Park Hours/Magic Hours Determination?

[mpb2000]

My wife and I finally purchased annual passes last year after living in FL for a while. We went to Disney World 4 or 5 times in the fall/winter, staying at one of the resorts each time, always a Friday and Saturday night. When we were deciding which weekend to go, we always looked at the park/magic hours to make sure we maximized our time. In particular, we always tried to find a Saturday with late hours (12pm, 1am) for MK. The park closing times varied, some parks more than others, naturally, as did the magic hours. Still, we managed to do MK each Saturday until closing, which was 11pm at the earliest. I also feel like there was one park with morning magic hours and one park with evening magic hours.

I've been looking at the park/magic hours from January through May of this year and I see very little variation on the ~12 possible weekends I'm looking at. From mid-Jan through mid-Feb, Friday night magic hours are HS 8-10pm. Saturday, MK closes at 11pm. From mid-Feb on, every Friday has magic hours at MK from 8-9am and every Saturday has magic hours at AK from 8-9am. There are no evening magic hours. MK closes at 9pm every Saturday night.

This is obviously much different than my experience from last fall/winter. Is this lack of variation in hours normal for this time of year? Are there never evening magic hours on Fridays or Saturdays in the spring, or are they just not determined more than a month or two in advance? Do park closing times/magic hours change as you get closer to the actual date?

 

[Ensusieasm]

My wife and I finally purchased annual passes last year after living in FL for a while. We went to Disney World 4 or 5 times in the fall/winter, staying at one of the resorts each time, always a Friday and Saturday night. When we were deciding which weekend to go, we always looked at the park/magic hours to make sure we maximized our time. In particular, we always tried to find a Saturday with late hours (12pm, 1am) for MK. The park closing times varied, some parks more than others, naturally, as did the magic hours. Still, we managed to do MK each Saturday until closing, which was 11pm at the earliest. I also feel like there was one park with morning magic hours and one park with evening magic hours.

I've been looking at the park/magic hours from January through May of this year and I see very little variation on the ~12 possible weekends I'm looking at. From mid-Jan through mid-Feb, Friday night magic hours are HS 8-10pm. Saturday, MK closes at 11pm. From mid-Feb on, every Friday has magic hours at MK from 8-9am and every Saturday has magic hours at AK from 8-9am. There are no evening magic hours. MK closes at 9pm every Saturday night.

This is obviously much different than my experience from last fall/winter. Is this lack of variation in hours normal for this time of year? Are there never evening magic hours on Fridays or Saturdays in the spring, or are they just not determined more than a month or two in advance? Do park closing times/magic hours change as you get closer to the actual date?

Yes, the hours do change as you get closer to the date, sometimes even the day of. I have been in the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom a couple times when an extended hour or two was announced in the afternoon or evening.

 

[CAS239]

Park hours since about mid last year have been updated about a month out. There will be evening and morning emh daily

 

[mpb2000]

Does anyone know the rhyme or reason behind those decisions? I assume not.

 

[Robo]

Do park closing times/magic hours change as you get closer to the actual date?

Yes.

Does anyone know the rhyme or reason behind those decisions? I assume not.

No.
(Although I can assume that it is easier and cheaper to wait to post hours when they know more solid guest numbers.)