Late Night, Little Crowds: Why We Loved Disney’s Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom

When my family stayed at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, we took advantage of extended evening hours, an exclusive perk for deluxe resort guests. We enjoyed after-hours access to the Magic Kingdom with cooler temperatures, almost no lines, and a peaceful park atmosphere.

Though it made for a late night, the experience was worth losing a little sleep. Learn about how to access extended evening hours, my family’s experience with the event, and strategies for making the most of this benefit if you stay at one of Disney’s deluxe resorts.

What Are Disney’s Extended Evening Hours?

Extended evening hours offer late-night access after official park closing hours to guests of Disney deluxe resorts, deluxe villas, and other select hotels. This benefit replaced Extra Magic Hours, which was discontinued in 2020.

Extended evening hours aren’t available every night, or in every park, regularly, but on certain nights, you can access select parks for 2 extra hours after the park closes.

During extended evening hours, most (but not all) attractions and select merchandise, food, and beverage locations are available. Access is limited to guests of qualifying resorts and hotels, so wait times for attractions are typically significantly lower than during regular park hours.

While this is a valuable benefit, the extended evening hours benefit doesn’t include free park admission. You’ll still need a valid day ticket or pass to the park with extended evening hours. The benefit only allows you to stay at the park later on a day when you’ve already paid for admission. If you have a single-park ticket, you’ll have to visit the park with extended evening hours that day if you want to stay late for the event. Park hopping is only available with a park-hopper ticket or a qualifying pass.

Extended evening hours are usually available at EPCOT on Mondays and the Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom on Wednesdays, though the schedule may vary, especially during special events. Extended evening hours are rarely available at Hollywood Studios, typically on Mondays or Wednesdays when a special ticketed event is held at EPCOT or the Magic Kingdom.

Typical extended evening hours for each park are:

• EPCOT: 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.
• Magic Kingdom: 10 p.m. to 12 a.m.
• Animal Kingdom: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Hollywood Studios: 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Hotels and resorts eligible for extended evening hours include:

If you’re not sure whether your stay qualifies for extended evening hours, you can check it out in the My Disney Experience app (iOS, Android). Navigate to My Plans and look for your daily itinerary. You’ll see park hours, including special hours you can access with your reservation.

You can check the park calendar to look ahead for dates with extended evening hours. That’s helpful if you’re planning to visit Disney World and want to book a qualifying resort on a date that offers extended evening access.

My Extended Evening Hours Experience at the Magic Kingdom

I visited the Magic Kingdom for extended evening hours while staying at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort for 1 night with my family. We tend to be late-night park goers, preferring to stay until the parks close rather than rope-dropping in the morning. Getting more time at night with exclusive access to the Magic Kingdom appealed to my family.

Still, attending extended evening hours requires staying up late. After spending time at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and EPCOT, I didn’t think I’d want to tack on an extra-late visit to the Magic Kingdom. I’d originally planned to return to Disney’s Yacht Club Resort with my daughter after EPCOT closed for the night and send my husband and sons to the Magic Kingdom to hit the thrill rides. But when EPCOT’s closing time came around, we felt we could handle it. I guess my curiosity gave me refreshed energy, because I wanted to see what it was like.

Getting to the Magic Kingdom

When EPCOT closed, we were at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in the France pavilion, pretty far from the front entrance, where we could use bus and monorail transportation to get to the Magic Kingdom. From the International Gateway EPCOT entrance near the pavilion, we could hop on the Disney Skyliner or a FriendShip Boat (neither of which goes to the Magic Kingdom) or walk to one of the resorts on Crescent Lake to pick up a bus to the Magic Kingdom. We opted to walk and take the bus to the park.

Though we stayed at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, its sister property next door — Disney’s Beach Club Resort — was slightly closer to EPCOT. We went to the bus pickup there, where a handful of guests waited for a Magic Kingdom bus with us. It arrived about 10 minutes later, and the bus ride got us to the front of the park within 10 minutes after that. We got to the Magic Kingdom about 9:55 p.m., right on time for the 10 p.m. start to extended evening hours.

Settling in at Magic Kingdom

Once we got into the park, we needed a break. Knowing my husband and boys wanted to ride Tron and Space Mountain, we headed to Tomorrowland for a snack and a sit-down to power up for the rest of the night and strategize how to spend our time. We agreed to split up, since my daughter wasn’t interested in thrill rides, but my sons were.

A few minutes after 10 p.m., I glanced at wait times in the My Disney Experience app. Adventureland was mostly cleared out, with a 5-minute wait time for Pirates of the Caribbean and 15 minutes for the Enchanted Tiki Room. Jungle Cruise wasn’t operating during the event.

In Fantasyland, all attraction wait times were under 10 minutes except for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at 40 minutes — a little below the 1-hour wait that’s typical for the ride.

Heading from Fantasyland to Liberty Square, wait times were similarly favorable. The Haunted Mansion had a 13-minute wait, a signal that it was a walk-on at that point. The only ride with a real wait was Peter Pan’s Flight, with 35 minutes, but even that was below average for this ride, which usually has queues of 45 minutes to an hour.

