Disney World Extends & Adds Park Hours in October & December 2020
Walt Disney World has added hours to its calendar through December 19, 2020 for Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios, which includes even more extensions on weekends in October. In this post, we’ll share details, why it’s happening, offer predictions for Halloween, and strategy for which park to visit each day of the week.
Let’s begin with a brief recap of the recent park hours changes. This started with Walt Disney World dramatically cutting fall hours up until Halloween. That was an unpopular decision among fans, and didn’t make a ton of sense in terms of guest demographics, but was justified at the time by Walt Disney World’s low post-reopening numbers.
More recently, Walt Disney World Released Early December 2020 Park Hours, which tweaked that approach and gave two parks more nighttime hours (necessary since some Walt Disney World Christmas Entertainment requires darkness). That coupled with weekly extensions to park hours has resulted in a more sensible calendar in light of guest behavior and visitation patterns…
Turning to the latest park hours additions, we first have new hours for all parks. The calendar was previously posted through December 12, 2020–now times are posted through December 19, 2020.
The new dates reflect the same shift at EPCOT and extension at Magic Kingdom that were made for Thanksgiving and early December. With that said, the most important part of the calendar below is in the bottom left corner: “Operating Hours Subject to Change.”
Walt Disney World has returned to its normal practice of releasing boilerplate hours “far” in advance before extending those based on attendance and hotel occupancy projections a couple of weeks before the dates. This initial release serves as a minimum baseline for what the ultimate hours will end up being, with hours (usually) only extended and not reduced.
The inevitable extension for some of these dates is a double-edged sword. The downside is that every single time that Walt Disney World has increased hours, new Disney Park Pass inventory has also been released. As a case in point, we accurately “predicted” the latest hours extension yesterday before it happened because earlier in the morning reservations had been replenished.
Higher crowd levels for the dates that are extended is probably something few of you planning trips want to hear. As we covered recently, the days of ‘ghost town’ post-reopening days are over: Wait Times Increased 40% at Walt Disney World Last Month.
However, the full story there is not as bad as the headline suggests. It’s also important to point out that wait time increases and higher crowd levels are relative to the record lows of July. In objective or historical terms, numbers are still low to moderate.
The upside is that with each passing week, more and more returns to Walt Disney World–restaurants, snack stands, stores, entertainment, and so on.
Last weekend, about a half-dozen counter service locations, bakeries, and snack spots reopened at EPCOT. Yesterday, two more Taste of Food & Wine Festival booths debuted. (Magic Kingdom could really use a few more snack spots.)
The next really big thing should be some stage shows. The standoff between Disney and the union representing equity performers in stage shows (and more) has ended. We’re getting to the point where crowds in Disney’s Hollywood Studios necessitate the return of some stage shows.
Already we have “For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration” returning this week to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Unfortunately, that’s not a “pure” addition as “The Disney Society Orchestra” at the Theater of the Stars will be retired over the weekend. Our hope is that Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (ideally) or Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage is next to return.
Anyway, Walt Disney World has once again extended park hours for weekends in October. This was previously done for this weekend as well as the Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day holiday weekend of October 9-12, 2020.
Now, the same is occurring for October 16-19, 2020. A few noteworthy things about what has (and has not) changed…
For that weekend, three of the four parks will push back their closing times. Magic Kingdom will now close at 8 pm instead of 6 pm. EPCOT will close at 9 pm, which is actually a two hour extension from the current 7 pm closing times. (Restoring a two hour cut.)
Animal Kingdom will open at 8 am from Friday through Sunday, which is an hour before its current 9 am opening. The park will also close at 6 pm, which is an hour later than weekdays right now. However, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will not have its closing extended to 8 pm, which is an interesting wrinkle here…
For this current weekend, Disney’s Hollywood Studios had its hours extended to 8 pm. However, neither the holiday weekend nor the following one have seen this same change. It’s possible this weekend is a “trial balloon” for adding an extra hour and increasing Disney Park Pass capacity, and subsequent weekends will be extended if that’s successful.
