Prolonged Night Hours returns to Animal Kingdom in Summer time 2025 at Walt Disney World in what’s most likely a change away from Magic Kingdom by means of (at the very least) January 2026. This submit shares date(s), particulars, and technique for making the most of the on-site perk for visitors staying at higher-end inns.
For individuals who are new to Walt Disney World trip planning, Prolonged Night Theme Park Hours is nighttime counterpart to Early Theme Park Entry. There are a number of variations, most notably that visitors staying at Worth or Average Resorts usually are not eligible for Prolonged Night Hours. Nevertheless it’s not simply the most costly resorts–you’ll be able to lower your expenses by renting DVC factors or staying on the Swolphin and nonetheless be eligible if you wish to hack ExEH (and it’s best to!)
Prolonged Night Theme Park Hours has two sorts of resort eligibility, happens two nights per week, is at two parks, and runs for 2 hours. It’s often Monday at EPCOT and Wednesday at Magic Kingdom. See our Technique Information Information for Prolonged Night Hours at Walt Disney World for extra ins and outs of the nighttime Deluxe profit.
Walt Disney World has up to date the calendar reflecting that Prolonged Night Hours will transfer from Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom on Wednesdays, beginning with July 2, 2025. The next Wednesday, July 9, 2025, Prolonged Night Hours is once more in Animal Kingdom versus Magic Kingdom.
The transfer has not but been introduced by Walt Disney World, however you’ll be able to see the change through the My Disney Expertise app. July 9, 2025 is at present the most recent the calendar goes, so any dialogue of dates past then ought to be handled as speculative. Nevertheless, with two consecutive weeks in Animal Kingdom, that is nearly definitely not an anomaly because of Independence Day.
As an alternative, it’s seemingly a purposeful schedule change because of Disney Starlight Evening Parade and one that can seemingly apply for the rest of summer time. As we’ve beforehand mentioned, Walt Disney World has made a number of calendar adjustments strongly suggesting the debut date of Disney Starlight Evening Parade!
The explanation for shifting Prolonged Night Hours from Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom because of Starlight comes right down to scheduling. Primarily based on historic precedent, our greatest guess for the schedule is as follows:
- First Starlight Parade: 9 pm
- Fortunately Ever After: 10 pm
- Second Starlight Parade: 11 pm
- Park Closing: 11 pm or midnight
With the second Starlight Evening Parade stepping off at 11 p.m., this primarily quantities to a midnight closing for Magic Kingdom even when the printed time finally ends up being 11 pm. It thus behooves Walt Disney World to maneuver ExEH to Animal Kingdom for the remainder of the summer time to scale back the pressure on Magic Kingdom operations. Simply attempting to run Starlight and handle common crowd stream goes to be a serious problem.
If Prolonged Night Hours strikes away from Magic Kingdom for the summer time, it’ll most likely keep that approach till the second week of January 2026. Word that this isn’t but official–every little thing past the primary two weeks of July 2025 is only speculative at this level.
With that stated, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom have taken over internet hosting duties from Magic Kingdom annually in September or October. This happens due to Occasion Season, which begins in early August and kicks into excessive gear in late September.
This 12 months, the circumstances might be totally different with Starlight, which is able to trigger larger crowds in Magic Kingdom on non-party nights even in August and September. Consequently, even when Magic Kingdom does someway find yourself with extra ExEH in late July or early August, it’ll most likely lose them once more by mid-August. (This sensible actuality might be a part of why Walt Disney World is shifting Prolonged Night Hours in July, and can depart them there till early 2026–simpler from a continuity and visitor confusion perspective.)
Usually, Prolonged Night Hours strikes to Disney’s Hollywood Studios if Magic Kingdom has scheduling conflicts. Animal Kingdom is usually the backup to DHS, taking up if that park is internet hosting events.
That often occurs in November and December with the Jollywood Nights Christmas Occasion. Now, it’s occurring because of After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which runs most Wednesday nights by means of September 3, 2025.
