Walt Disney World has added extra hours to the calendar by February 2025 at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom, and prolonged hours for the vacation season by the height week between Christmas and New 12 months’s Eve. This covers the adjustments plus zig once they zag technique for Magic Kingdom and whether or not to belief typical knowledge at DHS throughout these dates.
We’ll begin with the most recent launch of latest working schedules. All 4 theme parks have had hours for one more week added to DisneyWorld.com’s park hours, and the present calendar now runs by February 5, 2025. Listed here are the hours for many newly-added dates in the course of the winter:
- Magic Kingdom: 9 am to 9 pm
- EPCOT: 9 am to 9:30 pm
- Hollywood Studios: 9 am to 9 pm
- Animal Kingdom: 8 am to six pm
- Blizzard Seashore: 10 am to five pm
- Disney Springs: 10 am to 11 pm (11:30 pm on Fridays & Saturdays)
As a reminder, Walt Disney World’s regular follow is to launch boilerplate or placeholder hours earlier than extending these primarily based on attendance and lodge occupancy projections. This has been frequent follow for years, and can proceed for the rest of this 12 months and doubtless in 2025, 2026, and so on–till the rise of the machines.
One exception to the park hours above is that Magic Kingdom closes on a number of nights per week at 6 pm to day friends for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Celebration over the course of the subsequent couple weeks. This separately-ticketed occasion begins at 7 pm and runs till midnight, and happens a number of nights per week.
The excellent news is that Magic Kingdom will convey the vacation leisure from Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Celebration to all friends beginning December 21, 2024. So in case you’re visiting that date or later, you’ve gotten that “free” possibility versus paying for the events, that are all offered out now, anyway. And actually, it isn’t free. It’s included with admission, which is dearer the final two weeks of the 12 months. To not point out considerably greater lodge prices. Minor particulars.
Much like Magic Kingdom on MVMCP nights, Hollywood Studios closes at 7 pm on evenings when the Disney Jollywood Nights Christmas Celebration is held. That tough ticket occasion happens with far much less frequency than Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Celebration.
Along with these newly added hours, Walt Disney World has additionally prolonged park hours by the height week between Christmas and New 12 months’s Eve–however not all the best way to NYE. Nevertheless, we do have already got the leisure schedules and park closing occasions (openings are prone to be prolonged earlier) as coated in our Information to New 12 months’s Eve 2025 at Walt Disney World.
Anyway, on with the added hours for December 2024, from current by the most recent wave of extensions…
Magic Kingdom
- December 8, 2024: 8 am to six pm (beforehand 9 am to six pm)
- December 9, 2024: 9 am to 10 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 11, 2024: 9 am to 11 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 12, 2024: 8 am to six pm (beforehand 9 am to six pm)
- December 13, 2024: 8 am to six pm (beforehand 9 am to six pm)
- December 14, 2024: 8 am to 11 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 15, 2024: 8 am to six pm (beforehand 9 am to six pm)
- December 16, 2024: 9 am to 10 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 18, 2024: 8 am to 11 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 20, 2024: 8 am to six pm (beforehand 9 am to six pm)
- December 21, 2024: 9 am to 11 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 23, 2024: 9 am to 11 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 24, 2024: 8 am to 11 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 25, 2024: 8 am to 11 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 26, 2024: 8 am to 11 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 27, 2024: 8 am to 11 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 28, 2024: 8 am to 11 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
Walt Disney World has solely up to date hours by December 28, 2024. Any dates past that present boilerplate hours. There will likely be extensions for dates from December 29 by January 4, 2025 within the subsequent wave of updates. Dates beginning January 6, 2025 are much less prone to see main extensions, however some smaller ones are doable.
The opposite factor to which I need to name your consideration to is December 11, 14 and 18.
All of those are ‘purple flag’ dates to keep away from throughout weeks main as much as Christmas that may in any other case have solely reasonable crowds. It’s because every of those are the one day in 4-day stretches when Magic Kingdom doesn’t shut early for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Celebration.