The reason it may not be successful is because it’s already rather difficult to score a Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance boarding group at 10 am, and added hours plus higher attendance may create more problems with that. We’ll be closely monitoring this, as there’s really no explanation for DHS to have longer hours this weekend and not those thereafter, which will undoubtedly be busier at Walt Disney World as a whole.
Looking at the current Disney Park Pass inventory for Annual Passholders should give us a pretty good idea of where and for what dates the next park hours increases will occur. Unsurprisingly, weekends are the most in-demand dates.
While October 23-25, 2020 is the next logical park hours increase (probably mirroring that of the weekend before it–although Magic Kingdom could be open even later), we’re turning our sights on Halloween weekend.
Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of early demand for those dates. With some Central Florida communities rethinking trick or treating, many will want to visit Walt Disney World.
Magic Kingdom could easily justify releasing another batch of Disney Park Pass reservations and closing at 9 pm or even 10 pm that weekend. There’s still a ton of unsatisfied demand that extended hours could help meet. We’re anxiously awaiting those final hours, because that will set the tone and precedent for the Christmas season at Walt Disney World.
It’s likely that Walt Disney World will continue to extend weekend park hours beyond these dates for November and December 2020. The current crowd levels more than justify longer operating hours, and if Disney Park Pass inventory is any indication, this trend will not abate for the rest of the year.
If high crowds and longer waits are your top concern, we’ll reiterate our recommendation to avoid Walt Disney World on the weekends. These extended hours are attractive, but the cost is elevated crowds as compared to weekdays in 3 of the parks. Wait times are ~40% higher on weekends, so the increase in operating hours by 10-20% doesn’t offset that. Simply put, you can get more done in less time on weekdays.
If your visit encompasses a weekend, do Disney’s Hollywood Studios at least one of those days. Since DHS is hitting capacity or coming close to it on weekdays as well as weekends, there is almost no difference in crowds there among the days of the week. (To be clear, that means it feels busy there every day instead of just weekends like the other parks.)
EPCOT is the worst pick on weekends for the exact opposite reason. Our recent EPCOT Photo Report: Stay Away on Weekends flew under the radar, but that should be essential reading. It’s arguably the most important piece of advice for families visiting in the next few months (perhaps beyond).
As for the your other weekend choice, it’s sort of a toss-up between Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. We recently did the former on a Friday, and covered it in our Magic Kingdom Weekend Report: Beating Heavier Crowds & Higher Waits. That was a solid experience, with the best part being covered in Our Enjoyable Evening in Magic Kingdom. In fact, we had such a ‘tranquil twilight’ in Magic Kingdom last week that we returned again last night.
On the other hand, Animal Kingdom is attractive thanks to the 8 am opening time. Most locals–the primary demographic on weekends–are not going to get up that early, so you can still accomplish an efficient itinerary solely by virtue of arriving early–or even staying late.
Ultimately, crowds are still entirely manageable if you properly strategize no matter which day of the week you visit. Midday wait times have been bad and lines are lengthy, but it’s still entirely possible to beat the crowds. Our top recommendation would be to visit entirely on weekdays. That’s going to be the best low crowds experience, and avoid the heavier crowds. How you order the parks Mondays through Fridays matters a lot less–we’d recommend doing Magic Kingdom on Wednesday or Thursday and EPCOT on any day but Friday, but that’s about it.
If your Walt Disney World trip must encompass a weekend, we’d do Magic Kingdom on Friday, Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Saturday, and Animal Kingdom on Sunday. In testing a variety of approaches, that’s the one with which we’ve been the happiest. The longer hours arguably are worth the higher crowd levels, especially if you value sunset and dusk in the parks. Again, the most important thing is avoiding EPCOT on weekends. Of course, that’s our advice right now. Things keep changing, and so too could day of week strategy.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your thoughts about the latest Walt Disney World calendar changes? Happy to see hours extended, or concerned about the accompanying crowds? Do you anticipate Walt Disney World will make additional extensions if demand picks up? Or will ‘fine tune’ operating hours—extending, reducing, or shifting as appropriate? Will you be visiting Walt Disney World in late 2020? Does this modified schedule influence your decision to visit this holiday season? Do you agree or disagree with our advice and commentary? 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!
