Park Hours

[Cheburashka]

My trip is creeping closer and Im very excited. I just decided to check park hours for the end of April, it looks like they are only loaded for up until the week before we arrive. So I did a quick glance at the hours for each park on the days we would be going the following week. The hours really are that short huh? Im seeing Epcot 11-7, Animal Kingdom 9-5, etc... I didnt realize they were opening that late and closing that early!

Yes, the hours have been very short since reopening. We even went the week before Christmas during their extended hours and even the extended hours were quite short- their "extended hours" only add an hour or two to the base hours. It bites.

 

[BigOHawk]

I see them now for weekend of March 5, etc! Looks like a few hours each day for MK, nice!

 

[ChristopherFamily]

My trip is creeping closer and Im very excited. I just decided to check park hours for the end of April, it looks like they are only loaded for up until the week before we arrive. So I did a quick glance at the hours for each park on the days we would be going the following week. The hours really are that short huh? Im seeing Epcot 11-7, Animal Kingdom 9-5, etc... I didnt realize they were opening that late and closing that early!

I am noticing the same for when we visit at the end of March. I really hope they add a few hours.

 

[MomOTwins]

I am noticing the same for when we visit at the end of March. I really hope they add a few hours.

Again, hours are not set until 2-3 weeks in advance. All hours from March 14 on are fake hours at this point because they are just the default until Disney sets the real hours.

 

[Olaf Myfrenzargay]

So the extended hours until March 20 indicates lower anticipated crowd levels the week after (where as of right now, park hour are not extended)?

Thats odd because March 22 - April 4 is prime Spring Break for Northeast.

 

[MomOTwins]

So the extended hours until March 20 indicates lower anticipated crowd levels the week after (where as of right now, park hour are not extended)?

Thats odd because March 22 - April 4 is prime Spring Break for Northeast.

No, they just have not extended the following week yet. Expect to see new park hours posted on Thursday or Friday this week.

I really wish Disney would stop posting fake hours more than two weeks ahead. It seems to really be confusing a lot of people. The actual hours are being posted two weeks ahead, in Sunday-Saturday increments.

 

[Olaf Myfrenzargay]

Yeah, really upends my plans now as far as prior dining resys. C‘est la vie.

 

[momtoccc]

If they extend the hours the week of March 21, will more dining reservations open up for dinner in the park? (I'm asking about MK)

 

[MomOTwins]

If they extend the hours the week of March 21, will more dining reservations open up for dinner in the park? (I'm asking about MK)

Yep. Sometimes it takes them a couple of days to add dining reservations after extending hours though.

 

[Olaf Myfrenzargay]

Well they just extended park hours for week of 21-27. Haven’t seen that they’ve extended dining availability. Maybe that follows?

 

[kevtlas]

I hope the trend of extending keeps up through the summer, or they just start scheduling later closing times. We really enjoy the parks at night, especially during the super hot summer days.

 

[MomOTwins]

Well they just extended park hours for week of 21-27. Haven’t seen that they’ve extended dining availability. Maybe that follows?

Correct. Look for restaurant hours later tonight or over the weekend. I find it helps to set a touring plan alert so that you'll get a message as soon as they drop the new hours into the restaurant reservation system.

 

[Olaf Myfrenzargay]

So they posted extended in park dining resys for that week overnight if anyone’s interested,

 

[MomOTwins]

So they posted extended in park dining resys for that week overnight if anyone’s interested,

Yes, HS still missing though. Odd.

 

[tbssenterprises]

So, I'm looking at the week of April 11, and everything closes early. What's up with that?

 

[beesly]

So, I'm looking at the week of April 11, and everything closes early. What's up with that?

The actual hours haven’t been updated yet. If you read through this thread, you’ll see that happens only 2-3 weeks in advance. It looks like we can expect them to post updated hours for the week of 3/28 later this week - putting the update for the week of 4/11 sometime around 3/26.

 

[gharter]

The actual hours haven’t been updated yet. If you read through this thread, you’ll see that happens only 2-3 weeks in advance. It looks like we can expect them to post updated hours for the week of 3/28 later this week - putting the update for the week of 4/11 sometime around 3/26.

As we are getting closer to our trip, the delay to release real park hours is annoying. It makes planning difficult.
We have ADRs set for when the park closes. But if hours extend, then the decision to try and move the ADRs or leave things alone.
I wonder how much of the delay is last minute park reservations filling up, so they extend or if they already know they will extend, but haven't released them yet.

 

[MomOTwins]

As we are getting closer to our trip, the delay to release real park hours is annoying. It makes planning difficult.
We have ADRs set for when the park closes. But if hours extend, then the decision to try and move the ADRs or leave things alone.
I wonder how much of the delay is last minute park reservations filling up, so they extend or if they already know they will extend, but haven't released them yet.

I suspect most of the delay is that they are probably seeing a lot more cancellations 3-4 weeks before trips, or people booking spur of the moment last minute trips, because all the uncertainty in Covid times makes it hard for people to know if they can really go until closer to the actual travel date. They don't want to promise parks will be open to 10pm only to have a ghost town.

For ADRs I would pay attention to the last month as an indicator of the range of where the hours could go. For example, we knew that Epcot would almost certainly be extended in the evening but not the morning, so we booked a late breakfast, but waited to book our Le Cellier dinner until they were extended. On the other hand, we knew HS would most likely move to 9am instead of 10am for open, so we booked a breakfast ADR at Ale and Compass close to 7am. It does take some guesswork, and I agree it is annoying though.

 

[collegeprogram01]

We will be there from the 7th until the 17th. I noticed from the 12th-17th (bulk of our trip) the hours are reduced drastically. Do you think this will change?

I hope so!

 

[MomOTwins]

We will be there from the 7th until the 17th. I noticed from the 12th-17th (bulk of our trip) the hours are reduced drastically. Do you think this will change?

I hope so!

Please just read this thread. This question has been answered over and over.