Unfortunately, Tomorrowland was where wait times didn’t look great. Although Tomorrowland Speedway was a walk-on ride with a 5-minute wait and the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor only had a 10-minute wait, other wait times weren’t so short.

Space Mountain’s 40-minute wait was just a hair shorter than its typical 45-minute line. Tron was an 85-minute wait, which is about normal. These were the 2 rides that motivated us to go to extended evening hours at the Magic Kingdom, and clearly, we weren’t alone in wanting to ride them.

Attractions During Extended Evening Hours

We didn’t rush to get into lines so early in the event. Regular guests were still in the park, as they could get into lines until the end of regular park hours. For example, they could get into line for Tron at 9:59 p.m., stay in the queue through the park’s closing, then leave after riding.

Once 10 p.m. hit, guests had to scan in to each attraction using a MagicBand+, Disney MagicMobile pass, or Key to the World card to verify admission and the stay at a qualifying deluxe resort.

My husband and sons started with a ride on Space Mountain, then rode it again while waiting for the Tron queue to go down a bit. They rode Tron twice before extended evening hours were over.

While they rode thrill rides in Tomorrowland, my daughter and I hit 6 other attractions. It was one of those rare and magical times when practically every ride was a walk-on with little to no wait. Most of our time was spent walking through short queue lines to get to attraction loading spots, then we got right on.

In about an hour and a half, we experienced:

• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Mad Tea Party
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• “it’s a small world”

The atmosphere during the event was relaxed, and it was a great way to close out our last night at Disney World. It offered cooler nighttime weather, low noise, and far fewer people. I noticed guests were calmer and friendlier since they weren’t rushing around crowded parks during the heat of the day.

It felt like such a luxury to experience the Magic Kingdom that way. There was no checking wait times in the app, overthinking Lightning Lanes, or sweating through a long line. As we walked around, I went with whatever sounded good to my daughter.

Exiting During a Late-Night Rainstorm

After riding “it’s a small world,” we had about 15 minutes left before the event closed, but it started to rain. Haunted Mansion was close by, and I was tempted to hop on for a last ride, but we hung out under the ride’s cover to wait out the rain rather than getting wet and going deeper into the park. My husband and sons waited at Tron to stay dry, too. None of us had rain gear, though we at least had hats.

Waiting out the rain proved futile. I pulled up radar and saw the rain probably wouldn’t be over until about 1:30 a.m., and there was no way we’d still be waiting dry under the ride’s cover at that hour. We made a beeline through the rain to Cinderella’s castle for another break under the cover and a stop to admire the mosaics lining the walkway.

That moment under the castle felt like the most magical part of the night. Sure, we’d enjoyed our fill of attractions, but laughing as we hustled through the rain and standing under the park’s iconic castle for a few minutes to take in the view was a memorable experience with my daughter. She said this was her favorite part of the trip, and I have to agree.

It was stunning to see the totally empty Hub and the glow of Main Street, U.S.A. in the late-night rain.

I hoped to hit the Emporium on Main Street, U.S.A., on our way out to buy dry shirts to stay warm on the bus. Unfortunately, when we arrived a little after midnight, the store was shutting down and not allowing any more guests inside. Although park shops usually stay open up to 30 to 60 minutes after the park’s closing time, that wasn’t the case during this event.

While the shops were closed, the buses ran for an hour after the event’s closing time. We power walked to the resort bus station again and picked up a bus that got us back to the resort about 15 minutes later. My husband and sons were still under the Tron cover then, but they made a similar beeline to the buses (minus the castle stop) shortly after we left the park.

Bottom Line:

We had a great time enjoying a quiet night at the Magic Kingdom. I’d expected short wait times, but was surprised by the fun experience and great views we got while exiting the almost-empty park during a rainstorm.

Are Disney’s Extended Evening Hours Worth It?

Staying at a deluxe Disney resort to access extended evening hours can be worth it if you value ride access, want a cooler and calmer atmosphere, and want to experience the odd delight of a nearly empty theme park.

You can expect the ability to do 2 to 3 times more attractions than you would during regular hours, with no Lightning Lane strategy needed. Extended evening hours could be well worth it if you want to ride thrill rides that typically have long wait times and aren’t up for rope-dropping.

You can make the most of extended evening hours by:

• Arriving early before the event time so you’re ready to enjoy the attractions
• Eating before you go, since dining is limited and attractions are the main focus
• Knowing which rides are open
• Staying flexible and splitting up if your group doesn’t align on attraction priorities
• Bringing rain gear, such as a folding poncho, that you can keep in your park bag
• Not rushing out, as buses run until 1 hour after the park’s closing

Final Thoughts

Taking advantage of extended evening hours was a great experience for my family. It was a unique way to enjoy the Magic Kingdom and capitalize on low wait times throughout the park. This event won’t become a must-do for every Disney World trip, but we’ll prioritize it in our plans when possible.