No Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom During Peak Party Season
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours will go on hiatus at Magic Kingdom starting in September 2023. This post shares dates & details, and explains the ‘why’ behind this decision, as well as strategy for taking advantage of the on-site perk for Walt Disney World guests staying at a Deluxe Resorts, DVC Villas, and select other hotels.
For those who are new to Walt Disney World vacation planning, 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. (Some might call these a magical perk of extra hours…or perhaps extra magical hours for the sake of brevity? I dunno, just spitballing better name ideas.)
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours has two types of resort eligibility, occurs two nights per week, is at two parks, and runs for two hours (pretty much everything about the perk occurs in twos). 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.
Early Entry is offered at all 4 theme parks every single day, runs for 30 minutes, and every on-site resort guest is eligible, including the third party on-property hotels. Despite the expanded eligibility, Early Entry is also great at 3 of the 4 parks. (More on the big exception to that in a bit.)
For everything you need to know about that benefit, see our Strategy Guide for Early Theme Park Entry at Walt Disney World. That includes where Early Entry works best and worst, rides to prioritize and avoid, and more. Now that we’re up to speed on the basics, let’s turn to the latest development regarding the ‘extra hours’ at Magic Kingdom.
Turning to this news, Walt Disney World recently announced the return of Extended Evening Hours at Hollywood Studios in September and October 2023. At the time, the calendar was not yet available for those dates, so it was possible that ExEH at DHS was in addition to the perk at Magic Kingdom, not in place of it. That has happened in the past on a couple of occasions.
Now that the calendar is out through the first half of October 2023, we know that the Extended Evening Hours perk will end at Magic Kingdom during that time frame. (This has also happened in the past on a couple of occasions.)
At present, Extended Evening Hours are offered at Magic Kingdom on the following dates for the remainder of the year:
- August 23, 2023
- August 30, 2023
- September 6, 2023
- September 13, 2023
- September 20, 2023
As of right now, we know that Extended Evening Hours will be available at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on the following dates in Fall 2023:
- September 30, 2023
- October 5, 2023
- October 11, 2023
- October 19, 2023
- October 25, 2023
This schedule for Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios was previously announced.
It’s unknown where the Wednesday ExEH will occur after October 25, 2023 because the operating calendar doesn’t go that far, and Walt Disney World no longer separately publishes a list of Extended Evening Hours dates and times.
In terms of commentary, our expectation is that the Fall 2023 Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios are happening as counterprogramming for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP). Magic Kingdom is a veritable crowd roller coaster this time of year, and moving ExEH to DHS should help combat crowds and displaced guests as a result of that.
Already, we’ve seen this play out and it’s only August. In case you missed it, check out last week’s post about the Third Slowest Day of 2023 at Magic Kingdom. While many people on Facebook who didn’t read the post attributed that solely to hot weather, the biggest cause was actually shorter hours due to MNSSHP.
How are low crowds during the day at Magic Kingdom relevant to Extended Evening Hours? Because nothing happens in a vacuum. Tourists are not doing Magic Kingdom on party days in their normal numbers, meaning that they are disproportionately visiting on non-party days.
Not to ‘spoil’ upcoming posts, but on the days around that third slowest day of the year, I also experienced an incredibly busy Early Entry morning and the worst Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom. I’m inclined to attribute a decent part of how busy that ExEH was to the weather, but not all of it. Regardless, this is happening in August during what should be the start of the off-season at Magic Kingdom.
Whatever the dynamic is now, you can be sure it’ll be amplified in late September and October 2023. Two of the nights that ExEH is moving to Disney’s Hollywood Studios are happening around the busy Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ holiday weekend, which has become increasingly busy at Walt Disney World. That move makes complete sense and is undeniably savvy on Disney’s part.
The other dates are slightly more random, at times in September and October when I wouldn’t necessarily expect chaotic crowds. With that said, I’d absolutely expect those dates to be busier than right now. The crowd situation is already ‘bad’ to the extent that it’s probably smart for Disney to make this change.
Moving Extended Evening Hours to Disney’s Hollywood Studios decreases demand for the perk. That’s because guests can experience nighttime in DHS literally any night of the week, instead of 3 nights of the week as is the case at Magic Kingdom during the height of Party Season.
It also allows Magic Kingdom to potentially extend its closing time until 11 pm, instead of the current 10 pm. Frankly, this should already be happening on non-party nights–the demand is there. Magic Kingdom should be closing on non-party nights at midnight during the relevant time frame in September and October. It’s honestly absurd that normal pre-pandemic hours still have not returned to Magic Kingdom. But I digress.
