Question about extended regular MK park hours

[sheilafri]

I’m planning on a WDW trip the first week of April. MK park hours were recently extended to 11 pm from 9 pm. Does the park tend to thin out in the later hours even though open to general admission guests? Or does the extension just mean it’s going to be jam-packed? Anyone have experience or thoughts on this. Is the impact any different at the other parks?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I’m planning on a WDW trip the first week of April. MK park hours were recently extended to 11 pm from 9 pm. Does the park tend to thin out in the later hours even though open to general admission guests? Or does the extension just mean it’s going to be jam-packed? Anyone have experience or thoughts on this. Is the impact any different at the other parks?

I think you have cause-and-effect backwards.

It's not "the park will be jam-packed because Disney extended the hours."

It's "Disney extended the hours because the park is expected to be jam-packed."

 

[AnotherWDWtrip]

I was in MK on 3/18 and during the fireworks the ride lines thinned out. After the fireworks the lines picked back up, but it did seem less than before the fireworks. I think a lot of families with younger children tend to leave after the fireworks but there were still a lot of people in the parks right up until park closing. We were still noticing 85 minute waits on the big rides.

 

[jo-jo]

I'm sad about the change. No way we can do 11 -1 hours. I was really looking forward to the extra hours at 9-11.

 

[Dizziman]

In our trip 3/8-3/12, we were at MK twice at night. We watched the fireworks both times and stayed after. There were still lines but not as long as during the day and, as the night went on, the lines dropped more. Nothing was a walk-on (that I saw), but some became close near closing.

 

[Sunshiney_Disney_Momma]

I wouldn’t expect crowds to lighten much until it is well into the extended hours.

 

[pens4821]

We found last week that before and during the fireworks the lines were low. But right when it ended they really picked up. We went to poc about 820 and only took about 10 minutes. Then we went to btmrr, got there a little after 9 and it also took about 10. By the time we got to splash fireworks were over, btmrr was backed out of the queue, and we waited 65 minutes for splash when we got in line at 925.

My plan was to get in line for both btmrr and splash in while the fireworks were going off. An unfortunately timed bathroom break put us behind the big rush in the splash line after the fireworks. The LL line was constant, so that slowed things down. Then as we got closer both the standby and LL lines quit moving for about 10 minutes.

 

[Jacq7414]

I'm sad about the change. No way we can do 11 -1 hours. I was really looking forward to the extra hours at 9-11.

I purposely changed our schedule around so we wouldn’t PH on that day. Instead we will (hopefully) sleep in and just go to MK at night. We have 10 day tickets though so we have some room to tweak our schedule.

Our 5 year old is pretty good at staying up late though.

 

[jo-jo]

I purposely changed our schedule around so we wouldn’t PH on that day. Instead we will (hopefully) sleep in and just go to MK at night. We have 10 day tickets though so we have some room to tweak our schedule.

Our 5 year old is pretty good at staying up late though.

My 77 year old isn't . LOL

 

[francoAlbertan]

I'm sad about the change. No way we can do 11 -1 hours. I was really looking forward to the extra hours at 9-11.

I am sure the increased hours are helpful for plenty of folks... but my family is definitely in this boat. When the park hours are so late, this basically eliminates any on-site advantage for my 7 and 9 year old... We will be thinking back to our first trip just pre-pandemic in 2020 a lot I think. Were able to plan great mornings with our extra hour at that point, and then some nice fastpasses round out the busy afternoon. Less options now for families that cant do late nights.

 

[dk413]

I'm sad about the change. No way we can do 11 -1 hours. I was really looking forward to the extra hours at 9-11.

Same. We planned our entire itinerary around those times. And for the love of Mickey we are going to utilize them. To our 2, 5, and 8 year old: it's time to learn what espresso is!

 

[jo-jo]

Same. We planned our entire itinerary around those times. And for the love of Mickey we are going to utilize them. To our 2, 5, and 8 year old: it's time to learn what espresso is!

Watch out, the espresso might kick in at 2 am, won't that be fun????

