ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Walt Disney World is changing the operating hours at its theme parks.


What You Need To Know


Park hours will be reduced at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom starting September 8.

Each park will lose about an hour or two, with Magic Kingdom closing at 6 p.m. (previously 7 p.m.), Epcot closing at 7 p.m. (previously 9 p.m.), Hollywood Studios closing at 7 p.m. (previously 8 p.m.) and Animal Kingdom operating from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (previously 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

The Disney World website and the My Disney Experience app were updated Friday evening with the new park hours.

The hours for Disney Springs, which are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., remain unchanged.

After being closed for nearly four months, Disney World’s theme parks reopened in July with reduced capacity and a number of health and safety measures such as face mask requirements and temperature checks. Since reopenig, attendance at the parks has been low.

Earlier in the week, Disney released its latest quarterly report, which revealed how the pandemic had affected its theme parks. CEO Bob Chapek, in a call with investors, said a surge in COVID-19 cases in Florida made some travelers nervous about visiting the state and caused a “higher-than-expected” number of cancellations.

For now, locals and in-state visitors make up about 50 percent of the attendance at Disney World.