New Extra, Extra Magic Hours at Disney World (Including Star Wars Land!)
Walt Disney World has announced that beginning this fall, resort hotel guests will be able to take advantage of free morning “Extra, Extra Magic Hours” starting at early as 6 a.m. in Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios–including Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
The Extra, Extra Magic Hours benefit will include Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as well as other experiences at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom theme parks. Here’s the rundown:
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Daily from September 1 through November 2, 2019 the park will have Extra, Extra Magic Hours from 6-9 a.m., including Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, plus Toy Story Land, and select other attractions.
From August 29 to 31, 2019, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will open at 6 a.m. for all guests. There will not be Extra, Extra Magic Hours on those days.
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Extra, Extra Magic Hours will happen daily August 29 to November 2, 2019, from 7-8 a.m., featuring Pandora — The World of Avatar and other attractions throughout the park (same as today’s morning Extra Magic Hours offerings).
- Magic Kingdom – Extra, Extra Magic Hours will happen daily from August 29 to November 2, 2019, from 7-8 a.m., featuring Fantasyland and Tomorrowland attractions (the same as today’s morning Extra Magic Hours offerings).
Extra Magic Hours will also continue to be available on select days at Epcot.
This is huge and unanticipated news. Well, at least the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom aspect of the announcement. We fully expected Disney’s Hollywood Studios to open super-early for the initial opening period of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, but even then, we didn’t anticipate such a prolonged period of scheduled 6 a.m. openings.
For a while, we’ve been harping on the point that Star Wars Land will not draw guests away from the other lands or parks–it’ll draw more tourists to Walt Disney World, and those people aren’t going to just do Galaxy’s Edge. Remember, a rising tide lifts all boats. If you had any lingering doubt about this “prediction,” the new Extra, Extra Magic Hours for Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom should put that issue to bed.
May 6, 2019 Update: Lots of readers have asked about priority access for on-site guests opening day; unfortunately, I would not expect anything. Many guests will camp out overnight to enter Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and from an operational/crowd-flow perspective, there’s really no good way to handle that aside from letting everyone in the park at once. (I’d expect the actual, unpublished opening to occur around ~5 a.m. to help deal with folks camped out, but that’s just a guess.)
Evening Extra Magic Hours that night (and thereafter) are a possibility, but I wouldn’t expect anything to be announced on that front right away. To be honest, I’m surprised Disney announced these hours before seeing how things went at Disneyland.
If you’re an on-site guest who doesn’t care about being among the “first” to experience opening day, I’d recommend visiting a different park August 29 and 30, and doing Disney’s Hollywood Studios on September 1 or thereafter. You will be at a huge advantage by virtue of waiting a couple of days.
The downside to these “Extra, Extra Magic Hours” is that Walt Disney World is doing this for a reason. Whether that’s because internal attendance projections are showing a tremendous surge in attendance or because they are simply anticipating heavy crowds (a third, totally different motive would be that this is a clever attempt to entice more people to stay on-site), there is a reason. Disney wouldn’t extend park hours to this degree “just because” or as a nice perk.
The upside is that this creates some exceptional opportunities for early-risers. We’ve taken advantage of extended Extra Magic Hours like this (albeit not as extreme) a few times, and the advantages they offer cannot be overstated. Super-early Extra Magic Hours is better than a paid hard ticket event in terms of efficiency.
We’ve done the ‘extended’ morning Extra Magic Hours for both Pandora – World or Avatar and Toy Story Land (read about our DHS experience here), and they are glorious. More recently, we did two rounds of 7 a.m. morning Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom for spring break and Easter, and that was likewise a wonderful experience. (Read about our ‘Before Sunrise in Magic Kingdom’ experience here.)
The reality is that most Walt Disney World hotel guests are on vacation, and waking up at ~4 a.m. to get ready and to a theme park by ~5:30 a.m. is simply not the ideal way of relaxing or is impossible due to kids. (In reality, you should probably arrive before 5:30 a.m.) Consequently, pretty much any opening time before 8 a.m. is always a joyous experience, with low crowds, pleasant weather, and minimal wait times.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is totally unprecedented and as a franchise, Star Wars has some absolutely diehard fans. Accordingly, we expect larger crowds for these super early morning hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and lines in Star Wars Land even right when the park opens. That’s just the likely reality.
However, 6 a.m. lines at Tower of Terror, or lines pretty much anywhere in Magic Kingdom (save for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train) or Animal Kingdom (save for Pandora), are unlikely. Those who make the effort of rising early will almost certainly be handsomely rewarded, and will get more done between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. than will someone who arrives at 10 a.m. and stays until park closing. (That might sound like hyperbole, but it is absolutely not.)
