Those park hours are awful!!! In July/August, it's necessary to have early mornings and late evenings to deal with the oppressive heat.
Its also necessary to keep people as safe as possible as well as protect cms so that closing again due to more spikes isn't necessary. See what I mentioned earlier about those with a sense of entitlement and look in the mirror
I'm not exactly sure what it has to do with safety necessarily. If 10,000 people are able to go into the MK, then 10,000 people are going in, whether the park hours are 9-7 or 9-10. Now, there may be other legitimate reasons for it. But, I don't know that short hours are inherently safer than longer hours.
So Remy >> Sven/Finn/Flynn
It makes me chuckle, this inside joke. Years from now, on these boards, there will be mentions of Sven/Finn, and a small gaggle of us...it will be our "Where were you when" moment.
Hey, we loved it as young kids in the 70s when we went! I don’t think there were fireworks (maybe, but my parents made us leave so they could put us to bed and go drink at the lounge) There was NO Disney Springs, I don’t remember swimming, lol, but I’m sure there was a pool! It was just “rides” and , while we didnt wear masks, it was still pretty magical!

Absolutely. Bare bones Disney can absolutely be magical. But...we pay a lot because we GET a lot. Even relative to inflation, we are paying more now than we did then, because we get more during the experience. A streamlined old-school Disney experience is fine, and I'd be all for it....but at half the price a ticket.
It would be like a car company selling a new car with no airbags and the window crank and 8 track tape player. Could it be nice? Could it be charming? Sure. Would I buy it? Maybe. But, not for 40K a pop. If I'm spending 40K on a car (which I never would by the way), I want the GPS and the backup camera and the airbags and seat warmers and the whole jazz. That's the best comparison I can give.
so it looks like this
MK 9am to 7pm
Epcot 11am to 9pm
DHS 10am to 8pm
AK 8am to 6pm
So I have two complaints here. And, if people want to call me entitled, fine. I'm entitled. But, my two complaints: one is personal and one is logistical.
Logistically first, those of us familiar with the parks know there is what we'll affectionately called a rope drop crowd and the sleep in crowd. So, by nature, this already creates a sort of easing/thinning of the crowds. At DHS and Epcot especially, you are going to see both rope drop and sleep in people arriving at essentially the same time. Which, in my mind, creates more of a crowd, more of a logjam, more of a mess, than opening earlier and allowing the natural "trickle in" (as if anything at WDW trickles ha) of guests. To me, having all these people arriving at the same time sounds like an absolute nightmare waiting to happen.
Also, even for the earlier openings...I could see people who are normally sleep in people actually arriving at rope drop, specifically because they know they are on limited hours, and they want to get their money's worth. So, I think even the early entrance times could see more of an increase at park opening. Again, isn't this what Disney doesn't want? Likewise, I think a lot of the mid-day break people, you may see less of that, because again, when you are spending $120+ a ticket, it's not very palatable to spend 3-4 hours of your park day...not in a park, especially when park hours have been reduced.
This brings me to the personal side of it. We are mid-day break people. And with two littles, it's absolutely essential. I won't get into the details, but we have a multi-day park hopper. I find it difficult to spend that multi-day park hopper on reduced experiences AND reduced hours. I was actually willing to bite the bullet on the reduced experiences side of it. I had made my peace with it. But, call me entitled, but reduced hours directly affects the value of our ticket purchase. It just does. And, on top of that, if we need a break in the middle of the day, that would be even more of a dagger to take. I'd almost feel obligated to stick it out in the park all day to make sure I get my money's worth. And with little ones, I'm just not sure that's the best option.