On Tuesday, September 27th, Disney World announced that the theme parks would close due to the threat of Hurricane Ian. This closure was scheduled to last through Thursday, September 29th.
Now that the storm has passed by Central Florida and the weather is starting to clear up, Disney is getting ready to reopen the parks. They will do this with a phased reopening, which means that the park opening times are a little different than usual. Check out the full schedule for reopening here.
On Friday, September 30th, the Disney World theme parks will begin a phased reopening.
Here’s the schedule for when each park will open, with all times in EST:
Magic Kingdom
- Early Theme Park Entry (for visitors staying at Disney hotels): 8AM
- All guests can enter: 10AM
- Park Close: 6PM
- Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party: 4PM guest entry; 7PM to 12AM party hours
EPCOT
- Early Theme Park Entry (for visitors staying at Disney hotels): 9AM
- All guests can enter: 11AM
- Park close: 9PM
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Early Theme Park Entry (for visitors staying at Disney hotels): 10AM
- All guests can enter: 12PM
- Park close: 9PM
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Early Theme Park Entry (for visitors staying at Disney hotels): 11AM
- All guests can enter: 1PM
- Park close: 7PM
Disney Springs
- Open 10AM to 11:30PM
Fantasia Fairways Miniature Golf Course
- Open 3PM to 10PM
Note that guests will be able to check into their Disney hotel on Friday, beginning at 3PM. Some Disney World hotels will remain closed for all of Friday, including Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground (closed indefinitely), Copper Creek Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge (closed until October 1st), Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa (closed until October 3rd), and the Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort (closed until October 1st).
Reservations for dining and extra experiences (such as tours) that were meant to take place outside of the modified park hours have been canceled. (For example, if you had a dining reservation in Animal Kingdom at 9AM, that reservation is now canceled because the park will not open until 11AM for Early Entry.) If you have a reservation that is supposed to happen during the Early Theme Park Entry hours, you will be allowed to enter the parks at the Early Theme Park Entry time even if you’re not staying at a Disney World hotel.
Disney World transportation is expected to operate as normal, so long as the weather conditions allow. However, Disney recommended that guests use their own personal transportation, if available, to travel to and from the theme parks, Disney Springs, and Fantasia Gardens.
In addition, Genie+ and individual Lightning Lanes will be operating as usual, and virtual queues will operate as usual too.
Disney World’s Star Wars hotel is expected to reopen on Saturday, October 1st. Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, Fairways Miniature Golf, and Winter Summerland Miniature Golf will remain closed on Friday.
As usual, Park Pass Reservations are required to enter any theme park on Friday, September 30th. The Park Pass Reservation calendar has been updated to show available parks on Friday. Previously, it was showing that there were no passes available. Now, it looks like there are only available passes for EPCOT.
Disney noted that “partially used multi-day theme park tickets with a validity window impacted by closure due to Hurricane Ian will be automatically extended to allow use of the remaining unused ticket days through Sept. 30, 2023.” We’ll continue to watch for more updates as Disney releases additional information about the parks’ reopening. Stay tuned to DFB for all the latest news!
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