The biggest losers here are off-site guests and those who don’t get up early. By the time 9 a.m. rolls around at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, wait times for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run should be at close to their peak for the day. That could be over 180 or even 240 minutes. Without FastPass.
The difference between waiting ~20 minutes for Smugglers Run at 6 a.m. and ~3 hours at 9 a.m. is probably alone enough to justify the cost premium of staying on-site. (While other quibbles still exist, this pretty much undercuts our entire ‘Is Walt Disney World’s On-Site Advantage Disappearing?‘ article.)
The other loser in all of this is Epcot, and this should really underscore a couple of things about the park. First, that expectations are much lower about demand for the park. (It’s the one park we think could have its attendance cannibalized a bit by the increased popularity of Disney’s Hollywood Studios.) This explains why the park is essentially being re-imagined–with more announcements to come–even if we don’t like some of the new direction for the park.
Second, even during the popular Food & Wine Festival, earlier opening times at Epcot are not “needed.” It’s been obvious for a while that festivals are what’s buoying Epcot attendance (just wander around “Diet Epcot” this summer for that on full display), and those booths don’t open until 11 a.m.
Ultimately, there’s a lot of upside in this for those guests who are visiting in September. As we covered in our updated-for-Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge 2019 Walt Disney World Crowd Predictions: When to Go & Avoid, we still don’t think September is going to be as bad as many people are expecting.
We think this is being driven by the initial opening week plus demand from peak October travel dates driving this, along with expectations that this tremendous perk will help spike September hotel bookings. Moreover, we’d expect at least some of these Extra, Extra Magic Hours to be extended for November and December once those travel dates draw nearer.
There have been a lot of complaints from those who booked Walt Disney World trips for September or early October trips hoping to experience the ‘calm before the storm’ prior to the opening of Star Wars Land being announced. If you’re an early riser–or can force yourself to become one–we think this pretty much obviates all of that.
Visit the parks for those first few hours to experience minimal waits (and avoid oppressive heat!), go back to your hotel and nap by the pool for ~8 hours, then return to the park at night. You could conceivably only spend a few hours in the parks during daylight hours (hence all the night photos here) and still do more than normal. Maybe it’s just because I’m a morning person who detests midday sun and heat, but that sounds wonderful to me!
If you’re planning on visiting the new land, you’ll also want to read our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Guide. This covers a range of topics from basics about the land and its location, to strategically choosing a hotel for your stay, recommended strategy for the land, and how early to arrive to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to beat the crowds. It’s a good primer for this huge addition.
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
Do you agree or disagree with our advice? 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!
Any insights into why Disney is not adding early morning hours at DHS for on site guests only from August 29th-31st? We booked at CBR for August 25th-31st before we had any idea this was the opening date for Galaxy’s Edge Our family of 5 are coming from Canada and trying to decide if we will be better off skipping this year and going next summer. We are huge Star Wars fans, and don’t mind crowds at Disney, but aren’t sure if the crowds and possibility of not even getting into the park because of capacity will make it a waste of $ this year.
the park is opening at 6am for all guests during those dates, offsite and onsite.
Sorry should’ve made that question clearer…I’m wondering why Disney is allowing off-site guests early 6am entry as well as on-site guests for the first 3 days only at DHS? Obviously I assume it’s because there are massive crowds expected, but I was wondering why they feel this will be helpful instead of restricting it to guests staying on property? Basically I just feel like I’m losing out in a perk…and I’d like to know if there’s good reason for it 🙂
i think disney would catch major flak and bad pr if they did resort guest only on opening weekend. not saying i agree (in fact i agree with you) but the response wouldn’t be good and disney wants none of that.
When Harry Potter opened on day 1, there were reports of 8 hour waits to get into the area. Star Wars is going to be much worse than that. They’re opening the park early to every one just to try and handle the crowds.
I would be so happy if this extended into the middle of November! I will totally leave my sleeping husband and father in the hotel room if they didn’t want to join me, but I’m all for waking up early and enjoying as much as possible to do other stuff during the day. Crossing my fingers!
6 a.m. openings, 6 a.m. openings ! SERIOUSLY ! We are retired, DVC members and ALWAYS stay on grounds and NEED our sleep, but SERIOUSLY 6 a.m. openings ? Whatever happened to EXTENDED hours ? it would be nice for US that are not early risers.
those are all but gone in favor of those paid extra evenings late night events. i hear you though. i’m already looking at our september trip, with little kids, we might be doing our first mid-day breaks trip, if we can swing some of these early mornings to avoid some crowds (and maybe some heat). my concern is our ADRs that were made two days before the star wars announcement. if i’m not able to move those, i’m not sure what we might do.
