Magic Kingdom Gets Extended Evening Hours After Starlight Debut (UPDATE)
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon your perspective, we were wrong. After moving over to Animal Kingdom in Summer 2025, a welcome change we anticipated would last until early 2026, Extended Evening Hours is returning to Magic Kingdom just in time for Party Season. Here are the details, plus Walt Disney World crowds commentary, expected entertainment schedules & park hours, and why this might be a mistake.
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours is nighttime counterpart to Early Theme Park Entry. There are several differences, most notably that guests staying at Value or Moderate Resorts are not eligible for Extended Evening Hours. But it’s not just the most expensive resorts–you can save money by renting DVC points or staying at the Swolphin–those are both great ways to hack ExEH and enjoy the perk and a nicer resort for a lower price.
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours has two tiers of resort eligibility, occurs two nights per week, is at two parks, and runs for two hours. It’s usually Monday at EPCOT and Wednesday at Magic Kingdom. See our Strategy Guide Guide for Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for more ins and outs of the nighttime Deluxe benefit.
For those who haven’t been following this saga, it originally revolved around Walt Disney World making several calendar changes to lay the groundwork for the potential debut date of Disney Starlight Night Parade. That happened via shifting Happily Ever After later, blocking out Cast Members from Magic Kingdom, and moving ExEH over to Animal Kingdom. Even before that, the 3-Day, 3-Park Ticket Deal excluding Magic Kingdom is a good example of this forward-thinking crowd control effort. Ditto the new AP reservation rule.
We say laying the groundwork because Starlight ended up missing its earlier target and is now opening on July 20, 2025. So if anything, Walt Disney World could unblock CMs and restore ExEH at Animal Kingdom in July. The former might still happen, but the latter is unlikely given that scheduling has been set.
Last minute park hours extensions are common, but not swapping ‘extra hours’ locations. Judging by the reader reaction to our original post on the topic, I’m guessing few, if any, Walt Disney World guests would be disappointed by ExEH moving back to MK for early to mid-July.
Speaking of which, here are the dates when Animal Kingdom will host Extended Evening Hours:
- Wednesday, July 2, 2025
- Wednesday, July 9, 2025
- Wednesday, July 16, 2025
- Wednesday, July 23, 2025
- Wednesday, July 30, 2025
- Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Currently, Extended Evening Hours is scheduled from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Animal Kingdom, starting after the park closes for regular day guests and ending before sunset. However, park hours extensions for July have not yet happened, so these ExEH times might shift to 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm or maybe 7-9 pm, if we’re lucky!
Fast-forward to the next week and Magic Kingdom is hosting Extended Evening Hours on Wednesday, August 13, 2025. The move has not yet been announced by Walt Disney World, but you can see the change via the My Disney Experience app.
This is a really curious move, especially since Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party starts two days later, on Friday, August 15, 2025. Following that, there are three weekly MNSSHPs from the jump in August, meaning that if Magic Kingdom continues to host Extended Evening Hours during Party Season, there will be 4 post-closing events most weeks at Magic Kingdom through the end of the year, and 5 events some weeks.
Having ExEH at Magic Kingdom any dates during these weeks (including August 20, 2025) would be a mistake. Which is precisely why Walt Disney World largely has avoided this type of scheduling during past Party Seasons (see below). This is doubly true this year given the exaggerated effect that the opening of Starlight will have on attendance at Magic Kingdom during Party Season.
UPDATE: Walt Disney World’s calendar now runs through August 20, and–surprise, surprise–Extended Evening Hours has moved back to Animal Kingdom on that date. I’m not really sure what the point was of moving ExEH to Magic Kingdom for a single date, but we would not expect the extra hours to return to MK again until the second week of January 2026. Who knows, though. Maybe there’s another week in early November when they can squeeze in one last Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom this year. Either way, we’ll keep you posted!
Currently, Extended Evening Hours is scheduled to occur from 10 pm until midnight at Magic Kingdom on August 13, 2025. This will probably (hopefully) shift to 11 pm to 1 am.
Magic Kingdom is currently listed as being open from 9 am to 10 pm daily in July and August 2025. However, these are boilerplate hours. We are fully expecting 11 pm or (fingers crossed) midnight closures. If that’s not currently the plan, it’s a mistake.
I am begging Walt Disney World to send some operations and PAC people over to Disneyland to see how they handle Paint the Night. Not even a joke–it would be seriously beneficial to learn from the pros, and watch how they do things.
The reason for moving Extended Evening Hours from Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom due to Starlight comes down to scheduling. As explained in our comprehensive Guide to Disney Starlight Parade’s Debut at Magic Kingdom, our best guess for the schedule is as follows:
- First Starlight Parade: 9 pm
- Happily Ever After: 10 pm
- Second Starlight Parade: 11 pm
- Park Closing: 11 pm or midnight
With the second Starlight Night Parade stepping off at 11 p.m., this essentially amounts to a midnight closing for Magic Kingdom even if the published time ends up being 11 pm. Of course, this assumes there are two nightly performances of Starlight, which is not a sure thing given Walt Disney World’s penny-pinching ways.
