Magic Kingdom Operating Hours Extended for Select Days in November
The operating hours for November were updated last week for Walt Disney World. Today, a few more changes were made to the schedule, and these changes will definitely have an effect on the TouringPlans.com Crowd Calendar. The adjusted days are:
- Tuesday, November 6: The Magic Kingdom will now be open from 8am until 1am
- Wednesday, November 7: The Magic Kingdom will now be open from 8am until 1am
- Thursday, November 8: The Magic Kingdom will now be open from 8am until 1am
- Tuesday, November 13: The Magic Kingdom will now be open from 8am until 1am
- Wednesday, November 14: The Magic Kingdom will now be open from 8am until 1am
- Saturday, November 17: The Magic Kingdom will now be open from 8am until 1am
- Sunday, November 18: The Magic Kingdom will now be open from 8am until 12am
These changes are significant because it is very rare for an off-season, non-holiday, mid-week day to have such long operating hours. Each of these days is an Annual Passholder preview day for New Fantasyland, which I am sure is not a coincedence. In addition, they encompass parts of the Veteran’s Day holiday and “Jersey Week,” when many New Jersey schools are off.
As you may guess, these days are expected to have higher crowds than normal mid-week, mid-November days. Within the next day or two, you will see increases in the Crowd Calendar for most, if not all, of these days. The good news is that the early hours (8am until 10 or 11am) and the late hours (after 10pm) will be good touring times. As always, starting at park opening and operating with a Touring Plan will offset any increased crowd activity.
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I’m headed to WDW from November 16-22 (yep, Thanksgiving week) and one thing that you consistently mention throughout your guidebooks and posts is to arrive before the park opens. I’m traveling from Seattle, so getting up early will be especially tough on us (also traveling with 2 small kids).
That said, I’m curious what the Magic Kingdom is like during the extended later hours? 10pm isn’t late for a west coast kid and I thought that it might be a good time to ride some of the rides with longer lines.
Thanks for all your help. Your guidebook and website have proven invaluable to our travel planning!
I think this would be a great strategy for you, especially if your kiddos can last as long as possible! The only thing I’m not sure about is the character Meet ‘n Greets. You’ll want to check your guide and possibly do these earlier in the day if they want to meet the characters, if they stop greeting earlier in the evening. My experience has been that the crowds drop off quite a bit after the fireworks and more and more as the night gets later.
Hope this helps.
This is the week we are there and I am not happy about this at all. I take my daughter out of school thinking it will be low crowds then Disney pulls crap like this.
Bless your heart, Debbie. Do you think the whole world revolves around you, or just Disney World?
I know! I did the same thing. Planned a TON to pick lowest crowds, and now they do this!!! That sucks! We might as well have gone during spring break. 🙁
Continue to check the touring plans site and if you can try to switch your days around. We’re going for 2 days mid-November and due to the Passholder events at MK we need to switch our days around. What was originally a 2.5 day at MK is now rated at 9.1! BUT…the following day is only a 1.1 at MK and I’m hoping a soft opening for Fantasyland will be thrown in! I won’t know until I get there but a girl can dream.
It has been highly publicized for over 2 years that the Fantasyland expansion was scheduled to open in the Fall of 2012. It should be of no surprise to anyone that has put effort into planning their trip that this time period would be busier in the MK. It’s the largest expansion in WDW history (I believe) so larges expansion = large crowds in my books.
This is good…..do you know if by chance with the extended hours that the new part of Fantasyland will be open (I know during the day it’s for Passholders and we won’t get in). Keeping my fingers crossed that it will because I want to see it!!
Unfortunately, it is doubtful that New Fantasyland will be open. The Annual Passholder previews are scheduled on each of those days from 8a-11:30a, 12:30p-4p, 5p-8:30p, and 9:30p-1a so there is little extra room.
Keep checking and asking Cast Members though while your there…you never know.
Thank you Brian for the information. I guess I’ll have to wait until Nov 2013 to see it 🙁
PS: love this site!!! Thanks for all the great info!
Hi Brian,
Do you think this also means additional Wishes or MSEP on these days?
Thanks,
Andrew
So far, there are no extra parades scheduled. Wishes is also currently scheduled at the same time as before, which means on some days (like Nov 6 & 7) there are fireworks at 8pm…and that’s it.
It should make for some fun late night touring since a lot of the crowds tend to filter out after fireworks.