Did you know about this EXCLUSIVE Disney World hotel perk?
Wilderness Lodge
If you’re staying at any Disney World hotel, you get Early Theme Park Entry, which means you can go inside any of the four theme parks a half hour before other guests. But if you’re staying at one of the qualifying hotels on property, you ALSO get Extended Evening Hours, so you get to stay LATE in select parks on certain days. Sixteen hotels in Disney World will offer Extended Evening Hours in 2025 — Let’s take a look!
Extended Evening Hours are offered to guests staying at Deluxe Disney World Resorts, Deluxe Disney Villa Resorts, and a few other hotels on property. Disney has confirmed that this perk will continue at least through 2025. With this perk, you get to stay in the park for about two hours after it closes. However, unlike Early Theme Park Entry, Extended Evening Hours are only offered at select parks on certain days. We’ll get more into that in just a minute.
Grand Floridian Resort
First, here’s a complete list of all the hotels that qualify for Extended Evening Hours:
Disney Deluxe Resorts
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Disney’s Beach Club Resort
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
- The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort – A Disney Vacation Club Resort
Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village
- Disney’s Beach Club Villas
- Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
- The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Other Hotels
- Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
- Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
- Walt Disney World Swan Reserve
- Shades of Green on Walt Disney World Resort
During Extended Evening Hours, not everything stays open. Most restaurants are closed (although one or two spots will remain open), and some gift shops are closed as well.
Is the Extended Evening Hours Benefit worth the cost of staying at a Deluxe Resort? We talk about it HERE.
Note that Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom don’t currently offer Extended Evening Hours on a regular basis. However — especially during busy seasons — each park has been known to offer a few nights of this hotel perk. Stay tuned to the blog for updates!
Animal Kingdom During Extended Evening Hours!
Here’s a list of the attractions that are usually OPEN during Extended Evening Hours:
Magic Kingdom
- “it’s a small world”
- Astro Orbiter
- Big Thunder Mountain
- 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
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Space Mountain
- Swiss Family Treehouse
- The Barnstormer
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress
- TRON Lightcycle / Run — Anyone going to Extended Evening Hours can request to join the virtual queue for TRON Lightcycle / Run at 6PM. Find COMPLETE DETAILS here.
The carrousel at night
EPCOT
- Beauty and The Beast Sing-Along
- Frozen Ever After
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
- Mission: SPACE
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Soarin’ Around the World
- Spaceship Earth
- Test Track
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind — Anyone going to Extended Evening Hours can request to join the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at 6PM. Find COMPLETE DETAILS here.
Test Track during Extended Evening Hours at EPCOT
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- Toy Story Mania!
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™
Tower of Terror
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Avatar Flight of Passage
- DINOSAUR
- Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
- It’s Tough to be a Bug!
- Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost
- Na’vi River Journey
- TriceraTop Spin
Tree of Life
As mentioned in those lists, anyone going to Extended Evening Hours gets an extra chance to join the virtual queue for TRON Lightcycle / Run or Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. In addition to the normal 7AM and 1PM virtual queue openings, there’s an exclusive 6PM virtual queue opening for people who qualify for Extended Evening Hours.
Learn more about Disney World virtual queues here.
Make sure your My Disney Experience app is updated and linked to your hotel reservation in order to access this exclusive virtual queue.
TRON Lightcycle / Run
Here’s a look at the upcoming Extended Evening Hours dates for 2024 (stay tuned to the blog for 2025 dates!):
Dates and Parks for Extended Evening Hours
Extended Evening Hours for April 2024 are:
- Monday, April 1st — EPCOT, 9PM – 11PM
- Wednesday, April 3rd — Magic Kingdom, 9PM – 11PM
- Monday, April 8th — EPCOT, 9PM – 11PM
- Wednesday, April 10th — Magic Kingdom, 9PM – 11PM
- Monday, April 15th — EPCOT, 9PM – 11PM
- Wednesday, April 17th — Magic Kingdom, 9PM – 11PM
- Monday, April 22nd — EPCOT, 9PM – 11PM
- Wednesday, April 24th — Magic Kingdom, 9PM – 11PM
- Monday, April 29th — EPCOT, 9PM – 11PM
Extended Evening Hours for May 2024 (as announced so far) are:
- Wednesday, May 1st — Magic Kingdom, 9PM – 11PM
- Monday, May 6th — EPCOT, 9PM – 11PM
- Wednesday, May 8th — Magic Kingdom, 9PM – 11PM
- Monday, May 13th — EPCOT, 9PM – 11PM
- Wednesday, May 15th — Magic Kingdom, 10PM – 12AM
- Monday, May 20th — EPCOT, 9PM – 11PM
- Wednesday, May 22nd — Magic Kingdom, 10PM – 12AM
- Monday, May 27th — EPCOT, 9PM – 11PM
- Wednesday, May 29th — Magic Kingdom, 10PM – 12AM
HELPFUL HINT: You can also find out which parks are offering Extended Evening Hours when you are logged in to My Disney Experience on the Disney World website.
Extended Evening Hours at EPCOT
You will need a valid theme park ticket and a Resort ID (such as a MagicBand or Key to the World card) in order to enter.
Stay tuned to DFB for more updates on all the latest Disney news!
Check out Extended Evening Hours at Animal Kingdom HERE!
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This is a perk that should be given to ALL guest staying on Disney property.
Treat all guests as equals!!
We were staying at a deluxe in the Boardwalk are where you can easily walk to Epcot. But beware……almost ALL there is to do during evening extended hours is in the front of the park, so lots more walking at the end of a day. We found it really wasn’t worth it in Epcot. More worth it in MK, even though when we went, 7DMT was down the entire evening!
What about the rest of 2024? We are going in October.
It’s a shame it couldn’t be for all Disney hotels. We are coming next May from UK to Caribbean Beach and if would have been a nice perk.
I hate that extended hours are now only for delux guests when it used to be for everyone staying on property. I have no desire to spend exorbitant amounts of money on a place to sleep, shower, and keep my stuff when I could spend that money on food and souvenirs. All it says is some guests are more equal than others and those who don’t waste their money aren’t valued guests. This angers me more than any other post Covid change except the your disability isn’t a disability change.