As expected, Disney has made some minor changes to the January 2011 Disney World operating schedule. The changes are not nearly as drastic as they were for December. We have Magic Kingdom open later on a couple of Saturdays, a second Main Street Electrical Parade added on a few nights, and a second Fantasmic added at Hollywood Studios on all nights that previously had one Fantasmic scheduled, except for January 30th, which still has just one Fantasmic scheduled at 6:30pm. In addition, Hollywood Studios now has two Fantasmic shows scheduled on January 3rd when no shows were previously scheduled. No changes were made to other months. I will be updating the January 2011 Disney World Crowd Calendar with the changes later today. There won’t be a lot of changes to the recommended theme parks or crowd levels. Click here for the updated January 2011 operating schedule from the Disney travel agent portal website.
A list of the changes:
Saturday January 1st: No changes
Sunday January 2nd: Second Main Street Electrical Parade added at 9pm, in addition to 7pm Parade. Second Fantasmic added at 8pm, in addition to 6:30pm Fantasmic. Animal Kingdom hours extended to 9am – 6pm from 9am – 5pm.
Monday January 3rd: Magic Kingdom hours extended to 9am – 10pm from 9am – 9pm. Fantasmic added at Hollywood Studios at 6:30pm and 8pm. No Fantasmic previously scheduled.
Tuesday January 4th: No changes
Wednesday January 5th: No changes
Thursday January 6th: Second Fantasmic added at 8pm, in addition to 6:30pm Fantasmic. Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am – 8pm from 9am – 7pm.
Friday January 7th: No changes
Saturday January 8th: Magic Kingdom hours extended to 9am – 10pm from 9am – 9pm.
Sunday January 9th: Second Fantasmic added at 8pm, in addition to 6:30pm Fantasmic. Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am – 8pm from 9am – 7pm.
Monday January 10th: No changes
Tuesday January 11th: No changes
Wednesday January 12th: No changes
Thursday January 13th: Second Fantasmic added at 8pm, in addition to 6:30pm Fantasmic. Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am – 8pm from 9am – 7pm.
Friday January 14th: No changes
Saturday January 15th: Magic Kingdom hours extended to 9am – 12am from 9am – 10pm. Second Main Street Electrical Parade added at 9pm, in addition to 7pm Parade.
Sunday January 16th: Magic Kingdom hours extended to 9am – 11pm from 9am – 10pm. Second Fantasmic added at 8pm, in addition to 6:30pm Fantasmic. Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am – 8pm from 9am – 7pm.
Monday January 17th: No changes
Tuesday January 18th: No changes
Wednesday January 19th: No changes
Thursday January 20th: Second Fantasmic added at 8pm, in addition to 6:30pm Fantasmic. Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am – 8pm from 9am – 7pm.
Friday January 21st: No changes
Saturday January 22nd: Magic Kingdom hours extended to 9am – 11pm from 9am – 10pm. Second Main Street Electrical Parade added at 9pm, in addition to 7pm Parade.
Sunday January 23rd: Second Fantasmic added at 8pm, in addition to 6:30pm Fantasmic. Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am – 8pm from 9am – 7pm.
Monday January 24th: No changes
Tuesday January 25th: No changes
Wednesday January 26th: No changes
Thursday January 27th: Second Fantasmic added at 8pm, in addition to 6:30pm Fantasmic. Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am – 8pm from 9am – 7pm.
Friday January 28th: No changes
Saturday January 29th: No changes
Sunday January 30th: No changes
Monday January 31st: No changes
I checked these park hours against the calendar on DisneyWorld.com and they are different? Who’s right?
The Disney World website is notoriously slow at updating theme park hours. These changes were just released this morning. The park hours above are taken from the Disney World Travel Agent Hours available at http://www.disneytravelagents.com/StaticFiles/DTA-Domestic/pdf/ParkHours/WDW_Operating_Calendar_jan.pdf. The Travel Agent Hours are always updated before the Disney World website and are almost always correct before Disney makes their own update. Expect Disney to update their website within the next few days. I agree that a company that makes more than 10 billion per year on theme parks should be able to keep a calendar of hours up to date better than a website that makes 42 cents per day in advertising revenue.
Will These Changes Greatly Affect the Crowd Level Estimations or Best Parks to Visit?
Not really. January is one of the slowest months of the year at Disney World. Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend is popular and Marathon Weekend can seem crowded depending on where you go, but crowds are generally low. We don’t have a lot of changes to deal with, unlike last month when there were a ton of changes. January 3rd does have two Fantasmic shows scheduled, but we were already avoiding it because of evening Extra Magic Hours. The addition actually works in our favor because January 4th and 5th will be even less crowded. The fact that Disney added very few Main Street Electrical Parades is also a testament to how low crowds are expected to be.
Question about Fantasmic on Jan 30 — does this likely mean that they won’t be adding another Fantasmic show on that date? Or is it possible they’ll add it when they post the February hour changes?
Anything is possible with Disney. In September they did leave the last Sunday with just one Fantasmic, but that was because they added two Fantasmic shows on the Saturday before, when Fantasmic wasn’t previously scheduled. To answer your question, it’s possible that a subsequent update will add a second show on January 30th, but it’s far from a guarantee., especially because they made updates all the way to January 27th. If it was a mistake, it will probably be corrected in the next couple of days.