Extra Magic Hours at Disney World
What exactly are Extra Magic Hours? This is a special perk open to guests staying onsite at one of the Disney Hotels. Every day there will be a park that will either open one hour early, or one that will stay open one hour late and these are called Extra Magic Hours. These Extra Magic Hours work for all the parks, and at times can also include the Water Parks. When staying onsite you will end up paying more money, and this is one of the reasons why, and while time is money these Extra Magic Hours are a way for you to do a lot more within a day.
When we stay at a Disney Hotel, guests receive a schedule of the park hours. You will get this when you check in and you can find them at the hotel check-in area as they will have these as well as all the park maps. The parks with Extra Magic Hours will be the most crowded parks, but if you have a park hopper pass or an annual pass, you are able to park hop as well.
For the morning extra magic hours, you just show up one hour prior to the normal park time. Your then let in for a select number of rides depending on the park. For evening extra magic hours, you just stay at the park after the normal closing time. To enter the park during this time you will need to show your room id, and you may need to show your rooms id to ride the rides. Both Extra Magic Hours morning and evenings have rides selected for the audience they will attract. The mornings tend to have more of the little kids rides, and the evening extra magic hours seem to have those and even more of the adult rides open. Let’s Look at the Extra Magic Hours rides available.
Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours
- Mornings – Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, It’s a Small World, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Peter Pan’s Flight, Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Space Mountain, Stitch’s Great Escape!, Tomorrowland Speedway
- Evenings – Attractions listed above plus Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
EPCOT Extra Magic Hours
- Mornings – Living with the Land, Mission: SPACE, Soarin’, Spaceship Earth, Test Track
- Evenings – Attractions listed above plus Captain EO, Journey Into Imagination, Mexico – Gran Fiesta Tour, Norway’s Maelstrom, The American Adventure
Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s Extra Magic Hours
- Mornings – Muppet Vision 3-D, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Star Tours, Toy Story Mania! Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Evenings – Attractions listed above plus The Great Movie Ride and Voyage of The Little Mermaid
Animal Kingdom Extra Magic Hours
- Mornings – DINOSAUR, Expedition Everest, It’s Tough to be a Bug, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
- Evenings – Attractions listed above plus Festival of the Lion King, Kali River Rapids, Primeval Whirl and TriceraTop Spin
Just remember, the rides available for Extra Magic Hours can change at any time. We like to use these. The last time I was at Disney World it was just me and my four year old son. With the Extra Magic Hours we were able to get most of the rides he likes to do done before the park opened, and they we were able to get a lot of the secondary rides that aren’t as popular done. After that we were able to go to our hotel pool, then we went to a different park in the evening, all rested and ready to go. The Extra Magic Hours are a great perk. I would defiantly check out touring plans to help you make the best plan when going to any Disney park. They help you maximize your time and they take into account the Extra Magic Hours as well as other factors such as ride popularity.
