When did they reduce the Feb. park hours?

[grwoolf]

We are leaving in less than a week, so I was checking all my times, agenda, reservations, etc. and noticed that they have cut back park hours for the first week of Feb.

The reduction was primarily MK and DS, now they are closed at 8pm and 7pm every night respectively. Not a huge deal to me, but you at least expect MK to be open a little later on the weekends. I know that WL does not have any rooms available and I expect some decent crowds to spill over from the superbowl in Tampa that week, so I was suprised by the reduced hours. I had planned some dining reservations based on the originally posted schedule and there are no slots available to adjust the priority seeting times. This isn't anything that is going to keep us from having a great trip, but it seems like a bit of a bait and switch if you expected the longer park hours originally announced and then Disney reduces them after you've already made your plans. Does anyone know when the Feb. hours were reduced?

[DizneyRox]

I know that WL does not have any rooms available and I expect some decent crowds to spill over from the superbowl in Tampa that week, so I was suprised by the reduced hours.
Just becuase there are no rooms availale doesn't mean they are 100% full of rooms. Means they are at 100% occupancy, which is a different number.

Capacity is based on the total number of physical rooms. Occupancy is based on how many they want/can sell. During slow times, they may not or can not want to sell EVERY SINGLE ROOM. They might not have the staff to service them. So, they may be running at 50% capacity but 100% occupancy.

Park hours change all the time. I've had them change on me days before arrival and even times when I was actually on vacation. Usually for the better, but it can go both ways.

[princessesmom]

We're going to be there President's Week and I was checking some of our times last week and realized they had cut back on MK hours on our fall day there. They were originally closing at 10 and have moved that up to 8, along with moving up the parade and fireworks. I made ADRs at LTT based upon the original schedule, so I wasn't too happy about the change, either. I guess attendance must really be down if they are cutting hours during a peak week.

[grwoolf]

I don't mind the reduced hours so much if attendence is really down. I understand that. I also understand that no rooms available does not mean the hotel is full, but no availability across many resorts is still a sign that things will be pretty busy. We visited in May after 911 and MK closed at 7pm most nights, but crowds were OK, so the hours were OK. I actually like it sometimes when the parks close early because it is great to go back to the hotel and swim or hit the hot tub, do some resort hopping, etc. since you don't have to go straight to bed. I'm just not convinced the first week in Feb. is going to be that slow. I expect a significant amount of carryover vacationers from the Superbowl in Tampa, at least the first half of the week.

[DryCreek]

We will be "in the World" during the first week in February too. Do I understand that they have changed the hours from that which was posted, say, about three weeks ago? If so, then I may need to change our ADR's. They were based on seeing the evening fireworks/lighted parades at each park (except for Fantasmic, which I couldn't get into our schedule).

[Polynesian Dweller]

I don't mind the reduced hours so much if attendence is really down. I understand that. I also understand that no rooms available does not mean the hotel is full, but no availability across many resorts is still a sign that things will be pretty busy.
DisneyRox is still right whether its one or many resorts. Hotels often run at reduced room availability in slow periods and it looks like from all analysis that bookings are down for Disney resorts quite substantially. So it is very likley that most if not all resorts have shuttered a fair amount of their available rooms so they don't have to run the staffing levels (and therefor cost, and labour is by far the highest cost) to maintain them.

Ok, that aside, we were there in October before the full effects of economic downturn, and the hours were 8:00pm all week on non-MNSSHP nights which was at least 1 hour shorter than previous years. This cutback on hours has been going one for quite a while.

[CaptSmee]

Unfortunately, WDW is feeling the effects of the economy as well. CEO buyouts were recently announced and if they do not take them, then layoffs could ensue.

[DizneyRox]

Reduced hours is a good sign of the crowd levels.

Tampa is quite a ways away, and it's the Superbowl. I'm not convinced the crowd going to weather a Superbowl are all that interested in heading over to WDW when they are done tailgating.

Salary is the biggest expense for a company. Being able to close even an hour sooner, especially for a place like WDW that probably employs some 40,000 people now cannot be underestimated. And they do that when attendence is down. If attendence were up, extended hours pay for themselves in increased food sales, souvies, etc.

I really don't think you have anything to worry about in terms of crowds. When hours are limited and crowds are down, you can usually get everything in.

[Iluvpooh]

The thing that I am worried about is what if attendance isn't down-Just staffing? Then it would feel like it was busier than it was. Disney knows that people will not leave just because they had to wait an extra 30 minutes for a ride. Heck, they prove that every summer & major holiday.

[DizneyRox]

The thing that I am worried about is what if attendance isn't down-Just staffing? Then it would feel like it was busier than it was. Disney knows that people will not leave just because they had to wait an extra 30 minutes for a ride. Heck, they prove that every summer & major holiday.
To an extent this is true as well. Merchandise sales are down too, so, they can't just reduce staffing based on number of guests, the profits need to be made up on the merch and food sales as well.

Summer and holiday guests understand the crowd levels, and Disney DOES staff up, especially during the summer. They have to, at the resorts (in order to sell more rooms), in transportation to run more busses, and even in the parks. For example, on Pirates, during slow times they run one queue, that's less people needed to load, etc. During the summer peaks, they run both sides.

WDW is in a constant state of flux with regards to staffing. I suspsect though that they will run super lean for the near future at least.