I apologize if this was discussed somewhere else I did not see it, but I am look at the predicted park hours coming up and something seems off. Park hours per the Disney website go through July 11th, but the Crowd Calendar page does not show ‘Park Hours are Estimates’ until July 25th. Not a big deal, maybe they have two extra weeks of advanced knowledge for park hours.
What is more curious is that all summer long park hours for Hollywood Studios are 9:00am opening with the occasional 8am EMH. Starting on July 25th when ‘Park Hours are Estimates’ the hours change to 8am opening with 7am EMH for the next month or so.
What is the rationale that on July 25th this abrupt change is going to occur?
I understand that is just an estimate and not to rely on these hours until they are released, but I would like to understand them.
There have always been Disney initial calendars that travel agents have used. The only one that you can find is the ones published on Kenny the Pirate’s site.
Hours will most likely be extend some days but initial hours through August are here.
This is because the calendar is based on what happened last year.
This is often a reliable guide, but not always. At the end of June last year Toy Story Land opened, so Disney increased the opening hours of DHS to cope with the initial rush of enthusiasm. But there is no reason for them to do the same this year. So those estimated hours are almost certain to be wrong.
To add to this, is there any generalities to the hours that anyone has noticed after they are released? Meaning, when Disney releases the hours how often do they change before the actual day? And when they do change do they always add hours? Add and subtract? Both? When is the latest you have seen hours change?
I am looking to do the Parkeology challenge and am worried about finding a day with enough hours that it is possible to complete and then seeing the hours change where they close a park earlier than previously released and kill my chances.
Hours are very rarely reduced, unless there is some private event like a Cast Member appreciation evening. Even those are usually included in the published hours.
They will sometimes increase hours, often around the middle of one month for the next again month, so 4-6 weeks ahead.
However hours can be added, EMH added right up to the week before, even the same day. At certain times it is predictable, for example Christmas to New Year at MK will be 8am opening, 7am EMH every day.