I’m a night person (I normally sleep until 9 on the weekends when my wife finally lets my young kids come wake me up), but I would (and will when I go in late August-early September) 100% be willing to get up and be there at 6AM to be at the front of the line and beat the crowds (and heat). If I’m exhausted during the day, I can just go take a nap! The crowds will be much lighter at 6AM than if they extended them into the nights anyway. You could also just go to bed earlier, that’s an option.
Tom,
asked this before on another post, but has this shifted at all your thoughts on crowds for labor day week? thanks in advance. i don’t know if i should be happy with this news, or terrified.
“…wait times for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run should be at close to their peak for the day. That could be over 180 or even 240 minutes. Without FastPass.”
And as of right now there is not going to be Fastpass for Smugglers run, so once the heart of the day rolls around, waiting these times will be the only way to do the ride. For anyone who really wants to do Smugglers Run and also really wants to still use their time efficiently, these extra extra hours are the ONLY way to do so.
Should be a very interesting experience later this year…
Any thoughts on why this ends in early November? I was very excited to see this (we are early risers), but our trip is in mid November so we miss the benefit. Maybe it will be extended or is that wishful thinking? Thank you!
I have been waiting for extra hours since they announced the opening of star war,with bated breath. I think that this actually affords those of us who rise early to see everything!
So glad
I’m not normally an early riser but somehow when I travel that flips around; this is a perk I could take advantage of! I hope your prediction is correct that they’ll extend this later in the year. I have a trip planned for December 2-6, with a specific goal of crossing “WDW at Christmas” off my bucket list (following your self-guided tour around the resorts and parks is on my agenda). I’ve pretty much planned on not bothering with attractions except any with holiday overlays, and not even attempting to go to Galaxy’s Edge until a later trip, but if these early hours get extended to December I may actually be able to squeeze it in!
Hi Tom! I persuaded the rest of our travel party to stay at CBR with us (they normally stay off site) to hopefully have an advantage for opening day of GE. If Disney is allowing everyone into HS at 6 a.m. opening day, I fail to see the benefit of staying at a Disney resort for opening day of GE? No fast passes and early morning hours for resort and non-resort guests? Do you think Disney might announce some extra benefit for resort guests staying August 29-September 1? If not, do you still recommend arriving at HS around 4:30 a.m. on August 29? Thank you for the great blog by the way! When people ask me questions about Disney, I often find myself saying, “Tom says…”
“Do you think Disney might announce some extra benefit for resort guests staying August 29-September 1?”
Probably not, but perhaps evening EMH. (Although that could be so crowded to render it useless.)
“If not, do you still recommend arriving at HS around 4:30 a.m. on August 29?”
Yes. Even then, you can expect a ton of people to be there before you.
The biggest advantage to staying at Caribbean Beach for opening weekend is the Skyliner, assuming it’s open. Not having to deal with traffic and parking that day will be nice.
With that said, if you don’t care about being there for opening day, I’d just wait to do DHS until September 1. You’ll be at a huge advantage with the Extra EMH that you simply won’t have opening weekend.
Wow, this is really a big deal. Set that alarm clock to win the morning and escape before lunch. Like mentioned, tilts the balance big time to staying on campus.
Whoo boy. Yea I guess the real vacation days will be hotel days. The other days will be like boot camp! Not sure how I am going to talk DH into 5:30 am to ride SDD 🙂
Lol yep we are all going to boot camp. Guess I better start training myself to getting up earlier. I’m sleepy now when I wake up at 6am lol
Would you still recommend leaving your hotel room 2 hours and 45 minutes before EMH? What time do the buses start operating? Thanks. I can’t wait for your review and updated strategy.
I have breakfast reservations for Oct 5, at 8am at Be Our Guest. With the extra extra Magic Hours I don’t know what to do. Do you think it’s possible that they open earlier breakfast times at BOG because of the Extra EMH or that never happened before? I mean, it doesn’t matter park hours because breakfast at BOG never starts before 8am.
I wouldn’t expect that.
If it were me, I’d take a wait and see approach: sit on the ADR for now and cancel it if they don’t open earlier times–or modify it to the last breakfast seating.
I do as well on Oct 7th. We will both probably end up cancelling but yeah I will wait and see for now. Lots of time to cancel. Hey look Disney saved me $100
I probably won’t cancel because we are on the dining plan and want to get inside the Castle too. If earlier reservation hours don’t happen, I think we’re going to enter the park at 7am and at least try to ride the Seven Dwarfs before breakfast. I will also try to find a later reservation as Tom said. (Sorry for any mistake, I’m not a native English speaker 😉 )
From 7 to 8 AM you should be able to accomplish a fair number of things – remember that the park will open to all at 8. I have had 8:30 AM BOG reservations and gotten in at 8 so I’m fairly certain that you could go in a bit later … 8:15, :30? Get into the park early, ride rides then enjoy the breakfast.
