Walt Disney World Cuts its Hours at the Theme Parks

Walt Disney World Cuts its Theme Park’s Hours over Low Attendance amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Its been about a month now since Walt Disney World reopened to the public. COVID-19 is still as reality but the resort has gone above and beyond the local, state, and national health agency recommendations to ensure public safety is the top priority. Over the weekend, Disney shared a plan to reduce its theme park operating hours amid lower-than-expected attendance. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has certainly been an inconvenience for everyone, but we all understand the need to be cautious at this time. Let’s review the latest information on Walt Disney World cutting the operating hours at its theme parks.

New Operating Hours for Disney World Theme Parks

Over the weekend, Disney shared its new operating hours on the Disney World website. These new hours are set to go into place on September 8th and are expected to last through October.

Here are the details: Both Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios are losing an hour of operation. The hour will be at the end of the day and the mornings will remain the same.

Epcot is losing two hours in the morning.

Animal Kingdom is losing two hours – one hour in the morning and one hour at the end of the day.

Disney World’s new hours are:

Magic Kingdom: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Epcot: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Hollywood Studios: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Animal Kingdom: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

(starting September 8 and extending through October 2020)

Disney World reopened its theme parks on July 11th and July 15th after all operations shut down in mid-March. The COVID-19 shutdowns have cost the Walt Disney Co. a reported a $3.5 billion to the operating income of its theme park division. Ouch!

Disney was hopeful that it’s reopening would be a success, but, unfortunately, the parks have experienced lower than predicted attendance as the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to impact near-term and long-distance vacation plans. The number of out-of-state visits has been significantly impacted.

As we mentioned in our last blog post, Disney has announced a number of new health and safety protocols. Among them is increase cleaning throughout the park including highly visible hand sanitizing areas. Cast Members are routinely trained in health and safety protocols.

Disney requires that all Guests – ages 2 and older – to wear a face mask at all times while inside their parks. Exceptions to the mask policy for when Guests are eating or drinking, or while inside one of the “relaxation zones” inside the parks.

All Guests are required to make their reservations online for each park prior to admission. This helps to lower the number of Guests within the park and reducing capacity on attractions, transportation, and inside restaurants and gift shops.

Thanks for reading our Walt Disney World Cuts Hours at its Theme Parks article. We hope life resumes some sense of normalcy one of these days. In the meantime, stay positive, stay safe, and keep reading!

If you need help planning and booking your Walt Disney World vacation during this confusing time, please call the The Vacationeer! Their services are 100%-free and their advice, expertise, and dedication will prove invaluable!

Have a magical day!