Past this, we need to reiterate but once more that midnight closures must be customary working process for Magic Kingdom throughout Celebration Season on dates when the park isn’t closing early. Disneyland closes at midnight nearly every single day this vacation season, and Magic Kingdom ought to match. The crowds on non-party dates all through December are greater than adequate to justify 8 am to 12 am hours each single day. Not doing so is a mixture of cheapness on Walt Disney World’s half, blended with eager to push folks in the direction of Lightning Lanes.
On a optimistic observe, there are the extensions on days of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Celebration, with Magic Kingdom now opening at 8 am on many dates. That is the way it ought to be throughout Celebration Season (and, in my view, most days).
As we’ve mentioned numerous occasions, Celebration Season working hours trigger chaos with crowds, pushing attendance a lot greater on the dates it’s not occurring and decrease on the dates it’s occurring. On occasion nights, Magic Kingdom closes to day friends at 6 pm. It is usually more and more opening at 8 am. Due to this, Early Entry begins at 7:30 am, which makes this on-site perk far more extremely really useful.
Anticipate party-shortened days at Magic Kingdom to have crowd ranges of two/10 to 4/10 as an alternative of 1/10. This occurs as a result of crowd ranges as an entire are rising nearer to Christmas. That means they’re greater throughout the board, on each occasion and non-party days. It’s additionally taking place as a result of occasion dates have gotten extra frequent, making them tougher to keep away from. Which means extra friends could have no selection however to do Magic Kingdom on occasion days.
Ideally, you’ll have Park Hopper tickets and can be capable to bounce to a different park at round 4 pm. Animal Kingdom will at all times be your best choice for lower-crowd evenings in the course of the vacation season.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- December 11, 2024: 8:30 am to 7 pm (beforehand 9 am to 7 pm)
- December 14, 2024: 8:30 am to 7 pm (beforehand 9 am to 7 pm)
- December 18, 2024: 8:30 am to 7 pm (beforehand 9 am to 7 pm)
- December 21, 2024: 8:30 am to 7 pm (beforehand 9 am to 7 pm)
- December 26, 2024: 8:30 am to 9 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 27, 2024: 8:30 am to 9 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
- December 28, 2024: 8:30 am to 9 pm (beforehand 9 am to 9 pm)
Just a few dates including hours for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and it’s “solely” half-hour. It is a larger deal than it may appear as a result of Early Entry will as soon as once more formally begin at 8 am on these dates. As at all times, the sooner that Early Entry begins, the extra helpful it’s. There’s much less competitors and you will get extra completed.
It additionally helps that almost all of those extensions are Jollywood Nights dates. We’ve had a whole lot of reader questions on whether or not it’s savvy technique to copy the zig once they zag method to Magic Kingdom throughout Celebration Season. Our reply, as mentioned at size again in Finest & Worst 2024 Crowd Days at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, might be not.
Admittedly, the sooner opening time does forged this into doubt a bit for on-site friends. It most likely relies upon upon whether or not you’re an early chicken or night time owl. Should you’re the previous, think about taking the sooner headstart. Most friends ought to take the longer hours and later closing, although. After all, strategic Park Hopping is at all times going to be essentially the most advantageous method, in case you’re ready to try this.
It additionally helps that Jollywood Nights has not offered out most dates (and I strongly suspect it has a considerably decrease attendance cap than MVMCP within the first place), so it’s probably not having a pronounced influence on crowd ranges. We count on that to proceed to be true nearer to Christmas.
