Nighttime Animal Kingdom- only for the summer?

[PadmeNaberie]

I see that in December, Animal Kingdom is back to its old closing hours of 5:00/6:00p. Is this for real?? All this amazing new stuff- and it's only going to be open in summers??

Feeling sad that I will miss all these new experiences (which, I might add, were supposed to have opened already on my last trip in May but weren't ) on my December trip next year.

 

[cjbcam]

I was wondering if they just haven't released the times yet. Also hoping ROL will have started by then? It's really putting a damper on my planning for our November trip.

 

[DebbieB]

I see that in December, Animal Kingdom is back to its old closing hours of 5:00/6:00p. Is this for real?? All this amazing new stuff- and it's only going to be open in summers??

Feeling sad that I will miss all these new experiences (which, I might add, were supposed to have opened already on my last trip in May but weren't ) on my December trip next year.

Unknown at this point. Josh from easywdw posted a couple of weeks ago that it may go back to early close until Rivers of Light is ready.

Star Wars fireworks aren't on the calendar either.

 

[CAS239]

Expect late hours for AK in December. The new editions aren't only for the summer. The calendars simply aren't updated that far out.

 

[cyndiella]

Tom Bricker's Video Blog said the same thing.. They just haven't updated the calendars yet..

 

[Delirium]

Disney will wait until the offsite 30 day FP window opens before updating, negating the advantage of staying on site.

 

[plumsiren]

Disney will wait until the offsite 30 day FP window opens before updating, negating the advantage of staying on site.

Why would they do that purposely? And for how many people would that be a dealbreaker when it comes to staying on property vs off? Like 0.01%?

 

[PadmeNaberie]

Thank you everyone for your replies!

 

[Liljo22]

Disney just extended July's AK close from 5pm to 11pm every day. They have done this the last two month(extend hours less than two weeks before the month). If this holds, I wouldnt expect an update on December until at some point in November.

 

[JimmyV]

Keep in mind that it will get dark much earlier in December, so the park might stay open later than before, but perhaps not until 11:00. The stuff that looks cool after dark can be experienced at 6:00, unlike now.

 

[AntimonyER]

Yeah its dark a full 3 hours earlier in December than now. ~5:30pm sunset vs. ~8:30pm now. They could do a 6pm ROL and then shut it down, especially if they find the night-time safari stresses out the animals too much.

 

[Accident]

my thought is the same, it'll be opened until dark but not this late.. it's really empty at nights right now (which is nice if you want to do ak without the blarring sun).

 

[Oswin]

I think with as big of a flop as AK currently is at night, unless the crowds drastically pick up in July & August, it will not stay open past 6-7 in the winter.

 

[PadmeNaberie]

I'm completely fine with it closing earlier than 11 as long as I get to see the nighttime stuff! On our 2014 trip, there were a few nights where AK was open about an hour after dark and we completely fell in love; it's beautiful at night!! And I can only imagine how much better it is now!

 

[ckelly14]

I think with as big of a flop as AK currently is at night, unless the crowds drastically pick up in July & August, it will not stay open past 6-7 in the winter.

Agree about JB but I have heard good feedback about the ToL, park ambience and night parties. I for one am looking forward to seeing the park at night next month.

 

[Oswin]

Agree about JB but I have heard good feedback about the ToL, park ambience and night parties. I for one am looking forward to seeing the park at night next month.

Oh, I've heard great things about the ambience and parties too. But my older sister currently is working at AK and she says it has been pretty slow at night except for the first few nights this rolled out. It's not that things aren't necessarily great, it's that people just aren't going in the capacity I think Disney hoped they would.

 

[Disney mac]

I think with as big of a flop as AK currently is at night, unless the crowds drastically pick up in July & August, it will not stay open past 6-7 in the winter.

Well Disney has no one to blame for it being a flop than themselves with ADRs being 180 days and FP+ 60 days and not telling people until 20 days "oh hey, the park is open". Maybe if they were forthcoming about the hours when people are actually planning it might change the crowds.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

They just extended September until 8 pm (according to @kennythepirate sunset is around 7:30 pm ) - so it looks (to me) like they are going to plan on doing just one nighttime show. I'm assuming it will 'just' be the Jungle Book show (if it was going to be ROL I think they'd have more than one show planned ). But I'm hoping for ROL! Not sure if we'd even bother doing JB show based on the reviews I've seen.