Hollywood Studios Takes Over Extended Evening Hours This Fall, Starting September 16
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours move from Magic Kingdom to Disney's Hollywood Studios this fall, with five dates published so far: September 16, 23 and 30 and October 7 and 14, each running 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. The benefit is limited to guests of Disney Deluxe Resorts, Deluxe Villa resorts and a few other participating hotels, and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is the reason Magic Kingdom had to hand it off.
Disney's Hollywood Studios is taking over Extended Evening Theme Park Hours this fall, and the first night is Tuesday, September 16. The park will stay open from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. for guests staying at Disney Deluxe Resorts, Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts and a handful of other participating hotels, which buys two extra hours on Sunset Boulevard and in Toy Story Land after the day crowd has gone.
Key Details
- Park: Disney's Hollywood Studios
- Dates published so far: September 16, September 23, September 30, October 7 and October 14, 2026
- Time: 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.
- Who gets in: registered guests of Disney Deluxe Resorts and Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts, plus other participating hotels including the Walt Disney World Swan, Dolphin and Swan Reserve
- Extra cost: none, though you need valid admission to that park for that day
Why Hollywood Studios is hosting instead of Magic Kingdom
This is a handoff rather than a new perk. Magic Kingdom carried Extended Evening Hours through the summer and wrapped up on August 19, including several unusually generous sessions that ran from 11 p.m. all the way to 1 a.m. The reason it stops there is the calendar. Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party occupies Magic Kingdom's evenings from mid-August into the end of October, and a hard-ticket party closes the park to regular day guests at 6 p.m., so there is no room left for a resort benefit that starts at nine.
The benefit moves instead. Hollywood Studios has the open evenings, the ride lineup to fill them, and a slate of headliners most guests want a second crack at after dark. Animal Kingdom shouldered the job during summer 2025 and drew a fairly cool response for it, largely because so little of that park operates late.
What Extended Evening Theme Park Hours actually is
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours arrived in October 2021 as part of the resort's 50th anniversary benefit package, replacing the old Extra Magic Hours that any on-property guest could use. The replacement is narrower on purpose. Extra Magic Hours were as much a Value resort perk as a Deluxe one, while Extended Evening Hours are restricted to the top of the price ladder, and that restriction is the product.
The practical shape of it is simple. One park each week stays open two hours past its posted closing time, and only eligible resort guests may remain inside. Cast members sweep the park at the posted close and check MagicBands or MagicMobile passes at each attraction queue. Everyone else goes home.
Who qualifies, and two ways around the Deluxe price tag
Eligibility covers the Disney Deluxe Resorts, meaning the Grand Floridian, Contemporary, Polynesian Village, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge, BoardWalk Inn, Yacht Club and Beach Club, and every Disney Deluxe Villa resort, which is the Disney Vacation Club side of those same properties plus Old Key West, Saratoga Springs and Riviera. Value and Moderate resorts do not qualify. Neither do the Disney Springs Resort Area hotels, which get Early Theme Park Entry but not the evening benefit.
Two well-worn routes get you in without paying Deluxe rack rates. The first is renting Disney Vacation Club points from an owner, which puts you in a Deluxe Villa studio for a fraction of the cash price and carries the same benefit. The second is booking the Walt Disney World Swan, Dolphin or Swan Reserve, the Marriott-operated hotels sitting inside the resort between EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, frequently bookable on hotel points and included in the eligible list.
Which rides should be open after 9 p.m.
Disney publishes the attraction lineup closer to each date, but the roster Hollywood Studios has run during past Extended Evening sessions is a reliable guide. Expect the eight-attraction core:
- Slinky Dog Dash
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets
- Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
- Toy Story Mania!
- Alien Swirling Saucers
That lineup is stronger this fall than it has been before, because Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets reopened on May 26, 2026 after its retheme and still draws waits over an hour in the middle of the day. Two hours with it at a walk-on is worth something.
The conspicuous absence is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which has operated during Extended Evening Hours at Hollywood Studios in past years but is not expected in the fall 2026 lineup. If Rise is the ride you are staying Deluxe for, wait for Disney to publish the per-night attraction list before you book around it.
How to actually use the two hours
Slinky Dog Dash is where most people lose the night. It holds the longest wait in the park during the day, it keeps the longest wait during Extended Evening Hours because everyone has the same plan, and Toy Story Land sits at the far end of the park from the entrance. Riding it last, around 10:30, once the first wave has cleared, tends to work better. Open the night on Sunset Boulevard with Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster while the crowd walks past you toward Andy's backyard.
One more piece of fine print. Extended Evening Hours are the first thing to move when Disney adjusts the calendar. Regular park hours get extended on a rolling basis roughly three to four weeks out, and the Extended Evening session shifts with them. Check the official Extended Evening Theme Park Hours calendar the week of your trip rather than trusting a date you screenshotted in August.
The Buzz
Extended Evening Hours are the clearest dollars-and-cents argument for booking a Deluxe room, so every time the host park changes, guests re-run the math on a trip they have already paid for. This shift lands hardest on anyone who booked a Deluxe stay for late September expecting Magic Kingdom nights. The benefit is still there, but it now means two hours at Hollywood Studios, which is a different evening entirely.
September 16 is the first night, and November is the open question
The concrete takeaway is that five dates are on the calendar right now: September 16, 23 and 30, and October 7 and 14, each running 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Disney's Hollywood Studios, at no extra charge to guests already staying Deluxe.
November is the part that is not settled. Jollywood Nights, the hard-ticket Christmas party, takes over Hollywood Studios evenings in November and December, which walks the park into exactly the problem that pushed Magic Kingdom out of the rotation. Animal Kingdom is expected to pick up the second weekly session from early November, but Disney has not published those dates. If your trip lands after Halloween, hold off on planning your evenings until Disney posts the winter calendar.