Disney's Animal Kingdom to Host Extended Evening Hours in July 2025

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Extended Evening Hours at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Posted: Wednesday April 23, 2025 7:05am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is scheduled to offer Extended Evening Hours on Wednesday, July 2, 2025—replacing the typical Wednesday evening offering at Magic Kingdom. The after-hours access will run from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Extended Evening Hours are typically held at Magic Kingdom or EPCOT and are reserved for guests staying at Disney Deluxe Resorts, Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts, and other select hotels.

Extended Evening Hours at Disney's Animal Kingdom

On July Animal Kingdom's hours will be:

7:30 am – 8:00 am: Early Entry for Disney Resort Hotel guests
8:00 am – 6:00 pm: Regular park hours
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm: Extended Evening Hours

View all upcoming Walt Disney World Operating Hours.

At this time, Disney has not confirmed whether the July 2 event is a one-time occurrence or the start of a new pattern at Animal Kingdom. The official calendar currently only extends through July 2, leaving open the possibility that more dates could be added in the coming weeks.

Extended Evening Hours provide eligible guests with access to select attractions after regular park closing. Disney has not yet released the list of attractions that will be available during the Animal Kingdom event, but previous after-hours offerings at the park have included popular rides like Avatar Flight of Passage, Na’vi River Journey, and Expedition Everest.

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djlaosc17 hours ago

We are going mid-September and have the same issue - Wednesday would be fine, Friday wouldn't be, and all of these changes are making it difficult to plan, especially when these extended evening hours could help to decide whether we go to MNSSHP this year or not.

NotCalledBob19 hours ago

Very frustrating! We planned our whole trip around it being Mondays and Wednesdays. Now it has moved to Friday that week we are missing out. It's too late to change the trip.

Tha Realest22 hours ago

Yeah. We have a trip in January and trying to game out which park will have which EEH is frustrating. It’s likely going to be MK based on past years and a lack of after hours events around that time, but we probably won’t know until around Christmas

TheMaxRebo1 day ago

for August, in addition to Epcot on Mondays you have: Wed August 6: Animal Kingdom Wed August 13: Magic Kingdom Wed August 20: Animal Kingdom Friday August 29: Hollywood Studios Not the easiest to plan around especially if booking far out like with DVC

Tuvalu1 day ago

It was the week of June 8.

ToTBellHop1 day ago

Is MK still opening extra early with no rope drop during EE? The FL bridge pavement work is done and it was suggested that work caused the change.

DCBaker2 days ago

According to updated park hours, Extended Evening Hours is scheduled to return to Disney's Hollywood Studios on Friday, August 29, 2025.

Touchdown11 days ago

I love Epcot Evening hours, my trips are usually Tues-Mon I was seriously bummed out when they moved Epcot night from Tuesday to Monday. Knowing I get bonus time post Luminous to hit Guardians, TT, Frozen and if I’m lucky Remy one last time is great.

ToTBellHop11 days ago

And then they'll say, "gee, I guess no one wants these evening hours at DAK. So, when DHS and MK are unavailable, I guess we will just run this twice a week at Epcot for all our wealthy guests looking to get on Living with the Land again."

Ayla11 days ago

Which kinda defeats the purpose, because if there is no where to eat, people will leave to go elsewhere ~ to eat!

ToTBellHop11 days ago

They aren't really opening it late enough (even with this) for it to be dark. Agree on food, though. It's one thing to have less food at 11 pm, but at 6:30 pm, people want to eat.