Animal Kingdom
- December 13, 2024: 8 am to 7 pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
- December 14, 2024: 8 am to eight pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
- December 20, 2024: 8 am to 7 pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
- December 21, 2024: 8 am to 7 pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
- December 22, 2024: 8 am to 7 pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
- December 23, 2024: 8 am to 7 pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
- December 24, 2024: 8 am to 7 pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
- December 25, 2024: 8 am to 7 pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
- December 26, 2024: 8 am to eight pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
- December 27, 2024: 8 am to eight pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
- December 28, 2024: 8 am to eight pm (beforehand 8 am to six pm)
As with Magic Kingdom, the 8 am opening time is clutch at Animal Kingdom, and that’s the norm by December 2024. That’s actually excellent news even a baseline perspective, because it means extensions will likely be closing at 7 pm or 8 pm–which additionally means nighttime at DAK in the course of the vacation season!
Critically, the baseline 8 am opening additionally means Early Entry at 7:30am, which is fairly sparsely attended. See Animal Kingdom Park Opening & Early Entry Journey Technique (or, “How I Did Each Journey at DAK Earlier than 10:30am.”)
On the reverse finish of the day, Animal Kingdom formally closes after sundown for the rest of the 12 months, in addition to all of Winter 2025. Between the later closing and Daylight Saving Time, you will get a pair hours in DAK after darkish–one thing not doable many of the 12 months.
Tree of Life Winter Awakenings can be again on the schedule (see our Information to Christmas at Animal Kingdom for full particulars). We extremely suggest staying for evenings in DAK to benefit from the Tree of Life Awakenings, plus Pandora and the remainder of the park after darkish.
Our Animal Kingdom Afternoon Arrival Technique is as soon as once more the best method for this park. Even on busier dates, Lightning Lane Multi Go is pointless with even a modicum of strategizing. Please don’t be fooled by the “discount” pricing on LLMP at Animal Kingdom. Keep in mind, one thing is just a deal in case you really need it–in any other case, you’re only a hoarder. (Nicely, you possibly can’t actually hoard Lightning Lanes in the identical sense…however you get the concept!)
Finally, the most recent two waves of park hours extensions usually are not as sturdy as I hoped or anticipating to see. The week earlier than Christmas isn’t as busy because the one between that and New 12 months’s Eve, however the extra modest extensions at DHS and DAK counsel Walt Disney World is projecting solely reasonable crowds. That’s shocking, as this may nonetheless usually be one of many 5 worst weeks of the 12 months.
Then there’s the week after that. Final 12 months was utter madness, the busiest stretch at Walt Disney World since (at the least) 2019, surpassing even the height of pent-up demand in 2022. And bear in mind, that was in what was in any other case a slower 12 months, as crowds have been already trending down final 12 months. This might lead us to consider that dates between Christmas and New 12 months’s Eve (actually by January 4, 2025 since blockouts lifting and faculty breaks additionally play a job) will all have 10+/10 crowd ranges and wait occasions far exceeding all different weeks of the 12 months.
These park hours extensions don’t essentially mirror that. Don’t get us mistaken, 8 am to 11 pm isn’t unhealthy for Magic Kingdom, but when these crowds are something like final 12 months, the park must be closing at midnight, if not 1 am, each night time that week. (Because it stands, this vacation season solely bought one midnight closure, throughout Veterans Day weekend.)
Later closures at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and even EPCOT would even be referred to as for. So both Walt Disney World’s inside forecasts present decrease (comparatively talking) attendance or they’re opting in opposition to longer extensions regardless of the heavier crowds. Should you’re visiting that week, we’d suggest getting ready for the latter and following our new Prime 12 Ideas for Beating Heavy Crowds at Walt Disney World, however hoping for the previous. It’ll be fascinating to see the way it performs out.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Find out about accommodations on our Walt Disney World Motels Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To economize on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Ideas for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys publish takes a novel take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Journey Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the very best place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for the whole lot you have to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider Walt Disney World’s working hours extensions for mid-to-late December 2024? Disillusioned at no midnight closures in the course of the week between Christmas and New 12 months’s Eve? Suppose this schedule is affordable? Do you assume Magic Kingdom must be open later? What has been your expertise with crowds and wait occasions? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