That’s true. We have a lunch scheduled there too but want to try the breakfast too. We have 3 MK days so could rush around all morning on the other two days and take a break in this day to do our BOG breakfast. Thanks 🙂
Slightly off topic, so apologies in advance. Can you provide any background on how you got that great star trail shot at Crossroads?
That’s “snow” during the Christmas season.
I couldn’t be happier to read this! I booked Caribbean Beach in January for a sept 8th arrival hoping for a ‘calm before the storm’ trip, but being a Star Wars fan, even happier that it was opening early! Then reading your blog about September being a great month to visit (for crowds), just YAY! On top of that, the sky lander possibly running, free dining, being a morning person, and now EXTRA, EMH…it’s like winning the lottery!!
…haha, *skyliner!
I am beyond excited about this news as I am an early riser AND a Star Wars fanatic. I was one that had booked prior to the Galaxy’s Edge opening date was announced and was worried about the crowds. I am so happy that I will get to see the sun rise inside Galaxy’s Edge… while my not early rising family sleeps and meets me later ….its a win win 🙂
While I agree that this is great news as far as on-site perks go, I’m afraid of what it means for hotel prices. A friend of mine has a reservation at Pop Century over President’s Day weekend (and yes, holidays are spendy) and she’ll be paying around $270 a night. For Pop Century! So, increasing on-site perks comes with a steep increase in room rates as well.
On the flip side, we booked a discounted room at Pop Century for ~$100/night (with AP discount) and this was after the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opening announcement.
I’m sure Walt Disney World would love to price Value Resorts above $250/night year-round, but there’s only so much the market will bear on “normal” days of the year–even with perks and the Skyliner transportation.
Personally, I think the hugely-popular holiday weekends are the anomaly. During those few windows, demand is so high that Walt Disney World could sell out of hotel rooms even at exorbitant prices. I don’t think that holds true for most of the year, though.
I sure hope that is the case. I just checked again, and a weekend in November is $176 and December is north of $200. Yikes. I realize these are rack rates and nobody actually pays those (or do they?) but this is getting a little out of hand. Guess we’ll call this the Skyliner effect?
Yeah I think this is a genius way to get people booking Disney hotels. I’ve been checking hotel availability almost daily for our stay and there’s been a lot of availability including lots of standard rooms. This will take care of that. I think that’s the biggest motivator for Disney. My family are not morning people but we don’t see this as a vacation besides our two resort days and day we are doing MNSSHP. Sleeping in those three days but the other days we will be up early and now Way early. Lol they will hopefully have lots of coffees ready for everyone
Maybe your blog about “are on site perks disappearing” scared the execs at Disney world! 😉 Hope it extends to December but only time will tell.
I really hope 6am HS emh will be extended till the first week of january (when holiday crowds are still high), I’d love to experience them and I’ll visit HS on the 3rd!
Anyway, whatever is the reason why they did this move, I really like it!
This sucks for people staying off site because these are every day it makes it impossible to rope drop on non extra magic hour mornings.
That’s exactly what Disney wants. An incentive for you to stay on site instead of off site. Disney wants hotel bookings to rise.
Exactly.
We’ve said it before, but we’ll reiterate: Walt Disney World is a hotelier that also operates theme parks, not the other way around. As park attendance rises, I’d fully expect Walt Disney World will do everything possible to disadvantage off-site guests. To be honest, I’m pleased with this–just last month we were talking about how the on-site advantage was ‘disappearing’ and this wipes that away!
Yeah honestly people staying off-site should reschedule their trips for 2020. By the time they can e red the parks it will be super busy.
Yup, we’ll be off-site, so we’re pretty much screwed for the Magic Kingdom.
Though I am relived the first 3 days at Hollywood Studios will be all guest at 6 a.m.so we’ll have an even playing field.
I can totally handle the 6 or 7 am start time. Some of my most relaxing, peaceful self tours of The Boardwalk, deluxe hotel lobbies, or just walking to/from counter service options have been around that time. However the big question will be if the parks can get cleaned adequately, have proper maintenance, and the experience reset between the previous nights closing time and 6 am.
You’re not necessarily screwed for MK. Only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland opens for emh, so you can plan FP for attractions in those areas like Peter Pan (if interested), Space Mountain and Seven Dwarfs (if you’ll be able to get it at 30 days) and rope drop big thunder/splash mountain or whatever. And between 8 and 9.30/10 lines will still be manageable whatever the crowd. Also MK has lots of same day fastpasses you can get as a 4th, 5th and so on.