To answer the inevitable question, we still don’t know about Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios in November or December 2023. If the Fall 2023 dates are due to displaced crowds during Party Season, there’s a good chance it’ll happen again around Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and the lead-up to Christmas. That would mean a mix of ExEH at Magic Kingdom and at DHS during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party dates.
If I were the one making decisions, I’d move Extended Evening Hours to DHS for the rest of 2023. If I were a guest impacted by this, rather than being upset about not enjoying ExEH at MK, I’d be happy to see the perk shifted to the park with lower demand. That’s my perspective as someone who has watched crowd dynamics during Party Season for the past decade, and has already seen a more exaggerated version of that in 2023. Of course, things could change as the weather improves…but I certainly would not count on that.
Ultimately, we’re big fans of Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and hope that it’s offered more. While we love it being available at 3 parks, we’d honestly rather do it at DHS than EPCOT. Ride breakdowns and the long distances between attractions can make EPCOT Extended Evening Hours less enjoyable–and less productive. With its more compact layout and top-heavy ride roster, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is much better suited to host Extended Evening Hours.
That brings us to our ‘wish’ for Extended Evening Hours going forward. My hope is that Extended Evening Hours go on hiatus at Magic Kingdom during the rest of Party Season, returning on January 10, 2024. At that point, I’d like to see Disney’s Hollywood Studios replace EPCOT as the Monday ExEH option.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be taking advantage of Extended Evening Theme Park Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Fall 2023? Disappointed about the lack of ExEH at Magic Kingdom in late September and October? Hoping Extended Evening Hours are offered at MK or DHS for the holiday season? 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!
I made my BLT reservation in Jan 2023 for Dec 2023, based on ExEH at MK, MVMCP, and being able to walk back & forth.
I am annoyed, disgruntled, unhappy about this late drop of ExEH at MK.
It is too late now to get a reservation at the Epcot resorts by months.
DVC books up very early for Dec, especially the Epcot resorts.
I booked tickets to animal kingdom on 11/16 and was VERY surprised to see that it is hosting extended evening hours from 2 to 5pm that day! Ended up making the tickets park hopper so we can try to take advantage of the perk without ending our day in the parks so early.
I absolutely would not pay extra to stay deluxe for EEH. 3 times we have done it at Epcot and waited almost the whole time in line for Guardians as we were using our 6pm queue drop time. At that point, Epcot is so spread out like you said so very little time to get to other attractions. At Magic Kingdom it’s fun to just hang out even as a non-deluxe guest to eat and enjoy the cooler evening as you can stay until EEH is over but just not go on rides. I also saw many G+ users scanning into the lightning lane during EEH in both parks.
Tom – I came looking specifically to see if you had commentary on whether MK or Epcot are busier than usual in the late afternoon/early evenings during regular park hours on days with ExEH at night. We’re planning our trip for spring break – midMarch (pray for us) and I’m guessing the MK isn’t a great choice to spend our regular park hours evening if there are ExEH that night and we aren’t planning to attend due to higher than normal evening crowds. I couldn’t really tell since your commentary allowed for party season, weather etc. Does this seem like a logical bet? We are staying deluxe but we’re into the early morning entry and just aren’t night owls. We might try it once but not at MK since we usually make efficient use of Genie+ at the MK.
*SOB* I am doing a big extended family trip for Christmas this year. I added a 1-night stay at the Bay Lake Towers on 12/20 so that we could take advantage of walking to the park and staying until 1am. Half the family have either never been or haven’t been to Disney in 30 years, so the allure is the Magic Kingdom, not HS.
We’re going the first week of December. We’re staying at a Deluxe Resort for the EEH perk. I am disappointed that it might not be available. We did purchase Jollywood and MVMCP tickets, so we’ll have that, but I’m honestly contemplating staying at a different resort if there’s no perks to Deluxe.
The Dolphin and the Swan is not a Disney owned resort so not surprised Disney did not accommodate you with transportation for your resort. Remember for the Disney owned resorts they had busses to take you back to your resort. Dolphin and Swan should have offered that for their guests and chose not to do so.
Boardwalk and Yacht Beach do not offer bus transportation from Hollywood or Epcot either. You either walk or take the boats. The Friendship boats operate about an hour after closing at Hollywood or Epcot.
This is an older observation, but during our trip last December, we were able to take advantage of extended evening hours at MK, Epcot, and DHS. Overall, it was a great perk, and we were able to get a lot done, but we were surprised by the number of regular day guests continuing to ride via their genie+ reservations long after the parks were closed to non-deluxe resort guests. This wasn’t the case for the standby lines – cast members were very firm about scanning magicbands/tickets to check for resort reservations, but the lightening lane lines seemed to still be fully accessible to anyone with an earlier genie+ reservation, which didn’t make sense to us. It would have been one thing to allow people a grace window during the first hour, but we saw several guests continuing to use them all the way up to closing. It was particularly striking at Space Mountain.
