Update 1 at bottom.
Update 2 below that.
So some pretty big news coming out today is that effective January 2013, evening Extra Magic Hours will be two hours long instead of three. We’ll have to take a moment to digest exactly what that means. I like evening Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom because there are so many open attractions that lines are considerably shorter and the close is usually later, so many families are long gone by 11pm. Any time after that is smooth sailing in very light crowds. In past summers, Magic Kingdom was open until 3am twice a week for resort guests. As I’ve mentioned before, I (and you) like it because there’s virtually no one in the Park that late. You can take a look at my visit last August where I stayed through 3am. From Disney’s standpoint, they must be thinking, “Why are we paying so much money to keep the Park open for virtually no one?” I’m less enthusiastic about evening Extra Magic Hours at the other Parks because far fewer attractions are open and lines continue to be long until the end of the night. For example, the only ride anyone cares about during evening Extra Magic Hours at Epcot is Soarin’.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re going to see additional evening Extra Magic Hours added. For example, Hollywood Studios could host a two-hour evening Extra Magic Hours session every Monday and Thursday night. We also aren’t seeing a return of evening Extra Magic Hours at Animal Kingdom. This January, that means you could see Animal Kingdom close at 5pm, Magic Kingdom close at 8pm without the Electrical Parade, Epcot close at 9pm, and Hollywood Studios close at 9pm with evening Extra Magic Hours attached. Likewise, with just a morning Extra Magic Hour scheduled on a Wednesday at Animal Kingdom, you’re looking at a 5pm close there, an 8pm close at Magic Kingdom with no Electrical Parade, a 7pm close at Studios, and a 9pm close at Epcot. That doesn’t leave a lot to do at night. That series on Downtown Disney Drinking In Depth becomes all the more relevant.
With virtually every other “Disney fan site” going into hysterics over this as another example of prices increasing/perks decreasing, I’m not going to freak out for your amusement here. Maybe later. What does it mean as far as crowd flow is concerned? One can only speculate. With evening Extra Magic Hours being slightly less attractive, we can expect more people to ignore them in favor of nightly entertainment elsewhere. The fact is that evening Extra Magic Hours are only scheduled three times a week most weeks. And the vast majority of guests will continue to follow the Extra Magic Hours schedule along with hunting down rarer evening entertainment.
But it’s a big change that makes a casual evening Extra Magic Hours visit less fun. The days of saying good night to Epcot at midnight are effectively over. You can forget about your 3am shut down of Magic Kingdom. Disney has changed the wording on its Extra Magic Hours page to.: “Each day, one of the 4 Walt Disney World theme parks opens one hour early or remains open up to 2 hours after regular closing time,” so it appears that this is a permanent change that will continue through the entire year. It used to say, “up to 3 hours,” even though it was always three hours.
I’m updating the August 2012 Crowd Calendar image and I have the January 2013 “official schedule” with the Extra Magic Hours included. I’ll have August 2012 and a preliminary January 2013 Crowd Calendar image available in a couple of hours.
I want my Disney Parks napkins and 3am closes back.
Update 1: Looking over the January schedule, it appears that Disney has actually extended the normal close at Magic Kingdom on Sundays with evening Extra Magic Hours attached. For example, after January 5th, Magic Kingdom is currently scheduled to close at 8pm every night, other than most Sundays.
Sunday January 6th – 9pm
Sunday January 13th – Still 8pm, but this is one of the least crowded weeks of the year
Sunday January 20th – 10pm, but also Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend
Sunday January 27th – 9pm
So at least at Magic Kingdom, we may actually see the same total number of operating hours remain the same. At Studios and Epcot, the same 7pm and 9pm closes are seen.
Update 2:
Here’s the preliminary revision of the August 2012 Crowd Calendar:
Click for larger. I don’t expect the recommendations to require further modification. Most of the changes reinforce why the recommendations were made in the first place.
