Extended Evening Hours Returning to Hollywood Studios in Fall 2023
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours returns to Hollywood Studios starting in September 2023. This post shares dates, details, and 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.
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 every Monday at EPCOT and every 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.
By contrast, 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–especially at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
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.
As for Extended Evening Hours, it’ll 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
Here’s the eligible attraction roster for Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios:
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Muppet*Vision 3D
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- Toy Story Mania!
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
The conspicuous omission from that list is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which was part of Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios last holiday season. This could be a mistake, but we’re guessing that it’s intentional.
It’s interesting that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is excluded here, still closes early at Disneyland, and will use a virtual queue at Disney Jollywood Nights Christmas Party. I wonder if there are still issues with the ride’s reliability later in the evening.
As a consolation prize of sorts, MuppetVision 3D has been added to the list of eligible attractions.
Normally, Disney’s Hollywood Studios does not participate in Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. However, DHS did participate in Extended Evening Hours a few times last year. I was able to attend one of those evenings, and it was great. We’d expect the same to hold true for Extended Evening Hours at DHS in Fall 2023, and would highly recommend taking advantage if you’re able to do so.
When DHS offers another Extended Evening Hours, our recommendation is starting with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance a few minutes before official park closing followed by Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. After that, head the other direction towards Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, followed by Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, before doubling back and finishing in Toy Story Land with Slinky Dog Dash right at the very end of the night. That’ll likely be the best strategy.
Even before this news, we’ve had many readers ask us whether Extended Evening Hours would return to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for Christmas 2023. We didn’t have an answer then and still don’t know now.
Walt Disney World likely is not doing this as a “gift” to guests. In the past, they’ve done Extended Evening Hours at DHS as an alternative to EPCOT or Magic Kingdom due to scheduling conflicts, such as private events or corporate park buyouts. Those Extended Evening Hours happened on the same nights as their counterparts in Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.
These Fall 2023 Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios are happening on a Saturday, and twice on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I can’t explain that. It’s possible these are counterprogramming for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and will help combat crowds and displaced guests as a result of that. I don’t really know, though.
Two of these nights are happening around the busy Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ holiday weekend, which has become increasingly busy at Walt Disney World. But other dates are more random, at times in October when I wouldn’t necessarily expect chaotic crowds.
So to answer the inevitable question, I still don’t know about Extended Evening Hours at DHS this holiday season. If the Fall 2023 dates are due to displaced crowds during Party Season, there’s a good chance it’ll happen again around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I wouldn’t bet on that, but I wouldn’t bet against it, either. Very insightful analysis, I know.
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.
Although few things are as pleasant as a serene stroll through World Showcase after park closing, the ‘country route’ is often closed off after a certain time and ride breakdowns can make EPCOT Extended Evening Hours less enjoyable–or productive. With its more compact layout and top-heavy ride roster, we think that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is much better suited to host Extended Evening Hours.
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? Did you do this at DHS last year when it was offered? Hoping Extended Evening Hours return to DHS again for Christmas? Disappointed about the eligibility rules or attraction lineup excluding Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? 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!
Do you know if Fantasmic be showing on the nights of Hollywood Studios Extended Evening Hours? The start time of Fantasmic is 9:30 and the start time of extended evening hours is 9:00. Just wondering how that will work?
If you had to choose between EEH at HS or low daytime crowds on a party day at MK, which would you choose?
Has anyone confirmed if they are definitely not doing extended evening hours at MK for the fall?? If so, why? Since after park close it shouldn’t interfere with fireworks etc despite party season. I know getting EEH at 3 parks is unrealistic but take Epcot! I will be so disappointed as we are a group of adults that can accomplish so much during the late hours at MK.
I am watching this closely also, as I will be going with my husband for our honeymoon in October. I was also very much looking forward to Magic Kingdom late at night. It looks like thus far Hollywood Studios may be replacing the Magic Kingdom extended hours as September 27 and October 4 have not had Magic Kingdom extended hours and this coincides with the extended hours at Hollywood Studios starting. We will alter our itinerary if this continues to be the case to take advantage of extended hours at Hollywood Studios while we are there instead, but definitely disappointing. As for reasoning why, I have no idea.
