Disney World Extended Evening Theme Park Hours (2024)

March 20, 2024

Disney World resort guests have two ways to enjoy extra theme park time in 2024: Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. While all on-site Disney World guests have Early Theme Park Entry, only guests of Disney World Deluxe and Deluxe Villas get the premium perk of Extended Evening Theme Park Hours.

What Are Disney World Extended Evening Theme Park Hours?

Guests of Disney World Deluxe Resorts and Deluxe Villas get an additional two hours of theme park time on select nights. These Disney World Extended Evening Theme Park Hours are part of your Disney deluxe resort stay and include several popular attractions.

Although two hours of extra park time might not seem like a lot, you’d be surprised how pleasant Extended Evening Theme Park Hours are versus a crowded regular park day.

Who Is Eligible For Disney World Extra Evening Hours?

Disney's Riviera Resort is one of the deluxe villas included in Disney World extra evening hours

Registered guests of select Disney World Deluxe, Deluxe Villas, and other select hotels have two extra hours of theme park time on select dates – with a catch. To participate in Extended Evening Theme Park Hours you must already be eligible to visit the extra hour park during normal hours.

To attend Disney World Extended Evening Theme Park Hours you MUST meet the following criteria

Be a Deluxe or Deluxe Villa guest AND either:

  • have a valid theme park ticket. Guests with one park per day tickets must visit the park during the day to be eligible for extended evening hours. Those with park hopper tickets can visit another Walt Disney World theme park during the day and still attend extra evening hours.
  • or be an Annual Passholder, have a park reservation for the extra hour park or go to your theme park reservation park before hopping to the Extended Evening Hours park

Because this specific policy is often glossed over there are two types of guests likely to show up and get turned away for extra evening hours. The first excluded group is deluxe guests with one park per day tickets who visited another theme park during the day.

The other excluded group are those planning to attend Extended Evening Theme Park Hours after a rest day. Although I think these two types of guests are rare, it’s worth mentioning since showing up and then being turned away from extra evening hours would be extremely upsetting.

Disney World Deluxe Resorts

Disney World Deluxe Villas

Other Extra Evening Hour Eligible Hotels

  • Swan Hotel
  • Dolphin Hotel
  • Walt Disney World Swan Reserve
  • Shades of Green on Walt Disney World

Which Disney World Theme Parks Have Extended Evening Theme Park Hours?

Cinderella Castle with a small crowd in front during Extended Evening Theme Park Hours

When Disney World Extended Evening Theme Park Hours began they occurred almost exclusively at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.

However during seasonal events like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Magic Kingdom doesn’t host extended evening hours.

Unfortunately, Disney World is no longer listing the upcoming dates in one location. Glancing through the current calendar it seems Epcot has extended evening hours most Mondays and extra evening hours have returned to Magic Kingdom on select nights, mostly Wednesdays.

For the most up-to-date information head to the Disney World calendar and look for extended evening theme park hours on the calendar.

Screenshot of Disney World operating calendar park hours with a red circle around extended evening theme park hours

Extra evening hours begin immediately after the scheduled park closing time, for example, if EPCOT closes at 9pm then the extra hours are 9pm to 11pm.

Are All Rides Available During Extra Evening Hours?

Mad Tea party at night

A large number of attractions are part of Disney World Extended Evening Theme Park Hours, but not all rides are available.

The good news is most Individual Lightning Lane and hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane rides are available during extra evening hours. This is a distinct advantage for Deluxe and Deluxe Villa guests compared to other on-site and especially off-site guests.