In principle, DHS might take over ExEH beginning then for a few months. In truth, that might be roughly the traditional cadence from the final two years. The purpose of all that is that there aren’t any ensures that Animal Kingdom will host Prolonged Night Hours interrupted from July 2025 by means of January 2026. It may very well be a mixture of DAK and DHS. We do suppose it’s unlikely Magic Kingdom can have greater than 4-5 extra dates all of this 12 months, and I’d guess on zero.
It’s really an extremely savvy transfer to shift Prolonged Night Hours to Animal Kingdom. That ought to assist redistribute crowds, making the opposite three parks barely much less busy and Animal Kingdom much less of a ghost city on the tail finish of the day.
Even so, a part of me hopes to be fallacious about this. I nonetheless fondly bear in mind midnight closings throughout Summer time Nightastic, then 3 hours of night Further Magic Hours afterwards. Sure, that’s right–Magic Kingdom was open till 3 a.m. on some nights for all on-site visitors. And that was through the Nice Recession, when attendance was a lot decrease!
Whereas I had no delusions of three a.m. closings in Summer time 2025, I used to be holding out hope for two a.m. with Prolonged Night Hours. Even when that doesn’t occur–and it seems that it’ll not–I hope Magic Kingdom does at the very least some midnight closings. Particularly on weekends, there’ll clearly be the demand for this with the second Starlight stepping off at 11 p.m.
This isn’t to complain about Prolonged Night Hours at Animal Kingdom. On the contrary, we love DAK after darkish. That often doesn’t occur throughout summer time season because of later sunsets, so it’s a win from that perspective. Pandora – World of Avatar seems nice at evening, and takes on a very totally different ambiance that’s surprisingly serene.
Whether or not Prolonged Night Hours at Animal Kingdom finally ends up being “good” or “dangerous” actually relies upon upon crowd ranges and climate. If it’s actually sizzling through the day, extra individuals will take noon breaks and attend ExEH. We frequently see the worst crowds for Prolonged Night Hours at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT not through the busiest instances of the 12 months, however through the hottest. Whilst summer time crowds have decreased as a complete, ExEH crowds have worsened. Anticipate this to carry true at DAK, too.
Animal Kingdom has one other situation, which is its incapacity to soak up crowds. That is at all times true, which is why there’s a ‘tipping level’ when DAK goes from completely manageable to insanely crowded, with out a lot of a reasonably busy in-between. Such is the character of a restricted experience roster. With hotter climate incentivizing extra uptake of ExEH, this might occur at Animal Kingdom this summer time. Or maybe sufficient individuals will Park Hop to Magic Kingdom each evening to see Starlight that crowds will nonetheless be gentle throughout ExEH at DAK.
So far as technique goes, Avatar Flight of Passage is the principle substantive draw of Prolonged Night Hours at Animal Kingdom. Experiencing it with a minimal wait is a large promoting level of the perk; visitors will undoubtedly acknowledge this, seeing ExEH as an alternative choice to paying for Lightning Lane Single Cross.
Attributable to this, Flight of Passage might be busy in the beginning of Prolonged Night Hours. Primarily based on our previous expertise throughout particular occasions and evenings at Animal Kingdom, our recommendation can be to avoid wasting Flight of Passage till the tip of the evening. We’ve completed occasions throughout which Flight of Passage posts a 60-90 minute wait in the beginning and is a walk-on in the direction of the tip.
As odd as this may sound, there’s an excellent cause for the fall-off: Flight of Passage’s pre-show. In case you’ve solely skilled the attraction a handful of instances, the awkward and rambling pre-show may strike you as mildly annoying. Attempt experiencing that very same pre-show 4 consecutive instances and also you’ll discover it interminably lengthy and bordering on torture (discuss in regards to the final first-world hyperbole, however nonetheless).
That is exactly why the road will drop off sharply for Avatar Flight of Passage through the course of Prolonged Night Hours. Individuals will get their fill originally of the occasion, and never do it once more both because of the lengthy line they encountered the primary time, the lengthy pre-show, or each.
