For a stress-free Disney or Universal Studios vacation, let the FREE expert planners at Royal Carriage Vacations take care of every detail including dining reservations, applying discounts, and onboard cruise credit.
You will not believe who will now be able to enter extended evening hours only reserved for guests staying at Disney deluxe resorts. Be sure to check this out because it may cause a big headache! Will you be adjusting your plans?
Extended Evening Hours
Disney announced earlier this year that Extra Magic Hours would be replaced. Instead of having morning and evening benefits at various parks, Guests can utilize Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Hours.
For Early Theme Park Entry, any Guest staying onsite can enter every park every day 30 minutes early. I highly encourage you to take advantage if you can! See how my family rode almost every ride at Hollywood Studios without a wait HERE.
Extended Evening Hours are reserved only for Guests staying at deluxe resorts. This includes DVC villas as well. Many staying at value and moderate resorts are understandably not happy with this change. They argue that it’s not fair and further caters to those who spend a lot of money at Disney.
So far, the only parks that are participating are Magic Kingdom and Epcot. On Monday nights, deluxe resort Guests can enjoy Epcot from 10:00 pm to 12:00 am. Additionally, Deluxe resort Guests can enjoy Magic Kingdom on Wednesday nights from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm. The times may vary a bit depending on what time the parks close.
Changes to the Schedule
However, we noticed a change to this pattern and decided to investigate. There will be no Wednesday night Magic Kingdom hours on February 2, 2022. Instead, the extended evening hours for that week moved to Friday, February 4.
Extended evening hours moved from Wednesday, February 2 to Friday, February 4 at Magic Kingdom.
So far, Disney has remained on schedule since its debut in early October. What could possibly make them switch things up? Will all future dates be moved to Friday or is this a one time thing?
Competitions
Disney World hosts many competitions throughout the year, and there is one currently scheduled for February 4-6, 2022. The UDA High School National Dance Team Championship will take place that weekend.
So, I checked around their website – specifically the FAQ page. Among answers for ticket and hotel purchases, I found this:
Is there a Celebration Party or Extended Hours this season?
Yes! We are excited to bring back the Extended Park Hours on Friday night as well as the Celebration Party on Sunday night! These are included for those on the Hotel Travel Package. Those attending the Celebration Party, do not need a Theme Park reservation on their ticket for that event. For commuters, you can purchase tickets for the Celebration party.
So, what exactly is the Hotel Travel Package? This travel package basically ensures that every competitor has their flights, hotel, and tickets purchased. It offers convenience as well as financial savings.
Under the Hotel Travel Package section:
What is the difference between a Value and Moderate Resort?
The Value accommodations are very nice yet economical hotels. Moderate accommodations are more upscale hotels on the Walt Disney World® property. Therefore, the main difference in package prices is the hotel cost only. All other services will remain the same for both hotels.
Notice how nothing mentions deluxe? I actually searched the entire FAQ page and found nothing that mentioned deluxe!
Will these competitors have access to Extended Evening Hours?
Yes, it appears that these competitors will be mixed in with deluxe resort Guests on Friday, February 4. These late night “parties” are almost always held at Magic Kingdom.
If you are planning to utilize this benefit that evening, you may want to adjust your plans. This event will significantly increase the amount of people in attendance. Plus, these late nights are notoriously known for being loud with a bunch of teenagers running around!
I’m not sure why Disney could not just keep the Wednesday hours for deluxe resort Guests and add the Friday night party for competitors.
Are you planning to use those extended evening hours the same night as the competitors? Or, will you change your plans? Do you think this sets a precedent for future competitions? Join the conversation in the comments below and on Facebook.
Share the love!
Karen
Saturday 20th of August 2022
The Magic is dying….Walt intended his parks to be for ALL families , not just elitist’s. So sad Disney is creating a cast system for it’s guests.
Jeanette Maliszewski
Saturday 27th of November 2021
Regular attendees at Disney should be able to count on the schedule. The extra hours at MK on Wednesday was part of our vacation scheduling. I will be leaving on Friday. Please allow the schedule to stay with extra evening hours for MK on Wednesday. And by all means allow those who are only coming for the competition days which starts on Fri to have an event that night. I beg you not to take away the benefit given to loyal vacationers in order to enhance the savings package that the Competition goers have purchased.
Lookin Good
Wednesday 24th of November 2021
If you are answering me, then yes, since I own 890 DVC points, 250 of them at Poly, and 270 of them at VGF, yes I have seen the difference between the All Stars and the Poly and other flagship deluxe resorts. It is easy for me to book those resorts for peanuts compared to what one has to pay on a cash reservation. A "superior room" is something many Disney visitors will not care about since so many use a room as a place to sleep and spend the entire day in the parks. For ease of transportation, many of the value resorts are now on the Skyliner...And deluxe resorts like Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom are - for the most part - relegated to busses. Saratoga is considered deluxe and there is zero locational advantage and the "service" there is highly debatable. Without the enticement of exclusive extra magic nights which will be much less crowded than the morning 1/2 hour, one more reason to stop paying more to get less. Disney marketing a "superior room" to a person spending about 9 hours in the room, 7 of them sleeping, seems to fit in with the decisions they are making lately though. If I did not own all of those points, I would not visit or pay 700 bucks for a night at the Poly. Especially when Portofino Bay, which is truly offering superior service - is far less in the cost spectrum. To each their own, but offering less for more money seems to be the Disney norm.
Kari Mclaughlin
Wednesday 24th of November 2021
I am die hard, life long Disney freak. I saw this coming years ago when they did away with the old stick your ticket in fast pass system...then the magic bands that everyone drools over- that's where spontaneity was killed at Disney. This class separation is not Walt's dream come to life. There are so many regulations now that you need a full course on how to go have a nice day at Epcot. We'll be skipping for a while, as we have a baby now, but we'll just be getting our fix at Downtown Disney for a bit to see how this pans out. More money should equal more services, but when you take away what we had already for my entire life, it feels a bit Sheriff of Nottingham . We have stayed at all the resorts, depending on what we wanted out of that trip...now we'll just be enjoying our memories and saving money.
Kari Mclaughlin
Wednesday 24th of November 2021
Of course there is...superior rooms, service, and simplicity of stepping right onto the monorail for transport. Have you never seen the difference between the all stars and the Polynesian?!