Extended Evening Hours returns to Hollywood Studios ahead of Labor Day weekend at Walt Disney World, likely the start of switching away from Animal Kingdom for a few months Fall 2025. This post shares date(s), details, and strategy for taking advantage of the on-site perk for guests staying at higher-end hotels. As basic background, Extended Evening Hours (ExEH) is nighttime counterpart to Early Theme Park Entry. There are several differences, most notably that guests staying at Value or Moderate Resorts are not eligible for Extended Evening Hours. But it’s not just the most expensive resorts–you can save money by renting DVC points or staying at the Swolphin and still be eligible if you want to hack ExEH. Extended Evening Theme Park Hours has two types of resort eligibility, occurs two nights per week, is at two parks, and runs for two hours. It’s usually Monday at EPCOT and Wednesday at Magic Kingdom. (See our Strategy Guide Guide for Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for more info & tips.) However, the big change starting next month is that Extended Evening Hours is moving away from Magic Kingdom, for most of the remainder of 2025.
For those who haven’t been following this saga, it began with Walt Disney World making several calendar changes to lay the groundwork for the potential debut date of Disney Starlight Night Parade.
That happened via shifting Happily Ever After later, blocking out Cast Members from Magic Kingdom, and moving ExEH over to Animal Kingdom. Even before that, the 3-Day, 3-Park Ticket Deal excluding Magic Kingdom is a good example of this forward-thinking crowd control effort. Ditto the new AP reservation rule.
As it turned out, Starlight missed its target date and all of the changes from July 6-19 were for nothing (presumably). Some of those operational changes could be undone, but not the moving of ExEH. In any case, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away is officially debuting on July 20, 2025, with even more operational changes hitting on that date.
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