Starting Tuesday, September 8:Magic Kingdom goes to 9am-6pm, from 9am-7pmDisney’s Animal Kingdom goes to 9am-5pm, from 8am-6pmDisney’s Hollywood Studios goes to 10am-7pm, from 10am-8pm
Epcot’s hours remain 11am-9pm. In October, Epcot’s closing time moves to 7pm, according to the Disney World website. However, the website has Animal Kingdom’s hours going back to 8am-6pm in October. Disney has not posted theme park hours for November and beyond.
The reduction of an hour or two after the Labor Day holiday weekend wouldn’t normally be a big deal. Disney’s theme parks typically roll back operating hours after the busy summer season.
But this hasn’t been a busy summer season – not with the pandemic keeping the parks closed until mid-July and tourists not yet returning to Central Florida. That Disney is cutting its operating hours further after the summer suggests that the resort does not see a return of tourists to the Orlando on the horizon this fall, nor does it anticipate enough of an increase in local visitors to justify keeping its current operating schedule – which was sharply reduced from a typical summer.
How to Plan a Trip to Disney World in 2020 and Beyond
Actually after about 5-6 hours of mask wearing you’re pretty much ready to go anyway!
They need to cut the ticket prices if they are cutting the hours. I was so looking forward to going to Disney but now not as much. Certainly not getting my money’s worth.
This is not surprising at all considering the attendance they have been having, by the late afternoon the parks are pretty much empty. Sadly this is the low hanging fruit, it looks like the pandemic may go on the rest of the year or even into next year so “packages” for senior employees may be the next step in this ordeal, increased healthcare prices, etc. Also if Disney is hurting you know its got to be worse for all the businesses in Orlando that depend on them. It’s pretty much guaranteed the economic fallout from this will get worse before it gets better.
Also on another note according to the Orlando Sentinel yesterday UCF already has 451 cases and they just went back this week, so knowing that not only business is too slow for the college program they may also be too scared to start that up because of the living situation until after there is a vaccine. They also still have tons of people still out on furlough and it could be a long time before their jobs can come back (all the conventions people, for example). And now that the waterparks have missed summer you have to wonder if they will come back this year. So unless they get laid off Disney is going to have to try and find something for these people to do while the economy is shrinking. All of this means its going to be a long time before Disney hires anybody and people who have dreams of moving to Orlando and working in the business are pretty much F’ed for the forseeable future.
Also in reference to my “going to get worse before it gets better” comment, in today’s sentinel there is an article saying Virgin has terminated their licensing agreement with the Brightline development, meaning the Virgin branding is being dropped from the Florida high speed rail. It does appear that it’s still being built but is going back to the Brightline name and branding.
Yeah, this is why I wouldn’t even consider a trip to Florida this year if it weren’t for a particular event. Right now, you’re essentially paying $15 an hour to spend time in a Disney park (assuming you stay the full day), which while not outrageous is still 50% more than under normal operating hours. Fortunately, you can probably experience 50% more attractions in a day and 8-9 hours is about the longest most people can withstand a face mask, but if you’re concerned about time vs. money this year is definitely on the losing end. That said, I am debating whether to cut my Disney time on my October trip back from three days to two, especially since Universal across town is offering some pretty great deals.
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