Magic Kingdom Attractions During Extended Evening Hours

  • “it’s a small world”
  • Astro Orbiter
  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
  • Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
  • Country Bear Jamboree
  • Dumbo the Flying Elephant
  • Haunted Mansion
  • Mad Tea Party
  • Mickey’s PhilharMagic
  • Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
  • Peter Pan’s Flight (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
  • Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Individual Lightning Lane)
  • Space Mountain (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • Swiss Family Treehouse
  • The Barnstormer
  • The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
  • Tomorrowland Speedway
  • Tron Lightcycle/Run via 6pm virtual queue (Individual Lightning Lane)
  • Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
  • Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room

EPCOT Attractions During Extended Evening Theme Park Hours

  • Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind via 6pm virtual queue (Individual Lightning Lane)
  • Frozen Ever After (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
  • Journey of Water
  • Mission: SPACE
  • Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • Soarin’ Around the World
  • Spaceship Earth
  • Test Track (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • The Seas with Nemo & Friends

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Attractions During Extended Evening Hours

  • Alien Swirling Saucers
  • Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy
  • Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • Muppet*Vision 3D
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
  • Slinky Dog Dash (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
  • Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Individual Lightning Lane)
  • Toy Story Mania!
  • The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Attractions During Extended Evening Hours

  • Avatar Flight of Passage (Individual Lightning Lane)
  • DINOSAUR
  • Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • It’s Tough to be a Bug!
  • Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • Na’vi River Journey (hard-to-get Genie+ Lightning Lane)
  • TriceraTop Spin

How Do Disney World Extra Evening Hours Work?

Cast member scanning guests in for Haunted Mansion queue at Extended Evening Theme Park Hours

Ineligible guests are prevented from participating in Extended Evening Theme Park Hours differently than during Early Theme Park Entry. Since guests are already in the parks, and there are no wristbands like with After Hours events, cast members check eligibility at every attraction during extra evening hours.

For a seamless experience link your resort stay and park tickets to your My Disney Experience account before attending. Cast members are stationed at the entrance of each queue scanning MagicBands.

After successfully scanning your band, or ticket, enter the queue. If there is an issue during scanning, show cast members your tickets and hotel confirmation to gain entry. Although this can work, showing these items instead of simply scanning wastes your precious park time.

Magic Kingdom Extended Evening Theme Park Hours Strategy

Nearly empty walkways at Magic Kingdom during extra evening hours

Arrive Before Park Closing

Entering Magic Kingdom before the park closes is a great way to further extend park time. Either arrive at least half an hour before fireworks or after fireworks end. If you arrive before fireworks, some attractions will already have lower wait times while many guests watch the fireworks.

After fireworks end the crowds pouring out can be overwhelming, but once you enter the park you’ll find manageable wait times for some attractions and characters.

Book A Tron Lightcycle/Run Virtual Queue

At 6pm on Magic Kingdom extended evening park hour nights, Tron Lightcycle/Run opens a special virtual queue for guests. You don’t need to be in Magic Kingdom to join this 6pm queue, but must be eligible for extended hours.

Some Popular Magic Kingdom Experiences Are Not Available During Extra Evening Park Hours

At Magic Kingdom the two main attractions missing from Extended Evening Theme Park Hours are Jungle Cruise and character meet and greets. If these experiences are important to you, budget normal park hours to ride Jungle Cruise or meet characters.

Skip Low Value Attractions at Magic Kingdom

Classic attractions like “it’s a small world” are available during extra evening hours, but they aren’t a great use of the valuable time.

Even when “it’s a small world” is a walk on, getting to the loading platform, boarding, and riding takes around fifteen minutes. This means one trip around the world will cost you 1/8th of your Extended Evening Theme Park time for something with a tolerable wait on an average day.

Instead, focus your Magic Kingdom extra evening hours on high value attractions like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, and Peter Pan’s Flight.

Sample Magic Kingdom Extended Evening Theme Park Hours Experience

Using our strategy for Magic Kingdom Extended Theme Park Hours in just six hours we enjoyed a character dinner, watched fireworks, and rode eight attractions. Here’s a summary of our most recent Magic Kingdom Extended Evening Theme Park Hours experience.

  • 6pm – Join Tron Lightcycle Run Virtual Queue
  • 6:15pm – Crystal Palace Winnie the Pooh and Friends Character Dinner
  • 7:50pm – Leave Crystal Palace and find fireworks viewing on Main Street
  • 8:20pm until 10pm park close – waited in standby queue for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jungle Cruise
  • 10pm until 12am during Extended Evening Theme Park Hours – Haunted Mansion, Tron Lightcycle Run, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan’s Flight, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

EPCOT Extended Evening Theme Park Hours Strategy

Try For A Guardians of the Galaxy Virtual Queue

At 6pm on Epcot extended evening park hour nights, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opens a special virtual queue for guests. You don’t need to be in Epcot to join this 6pm queue, but must be eligible for extended hours.