When will the character meals return
I just checked the Park Pass availability calendar, and there are full weeks with no HS passes for ticket holders or resort guests, but many of those same days do have AP passes available. I know that local APs are making up the majority of WDW’s demographic right now, but I found that discrepancy kind of odd. What do you think?
We are coming 10/18 – 10/23 so we are avoiding the weekend crowds. We will do the 4 parks Mon – Thursday. Tom, what parks do you recommend doing on which days?
Thank you!
Bob
These are our dates too. It’s our 25th anniversary trip. Have fun!
15th anniversary for us! Congrats on 25!
We’ll be there too! It’s our 20th anniversary. 🙂
Just back from 2 week trip – first week at poly and second week at what turned out to be Contemporary. Second week was to be at Animal Kingdom Jambo but was able to get moved after talking to a couple of hotel managers. Enjoyed the trip but disney transporation was limited due to park hours and found ourselfs taken uber because of either limited bus or monorail times. Most transportation stoped 1 hour after park hours and we found ourselfs stranded because of lingering at parks or late dinner reservations.
One thing that became a sticking point for me – the buses. Due to Covid only 6 group/families due are allowed on the buses. We had a number of times of heated issues due to lack of lines at the resort hotels and once due to the bus driver filling the bus with large groups first – what line we had made didn’t matter to this one bus driver and he instead filled the bus with groups of 5 people first. The first 5 families in line were all 1, 2 or 3 people. I tried to tell him that all the people in the beginning of the line were waiting about 1 hour for the Hollywood bus but he created chaos by pulling anyone who had 5 or more first. The hell with Covid, in order to get on the bus, my family of 3 team up with a girl who was by herself otherwise we weren’t going to get on – she and i got to the bus stop at 8:15am for the first 9:00am bus to Hollywood. My family then relied on using uber to get to the parks in the morning.
Disney needs to do something at both poly & contemporary – people are people and most do not care how long you been waiting or who is first in line. I spoke to a number of people at Disney on this topic and always felt that it was not going to go up the ladder and get the attention it needs.
I typically ask during our hotel stays for information, in order to avoid wasted time. But, during our stay we had 3 or 4 occassions which we were told the wrong info or given transporation times. I even pointed out that MyDisney app wasn’t even correct when it spoke of transporation times. I get it, things are changing daily and must be a hurdle to get the correct word out to all employees and hotel front desk. But, do something when a guest points out an error.
I had a quick question we are going the 2nd to 3 rd week December 2020 and we were going to make the middle of our trip a resort day but do you think best to make the Sunday an off day and go to Epcot the Tuesday or vice versa? Your opinion would be greatly appreciated since traveling with young ones and will be our only day at Epcot. Thanks
“do you think best to make the Sunday an off day and go to Epcot the Tuesday”
We’d recommend that approach. Have a good trip!
Thank you so much.
My family is coming from out of state starting on Halloween. We plan on MK on Halloween, AK the next day the Hs on that Monday. A beach break between the back to Epcot for Christmas decor! But I’m stressed I picked all of the busiest days for each park! My husband is in a wheelchair due to kidney and liver disease and walking/standing for long periods of time, is hard, especially day after day. Is Disney good with their disability pass for someone like him? I just have been watching the wait times on the app and they are so long! Seems like the good old days in Ali for is Disney where we usually go.
If it’s for mobility das won’t be given bc the queues are big enough for wheelchairs. You could ask but I don’t know if they’ll give it to you.
Just a reminder from a fellow handicapped person- you do NOT have to tell Disney his exact health reasons. They will tell you they don’t want to know, since it’s a privacy violation. That being said, they WILL ask you a few key questions about his abilities. I would try for the DAS. It sounds like the mobility is a secondary issue with his health- once again, they won’t want or need to know details. Since he is in frail health, your chances are good. Protect your precious husband, and God bless! Have a great trip!
This great. We have had to cancel our 25th anniversary trip repeatedly due to covid, so we are just going for it. We will be in the parks 10/19 to 10/23 – no weekends and this all sounds good.
