Walt Disney World Extends Park Hours in Preparation for Holiday Crowds

After a short tip in crowds at the beginning of fall, the Walt Disney World Resort is gearing up for increased visitation during the holiday season. On top of increased pricing for select experiences, and limited reservation availability, holiday crowds can make it more challenging to navigate Disney Parks.

One way to help manage crowds is to extend Park hours, which is only possible based on staffing numbers and availability, but thankfully Disney has already begun adding extra hours to several Park days through the holiday season.

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Hours have been extended throughout November and into early December at Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In the Magic Kingdom, Guests can expect earlier opening times (8:00 a.m.) for dates that Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party takes place, closing the Park at 6:00 p.m. in November. On non-party nights, several dates have extended hours with the Park now closing at 11:00 p.m. November and December Park hour as of this writing are as follows:

November 8, 10-11, 14-15, 17-18, 20, 22, 27, 29: 8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
November 4-7, 9, 12-13, 16, 19, 21, 23-26, 28, 30: 9:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m.
December 1, 2: 8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
December 3: 9:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m.

In EPCOT, Park hours have been similarly extended with earlier morning openings, with most dates remaining at 9:00 p.m. closings with the exception of occasional extra hours for Deluxe Resort Guests. Updated hours for EPCOT are:

October 30 – November 24: 8:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is now scheduled to open one hour earlier for most of November and will stay open one hour later for most dates. Current changes to the Park hours are:

November 4, 7-10, 17-18, 27-28: 8:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
November 5-6, 11-14, 19-26: 8:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
December 1-2: 8:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
December 3: 8:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.

Hours for Disney’s Hollywood Studios have not changed, however, with the return of Fantasmic! now (sort of) on the calendar, it is possible we will see extended hours at this Disney Park at a later date.

For now, be sure to make your theme park and dining reservations for the holiday season at Walt Disney World now to get ahead of the crowds, and confirm all Park hours in the My Disney Experience app. Check back here on Disney Tips for all the latest updates from Disney Parks.