Extended Evening Hours Switch from Magic Kingdom to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Fall 2026!
Disney’s Hollywood Studios will start hosting Extended Evening Hours after Summer 2026, switching away from Magic Kingdom. Based on past precedent, this is almost certainly a lengthy change that lasts through early January 2027. This post shares date(s), details, and strategy for taking advantage of the on-site perk for guests staying at higher-end hotels.
As basic background, Extended Evening Hours (ExEH) is the 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 and still be eligible if you want to hack ExEH.
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. It’s usually Monday at EPCOT and Wednesday at Magic Kingdom. See our Strategy Guide for Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for more ins and outs of the nighttime Deluxe benefit.
When it comes to the latest updates, let’s start with the good news. Magic Kingdom is hosting Extended Evening Hours every Wednesday between now and August 19, 2026. This is technically the default, so not exactly stop the presses news, but it is notable since this is not what happened last summer.
Instead, Animal Kingdom took over Extended Evening Hours hosting duties for most of last summer. This schedule change started ahead of Disney Starlight Night Parade’s debut, and continued through early 2026. There were a handful of Magic Kingdom dates late last summer, but not many.
Here’s a rundown on all of the upcoming changes to Extended Evening Hours in Summer & Fall 2026…
Extra Late Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom
Our fear was that Starlight having two performances per evening on select nights in Summer 2026 would again cause this to happen. Due to later sunset times, the second Starlight is presented at 11 pm, which means that Extended Evening Hours would run from 11 pm to 1 am on those nights. Instead of having those rare extra late hours, we worried that Walt Disney World would simply shift ExEH to Animal Kingdom.
Thankfully, they are not! There are already several dates that have 11 pm to 1 am Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom, and this trend continues on all Wednesdays that have received park hours extensions thus far. This now includes July 8, July 15, and July 22, 2026.
With rolling extensions of regular park hours, more dates in July will likely have that schedule going forward (hours have only been extended through July 25, 2026). This is very good news for guests visiting in the next couple of months! Given the guest complaints about Extended Evening Hours at Animal Kingdom last summer, this isn’t completely surprising, either.
Extended Evening Hours at Animal Kingdom
Looking forward, Animal Kingdom hosts Extended Evening Hours on only two late summer Wednesdays: August 26 and September 2, 2026. That’s it for the near-term, but as discussed below, ExEH will likely return to DAK at Christmas.
Extended Evening Hours are normally more popular during the summer months, regardless of lower crowds, due to higher temperatures. However, that’s also when guests get an extra two hours of late nights in Magic Kingdom or EPCOT. Animal Kingdom closes at 6 pm most nights this summer, meaning that these ‘extra hours’ both begin and end before sunset.
Animal Kingdom has another issue, which is its limited ride roster. That’s even worse this year, with the park down one more attraction due to DINOSAUR being reimagined into Indiana Jones Adventure. DAK has the most limited ride roster by far during ExEH: Avatar Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest, Na’vi River Journey, and Zootopia: Better Zoogether. That’s it. Four attractions. Maybe they’ll add Kali River Rapids this year?
Due to all of this and Animal Kingdom not being nearly as popular as Magic Kingdom, the move to DAK has been controversial with guests. I’ve done exactly one summertime ExEH at DAK, and I’m done with it. Even when I exited the park, it was still broad daylight (and very hot). That underscored to me why guests have been less than enthused about ExEH at DAK. On the plus side, I had plenty of time to get over to Magic Kingdom for the final 2+ hours of the regular operating day!
Extended Evening Hours Returns to Magic Kingdom
Likely in response to guest feedback and frustrations, Walt Disney World has added one (1) more Wednesday night Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom on September 9, 2026.
While we didn’t necessarily expect Magic Kingdom to host ExEH once more in Fall 2026, this isn’t unexpected. To the contrary, this is exactly what happened last year with one final ExEH after DAK took over hosting for a couple of weeks in late summer.
Going forward, we would not expect the extra hours to return to Magic Kingdom again until the second week of January 2027. Maybe there’s another week in early November when they can squeeze in one last Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom this year, but we doubt it.
Party Season Schedule Shift
In each of the past several years, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom have taken over hosting duties from Magic Kingdom each year during Party Season. This occurs because of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, which begins in August and kicks into high gear in September.
