DHS - EMH Evening Hours (Jan)

According to the Walt Disney World website, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be swapping morning Extra Magic Hours for evening Extra Magic Hours in January 2020.

Beginning January 5, 2020, the park hours will be extended from a 9am open to an 8am open through the end of the month, with the park still scheduled to close at 8pm. While Disney didn’t add any Extra Magic Hours dates, they did change them from morning to evening. Here are the current Extra Magic Hours dates for Disney’s Hollywood Studios in January 2020:

  • January 5th: 9pm to 11pm
  • January 12th: 8pm to 10pm
  • January 19th: 8pm to 10pm
  • January 26th: 8pm to 10pm
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I just got an park hours update email about this as well! So excited!

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I wonder if use of Boarding Groups will continue for ROTR–if so, we will still have to be in the park early to get one (and then be there late as well?).

I got the email as well and am very excited as evenings will work better for what I have planned there and will give me more time in the other parks

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Interesting. So far it’s just for January. February still shows an 8-9am EMH. Did they include RotR with the evening hours? Or has that been announced?

If they extend the evening hours into February it greatly alters my plans as Sunday is departure day and I had planned to hit the park early for a couple of hours and leave by 11.

IMHO - BGs will continue for at least the next month. (thru the MLK holiday)

Maybe by then crowds will thin out a bit. I’m sure once MMRR opening in March that will disperse some people.

Boarding Groups were gone before 8am today…

Evening Extra Magic Hours are not listed on the WDW webpage for EMH information, so it’s not known if RotR will be included in evening EMH. My guess is that Disney will keep it open, but it has yet to be confirmed.

Do you think the use of Minnie Vans might be wise to get to HS by 8am? Do you think this might save us some time? We will be at Wilderness Lodge.
Originally I planned on using the bus… but now that we have to get up even earlier… i’m wondering what Minnie Van availability might be like.

It’s tight. You need to request it super early during peak times. I would probably use a regular Lyft in this case.

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Does anyone know if the buses will get one to DHS two hours before their opening, or would it be better to get an Uber or Lyft?

Update -

Disney has implemented another park hours change on their website sometime this morning that affects December 2019 park opening times and shifts the change to evening Extra Magic Hours to this Sunday instead of the previously announced early 2020 start date.

Here are the announced changes:

  • December 12-21 : Park hours extended from 8am opening to 7am opening
  • December 22, 29 : Park hours extended from 9am opening to 8am opening

Extra Magic Hours have moved to evenings on the following dates:

  • December 15th : EMH moved from 8-9am to 9-11pm
  • December 22nd : EMH moved from 8-9am to 10pm-midnight
  • December 29th : EMH removed from schedule

Disney still hasn’t made an official announcement on the inclusion of RotR during the evening EEMH starting December 15th.

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I’d go with Uber / Lyft. Minnie Vans aren’t always available before 6:30am or at least there aren’t a full fleet in service until around then.

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That’s what I was thinking too. Thanks for the input.

I thought that booking FPP was stressful, but this takes it to another level.

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Yeah… I’m waiting until next Sept to go to SWGE to let some of this hype // crowd trickle off.

That’s smart. We’re booked during March. I hope that the hype has died down a bit, that everything is working even more smoothly, and that perhaps they will be able to accommodate more guests on the attraction at that point.

According to Touring Plans & Len the ride is only running at about 50% capacity during this first week. That’s a big reason Boarding Groups are gone so early. I, too, am hopeful that in the upcoming months they’ll start adding more vehicles and being consistently open.

(Of course… look at Hargids at Universal – opened in June and is still not running all day. I know they’re built by different manufacturers, but it illustrates how fragile these amazing high tech rides are)

This gives me hope that BGs will continue through January. Planning to be in HS on the 26th.

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I was trying to remember what “BGs” stood for. I figured it out, but now I have “How Deep Is Your Love?” playing in my head. :upside_down_face:

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On the upside, I was able to switch my tier 1 fpp to SDD. Now I’ll just need to figure out how early I’ll need to get up that day.

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I had the same plan for a Sunday departure day in Feb! Am going to be annoyed if that goes away.