Park hours?

[ajwolfe]

So I've read since our last trip that park hours seem to only be released 6 months out from the day vs the whole month being released at once. Trying to figure out ADRs that I will need to book later this month and seen that Kenny The Pirate has released park hours for May 2018 and curious how reliable we think these are? I'm looking at his crowd calendar thinking I don't know that I really agree with some of what he has there but that's neither here nor there just wondering how valid these park hours could be.

Thanks!

 

[Robo]

So I've read since our last trip that park hours seem to only be released 6 months out from the day vs the whole month being released at once. Trying to figure out ADRs that I will need to book later this month and seen that Kenny The Pirate has released park hours for May 2018 and curious how reliable we think these are? I'm looking at his crowd calendar thinking I don't know that I really agree with some of what he has there but that's neither here nor there just wondering how valid these park hours could be.

Thanks!

Treat it as an educated guess.

(It can't be more than that, because Disney will always make changes in many early-posted hours as the dates get closer, anyway.)

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Whether its from the Disney website or a 3rd party website its most likely not accurate yet.
Disney seems to update their hours only a few weeks out these days.
BTW I don't rely on crowd calendars period.

 

[ajwolfe]

Whether its from the Disney website or a 3rd party website its most likely not accurate yet.
Disney seems to update their hours only a few weeks out these days.
BTW I don't rely on crowd calendars period.

I agree completely on the crowd calendars. Never use them. Just happened to notice them since I was looking for the park hours and there are several things that don't seem logical on there to me.

I know the Disney hours will change but I was hoping for a least a start in the right direction instead of stabbing in the dark with it but it is what it is.

 

[kniquy]

Yup - park hours will change as you get closer to your trip different and events - fireworks/evening shows may change as well. Put your dinner plans where you want them and then just work around them. The really only big issue is if you were to book a PPO 8:00am breakfast in hopes to get in before anyone -- if opening is at 9am then great it will work, but if they happen to change opening to 8am then you lose any advantage. The only thing about this is that you can cancel your breakfast as long as it is with in their cancellation policy - usually by 11:59pm the night before. Your best strategy is to book multiple reservations where you think you might be, so if it is a toss up between MK and Epcot book a reservation at each and then as they release the hours pick which reservation will fit with your plan and cancel what you don't need. It stinks doing it this way, because you are technically holding a reservation from someone else, but it is tough to plan when you really don't know what the park hours will be. I will always cancel what i don't need as soon as i figure out my plan (usually only holding a reservation for a week) which odds are it will be scooped up by someone if it is a hot reservation.