Early/Evening Magic Hours

[KayleeUK]

Effective Jan 2, 2005

Su - MGM (evening)
Mo - Epcot (morning)
Tu - MGM (morning), AK (evening)
We - MK (evening)
Th - Epcot (evening)
Fr - MK (morning)
Sa - AK (morning)

For the parks that have evening Extra Magic Hours, they will be open for Disney Resort guests 3 hours after the posted closing time. Guests will need to obtain a wristband no earlier than 2 hours before posted closing time. It is very likely that every member of the party will need to show a resort ID to get a wristband.


We have never done Evening Magic Hours before Looking forward to seeing AK in the dark
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[MsPennieLane]

Wow that sounds fabulous, I've never done Evening Magic Hours

Anz

 

[Miffy2003]

Fantastic news!! 3 hours is such a fantastic perk, I can't wait to try this in August

 

[gilld]

So I guess the extra hour in the evening is rather like the old "E ticket". We've done that a few times and it was great to have so few people in the parks. Can't wait.

 

[disneyholic family]

are the evening extra hours free?...it does sound like the MK "E" ticket night, but you had to buy a ticket for that...
if this is part of the resort package, that is a fantastic benefit to staying on property....

 

[KayleeUK]

I believe it is a perk for staying on-site

 

[steve_rob]

It's free and open only to those staying on site, which means it's going to be a LOT busier than the old E-nights!

With the amount of people who tend not to park hop, I think it also means that whatever park is open late that night, is going to be busy all day. It might be the rule from now on the avoid the late opening park rather than the early opening one if you don't stay or site?

 

[SplashMtn]

This sounds fantastic! AK should be especially good because of the Kilimanjo Safari's later on- aren't the animals supopsed to be most active at sunrise and sunset? Woohoo! :jumping4:

 

[KayleeUK]

From what I have read the animal exhibits will still close at the normal time. This is to keep the animals in the routine they are used too.

 

[Hilary]

Fantastic! Can't wait to try it out for ourselves

 

[Cochise]

Is there a change to the actual resort closure time to none site visitors

 

[Tron[ADS]]

Hmmmm, whilst this is great for on-site disney guests, 3 extra hours is a bit of a kick in the teeth for normal paying off-site guests....they must be bringing forward the normal closing hours of the parks to accomodate this then are they ?
I can see the business logic behind it though.

 

[Penny12]

Tron, when they trialled this in May it was regular park hours (ie. the park closed at pretty much the same time all week), and then 3 hours were extra for the EMH.

As an aside, non-site guests can still hang around inside the park, they won't be evicted or anything - just without the wristband they just won't have anything to do except go the shops or watch other people having fun. When I did the MK one it was pretty busy for the 1st hour but then the crowds died back a good bit. They also keep FastPass running which helps manage the extra attendance. I seem to remember regular line waits were in the region of 10-15 for the 'big' rides - however this was in May when things were a bit busier anyhow - I imagine they'll be shorter in say, January.

I think this is a GREAT onsite perk...an extra 20 hours a week theme park time - woohoo!

 

[AndRu]

Whilst I love Disney, I wouldn't fork out the extra cash to stay on site just for these extra hours. There is so much more to see and do in Orlando than Disney alone. Some friends of ours stayed on site in August '03 and had a great time in the parks but ended up spending most of their time (and consequently money) within the confines of Disney. We looked into staying on site for the next trip in Feb '05 and it would have cost us almost £1500 more than the fly-drive / villa combo we've booked. Thats a lot of money for the perks of magic hours.

Personally, I'd be happy to pay an extra charge at Guest Relations for the wrist band if it allowed us to stay later at a park, but thats my opinion.

 

[gilld]

Staying onsite is SO much more than the extra 3 hours. We stayed offsite the first time and would now NEVER stay anywhere but onsite. Mostly it's the very special magic of being "part" of it all. With careful planning, it doesn't need to cost much, and for us nothing at all since we bought into DVC.

 

[Penny12]

I agree with gilld, it doesn't have to be expensive - I always stay onsite now (both with DVC and at the 'normal' hotels), as long as you make good use of the discount codes Disney offer you it can really be quite affordable...Values can run from $55 a night! Of course, you only get 1 room rather than a whole villa with a kitchen and washer/dryer etc, but then when I go on holiday I have absolutely NO intention of cooking or doing laundry anyway

 

[AndRu]

Of course, you only get 1 room rather than a whole villa with a kitchen and washer/dryer etc, but then when I go on holiday I have absolutely NO intention of cooking or doing laundry anyway

With three kids (9, 7 & 6) eating out all the time is not a cheap (or fun!) option. It's nice to come back to the villa and let them play in the pool while we knock up anything from beans on toast to a curry - if you can get the ingredients! As for being able to do the washing, both my wife and I appreciate the fact that we go home with vitrually everything washed and not have to worry about the washing machine at home being on 24/7!.

 

[Scottish-Helen]

I'm just back from a travel agents educational trip to WDW this morning where they told us about this.I think this is fantastic news. Next year I'm going to stay onsite at Disney for 5 nights plus 2 nights at the Hard Rock Hotel to get my front of line there

 

[Goofyish]

It will be strange to have the 3 extra hours in Epcot. World Showcase is usually ope quite late for Illuminations, so I assume the extra 3 hours would apply to the rides in Future World like Test Track and Mission Space etc.