Will you have a stroller that all three can pile in? For those hours, I might even rent a disney double stroller and bring a few jackets balled up for pillows. Maybe all three kids can fit.

 

[Jacq7414]

Same. We planned our entire itinerary around those times. And for the love of Mickey we are going to utilize them. To our 2, 5, and 8 year old: it's time to learn what espresso is!

Just give them some ice cream lol. We are going to use them too with our 5 year old. Hopefully it won’t be as crowded 11-1 haha

 

[dk413]

Watch out, the espresso might kick in at 2 am, won't that be fun????

Will you have a stroller that all three can pile in? For those hours, I might even rent a disney double stroller and bring a few jackets balled up for pillows. Maybe all three kids can fit.

Lol honestly my kids will be asleep by 10 so yes we are definitely going to rent something. Unfortunately I’ll probably be asleep by then too (I can’t drink caffeine) so someone is going to have to push me as well. Or maybe my husband can carry me like Weekend at Bernie’s

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Lol honestly my kids will be asleep by 10 so yes we are definitely going to rent something. Unfortunately I’ll probably be asleep by then too (I can’t drink caffeine) so someone is going to have to push me as well. Or maybe my husband can carry me like Weekend at Bernie’s

You never know with kids. My then-5 year olds had never been up past 9:45pm but made it through to the midnight stage show at a Halloween party. We had fully expected them to be conked out in strollers but they made it all the way!! Disney can be its own kind of espresso.

 

[pens4821]

Lol honestly my kids will be asleep by 10 so yes we are definitely going to rent something. Unfortunately I’ll probably be asleep by then too (I can’t drink caffeine) so someone is going to have to push me as well. Or maybe my husband can carry me like Weekend at Bernie’s

You may be surprised. I’m not sure about the kids, but you may stay up later than you think. I got up about 6 most the week I was there, but was still up till about midnight every night. i usually go to bed at 10 absolute latest 11 at home. And we stayed in MK until 1245 and I felt fine. Didn’t get to bed until about 230 then back up at 6 and did fine the next day.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I am sure the increased hours are helpful for plenty of folks... but my family is definitely in this boat. When the park hours are so late, this basically eliminates any on-site advantage for my 7 and 9 year old... We will be thinking back to our first trip just pre-pandemic in 2020 a lot I think. Were able to plan great mornings with our extra hour at that point, and then some nice fastpasses round out the busy afternoon. Less options now for families that cant do late nights.

Those 7 and 9 year olds may surprise you. My fondest Disney memory is chasing my then 3 year old daughter back to the entrance of Space Mountain moments before midnight with her screaming ‘One More Time Daddy’ all the way.

 

[holden]

FWIW...We recently stayed in MK until 1am. The park was practically empty by 12am. It was so nice! I thought I wouldn't make it, but when your having fun you don't notice the exhaustion.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

The park definitely thinned out by 10pm or so. I was not happy they extended it initially because 11-1am for deluxe hours wasn’t my idea of fun but in retrospect 10-11 was already pretty quiet and 11-1am was amazing. However we didn’t do any of the headliners as none of us are into roller coasters. So almost everything else was a walk on by 10, except for Peter Pan which seemed to fluctuate and the line got longer as the night went on.

 

[chiisai]

We will be there the same week. We all prefer rope drop, then afternoons at the pool or napping. Evenings are possibly at a park, but usually people end up just wanting the pool or a nice meal and relaxing. It’s hit or miss for evening park time, most times they want to hang out at the resort.

I’ve tried to talk about changing the whole touring style to be evenings because of how it’s better for genie + stacking, and now also because the early morning hours at a few of the parks are going to be rough to get there at rope drop.

No one wants to go hard in the morning and at night, and they also don’t feel like morning pool and evening park.

I guess we’ll see what it’s like when we get there. I can probably get them to do two days of evening touring only, to stack genie +.

We may forgo a park day for a water park instead.

I’m the only one working the app so all this getting and refreshing will be on me the days of. With how busy it will be, too, I think this trip will have a lot of pool and relaxing time.