Walt Disney World Extends Hours at All Four Theme Parks for a Week in March

Walt Disney World has been extending park hours regularly throughout 2022 so far. And now, theme park hours at all four Walt Disney World theme parks have been extended for the second week in March.

The dates affected by the latest park hours updates are March 6-12, 2022, which is spring break for many Guests depending on where they are traveling from.

At the Magic Kingdom, the park’s closing time has been pushed back three hours to 11 PM as opposed to its originally scheduled 8 PM. Three hours is a significant change, so increased crowds should certainly be anticipated, and if you are planning to visit the Magic Kingdom at this time, be sure to get your Park Pass Reservation early. We have already seen the Park Pass Reservations system fill up ahead of this month’s holiday weekend, and you would not want to be on the wrong side of sold-out Disney Park reservations!

Extended evening park hours for Disney Deluxe Resort Guests (and Guests staying at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resorts and Shades of Green Resort) have been added for March 9, 2022, extending the park‘s hours for those Guests to 1 AM. Early theme park entry, which is available to Guests staying at any Walt Disney World Resort hotel, has not been affected at this time.

In EPCOT, the park will open an hour earlier at 9 AM instead of 10 AM, with early entry for Walt Disney World Resort hotel Guests being pushed back to 8:30 AM. Heavy crowds should be expected at EPCOT throughout the week, as in addition to spring break, the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival kicks off on March 2.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios so far has only extended park hours by opening slightly earlier. This Disney Park is still scheduled to close at 9 PM, however, the park will open at 8:30 AM instead of 9 AM, and early entry will now begin at 8 AM.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom was originally scheduled to open at 9 AM, and the park’s opening hours have been moved back to 7:30 AM with early entry at 7 AM. (If you are visiting the park that early, you’ll want to either head to Kilimanjaro Safaris first to see the animals while they are the most active, or head to Pandora to ride Flight of Passage before the line gets too long!) The park has also extended closing hours to 8:30 PM.

Hours at Disney Springs and Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park have not changed Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon is currently closed for refurbishment.

With the exception of a couple of days, Walt Disney World has been consistently busy since the holiday crowds dropped off. February has proven to be a busy month with cheerleading competitions, the Disney Princess Half Marathon, the long weekend for Presidents Day, and school vacation weeks, and so far, it looks like March may be heading the same direction.