How far out will park hours change?

[Tatum20]

Sorry if this is not the right place to post this question, I didn't see a better spot.

We are going to Animal Kingdom March 13th, and every day from now up until the 12th has park opening at either 8 am or 7:30...and then Sunday the 13th has an opening of 9 am throughout the rest of the month. Considering how crazy busy the week of the 13th-20th is expected to be, that seems super mean spirited to have extended hours up until that week, and then drop back to normal times.

We are definitely all morning people and the sooner we can hit the park, the better. Is there a chance they will extend the hours for that week?

 

[GBRforWDW]

Sorry if this is not the right place to post this question, I didn't see a better spot.

We are going to Animal Kingdom March 13th, and every day from now up until the 12th has park opening at either 8 am or 7:30...and then Sunday the 13th has an opening of 9 am throughout the rest of the month. Considering how crazy busy the week of the 13th-20th is expected to be, that seems super mean spirited to have extended hours up until that week, and then drop back to normal times.

We are definitely all morning people and the sooner we can hit the park, the better. Is there a chance they will extend the hours for that week?

You'll probably see park hours change for that week either today or tomorrow as it usually happens on a Thurs or Fri about 2 weeks before the actual date. It's also possible in the days leading up to a specific date, they could make more hours available depending on the crown levels.

 

[dngrmys]

Sorry if this is not the right place to post this question, I didn't see a better spot.

We are going to Animal Kingdom March 13th, and every day from now up until the 12th has park opening at either 8 am or 7:30...and then Sunday the 13th has an opening of 9 am throughout the rest of the month. Considering how crazy busy the week of the 13th-20th is expected to be, that seems super mean spirited to have extended hours up until that week, and then drop back to normal times.

We are definitely all morning people and the sooner we can hit the park, the better. Is there a chance they will extend the hours for that week?

We are in the same boat as you. With just over 2 weeks out from our trip, I am hoping/wishing/praying for some park hour extensions soon.

 

[scrappinginontario]

They can change at any time, just keep watching.

On more than once occasion we have been in the MK and they have extended hours that day.

 

[dngrmys]

Just an update: it appears park hours have now been updated and extended for the week of March 13th.

 

[Tatum20]

They can change at any time, just keep watching.

On more than once occasion we have been in the MK and they have extended hours that day.

So what does this mean for onsite guests and paid lightning lanes? On a non extended day, Disney resort guests can book at 7 am, while others have to wait until park opening which is usually 9 am, giving the resort guests a two hour booking advantage to get Flight of Passage, and I've heard during peak times, paid lightning lanes are gone for Flight of Passage by the time the park opens. So, if the park opens at 7:30 now, do onsite guests have their window advantage reduced to 30 min, or is their window pushed to an earlier time as well?

 

[GBRforWDW]

So what does this mean for onsite guests and paid lightning lanes? On a non extended day, Disney resort guests can book at 7 am, while others have to wait until park opening which is usually 9 am, giving the resort guests a two hour booking advantage to get Flight of Passage, and I've heard during peak times, paid lightning lanes are gone for Flight of Passage by the time the park opens. So, if the park opens at 7:30 now, do onsite guests have their window advantage reduced to 30 min, or is their window pushed to an earlier time as well?

No, it's always 7am for onsite, park opening for offsite regardless of park or park opening time.

When I was offsite in December with an Animal Kingdom park opening of 8am, FoP ran out at 7:58. . I was fortunate that I checked an our later as at 9:05, more became available.

 

[Tatum20]

No, it's always 7am for onsite, park opening for offsite regardless of park or park opening time.

When I was offsite in December with an Animal Kingdom park opening of 8am, FoP ran out at 7:58. . I was fortunate that I checked an our later as at 9:05, more became available.

Oh good to know. We are staying at a Disney Springs hotel, so we get the early 30 min entry, but we do not have the 7 am booking window. We also want to do Safari as soon as we can, so we don't want to lose park time waiting in the rope drop line for Flight of Passage. I have been checking just for fun to see what the options are after park opening, and I have noticed Flight of Passage seems to add times at the top of the hour a lot, but I've only tracked this during non peak times. I meant to watch over Presidents Day weekend, but I didn't, so I don't know if this will be relevant over what they are expecting to be 8 out of 10 for crowds.

Also, I love your screen name! My grandpa and uncles were all lifelong Huskers fans, back when they were still the Cornhuskers.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Oh good to know. We are staying at a Disney Springs hotel, so we get the early 30 min entry, but we do not have the 7 am booking window. We also want to do Safari as soon as we can, so we don't want to lose park time waiting in the rope drop line for Flight of Passage. I have been checking just for fun to see what the options are after park opening, and I have noticed Flight of Passage seems to add times at the top of the hour a lot, but I've only tracked this during non peak times. I meant to watch over Presidents Day weekend, but I didn't, so I don't know if this will be relevant over what they are expecting to be 8 out of 10 for crowds.

Also, I love your screen name! My grandpa and uncles were all lifelong Huskers fans, back when they were still the Cornhuskers.

Ha thanks! I live in Lincoln. It's a sad time to be a husker fan now... Maybe next year.

I didn't even know about the hourly FoP drop, so figured it was just a good Christmas gift, lol. We were there Christmas week, so definitely a peak time with all parks sold out. felt fortunate to be able to grab one as we likely would not have waited in line.