Hi Tom,
This question is a little off topic and I apologize in advance. However, you share such insightful comments and I would appreciate any thoughts/ advice you could offer. I am sending my family (wife, 16 yr old boy, 7 year old girl, 6 year old girl and 3 year old girl) to Disney in April. I cannot attend (we were all booked for last April but the trip was postponed due to covid and now I have a work conflict). I booked them at the Poly, thinking that the accessibility of the monorail would be helpful logistically. I received an email from Disney yesterday saying that the monorail will not stop at the Poly during the scheduled trip due to refurbishment of the main house at the Poly. I am now questioning whether a different resort might be a more convenient option, but I haven’t been to Disney in over 30 years and am unfamiliar with any of the resorts. I was wondering if, with one adult, one 16 year old (who is very mature and helpful) and 3 children 7 and under, you would suggest keeping the reservation at the Poly or moving to a different resort? This will be the first time for the younger 3 children. The 16 year old went to Disney with family maybe 10 year ago. I have reserved 2 days at MK, and 1 day at the other theme parks. Thank you in advance for any thoughts!
I’m not Tom. but depending on what building you’re in at the Poly, the monorail at the Ticket and Transportation center is closer than the one at the main building, so it shouldn’t be -too- inconvenient.
Hi Scott,
Thank you for responding. I googled the transportation stop and agree it should work nicely. Thank you again!
Currently the monorail isn’t running to Epcot either. Our last trip they said it most likely would not start back until they allow park hopping. Bay Lake / Contemporary might be easier if they don’t want to deal with transportation to at least one park, but any Disney hotel would be a great family trip.
You may also want to look at resorts with skyliner since you can go to epcot and Hollywood studios by it.
Grizz, appreciate the update. I have sentimental ties to the Poly bc I remember seeing it as a youth and wanting to stay there, yet part of me thinks Yacht Club May be the better option (I’ve red about the pool and location to Epcot and HS) . As you said, not sure I can go wrong! I am just excited to see the photos of the kids with sparkles in their eyes as they experience the Disney Magic for the first time. Thank you for your thoughts.
You might want to think about Art of Animation family suites. Your little ones would absolutely love it and you would have room for everyone. Plus you would be at a Skyliner resort.
Hi Tom! My family and I are going the last week of December. I am not sure which parks to chose for each day. I have a four day pass and it says to reserve my days as soon as possible. What would you recommend?
Thanks!!!!
Just a word of warning, are you contemplating going to Hollywood Studios any time soon. We are AP folks and went to HS on Wednesday the 30th and found that the crowd levels appeared to be fairly low. We arrived at 1030 or so with intent on doing a couple of rides to include the new Star Wars Rise of the Resistance. Well, the wait times for the 8 or so operating rides we all around 60 minutes or more and lines were moving very slow. We reduced our expectations to hopefully just get on the Rise of the Resistance. Essentially, we just sat and waited for the magic 2 p.m. opening to get into a boarding group. I hit the join group button a millisecond after the portal opened and selected my party and submitted the request less than 10 seconds after 2 p.m.
Notice on the app stated that all boarding groups were full. I find it hard to believe that all boarding groups filled in less than 10 seconds ( no exaggeration on the time). I am curious if annual passholders get sent to Neverland in this process by Disney, in favor of daily ticket or resort guest ticket holders.
Nonetheless, big waste of time going to Hollywood Studios. If it weren’t for living on the east coast, 75 miles away from Disney, I would be a lot sneakier about this. We will see if our club level reservations at AKL stick, in early December. I guess if anyone is planning a day trip to a Disney park, especially HS and even AK ( we did AK 2 weeks ago and it wasnt much better), you may want to reassess the trip if you are more than a few hours distance from Disney
Snarkier , not sneakier
Gotta love spellcheck
We went to HS on the 28th and was able to snag the 2 pm Rise of the Resistance standby boarding group and was able to experience this. We stayed on property and had purchased our tickets back at the first of March. The lines were long but moved better than our last visit when we waited 3 hours for some rides. I don’t favor Fast Pass. I was told by a cast member when in line for space mountain that they let 100 people go through fast pass for one person in standby. That’s just crazy. I counted myself and in less than 5 minutes over 100 people passed us in Fast Pass.