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 2, 2026. (There is a final After Hours at DHS on Saturday, September 12, 2026.)
This means that Animal Kingdom takes over as the backup to DHS on the Wednesdays with scheduling conflicts, which is precisely why ExEH is at DAK on August 26 and September 2, 2026.
Extended Evening Hours Return to DHS in Fall 2026
This all brings us to the latest development, which is that Walt Disney World has added Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on September 16, 2026 from 9 pm to 11 pm. That’s as far out as the schedule currently goes.
We previously predicted this would happen on either September 9 or 16, and continue through late October 2026, with Animal Kingdom taking over starting on November 4, 2026 due to the Jollywood Nights Christmas Party at DHS.
From early November 2026 until early 2027, Animal Kingdom will likely host the second Extended Evening Hours of the week. That is what has happened in each of the last few years.
On a positive note, once Animal Kingdom takes over ExEH hosting duties in November and December, the extra hours will be entirely after sunset due to Daylight Saving Time ending on November 1, 2026. At that point, the sunset time will be around 5:30 pm, as opposed to the current 8:30 pm. That means evenings in Pandora!
Even though the schedule is not yet published that far out, you should plan for Magic Kingdom to not host Extended Evening Hours between roughly September 10, 2026 and January 6, 2027.
However, nothing after September 16, 2026 is on the official calendar. The rest is speculative on our part, but firmly supported by past precedent at this point. Nevertheless, don’t make concrete plans until Walt Disney World adds your dates to the official calendar.
Rides Open for Extended Evening Hours at DHS
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
- Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania!
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 a couple of years ago. It wasn’t last year, so we presume this to be accurate for 2026. Disney has otherwise been updating the list, as reflected by the inclusion of Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets.
Strategy for Extended Evening Hours at DHS
Unlike ExEH at DAK, we highly recommend doing Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I’ve made a point of attending one of those evenings in each of the last few years, and it’s usually great. We’d expect the same to hold true for Extended Evening Hours at DHS in Fall 2026, especially now that Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets has debuted and is drawing longer lines.
Tentatively, our recommendation for ExEH at DHS is to do attractions in the following order:
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (a few minutes before official park closing)
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Tower of Terror
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets
- Toy Story Mania (time permitting)
- Slinky Dog Dash
The above plan might be overly ambitious depending upon crowd levels.
For instance, if you’re going around Fall Break, you might not be able to accomplish Toy Story Mania, or you might arrive at Slinky Dog Dash to find a long line. By contrast, on September 16, 2026, you might be able to loop Slinky Dog Dash. That date makes our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2026 & 2027.
It also remains to be seen just how popular Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets is by mid-September and beyond. The heightened demand could fizzle out, or fans who plan annual Walt Disney World vacations for the final few months of the year could cause an even bigger surge.
If Muppets RnRC is a walk-on, as has been the case in the past during ExEH, I might just loop it as many times as my body will allow to see how many songs I can score. I might then try to race over to Toy Story Land in the final minutes before ExEH ends to do one ride on Slinky Dog Dash. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to test this strategy and report back early in the ExEH season!
Ultimately, we’re big fans of Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and are happy to have this option for a couple of months. DHS is my second-favorite park for Extended Evening Hours after Magic Kingdom. The condensed layout of the park and top-heavy ride roster is really conducive to getting a lot done in a capacity-constrained environment.
Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is definitely much better than at Animal Kingdom. That’s doubly or triply true given the limited ride roster of the latter and the fact that its late summer ExEH ends before it’s actually evening!
Then there’s 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, long walks eating up too much time, and ride breakdowns can make EPCOT Extended Evening Hours much less productive. (I’ve had a couple of ExEHs “ruined” at EPCOT due to downtime.)
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is still better suited to host Extended Evening Hours thanks to its ride roster and smaller footprint, and we wish it were the permanent park for the extra evening hours on Mondays, with Magic Kingdom on Wednesdays. Now that would be the perfect year-round combo! Regardless, we’re really looking forward to doing ExEH at DHS again in Fall 2026!
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 Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Fall 2026? Did you do this at DHS last year when it was offered? Hoping Extended Evening Hours stay at DHS through Christmas? Thoughts on the ride roster or revised strategy now that Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets has debuted? 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!