Accordingly, the very best strategy to Prolonged Night Hours at Animal Kingdom is beginning in Asia and doing Expedition Everest, doubtlessly repeatedly. The entire experience expertise there’s considerably shorter and it ought to be the same story with the road. You might most likely do Expedition Everest a couple of instances in brief order in case your physique is as much as it.
From there, doing Dinosaur is sensible earlier than ending the evening in Pandora – World of Avatar the place it’s best to be capable to knock out each Na’vi River Journey and Avatar Flight of Passage with minimal waits.
Our rationale for this technique is that everybody goes to go to Pandora first. It’s the principle draw, and why 95% of individuals are going to attend Prolonged Night Hours at Animal Kingdom. Not solely will ExEH visitors flock to Pandora, however day visitors will nonetheless be there in the beginning.
After about an hour, day visitors might be lengthy gone, and Prolonged Night Hours visitors may even begin to transfer on to different areas of Animal Kingdom. The final half-hour or so, it’s best to have Pandora just about to your self. Not solely will you be capable to benefit from the points of interest with minimal wait, however you’ll be able to benefit from the ambiance of Pandora at evening devoid of crowds.
I really like the bodily setting of Pandora, and it’s even higher at evening. Clearly, a giant a part of that is the lighting. However the ambiance can also be way more convincing–really like an alien planet being reclaimed by nature. The soundscape in Pandora can also be prime notch, elevating that panorama even additional. The vibes are immaculate, as the youngsters say.
Actually, that is the upside of Prolonged Night Hours at Animal Kingdom from our perspective. Whereas I think about Animal Kingdom to be the weakest of the 4 parks at evening, that may be very a lot a relative time period–even the “weakest” on this case continues to be unbelievable, and extremely underrated. Simply strolling round Animal Kingdom at evening is extremely satisfying, albeit a bit spooky in low crowds.
It’s not simply the moody ambiance, it’s the serene sounds and simply basic peacefulness of the park. In case you’ve solely completed DAK throughout sizzling days, you should have a very contemporary perspective on it–noticing particulars you’ve by no means seen earlier than and leaving with a newfound appreciation for the park. I promise!
The largest draw back to Prolonged Night Hours at Animal Kingdom is that there’s solely a lot to do–just about simply the rides, and there aren’t a lot of these. Kilimanjaro Safaris, Pageant of the Lion King, Discovering Nemo: Massive Blue & Past, or Feathered Pals in Flight, all of which at present finish operations within the late afternoon.
Accordingly, we’d advocate arriving a couple of hours early, and allocating that point to different points of interest, stage exhibits, and atmospheric leisure that received’t be open or carried out throughout Prolonged Night Hours. In the course of the occasion, you’re essentially going to be repeating points of interest, as so few are open.
On the plus facet, it ought to make for an awesome alternative to say goodbye to DINOSAUR. And, for these of you who’ve requested me the way to get your personal empty Time Rover on-ride picture, the final ~half-hour of ExEH is a fairly good reply!
In the end, Prolonged Night Hours at Animal Kingdom is an occasion that leaves me conflicted. On the one hand, I choose nighttime within the different 3 parks, and I additionally favor ExEH in each Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom from a sensible perspective given the experience rosters in every of these parks.
Animal Kingdom is unimaginable at evening–criminally underrated when you think about the park’s regular closing time exterior of some months of the 12 months. It’s an actual disgrace that so few Walt Disney World visitors expertise Animal Kingdom within the night, as your entire park takes on a special vibe–particularly Pandora – World of Avatar. Greater than the rest, this actually simply makes me want Animal Kingdom had a (good) nighttime spectacular and bigger experience roster so individuals stayed late right here on common days.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be making the most of Prolonged Night Theme Park Hours at Disney’s Animal Kingdom? Upset in regards to the lack of ExEH at Magic Kingdom in July and doubtlessly by means of early 2026? Hoping extra Prolonged Night Hours dates are provided at DAK, or would you prefer to see it shift to DHS in September? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we can assist 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 under within the feedback!