And January 2013:
Click for larger. I was expecting a slightly different Extra Magic Hours schedule over the first week due to the higher overall crowd level and altered schedule earlier in the week, so the recommendations there have changed there. With the Studios’ evening Extra Magic Hours switching with Epcot’s, there are also slightly different recommendations over that week. The rest of the month should be largely the same.
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
I guess this could efect resort stays if people are booking the WDW hotels to do the EMH specifically…
Thanks for the non-freaking-out update so we know exactly what we’re dealing with. This doesn’t affect me personally, since we avoid EMH parks across the board, but I’m sure it’ll be helpful for those needing a hysteric-free explanation of this change.
Maybe they read the napkin uproar, and they’re cutting EMH to bring back the fancy napkins.
I’m sad about the loss of that hour. Now that my kids are getting older, we like to hit the recommended park in the morning and the EMH park in the evenings.
People who never knew they used to be 3 hours probably are the same people who choose parks based upon EMH anyway.
Logo-less napkins on the other hand are a reason to spend your time in Orlando at Harry Potter world.
Thanks for keeping the hysterics out of it (for now, at least). I’ve been in the camp of avoiding EMHs even when staying onsite. But with a couple of longer trips in the works, we planned to try out MK EMH to get the late-night experience in the park. I guess now it won’t be quite as late.
I can’t stay up late enough to enjoy all three hours anyway. I’m just glad they finally released a complete schedule! Thanks for the update Josh.
Best time I had at MK was during daylight savings with 3 hr EMH. 2AM came and guess what…it was 1AM again and 2 more hours!! My wife nearly collapsed, but with few people there, she wouldn’t have been run over by a stroller..
I also just realized what draws me to this site. Usually the updates are like reading an adult magazine…..some words…picture…some words…pictures….pictures… some words. It took me like 10 minutes to read this jumble of words!!!!! I say ban paragraphs!!!!
VACATION RUINED! jk…..it doesn’t affect me, we now avoid EMH except @ DHS and well, we’ll survive.
I admit, the change bums me out. But thanks to Josh making me think logically about it I guess it isn’t the end of the world (but it might be the end of my multiple trips per year to the World). We only use EMH at MK. If they are going to push regular closing back a little, especially in the busier times of the year, than I am OK with it. But if I see 9pm closings with an 11pm EMH at MK in the summer, I seriously doubt we will renew those APs and head down again. Might be time to see what else Orlando has to offer…. Josh, does that offer to visit Sea World still stand???
“As I’ve mentioned before, I (and you) like it because there’s virtually no one in the Park that late.”
Someone else posted this in one of your updates, but it is worth remembering (and I’m paraphrasing):
“The kiss of death for anything at WDW is either ‘Wow, this is great, no one is here!’ or ‘Wow, this is really a pretty good deal!’ If you ever find yourself saying either of those to things, you know, for sure, that it is going to change sooner rather than later.”
Oh, and Betty: we had a No Disney Week in Orlando just last month. It was awesome.
So is Jeff, ruiner of vacations working in purchasing and scheduling now?
(Crap: “find yourself saying either of those to things” -> “find yourself saying either of those two things”)
We prefer morning EMH over evening, so although this doesn’t really affect me or my usual touring plans, I can’t help but be disappointed about another perceived “cutback.”
Hmph.
I was a EMH at MK only person- and Brian is right- it was great while it. ITA with Josh- it is going to 2 hours- no need to panic. With kids entering HS I know my days are numbered-I can deal with it.
bnoble- you are exactly right! I keep seeing people say “we love it because the place is deserted the last hour” or “it doesn’t get good until the last hour.” If I was running a business and saw everyone leave with an hour to go, I would close an hour earlier.
IMO- Disney could have instead kept the 3 hour time period and instead closed the park and hour earlier. Yes, the general public has to leave an hour earlier, but at least resort guests aren’t saying “they stole an hour from us!”
