August Hours

[HatboxHaint]

Anyone know if park hours for late august will be extended anymore? Is it still possible that AK night time hours for resort guests might be extended beyond July?

 

[Robo]

1. Anyone know if park hours for late august will be extended anymore?
2. Is it still possible that AK night time hours for resort guests might be extended beyond July?

1. It's a 74.93% likelihood.
2. Yup.

 

[Shanti]

Anyone know if park hours for late august will be extended anymore? Is it still possible that AK night time hours for resort guests might be extended beyond July?

1. The hours (at least for the first three weeks of August) will probably stay close to what they are. If they change, it will likely be a shift to close 1-hour later at AK & MK.
2. Yes, nightly AK EMH have already extended into the first three weeks of August. The latter portion of August will probably get them later.

The downside of the daily AK evening EMH seems to be that they're limiting MK regular closing to 10pm (or at latest, 11pm) each night. Double bummer because the AK EMH are not for the whole park, just for Pandora. (And don't expect just a 20-30 minute wait for Flight of Passage during EMH...)

 

[HatboxHaint]

1. The hours (at least for the first three weeks of August) will probably stay close to what they are. If they change, it will likely be a shift to close 1-hour later at AK & MK.
2. Yes, nightly AK EMH have already extended into the first three weeks of August. The latter portion of August will probably get them later.

The downside of the daily AK evening EMH seems to be that they're limiting MK regular closing to 10pm (or at latest, 11pm) each night. Double bummer because the AK EMH are not for the whole park, just for Pandora. (And don't expect just a 20-30 minute wait for Flight of Passage during EMH...)

I thought they put out a list of other rides that were operating during AK EMH

 

[Shanti]

I thought they put out a list of other rides that were operating during AK EMH

That was only for the first week that they had the special evening EMH. Currently, evening EMH have only Pandora, and that doesn't seem likely to change. They might have more rides during the morning EMH, but those aren't every day.

 

[maltdizzy]

By late August, hours always greatly scale back.

The "peak" summer summer ends mid-August. The week after August 19 (this year) hours will scale back some; and the following week (week before Labor Day), it's officially "off-peak" and the parks close around 8-9 with some exceptions (nighttime EHM). We typically travel the week before Labor Day and while we hate the perennial shorter hours. We appreciate the much lighter crowds.

Now, that said, last year, they were running the late hours at AK all week, like they did all summer, since they were trying to promote it as an all-day park with the Jungle Book show.

 

[CrabbyPatty]

AARRGGHH .... August hours are driving me batty! Last year my daughter and I stayed at MK until 1:00 a.m. and I swear MK was open late at least one other night during our mid-August stay. What's with this 10:00 p.m. closing? Are they trying to drive everyone to AK or is the attendance that low that MK isn't staying open?

 

[Robo]

AARRGGHH .... August hours are driving me batty! Last year my daughter and I stayed at MK until 1:00 a.m. and I swear MK was open late at least one other night during our mid-August stay. What's with this 10:00 p.m. closing? Are they trying to drive everyone to AK or is the attendance that low that MK isn't staying open?

Those are two possible reasons that have been discussed many times on this board this year.

 

[CrabbyPatty]

Those are two possible reasons that have been discussed many times on this board this year.

Thanks! I haven't been reading a lot of posts lately so I guess I'm not up to speed on the latest speculations! I've been checking out Touring Plans and they still show that the crowd levels for August 11-16th are pretty high so I guess that's why I'm confused that the hours aren't corresponding to that.

 

[Hootch]

We went in June this year. The first time we saw a changes was the few days of June that fell in that week.

 

[hakepb]

Leaving MK at 10:30p on a 10p close night was a madhouse this week.

I really miss the 12a closes, as they were much, much more peaceful

 

[maryj11]

AARRGGHH .... August hours are driving me batty! Last year my daughter and I stayed at MK until 1:00 a.m. and I swear MK was open late at least one other night during our mid-August stay. What's with this 10:00 p.m. closing? Are they trying to drive everyone to AK or is the attendance that low that MK isn't staying open?

I know I'm really disappointed with the 10:00 pm closing at MK. We had planned on being in the park later at night.

 

[maryj11]

Leaving MK at 10:30p on a 10p close night was a madhouse this week.

I really miss the 12a closes, as they were much, much more peaceful

I agree. With a 12:00 am closing people leave at different times the later it gets making it less hectic.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

DW and I used to have midnight -3 am date nights with grandpa babysitting on those long gone 3 hr pm EMH. Great memories.

 

[anomamatt]

I've been checking out Touring Plans and they still show that the crowd levels for August 11-16th are pretty high so I guess that's why I'm confused that the hours aren't corresponding to that.

They have 6/10 except for two days at 7/10. Based on days in July, which had similar crowd levels, the hours won't be extended during this timeframe.

 

[sharonabe]

Leaving MK at 10:30p on a 10p close night was a madhouse this week.

I really miss the 12a closes, as they were much, much more peaceful

I agree. With a 12:00 am closing people leave at different times the later it gets making it less hectic.

You guys have just answered the question of WHY Disney has cut back. The more "peaceful" your exit was means the fewer number of people that were in the park, hence less revenue for Disney. Shorter hours means more revenue for Disney with less cost to keeping the park open.

 

[anomamatt]

You guys have just answered the question of WHY Disney has cut back. The more "peaceful" your exit was means the fewer number of people that were in the park, hence less revenue for Disney. Shorter hours means more revenue for Disney with less cost to keeping the park open.

Essentially the park is being normalized across the entire year, based on crowd levels. If it's 8/10 or above, there are likely to be extra hours added (late closings). With the result being that the parks will always feel crowded. Even when it's a 6, it'll feel like an 8 because the hours are more compressed.

Makes sense from Disney's perspective. My main gripe about this approach is that Disney should get rid of peak pricing. Charging peak pricing in July when hours were not extended is disingenuous at best.

 

[sharonabe]

My main gripe about this approach is that Disney should get rid of peak pricing. Charging peak pricing in July when hours were not extended is disingenuous at best

It's not disingenuous; it's business. More people want to go during that time, so they can charge more. They aren't offering one thing and giving you another. When people book their vacation, hours are published (most of the time), and they actually get more than what they paid for, because hours are almost always extended. They're not extended to what some are used to in the past, but they are extended.

 

[anomamatt]

It's not disingenuous; it's business. More people want to go during that time, so they can charge more. They aren't offering one thing and giving you another.

Except July... Attendance has been way down the past few years, but still at peak pricing.

 

[sharonabe]

Except July... Attendance has been way down the past few years, but still at peak pricing.

Come on, peak pricing is only for ONE DAY tickets; two days and more is the same price year-round. And while July attendance may be down for July, there are still more people there in July than there are in February or September.