August MK Hours

August hours at AK were moved up one hour this past Friday. In fact, they dropped more FP's and I was able to get one for FOP that I couldn't get at 60 days out, and have been trying for ever since. It's from 7:40 to 8:40. Previous hours had the park closing at 8:30.
 
Looks like some new FPS were released for the later hours at AK. Just was able to get a 7:45 FOP FP with later times available too.
 
I’ve never seen them close so early in August! Who knows the real reason why. I don’t buy the cutting staff hours, people work in those parks 24/7/365! Maybe with EXTRA extra magic hours they are bracing themselves? :rotfl2:
 


When's the last time MK had a 9pm closing (besides for a party) between Memorial Day and Labor Day? I'll go with never. I'll be really disappointed if this is the final version.

Last late-August it mostly closed at 10pm, 6pm on party days, and the very end of August my notes say 9pm.

Unless they changed park hours at the very last minute - I wasn't at MK the last few days of August.

I was rather disappointed by the hours listed last summer. 10pm is too early in August for MK. Though at least AK saw 9:30pm closings- when it used to always close at 6pm.

seriously, who wants to celebrate Halloween in August?!?! Ugh! That's just wrong. august isn't even the right SEASON.

It is way too hot in Orlando to wear Disney character costumes in August. Heat plus itchy crinoline? Might as well wear a hair shirt!
 
Still holding out hope for some later MK hours. Of course the one MK evening EMH my week is the day we're at Universal and the first MNSSHP is my week as well. Way too early for Halloween. Some regular extended hours would be nice!
 


Last late-August it mostly closed at 10pm, 6pm on party days, and the very end of August my notes say 9pm.

Unless they changed park hours at the very last minute - I wasn't at MK the last few days of August.

I was rather disappointed by the hours listed last summer. 10pm is too early in August for MK. Though at least AK saw 9:30pm closings- when it used to always close at 6pm.

seriously, who wants to celebrate Halloween in August?!?! Ugh! That's just wrong. august isn't even the right SEASON.

It is way too hot in Orlando to wear Disney character costumes in August. Heat plus itchy crinoline? Might as well wear a hair shirt!
We went last Aug 22 I think it was. Yes it was a bit weird, but as a teacher I cannot vacation during the Oct - Dec party season and it was nice to be able to have that experience with my kids.
 
I really hope the hours get extended. We've gone about every other year in August since 2012. I remember 11pm closings most nights and 3 hour evening EMH until 2am. It was essentially a free (for on site guests) after hours event. It was great, little to no waits. Looking at last time I was there in August 2017 MK closed 10pm every night plus a 2 hour evening magic hour during the corresponding weeks of our trip this year, and we thought that was early!

Disney is just squeezing every penny from people now, why give you for free what people will pay $100+ for now. They are shrinking park hours, lowering staffing during "slow" periods to make the parks a perpetually busy season. By doing that it entices people to pay for something that was free before, just so you can experience the parks without hour waits and wall to wall people. I just sound like a crotchety old man now complaining, its smart business because people haven't gotten fed up, yet. Its also worked on me, as I am going to a villains after hours in August since the hours are so short. Well played Disney, well played
 
I am so disappointed in the hours for Magic Kingdom for August. We have going same time in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and are going again beginning August 13th. In 2013 there were EMH on Monday and Wednesday till at least midnight. We would leave park at almost 2am. Then it became one night Wednesday, but still till at least midnight. Regular hours are always 10 or 11. In 2017, we decided to try the Hallowen Party. When we. Bought tickets CM assured us that there was free food (like the DAH) now. Well there wasn't any. Ok, so we went again in2018, (same night as in 2017, first party night). We noticed way more people. They definitely sold more tickets. No free food, but trick or treating stations.

Now this year with park hours being as early as 9 pm. We are trying to fill in our evening hours. No, I won't be paying for another over crowded Halloween party, (basically paid $300 for Halloween candy and a parade). We couldn't see the show at the castle (too crowded to see anything, and we arrived early). Don't want to spend extra (my choice) for DAH. I'm sure it's just a matter of time, before they,start selling more tickets or eliminating the "free food", or even closing rides or eliminating which are open. I'm going on the words that Disney employees and their policy states: "subject to change at any time".
 
I am so disappointed in the hours for Magic Kingdom for August. We have going same time in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and are going again beginning August 13th. In 2013 there were EMH on Monday and Wednesday till at least midnight. We would leave park at almost 2am. Then it became one night Wednesday, but still till at least midnight. Regular hours are always 10 or 11. In 2017, we decided to try the Hallowen Party. When we. Bought tickets CM assured us that there was free food (like the DAH) now. Well there wasn't any. Ok, so we went again in2018, (same night as in 2017, first party night). We noticed way more people. They definitely sold more tickets. No free food, but trick or treating stations.

Now this year with park hours being as early as 9 pm. We are trying to fill in our evening hours. No, I won't be paying for another over crowded Halloween party, (basically paid $300 for Halloween candy and a parade). We couldn't see the show at the castle (too crowded to see anything, and we arrived early). Don't want to spend extra (my choice) for DAH. I'm sure it's just a matter of time, before they,start selling more tickets or eliminating the "free food", or even closing rides or eliminating which are open. I'm going on the words that Disney employees and their policy states: "subject to change at any time".
Honestly, that's my biggest complaint. Prices keep increasing but park hours keep decreasing. All the extreme Disney loyals keep saying that prices keep increasing because they are trying to control crowds, if that was the real issue they shouldn't be cutting back on park hours. And just because they'll have longer hours the last 3 days in August doesn't mean that the rest of us paying the same amount should have less of a park experience.
 
