Disney World Park Hours Extended for Star Wars: Rise of Resistance Opening & Beyond
Walt Disney World has extended park hours for opening weekend of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios. Additionally, hours at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot are now longer for December 2019 & January 2020, with earlier openings and later closings. In this post, we’ll cover the longer hours, offer background info, and what to expect crowd-wise.
Walt Disney World typically releases boilerplate hours around six months in advance, and then refines those hours a couple months before the months arrive. The boilerplate hours are always conservative likely for the sake of guests who are making ADRs, with the final hours reflecting operational realities and crowd levels of each month.
We covered all of that (with extended commentary) when increased park hours increased for this month and December 2019. This is a second increase for some of these dates, reflecting a mix of high attendance projections plus crowd manipulation efforts for the opening weekend of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the flagship attraction of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge…
For both December 2019 and January 2020, park hours have been extended for many dates, particularly in late December and early January. This includes several nights with Extra Magic Hours, which has caused those to be pushed back an hour to accommodate the longer operating hours for the general public. (Everyone wins!)
We won’t go through these of all as pretty much every park has seen its hours change (in all cases, these changes are extensions of an hour or more to operating hours), and the increased operating hours impact over half of December 2019. You’ll want to consult DisneyWorld.com’s December 2019 Park Hours Calendar for that.
Some noteworthy extensions worth mentioning are that Magic Kingdom will now be opening at 8 am and closing at midnight (previously 9 am to 10 pm) for the busy Christmas week of December 23 to 29, 2019. Also at Magic Kingdom, gone are the 8 pm closings of January 1-4, 2020, replaced with 10 or 11 pm closings. Other parks have also seen extensions for those same early January dates. Don’t expect there to be any early January 2020 lull, at least not until after the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. (Perhaps not even then.)
On December 5, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will now be opening at 8 am and closing at 10 pm. The park will not have Extra Magic Hours and even this expanded schedule seems pretty meager for the debut day of what has been hyped as one of Imagineering’s most ambitious projects, ever. We’ll circle back to the “why” on these hours.
Over at Epcot and Animal Kingdom hours have been extended, with both parks now offering 7 am Extra Magic Hours and 8 am normal park openings. Unfortunately, Magic Kingdom’s hours are not being extended in either direction, which is due to that being a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party night (scheduled months before the opening of Rise of the Resistance was finalized).
Now for some theorizing. It’s pretty obvious that the early openings of Epcot and Animal Kingdom on December 5, 2019 are being used to lure guests away from Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Many guests (perhaps even a majority) are blissfully unaware that Walt Disney World will be debuting a blockbuster attraction on that date, and this is a subtle way of nudging them away from encountering unexpected chaos at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Then there’s Disney’s Hollywood Studios itself, which still has fairly modest operating hours. There’s nothing wild here or even aggressive, like a midnight closing time or Extra Magic Hours. This is likely by design, as Disney has learned its lesson from this summer with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland. The goal here is not to scare crowds away by signaling that they’re expecting insanity.
Nevertheless, our expectation with Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which is supported by past precedent, is a quiet opening of the park by at least 6 am. Earlier is entirely possible and would be unsurprising. (Unless we receive reason to believe otherwise between now and then, we plan on being there before 5 am.) The same-day announcement of a later closing time is also possible, but we’d bet against it.
The time that transportation will start operating from the resorts that morning will be indicative of Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ actual opening time, so be sure to ask Cast Members at your resort (or look for a sign) the night before. If transportation begins at 3 or 4 am, DHS will open even earlier–Disney isn’t going to let a line for bag check extend all the way to the BoardWalk.
An unpublished early opening time functions as a great release valve on crowds for getting diehard fans willing to camp out overnight or be up at the crack of dawn cycled through Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. By not publishing the actual opening time, it both limits crowds to a manageable level and doesn’t scare regular guests away.
After a surplus of reports about low opening day/week/month/season crowds at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on both coasts, Disney undoubtedly wants to find the happy medium here. Photos and video of huge crowds and a multi-hour line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance…but also reports of a smooth experience and execution.
This positions Disney for a ‘best of both worlds’ response in terms of attendance levels and guest satisfaction. Whether that scenario plays out depends entirely on whether crowds materialize, the uptime of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and the flow of guests through Disney’s Hollywood Studios that day.
In general, we’re still expecting December to be very busy. Even without Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opening that day, Disney’s Hollywood Studios would see ‘healthy’ crowds, and the new attraction should cause at least a fair spike to that baseline. Because it’s the heart of holiday season and less is being done to actively discourage potentially reticent guests from visiting, we’d expect December 5 to be significantly busier than August 29.
