posted for the first week of December? Are they likely to be the same?

It should be 10am to 8pm for both parks on weekdays.

Fri, Sat and Sun. will be longer hours. 8am to 11pm or midnight.