Extended Evening Hours at Deluxe Resorts
Walt Disney World resort is offering unique perks for guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort. In a celebration of the 50th anniversary Disney offers early park entry everyday to all guests staying at a Disney owned hotel and certain good neighbor hotels. The perk for all resort guests includes 30 minutes of early park entry for every park everyday.
But the best perk of all is for those staying at Deluxe Resorts and Villas. Guests of these resorts have twice weekly extended evening hours.
Details
Both Magic Kingdom and Epcot are open for two hours twice a week for deluxe resort guests. The current schedule has been posted through February 16. Epcot is open late to deluxe resort guests on Mondays. The hours fluctuate depending on how late the park is open to the general public. Epcot hours typically range from 9 pm-11 pm or 10pm-12am when the parks are open late.
Magic Kingdom extended evening hours are on Wednesday evenings except for one exception in 2022 which is takes places on a Friday. Magic Kingdom hours run from 8pm-10 pm or 9 pm-11 pm.
Which Resorts Qualify
Disney Includes a list of resorts that qualify on their website. For your reference here are the lists of resorts that qualify for this program.
Credit: Disney
Disney Deluxe Resorts
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Disney’s Beach Club Resort
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village
- Disney’s Beach Club Villas
- Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
- The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Other Select Hotels
- Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
- Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
- Walt Disney World Swan Reserve
- Shades of Green® on Walt Disney World®
Attractions Included
Disney also includes a list of attractions open during the extended evening hours. Epcot just added Remy’s Ratatouille’s Adventure to the lineup which is a huge benefit!
Magic Kingdom Park
- “it’s a small world”
- Astro Orbiter
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Country Bear Jamboree
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Haunted Mansion
- Mad Tea Party
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic
- Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Space Mountain
- Swiss Family Treehouse
- The Barnstormer
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
- Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
EPCOT
- Beauty and The Beast Sing-Along
- Frozen Ever After
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
- Mission: SPACE
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Soarin’ Around the World
- Spaceship Earth
- Test Track
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends
Our Experience
Our family attended both the Epcot and Magic Kingdom extended evening hours the week of Thanksgiving. The week we traveled was one of the most crowded times of the year. Resorts were fully booked that week. Despite the crowds, we were pleased with the extended evening hours.
Epcot had longer wait times overall than Magic Kingdom. This is likely due having fewer attractions so crowds were not as evenly dispersed. In Epcot we first rode Frozen and waited about 20 minutes. We then headed to Test Track and waited about 30 minutes. When we attended Ratatouille had not yet been added to the lineup.
The other attractions were almost walk-ons. I would suggest not doing Frozen and Test Track first as their wait times were the longest. We had already ridden the other attractions during the day with Genie+ so this was our strategy.
Magic Kingdom was an amazing experience. We also attended the Very Merriest After hours that week and found the crowds to be less at the deluxe evening hours.
Seven Dwarves Mine Train had a posted wait of 30 minutes but we waited about 15 minutes. Space Mountain we waited about 10 minutes. The other attractions were essentially walk-ons. We noticed at Pirates of the Caribbean that many of the boats were empty the crowds were so low.
Tips
Although Deluxe Resort hotels are the most expensive booking a couple of nights can save you time with these extended evening hours. A family of four could save by not buying Genie+ or skipping at after hours event and receive the low wait times by attending this event.
Booking a split stay is another option if you’d like to take part in this extended evening hours but cannot afford to stay at a deluxe resort during your entire trip.
Review
During our trip we did a split stay between Riviera Resort and Copper Creek villas. Both resorts were included in this program. The transportation to/from the hotels to the parks were open for the extended evening hours. We took the Skyliner back to Riviera during our Epcot evening hours and noticed the Skyliner was only running to Riviera and not the other resorts. We took the boat from Magic Kingdom back to Wilderness Lodge for our Copper Creek stay. We found the transportation options to be running frequently.
Keep in mind that if you do not have a Park Hopper ticket you will want to plan your park reservations according to attend this event. We all had an annual pass with Park Hopper included so we did not have a park reservation for the evening hours. But if you hop make sure you check in to your first park that morning before being able to attend.
Do you want more help planning your next Disney vacation? As an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, my goal is to help you plan the Magic your way. I also create customized itineraries, book advanced dining, monitor for discounts for your vacation, and much much more! Also, did I mention that my services are FREE!!!! Contact me at SLoehrlein@MickeyTravels.com or follow me on Facebook @MickeyTravelsShannonLoehrlein