Again assuming two nightly parades, it behooves Walt Disney World to move ExEH to Animal Kingdom for the rest of the summer to reduce the strain on Magic Kingdom operations. Just trying to run Starlight and manage regular crowd flow is going to be a major challenge.
Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see just how long Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom lasts. Maybe it’ll just be one week, bouncing back to DAK or DHS once Party Season kicks into high gear. In which case, what was the point? Trying to squeeze in one date for the sake of guest satisfaction? If so, kudos to Disney.
The alternative is slightly concerning–that Disney doesn’t really know what to expect/what it’s doing with Starlight. This is something we’ve mentioned in several posts, but it bears repeating: Walt Disney World hasn’t hosted a night parade in almost a decade. One of my fears is that Walt Disney World has lost so much institutional knowledge since then that they don’t know how to handle operational logistics for a night parade. The COVID closure resulted in a lot of early retirements among the old guard who knew how things worked, and Walt Disney World still hasn’t fully recovered from that.
While this is a concern, it was at least reassuring that they moved ExEH away from Magic Kingdom, made the Happily Ever After schedule change, and blocked out Cast Members. All of this demonstrates that Walt Disney World does have a clue, and wouldn’t fumble things after getting them right originally. So maybe it’ll bounce over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the remainder of August?
To that point, I still very strongly suspect there will be few Extended Evening Hours dates in Magic Kingdom from mid-August until the second week of January 2026. Note that this is not yet official–everything beyond the first two weeks of August 2025 is purely speculative at this point.
Normally, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom take over hosting duties from Magic Kingdom each year in September or October. This occurs because of Party Season, which begins in early August and kicks into high gear in late September.
This year, the circumstances will be different with Starlight, which will cause higher crowds in Magic Kingdom on non-party nights even in August and September. We are expecting fairly unprecedented attendance at MK on non-party nights from August through December due to Starlight.
Normally, Extended Evening Hours moves to Disney’s Hollywood Studios if Magic Kingdom has scheduling conflicts. Animal Kingdom is typically the backup to DHS, taking over if that park is hosting parties.
That usually happens in November and December with the Jollywood Nights Christmas Party. Now, it’s occurring due to After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which runs most Wednesday nights through September 3, 2025.
In theory, DHS could take over ExEH starting then for a couple of months. In fact, that would be roughly the normal cadence from the last two years. The point of all this is that there are no guarantees about which park(s) will host Extended Evening Hours after August 13, 2025. Well, except EPCOT. That’s pretty much a sure thing barring the rare park buyout during convention season. But as for the Wednesday ExEH, it could be a mix of DAK, DHS, and even the occasional MK.
It was a savvy move to shift Extended Evening Hours to Animal Kingdom that would help redistribute crowds, making the other three parks slightly less busy and Animal Kingdom less of a ghost town at the tail end of the day. From an objective “greater good” perspective, my hope is that DAK hosts ExEH for all dates after August 13, 2025.
Selfishly and subjectively, I hope Extended Evening Hours stays at Magic Kingdom. We have DVC stays booked for two Wednesdays in August and September, and probably more beyond that. As much as I enjoy Animal Kingdom at night (and I do!), I usually get my fill during the holiday season when the park is most beautiful, cooler, and closes after sunset nightly.
I know Magic Kingdom will be busier on ExEH if it does host the event, but I can deal with that. The prospect of being in Magic Kingdom until 1 am is pretty appealing to me, personally, if I know it’s detrimental to the greater guest experience. That’s precisely why there was a bit of ‘backlash’ to the DAK move–most readers here understand the ‘greater good’ angle, but still selfishly want what’s best for their own trips. Can’t blame anyone for that!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be taking advantage of Extended Evening Theme Park Hours at Magic Kingdom on August 13? Hope that MK continues to host ExEH throughout Party Season? Or do you view this from the ‘greater good’ perspective, worrying about the monkey wrench that’ll be thrown into attendance trends if MK has a nighttime event 4-5 nights per week? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
So is the extended evening hours only for those staying on the property?
Took “advantage” of EEH at both Epcot and MK last week. Following strategies EPCot was a complete waste of time and MK was not much better. Attractions with low daytime waits were lower at night, but more popular ones did not appreciably decrease in wait times. One of the issues is letting daytime guests get in line up to one minute before regular park close. When a two hour EEH starts with wait times of 60+ minutes you’re looking at one or two rides. Early entry is better and it’s hard to do both in a day without exhaustion.
Do you think “After-Hours” at Magic Kingdom will also return??
If they are changing Extra Magic hours due to the parade why are they switching to Animal Kingdom EMH weeks before the parade begins?
Because the calendar is set a couple of months in advance, and at the time it was set for early July, that was the target for Starlight. A target the parade missed.