I’m pretty bummed about this announcement. Not because I don’t Love the idea of HS EEH but because they took away the MK EEH on Wednesday, Sept 27th.
We will be there from Friday, Sept 22 through Saturday, Sept 30th and now we will only be getting 1 EEH option (Monday at Epcot). We miss out on the HS hours and MK hours 🙁
8 night stay in a deluxe and we only get 1 EEH option!
I’m glad they announced this before our 60 days. I’m going to have to rearrange some things.
Tom, do you think Hollywood Studios will be busier in general on days where extended hours are offered? We won’t be able to take advantage of extended hours but would like to avoid those dates if they’ll be busier during regular operating hours. Thanks!
“Tom, do you think Hollywood Studios will be busier in general on days where extended hours are offered?”
Extended Evening Hours have not had an appreciable impact on crowd levels anywhere to date–day of week trends prevail, at least at MK and EPCOT.
I signed into My Disney Experience and the calendar only goes to Sept 27. How did you see into October?
I wonder why they aren’t having extended evening hours at MK on Wednesday, September 27th? We were really looking forward to it
Just wondering how you know that they aren’t having extended hours? The only calendar I can find is until September 17
Hi Shelbie!
I was looking on the calendar that’s on the My Disney Experience app
Definitely agree that HS is by far much better than Epcot for EMH, but that is still not even close to being enough to get me to pay the ridiculous Deluxe resort prices, especially since it will only be for 2 nights during a full week stay. Now if they would increase it to have 2 nights each during the week, then I would put staying at a Deluxe back on the table.
I know some may not agree with me, but I wish they would start offering extended evening hours to all the on property resorts. It is great to have the early entry every day for those who can take advantage of it. But for us, our adult son is autistic and a night owl. Getting him up and out to take advantage of the early entry can be challenging. Besides, not everyone wants to get up at the butt crack of dawn while on vacation and not every family can afford the deluxe resorts. It just seems like more of Disney catering to the wealthy and thumbing their nose at everyone else. Another example is no microwaves in the values. Sure you can request one, but it is not guaranteed. Even the cheapest motels usually have microwaves. It is ridiculous that any of Disney’s resorts wouldn’t have them in every room. Especially when staying at a value resort is almost always more expensive than staying off property. Paying that extra for the Disney bubble should include all the perks, no matter what tier resort you stay at. Sorry to sound like a whinng Karen. I love Disney, but sometimes ya need to vent. Thank you Tom for another great and informative article.
It’s not that they are catering to people who can afford to stay at Deluxe resorts. It’s that they are trying to offer a benefit at the Deluxe resorts that helps justify the much higher cost to incentivize more people to book stays at those resorts.
Back when evening Extra Magic Hours were open to all on-property resorts, the result was elevated-to-insane crowds in that particular park. I recommended to everyone that they join me in avoiding that particular park on that particular day, and I would implore anyone with an unavoidable aversion to crowds to do the same.
On the plus side, all those people making one park worse made three parks significantly better.
Sorry, I am a little confused, do you think they will still do extended evening hours at Magic Kingdom on October 25?? I had planned our whole Disney World Itinerary around that.
For Rise of the Resistance, my thought is that ride must need X hours of nightly maintenance to have any hope of being semi-reliable during daytime hours, hence not staying open past a certain time on both coasts. I wonder if there was any correlation between the previous Extended Evenings at DHS and Rise having more downtime than usual the next day?
I’m surprised not to see November 1st not on this list, as it would normally be a Magic Kingdom EEH event, and has a party on that night.
It’s possible that November/December dates will come with a subsequent update. Walt Disney World’s operating calendar is only posted through late September, so I’m surprised they already released even these dates.
Wish they were doing after hours in August! Why Epcot and not HS???
It’s really frustrating because the heat at DHS during August and September is significant and after hours is the best way to enjoy the Park. I can’t understand why they can’t do a hard ticket there in those months.
I’m so frustrated! I’ve been waiting and waiting to hear about DHS evening hours and its not starting until the 30th!! It feels like everything is either ending the week before or starting the week after I am there. At least tell me park hours!! oi vey Disney