If you’ll be visiting Walt Disney World on December 5, there are a couple of approaches we’d recommend. The first is going all-in on the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opening hoopla. Get to DHS hours before sunrise and embrace the palpable excitement of the ride’s debut–even if that means being stuck in huge crowds and long lines. There’s truly something to be said for this type of experience, but it’s definitely not for everyone. We love it, and plan on logging one long and exhausting day on December 5, 2019.
The alternative is to avoid Disney’s Hollywood Studios entirely (certainly don’t arrive at 9 am or during the middle of the day). Perhaps begin with Epcot for that rare early opening before park hopping to Magic Kingdom for what should be a low crowds day there before hopping over to Animal Kingdom for the evening. Or maybe monitor wait times and get to DHS at the very end of the night, and jump into line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance just before park closing. Whatever you do, it’ll be a good weekend to have park hopper tickets at Walt Disney World–being nimble and riding the ‘wave’ of crowds from park to park will definitely help you see and do more, while avoiding the worst wait times.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What is your plan for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance’s opening weekend? Will you be avoiding DHS that day or fully embracing the crowd/lines/whatever as part of the debut day experience? What do you think of the expanded park hours for December 2019 and January 2020 at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our 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!
Hey tom! I’m planning a last min trip to Disneyland, do you think mid week days are going to be busy 20-24 this month? TIA
Do you have any predictions Or tips for the first week of January? We’re planning on going January 2-5 and really want to hit Star Wars!
We’ll be there the first week of Feb- any park hour changes expected past January?
Is it possible there might be a soft opening of Rise of the Resistance in the days leading up to December 5th, just to test out the ride or whatever? Also, any idea what the capacity of the ride is? Can it handle a ton of people per hour?
I’m actually hoping they don’t open earlier than already listed for February. We are going with our 5 year old, and the EMH and regular hours are early enough. If they make openings earlier, we’ll have a very hard time taking advantage of those first few hours that the parks are open.
If one arrives at HS by 5am and a soft opening happens at 6am, when do you think they will be on Rise of the Resistance? I work in Tampa and trying to decide if I could get back by late morning :).
Thinking the same exact thing, even if I can sneak the daughter out of school til later in the day.
Hi Tom thanks for your great blog! I’m even warming up to the Country Bears. Have you heard any Revised times for Dec 7 or 8? That’s opening weekend but I do t see any change in hours from where it was a month ago. )
And any hints for getting on RoR on Dec 7? My current plan is to camp out until I get on the ride.
Thanks Tom,
I am curious of your opinion on Disneyland for the opening of Rise of Resistance. We are planning a trip to DL for March 2020 and curious if you think the opening will effort crowds into the first week of March?
Thank you so much Tom! I love reading your blog and have now planned 3 Disney Trips with your guides and advice. 🙂 Have you heard any info about the Rise of the Resistance media event? We have plans to be in HS on the 4th but are wondering if there will be early closures or areas blocked off for media. Thanks again for all your hard work!
Love your site – commentary, tips, insights, food – all of it! Heading to WDW for my 4th trip 12/7 (SO glad Trump canx!) & taking my 77 yo Mom for her 1st time to share the Xmas magic I love so much! Planning to do HS 12/8 & hoping for an early am arrival, so thanks for the tips re signage, transport & cast member questions. Wondering if you’ve seen the Royal Guest rooms @ PO Riverside? Can’t seem to download your Xmas directory, would you possibly send me a link, please? Thanks, & SOOOOOO excited! =)
Huzzah! I was really disappointed with MK hours Dec 13-22. 21st being our last night and we like to stay at MK as late as possible our last nights. So this turns out great. Glad to see HS staying open later too. I always thought it closed way to early (usually 8pm)
That’s our trip dates too! I’m also very happy to see the later hours. We aren’t early risers, but definitely night owls, so that works better for us. However, I was hoping for the Extra, Extra Magic Hours at HS. We took advantage of that in September when we first visited Galaxy’s Edge. It was awesome!
Hi Tom, I’ve been reading your posts for years, but this is the first time I have responded! First off, thanks for all the incredible info over the years! On December 5th, how do you foresee the rope drop occurring? Will people be allowed in at rope drop and then find out that they need to enter the virtual queue? I’m curious as to how many people will be initially allowed into Star Wars Land…and Rise of the Resistance….before that lands hits capacity. Any thoughts on this? Thanks! -Chris
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/disney-worlds-star-wars-galaxys-edge-opening-day-crowd-reaches-capacity-fast-1235310
Here’s some past info on what happened in August. Tho, they had an announced opening time of 8am, so maybe they’re hoping to wait until mid-morning or later to start the queue with their 8am announced opening.
https://ziggyknowsdisney.com/galaxy-edge-attractions-could-have-6-hour-wait-times/ – This site estimates SW:GE capacity to be roughly 15,000 people. Which is probably way more than will actually show up for rope drop. Guess as long as you can get into HS at ropedrop, you should be able to get into the land, but if you get there after ropedrop, probably best to be checking the app as soon as you’re past security.
