Extended Evening Hours Questions

[Duke07]

For extended evening hours, can you still book LL? Or is it not necessary because the crowds are so thin?

Anyone have recent experience with MK's extended evening hours that they can relay here (tips also appreciated)?

Thanks!

 

[Turksmom]

LL is not available during the evening hours, but it really isn't necessary. Read this for info and experiences. I find the posts are more relevant if you start on the last page and work backwards.

 

[Duke07]

Thanks. I read through that thread and it didn't quite answer my question.

I'm trying to understand the expected crowd levels and wait times during Extended Evening Hours. Is that info anywhere?

 

[ckelly14]

We just signed up for Magic Kingdom on April 20th and plannng on EEH. Crowds are very sparse- just google for reviews.

Disappointed that Enchantment is at 9PM that night and EEH are 9-11. By the time regular guest are out of there, not much time for EEH rides. Wondering if they will extend hours later?

 

[DisneyFive]

Other guests still can’t ride after 9. The only impact will be those that jumped into a queue right before the 9pm closing but that will flush out quickly. I doubt they will extend it.

Dan

 

[T'Lynn]

Thanks. I read through that thread and it didn't quite answer my question.

I'm trying to understand the expected crowd levels and wait times during Extended Evening Hours. Is that info anywhere?

I've been peeking at the wait times on many nights that MK or Epcot have EEH on the MDE app. Most rides have a 5-10 minute wait. Popular rides like Frozen/Remy/7DMT/SM/PPF have a bit higher but range from 20 to 50 minutes depending on the day or how far into the extended hours it is

 

[fireflyer]

Pre-Covid, our family had multiple Evening Magic Hours experiences that were very uncrowded, easy to ride your very favorites, and WELL-WORTH staying up later for... And that was when ALL Disney hotel-guests were allowed. Now that Extended hours are reduced to ONLY DELUXE GUESTS, it should be even more sparse than before.

WDW's planned "Extended Evening" park schedule is at https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/extended-evening/

I'm so disappointed to see there are only 9 opportunities in March, and only 8 in April. In the past, I had believed there were many more... however, historical data shows 2019 was the same. One difference is that sometimes (pre-Covid) there were "After Hours" events on nights that weren't Extra Magic Hours... but it was expensive ~$129 to stay "After Hours".

With the parks seeming to feel more crowded than ever, might we expect Disney to add a few more "Extended Evenings"?

We have Parkhoppers for a Th/Fri in late March 2022. Am currently booked at Pop, but I would almost certainly change to a Deluxe if it meant getting an Extended Evening. No parks are planning to stay open past 9pm on either of those days... despite crowd projections being almost at the max. Which do you think is more likely this spring:
--Disney would make the regular closing time LATER at 1 or more parks on a crowded Thurs or Fri.
--Disney would ADD an Extended Evening at 1 or more parks on a crowded Thurs or Fri.
--Disney will keep the 9pm (or earlier) closing time at all parks, despite highest crowd levels.

 

[Sabine W.]

--Disney will keep the 9pm (or earlier) closing time at all parks, despite highest crowd levels.

I believe that Disney is still changing hours for March. I think they often make changes as little as 2 weeks in advance. If you look at the hours for the entire month of March, you'll see that on some dates MK stays open until 11pm, and extra evening hours run from 11pm-1am. Personally, I wouldn't change to a deluxe just in the hope for evening hours, unless you are certain you can soldier on until 1am.

 

[T'Lynn]

I was wondering myself if some of the hours would change. I already have a deluxe booked but if after hours goes to 1 am I will definitely have to rethink my plan for the next morning!

 

[sweetmama17]

MK is now closing at 11pm every night for the first week in March (with extended hours that Wednesday from 11-1). Im now expecting that to continue into the next week as well.

Selfishly I liked the initial hours as I paid for a Deluxe hotel for the evening hours but if the extend hours, I'm not sure my 7 and 9 year old can make in much past 11pm!

 

[Duke07]

MK is now closing at 11pm every night for the first week in March (with extended hours that Wednesday from 11-1). Im now expecting that to continue into the next week as well.

Where are you seeing this? The page I'm looking at on WDW site shows extended evening hours running from 9 - 11 for MK.

 

[ckelly14]

Where are you seeing this? The page I'm looking at on WDW site shows extended evening hours running from 9 - 11 for MK.

except on March 9 it says 11-1.

 

[ckelly14]

Pre-Covid, our family had multiple Evening Magic Hours experiences that were very uncrowded, easy to ride your very favorites, and WELL-WORTH staying up later for... And that was when ALL Disney hotel-guests were allowed. Now that Extended hours are reduced to ONLY DELUXE GUESTS, it should be even more sparse than before.