Arrive Before Park Closing

Just like with Magic Kingdom you’ll get the most out of extra hours if you are already in the parks when they close. This is especially true with EPCOT since walking from the front entrance to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is at least 15 minutes without navigating crowds.

EPCOT fireworks also draw guests away from attractions leading to lower wait times. Assuming you don’t mind missing fireworks, this time is a great way to ride some attractions even before EPCOT Extended Evening Theme Park Hours.

Use EPCOT Extended Evening Theme Park Time Wisely

Everyone’s personal preferences are different, but if you want to hit the high tier attractions during EPCOT extra evening hours you need a plan.

Test Track and Frozen are the most valuable ways to use extra park hours, followed by Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Soarin’. Although it is unlikely you’ll get all four of these attractions done during EPCOT Extended Evening Theme Park Hours, getting two or three is a huge win.

The Walkway Between Norway and France Closes During Epcot Extended Evening Theme Park Hours

I didn’t realize that World Showcase closes between France and Norway during Epcot Extended Evening Hours. This meant during our first extended evening at EPCOT we had to backtrack when trying to ride Remy before the end of the night. We hustled and made it, but you should use the walkway on Canada’s side when coming from World Discovery to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.

Hollywood Studios Extra Theme Park Hours Strategy

Arrive Before Hollywood Studios Closing

Evenings are already a great time to visit Hollywood Studios. When the shows are over for the day and characters are done, lots of people head back to the hotels before the park closes.

Don’t Go Straight To Rise of the Resistance During Extra Evening Hours

Not surprisingly, Rise of the Resistance is the most popular Hollywood Studios Extended Evening Theme Park Hours attraction. With incredibly long standby wait times during the day or $15+ per person to buy the Individual Lightning Lane lots of people will want to ride during extra evening hours.

Although tempting to head straight to Rise of the Resistance, I recommend other key attractions like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Slinky Dog Dash, or Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway first. This lets the queue from the regular park day clear while you ride other attractions. Keep an eye on wait times and jump into the queue when wait times start to drop.

Extended Evening Theme Park Hours Transportation

Disney World bus picking up guests after Extended Evening Theme Park Hours

Disney World makes sure guests get back to their resort after Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. Just know that if you loiter longer than other guests you may have a long transportation wait time.

What’s It Like At Extended Evening Theme Park Hours?

People loitering on Main Street near the end of Magic Kingdom extra evening hours

After a busy day at Disney World, the limited crowds at Extended Evening Theme Park Hours are a relaxing change. Not having to navigate crowded walkways, low attraction wait times, and an overall relaxed atmosphere is a wonderful perk of staying at Disney World Deluxe or Deluxe Villas.

We ate before our extra evening hours and I recommend everyone to do the same. Using any of your two hours on food is a waste of precious park time. In addition, dining and shopping options are limited during extended hours.

Scanning into each attraction is easy since I link my reservation and tickets to My Disney Experience. The seamless integration helps us to do a shocking amount in a short time.

Final Thoughts On Disney World Extra Evening Hours

As a family with a teen who loves late nights we were able to ride a similar number of attractions during extra evening hours as we would rope dropping, but without the annoying early alarm clock. However, because we got home late, rope dropping a park the following day would have been nearly impossible.

Families with small children should evaluate whether the added expense of a Deluxe or Deluxe Villa is worth it since kids may get tired early in the night. However, if you’ve got night owls or kids able to stay up due to a time change you’ll have a great night.

If visiting early in the week when Extended Evening Theme Park Hours normally occur, I would opt for a Deluxe or Deluxe Villa over a Value or Moderate. However, for weekend visits I would choose Gran Destino Tower or Port Orleans and use some of the money saved to buy Genie+ or Individual Lightning Lanes to skip waiting in lines during a normal park day.

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