Bad summer omen?

[WDW1974]

I noticed June WDW hours are out and they (unfortunately) look as bad as years past. Epcot closes at it's usual 9 p.m. every night. The MK has either 9 or 10 p.m. closings, as does Disney-MGM (mostly 9).

I wonder if this is just typical Disney operating procedure of the past five years where they list the minimum hours and then 2-3 weeks prior, they extend them (which I believe really sucks for non-regular guests who are trying to make plans), or if Disney (despite all the extended hours thus far in 2005) is sticking to its unfriendly guest policy of early closings during the most miserable season of them all in Central Florida.

I do see that evening EMH have been scheduled, which hopefully means that E-Ride Nights are officially dead!

Any thoughts?

[BurningStroller]

The schedule always changes, usually days before. I think those are the standard summer hours they use, they'll most likely adjust them upward as those days get closer.

[Labuda]

All I know is, if crowds indeed are up around May 4-8, they darned well better give me some more hours in the parks!

[Zimbubba]

Oh how I miss the long summer hours of past. MK till midnight. Epcot till 10 or later. Those were the days.

[TDLFAN]

Epcot used to be opened untill 11pm with IllumiNations at 10pm during summer hours in the 80's.

[yoyoflamingo]

Those were also the days when World Showcase and Future World opened at the same time. When I went in February it was the closest I've ever been to that old schedule. Man, I miss those days...

[TDLFAN]

Well Disney and only Disney is responsible for killing the proverbial golden goose for adding so much unneeded stuff at WDW. Did we need an MGM or DAK? No. It was only competition to try putting out Universal and Busch out of the picture if you ask me. But Disney didn't count on those properties firing back with bigger and better rides and..dare I say in Busch Gardens' case... a cleaner park over the MK?

[WDW1974]

I doubt very much that I will be at WDW in June, so the hours don't affect me perse. But I am always watching the company to see what they are doing (good, bad, ugly ... and always greedy).

FWIW, the MK was ALWAYS open in the summer (usually mid June-Labor Day) until midnight or later. I have a calendar in front of me from August 1977 that shows 9 a.m.-1 a.m. closings the entire month until the last two days when they closed at 7 p.m.

In recent years, Disney has only been open until midnight one night during summer (July 4th, which used to have 2 a.m. closings). EPCOT Center routinely was open until midnight during summer and holidays in the 1980s and 10 or 11 into the mid-90s.

No getting around the fact Disney has cutback bigtime with hours over the past decade.

Heck, even Disney-MGM was open until midnight and 1 a.m., its first few summers and then 11 p.m. during holiday seasons.

Orlando in June is hot, humid, sticky and generally miserable ... the sun doesn't set until 9 p.m. ... so you see how summer nights are effectively taken away if the parks close at 9 or 10.

[figment1986]

Did we need an MGM or DAK? No. It was only competition to try putting out Universal and Busch out of the picture if you ask me. But Disney didn't count on those properties firing back with bigger and better rides and..dare I say in Busch Gardens' case... a cleaner park over the MK?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Someone else who agrees with the idea of AK..... :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

(BGT was their for many years... built in the late 50s... and Michel eisner thought he could get the advantage.... but he forgot one things... BGT has more than animals...... (Beastly kingdom shouldn't have been cancled..)

(Though Busch did rip them off by building Rhino Rally.. :devil: )