Disney World Extends Park Hours for Select Dates This May and June

We’re back with another update on park hours at the Walt Disney World Resort! Disney has been regularly extending park hours based on crowds and demand since the end of last year during the holiday season right through the end of this month, and now we are seeing park hours increasing for most dates through June. Here’s what you need to know if you have a trip to Walt Disney World coming up in May or June 2022.

The Magic Kingdom had been previously scheduled to open at 9:00 AM, which will remain the start time for mornings at the Disney Park however closing times for the first week of May have been moved to 11:00 PM (with the exception of May 1 when the park closes at 10:00 PM.)

For Guests who are able to take advantage of extended evening hours in the park, the Magic Kingdom will be open until 1:00 AM on May 4, 2022. Even for extended hours that are only available for Guests at Disney Deluxe resorts, 1:00 AM closing times have been uncommon since the theme park began reopening from the COVID-19 pandemic, so while extended hours may generally indicate extra crowds, we do appreciate seeing another piece of normality return to the park.

In our last park hours update, we noted that EPCOT had moved to a 9:00 AM opening time, which was a welcome change for fans compared to its previously offered 10 or 11:00 AM start times. The current park hours listing on Disney’s official site and the My Disney Experience app now indicates that EPCOT will open even earlier from May 1 to May 7, 2022, with an 8:30 AM opening.

EPCOT’s park hours will then continue to open at 9:00 AM every day through June 25, 2022, with the exception of June 5 when the park will see one of its earliest openings since the ‘before times’ at 8:00 AM. The closing times have not changed at this Disney Park, so Guests can expect EPCOT to continue to close at 9 PM throughout both months.

Guests visiting Walt Disney World May 1-7, 2022 will be pleased to learn that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is now set to open one hour earlier at 8:00 AM, giving you more time to experience popular attractions like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Slinky Dog Dash. Closing times at Disney’s Hollywood Studios remain unchanged at 9:00 PM. (Not going to lie, I was hoping there would be a chance in closing times that might hint at a return date for Fantasmic, but no update there yet, unfortunately!)

And last but certainly not least, Disney’s Animal Kingdom will open a little bit earlier May 1-7, 2022 with  7:30 AM start time. The park will continue to close at 8:30 PM throughout the week.

We will keep you updated here on Disney Fanatic as we learn more about upcoming changes to park hours at Walt Disney World.