Does anyone have an idea why the hours that are being released for the middle of June are so short for all 4 parks? For example, Animal Kingdom is showing 9:00 - 6:00. We are going in June because of school schedules. Everything we read is that yes, it is crowded, hot, and rainy, but at least it is offset somewhat by longer park hours. I saw longer hours on the schedule for a slow week, last week, than in the middle of June. Anybody have any insight?
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Thanks for bringing this up! I’ve been getting emails from TP for about the last week and have been very disappointed to see them shortening vs getting longer.
My only hope is that these are still guesstimates by TP and are not the official hours, and that these adjustments may be more the result of the update to their method than a reflection of what maybe insider info they have. Because I’m going to be bummed if AK closes at 6p every night of my trip.
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Only AK seems to be short hours. The other parks are showing later closing times. (AK often is the park that closes the earliest.)
It could simply be Disney hasn’t updated official park hours that far out…but looking at hours from a couple weeks out to mid-June, they look similar, so it might be correct.
I do think the notion that summer park hours are later isn’t necessarily true any longer. While for many people, it is the only time they can go…for many people they tend to avoid the summer months because…you know…Florida heat!
We are also going in June. Hoping these hours will lengthen closer to our trip! I was looking at Spring Break hours and I’m hopeful we will see something similar.
Comparing to last year AK had 8-8 or 8-7 hours. That is similar to spring break this year.
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Yes, but typically we get 11pm or even midnight regular closing time at MK and an earlier opening time, so although it doesn’t appear that the others are short, they are historically short.
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We’re going May 26th, and I’m completely ignoring the hours currently posted. There’s very little chance AK won’t open before 9. Disney will update those about two weeks out. They seem to update every Friday and make updates for a week at a time.
The TP estimated hours were probably more accurate. I kinda wish they would keep those visible even after Disney posts “real” hours that will change.
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For the week of May 27th, here’s what TP estimated…
- MK: 9a-11p
- E: 8:30a-9p
- HS: 8:30a-9p
- AK: 7:30a-8p
And here’s what Disney posted…
- MK: 9a-10p
- E: 9a-9p
- HS: 9a-9p
- AK: 9a-6p
The same thing happened when we went the week of Presidents Day. The TP estimates were more accurate than what Disney shared originally.
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Is it only 2 weeks ago now? It seems like it wasn’t that long ago Disney would update these 6 weeks out.
It is hard to believe Disney doesn’t know what their hours are going to be. Wonder why they are waiting so close to the trip dates these days!!!
No, the opposite! The hours will increase… if AK doesn’t open before 9:00 I’ll eat my hat.
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Checking the calendar now, and it looks like 3 weeks out. Anything from May 5th and beyond is using the same placeholder times posted above. Anything from now to May 4th looks real.
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Ohhhh I read it backwards!
They are the Disney released hours from what I have seen in the app (for some reason they aren’t up on the web), but I am hoping Disney continues to update them…
These are super short. I’m staying at AKL and really hope these increase a little.
And agree with @OBNurseNH these seem to be minimum MK hours.
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It really grinds my gears that dining reservations happen before the “real” hours are released. There definitely are times when park hours influence my dining decisions.
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OMG 100%!!!
(complete sentence)
That is part of my concern. I can make ADRs on Wednesday. For Animal Kingdom I was going to make a reservation for 30 minutes before park closing. With these hours that would be 5:30. I closing is pushed to 7:00 I don’t want my last hour and a half to be in a restaurant.
I make them tomorrow and have the exact same issue. Right now Tiffins ans Tusker House go up 5;50 so I’ll make them for then. If hours extend I’ll try to move them later right away.
Even if I book at Jiko I don’t want to book too early if AK is closing later.
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It’s Friday, so they made the next batch of updates. For example - May 5th at AK was showing 9a-6p first thing this morning. Now it’s a more reasonable 8a-7p.
AK opening for that entire week moved up from 9:00 to 8:00. And MK closing moved from 9pm every day to either 10pm or 11pm.
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Well that’s good to hear.
I guess this suggests then that the recent TP updates were more reflective of the update in their process? Otherwise why would they update only to have to update again? 
wonder if @len has any insight on this
It looks like TP estimates are based on historical data, but they always update them to whatever Disney publishes on their official calendar at the 70 day mark. So that’s when you’ll get the first notification for the dates you’re tracking.
Unfortunately Disney is using very generic placeholder hours and then updating when it gets much closer. So then you’ll get another TP notification with the real hours.