Whats the deal with park hours?

[Disney24-7]

I will be at the parks in May 12-18 and I am really disappointed with the hours. I remember when during the weekends the parks were open until 11 and during peek season all week. The week I am going, there is only 1 night past 9 and its only to 11 not 1am or 3am. That really *****. I like being in the parks at night better than the day. It seems to come alive at night. They even offer more early entry than late closing. I am really disappointed that my night will come to an end so early. I don't want to hang out at Disney Springs or the pool. I want to be in the parks like I paid for. Why did they take the late weekend hours away? Will it be dark enough to enjoy all the shows that are lit up? I liked watching the shows and then going to ride some more. With it closing at 9. You would have to head to the exits after the show. It seems they glorify the extra magic hours but really its just the original hours. Nothing extra......I don't get it.

[Zippy 1]

We are headed down next week. When I originally booked the trip the parks were closing at 9pm. It has been adjusted and a few nights it is open later. I know that when we were there in January the park stayed open later than advertised as the crowds were larger than they expected. It all has to do with crowds and staffing. If they feel not enough people are using the late nights they won't schedule them. It all has to do with the cost of keeping the park open vs how much money they are taking in

[Speedy1998]

Will it be dark enough to enjoy all the shows that are lit up?

It should be, the shows are usually scheduled for 9pm anyway. (Unless you go during a really busy time of year when they run 2 shows).

As Zippy 1 said the closing time has a lot to do with what Park operations think the crowd level will be (with the hotel reservations and FP+ they are usually pretty good at projecting this). The good news is if the parks are closing early they are expecting smaller crowds when you are going.