I’m still curious why no Fantasmic on January 24th – the only night of that month that it isn’t scheduled. Is there likely to be Characterpalooza that night or is some other major even going on an DHS?
It’s odd that I’m thinking of scheduling an entire vacation around Characterpalooza, but I thinkn it would be a lot of fun for us.
Sure, I don’t use the EMH much, but it does effect my planning because “they” (as TGM calls them) are attracted to EMH like a moth to a flame. So, yeah, fewer hours can hurt everyone, no matter whether you’re taking advantage of them or using them as a decoy/crowd attractor.
Not to go all DISboards, but it’s hard to point at many recent decisions/changes made at WDW and say, “Well, that’s a positive change for visitors.”
Last September (the hours are already reduced), MK was packed during EMH and they were making us leave at midnight. That was the only day that week for the parade AND Wishes (unless you’d pay for MNSSHP)… so everyone was there that wasn’t going to Halloween party.
I guess I’m really going to show my age on this one. I don’t mind the fact the EMH is getting cut back at all. One thing I always loved to do on my trips back in the day where MK might close at 6PM or maybe even 5 (my memory may be letting me down on that) was to wander around exploring the resorts or head over to the WDW village, or go offsite and check something else out.
I will say is that the powers that be should really start fast tracking whatever it is that they are doing with the smoking ruins of Pleasure Island if reduced EEMH is the start of a trend to close the theme parks earlier.
EMH reduced to 2 hours but the Total operating hours for the parks is the same as if they were still 3 hours? How dare TDO, How dare WDW to be a profitable business! Thanks Josh for seeing through the marketing veneer and explaining it to us in operational logic.
I did enjoy those late EMH. I’ll just be enjoying 2 of them instead of 3.
haha Beth! niiiiiice.
I am a little disappointed by this. We make good use of both the morning and evening hours. I certianly hope there is something big on the horizon.
We’re most likely staying off site on our next trip any way because,
1. It looks like we‘re going to be a pretty large group.
2. Disney advertises that the buss’s drop you at the park gates, but they really don’t and you actually have farther to walk than the people who drive do. Walking is becoming a problem for me, so we’re going to have to rent a car anyhow.
3. DH wants to see the Harry Potter stuff, so we’re going to have to rent a car anyhow.
I was still considering Fort Wilderness because I do really love the campground and we would still be EMH eligible. So I guess what I’m trying to say is we are running out of reasons to stay on property.
>Disney advertises that the buss’s drop you at the park gates, but they really don’t and you actually have farther to walk than the people who drive do.<
Huh? At what park do you have to walk farther if you take the bus?
I am sad that the days of staying late into the early morning are gone at MK. As my kids are getting older we really enjoy that magical nighttime at the park more each visit.
I would think that since they just built the new Art of Animation resort and are building the new DVC property you showed pic’s of, that attendance will be up and that they would need more hours to accomodate guests, not reduce hours. I suppose the economy is hitting Disney, too.
I don’t think you have to walk very far at any of the parks if you take the bus. Driving and parking takes much more time. At the magic kingdom if you drive you have to park, ride the shuttles if you want to and then take the ferry or the monorail. If you take the monorail you have to walk up and down the ramps. It is closer to the entrances to take the bus
They need the time for maintenance. My cousin is down there right now and was talking to some of the CMs in suits (because I was upset about it as well) and with some late closings putting the park clear at 4AM then turning around and letting guests in at 6AM for ADRs that doesn’t leave much time to clean. Traditionally they use January to get stuff done too.
@Dan Young
You have to walk farther than the people who drive do at all the parks. The parking lot Trams actually do drop people close to the gate. I cant remember if it was at DHS or at AK but we were actually passed by the Trams. We would have got on but there was a fence, and the buss’s are much farther than the boat or the monorail at the MK.
Boooooo!! I’m only here for the hysterics. I like flailing.
I’m upset that they’re closing the park so early the night of the marathon! I want to party with Mickey after running 26.2 miles!!!