Honestly, that's my biggest complaint. Prices keep increasing but park hours keep decreasing. All the extreme Disney loyals keep saying that prices keep increasing because they are trying to control crowds, if that was the real issue they shouldn't be cutting back on park hours. And just because they'll have longer hours the last 3 days in August doesn't mean that the rest of us paying the same amount should have less of a park experience.

It is so disappointing. We have been there each year for the past 5 years May-August, and loved the late closing times "of yore". We aren't even onsite people so couldn't take advantage of EMH, but still loved being at MK until 11 or 12 whenever we could manage it. I think they are cutting regular hours to accommodate all the extra staff hours with these added paid events and now to prepare for SWGE. HS opens at 6am during the opening week (I didn't check after that). Maybe don't have enough staff hired to cover all the different things happening around the parks from 6am-2am, including cleaning the parks during closing hours, and they don't want to spend the $ on new hires.

So, regular hour park-goers are getting hit where it hurts. I wouldn't want the cast members to be mistreated or expected to work a crazy and unsustainable schedule. But, a 9pm closing time on a summer Saturday at MK is actually ridiculous, in the truest sense of the word. Our local amusement park has later hours. With ticket increases, we are spending almost $2000 for our family to be in the park for the 2 days we have free this August. We are OK with it because we love Disney and are willing to pay extra for the quality of the product, but these cut backs on regular hours are just really disappointing.

You said it best- ticket prices are increasing and hours are decreasing. I am all for crowd control, but this seems to be more about making an extra dollar. It reminds me of how they are now making people pay for bags at the Disney store and claiming it's for environmental reasons. Supply and demand, though, and it's a smart business model for making $$$ because people will still go (and just complain on a message board). Ha. It's our last annual trip next month (sad), but we will be back in the future.
 
We will be there for a quick trip from Aug 11-14. I noticed last year, during the same week, MK was open every night until 11pm and until 1am for evening EMH. The touring plan crowd predictions are actually quite similar between 2018 and 2019. Maybe Disney knows hotel bookings are softer this year. However, even with anticipated light crowds, August is so darn hot in Orlando and add the afternoon pop up storms. It makes it really difficult for families to take an afternoon break and come back when there is so little time to enjoy after dark. The hours, a 9pm close, are too short for the temperatures. I was expecting MK to close at 10pm at the very least, like it has in July. It looks like Universal also closes at 9pm in August, so I am sure Disney follows the competition and vice versa. With the price increases and shorter hours, I think it will change the way we vacation in the future. I am leaning towards just doing the parties and after events and not buying the regular tickets anymore and finding other way to enjoy our vacation. This is especially in light of the fact that they allow after hours ticket holders to make fastpass reservations and enter the parks at least a couple hours before the event starts, sometimes more. We bought park hoppers in hopes of taking an afternoon break and hopping to another park, but the hours are just too short for this to be of value anymore. The hours for HS were also much longer last year, probably due to the new Toy Story Land. The lesson I learned from this is not to count on the original hours being extended.
 
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Still so frustrated, and hoping that another update is yet to come. Like so many others above, just wanted to have some of those after dark MK hours that work so well with an afternoon break from the summer heat. The kick-me-while-I'm-down moment was just seeing that they added 2nd RoL shows during in our 8/11-8/17 week with the extended AK hours. Why, oh why, Disney put that before 10/11pm MK closing?
 
I've been looking at the August park hours and MK is closing at 9:00 PM most nights. Are they serious? It seems most of the 10 PM closings are only to accommodate an after hours paid event. It wasn't long ago that MK would routinely close at midnight in the summer and have EMH until 3 in the morning.

My family was just saying the same thing! Seems like now Disney wants us to pay for later hours, when previously they were a perk for staying on property! When it's so hot, and there's so much to do, you really need more time!
 
I'm also going in August and am disappointed by the early closing times currently listed. Looking at the same weeks from last year I see that most parks were opened at least an hour later than the currently posted times and MK was sometimes 2 hours later. Fingers crossed the closing times get updated.
Same here!
 
We will be there for a quick trip from Aug 11-14. I noticed last year, during the same week, MK was open every night until 11pm and until 1am for evening EMH. The touring plan crowd predictions are actually quite similar between 2018 and 2019. Maybe Disney knows hotel bookings are softer this year. However, even with anticipated light crowds, August is so darn hot in Orlando and add the afternoon pop up storms. It makes it really difficult for families to take an afternoon break and come back when there is so little time to enjoy after dark. The hours, a 9pm close, are too short for the temperatures. I was expecting MK to close at 10pm at the very least, like it has in July. It looks like Universal also closes at 9pm in August, so I am sure Disney follows the competition and vice versa. With the price increases and shorter hours, I think it will change the way we vacation in the future. I am leaning towards just doing the parties and after events and not buying the regular tickets anymore and finding other way to enjoy our vacation. This is especially in light of the fact that they allow after hours ticket holders to make fastpass reservations and enter the parks at least a couple hours before the event starts, sometimes more. We bought park hoppers in hopes of taking an afternoon break and hopping to another park, but the hours are just too short for this to be of value anymore. The hours for HS were also much longer last year, probably due to the new Toy Story Land. The lesson I learned from this is not to count on the original hours being extended.

I think next year will be our last Disney World trip. With what we are spending this year we could go to Europe.
 
I emailed Disney concerning the closing time but have yet to receive a response. Also, in addition to AK closing later than MK in August, they have just added a 2nd RoL show for 10 PM. So AK really isn't closing until almost 10:30 PM. I truly don't get it!
 
I emailed Disney concerning the closing time but have yet to receive a response. Also, in addition to AK closing later than MK in August, they have just added a 2nd RoL show for 10 PM. So AK really isn't closing until almost 10:30 PM. I truly don't get it!
What's the email address you contacted? I want to send an email too.
 

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