WDW's planned "Extended Evening" park schedule is at https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/extended-evening/

I'm so disappointed to see there are only 9 opportunities in March, and only 8 in April. In the past, I had believed there were many more... however, historical data shows 2019 was the same. One difference is that sometimes (pre-Covid) there were "After Hours" events on nights that weren't Extra Magic Hours... but it was expensive ~$129 to stay "After Hours".

With the parks seeming to feel more crowded than ever, might we expect Disney to add a few more "Extended Evenings"?

We have Parkhoppers for a Th/Fri in late March 2022. Am currently booked at Pop, but I would almost certainly change to a Deluxe if it meant getting an Extended Evening. No parks are planning to stay open past 9pm on either of those days... despite crowd projections being almost at the max. Which do you think is more likely this spring:
--Disney would make the regular closing time LATER at 1 or more parks on a crowded Thurs or Fri.
--Disney would ADD an Extended Evening at 1 or more parks on a crowded Thurs or Fri.
--Disney will keep the 9pm (or earlier) closing time at all parks, despite highest crowd levels.

I'm interested in this as well as I am going in late April.

I think that they will continue to extend MK hours (and by association later EE hours) in April. I don't expect later hours at any other parks, not do I expect them to add EE hours to AK. Hoping for later hours and EE at HS but doubt it.

 

[T'Lynn]

MK is now closing at 11pm every night for the first week in March (with extended hours that Wednesday from 11-1). Im now expecting that to continue into the next week as well.

Selfishly I liked the initial hours as I paid for a Deluxe hotel for the evening hours but if the extend hours, I'm not sure my 7 and 9 year old can make in much past 11pm!

I also have a 9 year old ... I selfishly would like extended hours every other night but not on deluxe night LOL

 

[tigger2002]

Other guests still can’t ride after 9. The only impact will be those that jumped into a queue right before the 9pm closing but that will flush out quickly. I doubt they will extend it.

Dan

Our experience last year was that there were a lot of people jumped into a queue right before closing and did not flush out quickly.

 

[UpstateMick]

Our experience last year was that there were a lot of people jumped into a queue right before closing and did not flush out quickly.

This happened last night at MK and there were MANY complaints from resort guests…and we noticed some line jumpers (or attempted line jumpers) from non-deluxe guests. Overall it didnt really quiet down until a little after 11, and then we squeezed a bunch in.

 

[DisneyFive]

Hmm interesting. That’s disappointing. How long do you feel that it took for the Day guests to make it through the queue at the end of the night? We are staying deluxe this summer and I hope we can make use of these extended hours. However, there are so few EEH nights that I don’t want to adjust my plans just to accommodate these hours.

 

[tigger2002]

Hmm interesting. That’s disappointing. How long do you feel that it took for the Day guests to make it through the queue at the end of the night?

It was to the point that we felt it was just not worth it.

 

[UpstateMick]

For us last night, the 11:00 to Midnight hour was great! Did PP, BTMR, HM, Pooh, Buzz and Small World in just over an hour.

 

[fireflyer]

Which do you think is more likely this spring:
--Disney would make the regular closing time LATER at 1 or more parks on a crowded Thurs or Fri.
--Disney would ADD an Extended Evening at 1 or more parks on a crowded Thurs or Fri.
--Disney will keep the 9pm (or earlier) closing time at all parks, despite highest crowd levels.

I believe that Disney is still changing hours for March. I think they often make changes as little as 2 weeks in advance. If you look at the hours for the entire month of March, you'll see that on some dates MK stays open until 11pm, and extra evening hours run from 11pm-1am. Personally, I wouldn't change to a deluxe just in the hope for evening hours, unless you are certain you can soldier on until 1am.

Thanks Sabine, for your comments. After giving it some more thought, I suspect Sabine is correct... Disney will most likely extend the park hours at MK rather than add EEH to a different day. (I looked at past-data further back, and there isn't a history of adding more Extra-Hours days each week.) However, Disney often DOES extend the normal closing time. Yes we would willingly "soldier on" until 1am if someone let us... but... it's probably more likely that park hours will be lengthened due to overcrowding. I will keep our Value-hotel reservation and make the best of it. I sure wish we could change our visit days, but we can't.

My best memories at MK are of late at night... the extremely-short queues. Space Mtn, 7 Dwarfs twice, and 3 Thunder Mtn repeats, in a row!!!!! We burned calories and had some thrills.