Disney World might be the Most Magical Place on Earth, but not all of its parks are created equal, particularly when it comes to park hours.
Magic Kingdom
Some parks are open for significantly fewer hours than others, meaning you’ll have a shorter window of time to enjoy them. But you’ll be paying the same price for your ticket regardless of what park you visit. These shorter park hours could make a BIG difference to you if you’re trying to get the most bang for your buck! So, which park wins with the longest operating hours, giving you the most time to spend there and thus the best value for your money?
First, let’s meet our contestants.
Magic Kingdom
Arguably the most iconic of the parks, Magic Kingdom currently has one of the earliest opening times, allowing guests to enter (generally) at 8AM! That’s might be a little early to be up and at ’em for some of you out there, but you know what they say — the early bird gets the worm!
This view is hard to beat.
Magic Kingdom has also generally been closing around 9PM, making it the second-to-last park to close for the time being (more on that in a second). The 8AM to 9PM timeframe puts this park at being open for 13 hours a day. That’s pretty good!
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios is quite the popular park, especially with the draw of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. This park has generally been opening a little later than Magic Kingdom at 9AM.
How early is too early to get dropped from an elevator?
Hollywood Studios has also been closing a bit earlier than Magic Kingdom, at around 8PM! This puts it at only being open for 11 hours each day. Considering how popular the park seems to be and how quickly its Park Passes fill up, you might have expected it to be open later, but that’s not the case (for now at least).
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom is another early opener. Generally, guests can enter Animal Kingdom starting at 8AM. Getting here early can sometimes offer the huge bonus of getting to see more active animals on the Kilimanjaro Safari. They can sometimes be a bit more active in the cool part of the early morning before the day starts to really heat up.
The Tree of Life doesn’t actually offer too much shade, despite its size.
This park has the earliest closing time, however, at 7PM on many days. For some of you, that might even be before dinnertime! With that 8AM to 7PM timeframe, Animal Kingdom clocks in at being open for 11 hours per day. You’ll have to get in those nighttime views of Pandora early!
EPCOT
It looks like EPCOT is meant to be the park with nightlife. It generally has been opening later than any other park at 11AM, giving you the opportunity to have a lazy morning. Just be sure to not fill up on too big of a breakfast if you’re planning on snacking and drinking around the world.
EPCOT has views, too!
EPCOT is both the latest park to open and the latest to close at the moment. Recently, EPCOT has kept the party going until 10PM. This makes it a great option if you are Park Hopping (which you cannot start to do until 2PM each day) and want somewhere to go later in the afternoon/evening. However, when you calculate it, EPCOT is only open for 11 hours a day because of its later start time.
Results
The results are in! While Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios have all been typically open for around 11 hours each, Magic Kingdom actually provides you the most bang for your buck in terms of hours in the park since it has been generally open for around 13 hours each day. In other words, if you’ll only be going to Disney World for 1 day and are paying the same for a ticket to any of the parks, Magic Kingdom actually presents the most value for your money, providing you with more time to actually spend IN the park.
Cinderella Castle
But, there’s a BIG catch!! Our numbers and park hours are all based on the hours being shown for late May and early June. Park hours, however, can and do change over time.
If you check the hours for the last week of June you’ll see a picture that’s slightly different than what we discussed above. During that week, Magic Kingdom is only open from 9AM to 9PM (12 hours), EPCOT is still open from 11AM to 10PM (11 hours), Hollywood Studios is open from 9AM to 8PM (11 hours), and Animal Kingdom is generally open from 8AM to 6PM (10 hours) (except it is only open from 8:00AM to 5PM one day, providing even fewer hours). Magic Kingdom still comes out on top, but further extensions in hours at some parks could change that.
©Disney
You’ll definitely want to keep an eye on those park hours ahead of your trip and even during your trip.
If you’re picking a park based on hours alone, it seems Magic Kingdom is the current winner. Right now, Magic Kingdom will give you the most time in the park for what you pay for your ticket. But, when picking parks, you’ll also want to consider what kind of schedule you prefer. Maybe you’re more of a night owl and EPCOT’s later opening and closing appeals to you!
Nothing Quite Like an Evening at EPCOT
It all depends on your preferences, what is best for you and your family, and whether you do intend to spend a lot of time in the actual parks. We hope this article helps you get a sense of the current park hours and which one might be open the longest during your trip. We’ll keep working on more posts to share tips, tricks, and advice to help you plan your next Disney World trip, so stay tuned for that!
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Do you consider park hours when picking where to go? Will Magic Kingdom’s longer hours influence your future park choices? Let us know in the comments!
The post Which Disney World Park Is Open the Longest?! first appeared on the disney food blog.