If they paid for a lighting lane that was delayed due to issues with the ride then they should still be allowed to ride even if after hours. Not the guests fault.
I will say that Disney’s tendency to change these things only a month or two ahead of time is frustrating as a guest. I’m in the process of planning a trip for early December next year, and am planning a split value/Swolphin stay in order to take advantage of EEE. But the changes this fall prove that not only can I not necessarily count on the typical Epcot Monday/MK Wednesday schedule, but I can’t even count on EEE events happening at any park on Wednesdays, period.
By the time these hours are announced, it might be too late to try to pivot plans since hotels and flights are already booked. Makes me wonder if it’s not even worth trying to plan my trip around that perk and just stick with a value room for the whole stay.
I hear that. We don’t comment on it as much now, but this was a common refrain here back when Walt Disney World did 180 day ADRs, but post actual/final park hours about a month in advance, and make other last-minute changes.
I’d maybe wait to see what ends up happening with the final ExEH schedule this fall and early winter before deciding.
i did both the evening hours back in end of January 23 – in theory slow time.
We are couple 45/50.
We enjoyed epcots – we had a meal during the fireworks (so a nice sit down – looking throigh window in Mexico) and then 90 mins to ride a few things like Soaring and ratatouiee,i think test track, then walk back to Dolphin. in bed by 11.30!
We tried magic kingdom one – normal hours were x to 10pm so extra magic 10-12. but then the park times moved so became 11pm-1am.
We had arrived at magic kindom at 11ish (had genie plus and stacked things up) and by time fireworks were over, we were done. Only mine train to go but the thought of waiting an extra 2-3 hours after a long day was just a bit much.
So its a lovely idea. but also KNOW YOURSELF – we got up early (from UK so time difference in our favour) and just wouldn’t last all day – if it was back at Hollywood or Epcot and we were staying at a lake property and could walk or pop in/out easily (think we visited epcot 5 times in 10 days for half days) then its great. But magic kingdom we always spent a whole longish day.
(i can imagine trying to do it with kids the same, no fun with tired kids)
Isn’t Jollyworld at Hollywood studios in November and December on Wednesday nights? Would they change extended hours days to Tuye or Thursday to accommodate doing it at HS?
We tried extended evening hours at both EPCOT and MK this past week, and found them to be of very little value. Lines remained long for all the popular attractions (which seemed to be running at reduced capacity), and lightning lanes were in constant use despite G+ supposedly not being available during those hours, so that we could only do a few attractions in the two hours allotted. We definitely wouldn’t let this “perk” be a deciding factor in whether to choose a deluxe resort in the future.
I also noticed we’re now two weeks out from September and they are still not scheduled to open Magic Kingdom earlier on party days. I asked planDisney several weeks ago and they did not think it would happen — I know it’s supposed to be slower overall but still, why??
The Mom’s Panel (or whatever it’s called now) that answers those questions doesn’t have access to any non-public information. In other words, they would not know.
I still fully expect hours to be extended in September. I wouldn’t bet the farm on it, as this is the time of year that Disney likes to cut costs…but it’ll be massively disappointing if they don’t.
We didn’t have the greatest time at Extended Evening hours the 2nd week of June (June 14) or the first week of August (August 2) at Magic Kingdom. It was extremely crowded and the lines were long. A lot of visitors commented and complained that it didn’t feel like an exclusive perk. We stayed until the end both times and the crowds never really lowered. In June the buses were efficient. In August the boats were too slow and we ended up taking the bus back to Wilderness Lodge after waiting 20 minutes for a boat in August.
The last time I had done ExEH was in early June, and it was still pretty good–but not as good as before. The last couple of times in August were even worse. I think the opening of TRON is one factor, weather is another, and the start of Party Season is yet another.
I also had frustrations with transportation leaving one night…leading me to ‘wait out’ the crowd inside the park the following attempt.
Tom,
this probably isn’t right forum for this comment/reply but your comment on transportation triggered it
we did the Epcot party on Thursday August 17 and while we enjoyed the party we were pretty shocked that neither the skyliner nor the friendship boats were running at 1 when party ended. the skyliner closed down at 10:30 apparently. At 75 the walk back to the dolphin was pretty brutal for me and even for my daughter and granddaughter. although the final few parties were sold out I’d be surprised if these events happen again because of this kind of problem. I was wondering about your thoughts?