I’m wondering if your advice holds for Columbus Day week. Right now we have Epcot on 10/15 and MK on 10/20 because I was thinking that 10/20 would be a slower week in general. But now wondering if I should switch MK to 10/15 so we are going on a Thursday? How are Tuesdays at MK?
Hi Tom!
I have to say your updates are making me feel a lot better about my trip booked for mid December. I am curious though if the monorail from Contemporary to Epcot will be back up and running by then. Any thoughts around that?
Hey Tom! We are going to DW 11/11-11/17; arriving on the 11 and leaving the 17. So we have five days for parks. Which park would you plan two days for? I originally thought MK but now I’m thinking HS.
Hey Tom! I need some guidance. We are going to WDW and Universal staring Thanksgiving through the following Friday. Do you think crowds will still be low the week after thanksgiving? We are not sure what parks to do in what days. This is so hard anymore!! Thank you!
Thanks for the updates! Do you think they will extend hours for in-park restaurants as well? (For example, Tiffins only has reservations up until 5PM. with park close extended until 6PM might they add another hour of dining?)
We have a Saturday to Saturday stay starting December 12. We won’t arrive until late morning, so we will miss any rope drop except for maybe Epcot. What park do you suggest on the Saturday of arrival and Saturday of departure (we don’t leave until late afternoon)???
I wish they would extend the week day nights as well at Epcot. We don’t go on weekends.
Hi Tom,
Your reports are so helpful during these constant changes. My 7-year-old daughter and I will be there for a long weekend the second week of December (the trip is our Christmas gift and will be our first time visiting during the season).
Considering crowds and waits, I’m planning to reserve both of our park days for MK, assuming that’s the only way we will have time to fully explore Fantasyland and hopefully score CRT and BOG ADRs. Before I reserve park passes this weekend, would you agree with the focus on MK, or am I overestimating these rising crowds and wait times?
If you want to do two table service meals and the entire park, two days in Magic Kingdom is probably the safe bet–especially assuming there will be more to do and marginally higher crowds (both safe bets) by December.
Personally, I’d probably do one day in MK and one somewhere else. Book a park closing ADR for one of the restaurants to extend your day (see: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/night-tips-magic-kingdom/) and arrive early with a solid strategy. That’s just personal preference, though.
Thank you, Tom! I’ll re-read your new MK in One Day Plan and I hadn’t even thought of doing a park-closing ADR. We’ve never done BOG at night, so this would be a great chance to see the Beast for the first time, too. What a great idea!
I think u/Disney just saved a backout I was contemplating for a trip there in mid-December. I was getting concerned they were being too tone deaf with the rising crowds but know I can see they are thankfully extending hours as they go along.
I was hearing a lot of “we’re going to Disney” buzz in August from friends because their kids are virtual school and they could do a trip then without much harm. I do think December is going to be jam packed like socially distanced sardines as so many of us have just got to get to Disney for some magic to end the year.
“I was hearing a lot of “we’re going to Disney” buzz in August from friends because their kids are virtual school and they could do a trip then without much harm. I do think December is going to be jam packed like socially distanced sardines as so many of us have just got to get to Disney for some magic to end the year.”
If that ends up being true, and I suspect it will to at least some degree, a couple of things will happen. First, WDW will extend park hours and open more stuff. That’s a win for you. Second, they will block out Cast Members and not open up more last-minute availability for APs. Also a win (or at least neutral) for you.
Ultimately, I’d expect higher crowds and waits in December than right now…but there’s only so much higher that they can get with the current physical distancing.
Thanks for the updates Tom! I re-re-booked for November 8 – 9, with DHS on Sunday and EPCOT on Monday based on your suggestions. Also booked Caribbean Beach to make park transportation simple. I’m still hoping for the best but your updates are a big help in managing expectations. Many thanks!
You’re welcome–have a good trip!