Having EEH at animal kingdom is terrible. Even though the eligibility for EEH is lower than early entry, its only available at one park. AK doesn’t have enough rides open during that time to justify it – its basically Pandora and Everest. This results in too much demand for FoP and probably an hour long queue.
If they are going to move it from MK, it really should go to studios, even if that means changing the nights of it or the parties.
You wouldn’t think that if you already bought party tix! I am wondering if Buzz is closing on August 13….Tom? Intel?
When do you think they need to make a final decision/announcement on how many runs of Starlight there will be in late July/Aug? Or, I suppose more importantly, when they will announce parade time(s)?
My hope is that even if they don’t run two of them all year long, they would at least have a couple shows for the end of the summer season.
We are at 60 days and not knowing when the parades will happen is really throwing off my plans. Most importantly: I want to try to do a very late dinner after or perhaps a somewhat early dinner before.
I am in exactly the same boat! My 60 days opens soon and not having the Parade schedule yet is making planning our MK evening impossible. We are contemplating doing a Fireworks Dessert Party but have no idea how that will fit into seeing the parade. Hopefully they post Parade timing very soon!
Nooooooooo
I was hoping on that last week of august 🙁
I just saw on the Disney app, that on Saturday 8/16 Hollywood Studios is closing at 6pm! I’m surprised they are doing that on the first weekend of Halloween parties. It’s going to create an unreal crowd situation at MK that night, and possibly Epcot too. We fly in that afternoon and were planning on going to HS that night since we thought MK may be really crowded – so it throws a wrench in our planning. I wonder if they’ll extend hours at other parks to try and absorb the crowds.
I personally don’t mind ExEH in Animal Kingdom. It’s not a park I spend that much time for. So having an ExEH there means I may even save more time during the day there, and use that at another park.
MK is definitely the more “value” option for ExEH. And AK ExEH is much earlier. But we have longer stays, so I just treat it as a “rest” night. We can sleep earlier, relax, or go to the pool after.
I was beyond disappointed that our first week of July trip’s ExEH moved from Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom. What would be the benefit of leaving a park that stays open past 8:00 to go to Animal Kingdom during that time frame? I just don’t understand the move, and I wish it had switched to Hollywood Studios instead. Extended Hours at Animal Kingdom when it won’t get dark until around 9:00 feels like an extreme rip off.
They can’t switch it to Hollywood Studios due to the After Hours event.
I’m hoping this holds true for 8/20, when we’ll be there! We had so much fun last year when the ExEH at MK went to 1am, I really want recreate that magic!!
Hi Tom, we have reservations at POR 7/19-7/24. What are the chances we can still linger in AK during EEH on 7/23 as non-deluxe guests if we don’t do any rides? We love AK, especially in the evening, so I’m considering renting DVC for a one-night stay at OKW on 7/23 instead of POR, if necessary.
You shouldn’t have any issues lingering if you don’t go on rides.
I am hoping no evening EMH at DAK in September, there’s not going to be much to do there with all the closures, either due to construction or sunset. I don’t really see it as a deluxe resort benefit if it’s 2 extra hours at DAK, that park, especially now, is a half to 3/4 day park. Extra hours really aren’t necessary. I’ll be there the first 2 weeks of September, would be great if one week is MK and the other is DHS. We timed it that way last year (not intentionally) and it was great.
You’re not wrong about any of that! I wonder if WDW has heard guest complaints along these lines, hence the change.
I would think the most logical course of action is switching to DHS.
With the new parade and the ExEH do you think they will still offer Disney After Hours? Specifically Feb 2026.
Thanks for all your updates, its been a life saver many times
Hard to say at this point, but I’d imagine After Hours will return to Magic Kingdom in 2026. They might do a bit of a buffer and not start until February (as opposed to January), but I doubt they’ll pass up the revenue opportunity, especially since Starlight won’t be brand-new by then.
Hi Tom! You mentioned Jollywood Nights traditionally pushing ExEH over to AK in November and December. What’s your prediction for ExEH in mid-to-late November 2025, considering the new combo of Starlight, MVMCP, and Jollywood Nights? Maybe EPCOT Mondays and AK Wednesdays?
Following your blog’s advice, we booked a great deal on a bounce back stay at Disney’s Beach Club after a short stay at Art of Animation in early January. We’re experienced Park-goers, but between the new parade, early/extended hours, strategizing MK days with the Christmas party, AND the opportunity to book LL 7 days out, my brain is starting to feel like I just stepped off the Mad Tea Party. Any guidance besides wait until September for the park calendars? Thanks!
“Maybe EPCOT Mondays and AK Wednesdays?”
This would be my bet, yes. Before that, I’m hoping for a shift to DHS.
Guidance at this point is, unfortunately, wait for calendars & final operating hours, as well as reports from August about crowd dynamics.
Jesus is quoted in John 15:13, saying “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
However, giving up EEH at MK for the greater good?
You’re joking right?
One more quote for you heard often at WDW customer service. “Do you know how much I paid for this vacation?”
I hope this is true for the last Wednesday in august during our visit- fingers crossed.