I meant, 6 am opening time in August.
Erik, thanks for all of this info!!!
Any thoughts on hours and strategy for the following week (Dec 9-13) and whether that early unsaid opening of possibly 6am will extend through that week?
My guess (and this is just that) is that following opening weekend, DHS will quietly open up to an hour before the published time–but not before then.
Ultimately, it really comes down to crowd levels around bag check and the turnstiles. If tons of people continue showing up, Walt Disney World will continue quietly opening early. If not, they won’t.
but doesn’t that open disney up for a lot of unhappy people who go based on the published opening times? i get showing up early, but assuming they will open 2 hours earlier than posted, i would think disney is then going to have to field a lot of complaints from folks who, rightly in my opinion, were planning their day based on the published time. if they show up an hour ahead of the published 8am opening and the park has already been open for an hour, i would think they’d have to deal with a lot of upset guests who attempted to be proactive. at least with EEMH the times were basically clear cut.
Hollywood Studios is the only park where hours are basically untouched for December and January 9am to 9pm yet they have both Toy Story Land and Galaxy’s Edge. There is no paid evening after hours events and no paid Early Morning Magic Breakfast events. My thoughts are that Disney wants huge lines because that means it’s a success and if they can’t get big lines with regular operating hours then they aren’t offering any opportunities to have no or minimal wait times. Do you have thoughts on why there is such limited hours at this park in particular?
It was disappointing not to see expanded hours for the weeks after RoR, just opening day & holidays. I was planning to keep an eye out for last minute park hour adjustments when we get there Dec 10th. Thank you, this post gave me more confidence in the possibility. Hope is all we have 😉
Our HS day is Thurs the 12th which should give them time to respond if crowds continue exploding in GE.
I will be flying to Disney Dec 5th. Was wondering if anyone has used the mid day tickets and how it worked for them was it worth it to save a little money? I am not a newbie to Disney this will be m y 30th time.
Thanks for any info
Many people and families rarely show up to the parks before 10-11am. I think mid-day tickets are attractive for them. It doesn’t save a lot of money but if you don’t do ropedrops and openings anyway, this is a good deal.
For people who do show up early and get much done those first couple hours, not really worth it.
Tom,
At this stage, do you think it’s likely they will make a change to DHS on Friday 12/6? Is a soft early opening likely?
Thanks for all the great content.
From what I understand, the attraction is ready to go–the big concern is uptime.
Honestly, I’m not really sure if that makes a soft opening more or less likely…I hope one happens, but I haven’t heard anything.
Thank you! Specifically, I meant do you think DHS will open a few hours before posted time on 12/6 (as opposed to Rise of the Resistance opening a few days early).
We really appreciate your help.
I planned my upcoming Christmas trip long before the opening of Rise of the Resistance was scheduled (even before the opening date of Galaxy’s Edge itself was announced) and originally planned to skip Galaxy’s Edge entirely, saving it for a later trip.
But I’ve never been at WDW on the actual opening day of an attraction before, let alone one as potentially big as RotR, so I’ve added to my plans a rope drop of Hollywood Studios on the 5th just to say I did that. So these extended hours interest me– I especially like your prediction of an unannounced early opening, and I’ll certainly try to take advantage.
Thanks for the tip about asking a cast member on the day before when the buses will start: I’ll make sure to do that!
Yes, same here! Did not expect to catch RotR this trip but switched around our plans when the opening date was announced, bc how could you not?? (Though dragging a 1 yr old and 5 yr old with me is probably setting myself up for disappointment… hah!) Thank you SO MUCH for the tip of asking a Cast Member about transportation times – I never would have thought of that. This blog is THE BEST, thank you guys for all your insights.
good luck, and i mean that sincerely. i have kids around those ages also and i learned on our september trip to set my expectations very low if everyone is to enjoy themselves. don’t try to plan too much, you won’t get to it all.
Better to go Thursday December 5th or Friday December 6th?
If you are willing to get up as early as possible, I’d say December 5.
All these crowds for 1 new ride? I get the excitement for a new land, not for a new ride. We will be there Dec 6 and hope for extended hours for the weekend but who knows. At least for us it will be the first time in GE.
i agree. i simply don’t see the appeal of waiting hours upon hours for a ride that will be there long-term. FOMO for sure.
Many of the guests will have never experienced GE before so it will be 2 new rides and a new land for most. (The typical guest doesn’t hold a pass or go every year)
I’m going into my visit on the last week of January expecting high crowds at HS but hoping to be plesantly surprised. Do you think they will add After Hours dates for Jan? The have dates for MK and AK so I’m surprised there are none for HS. I would think that would be a popular ticket. I’d happily fork over the cash for it.