Animal Kingdom Now Stays Open Until 8pm on November 1 and 7 as Disney World Extends Hours Into Its First Holiday Party Weekend

For the first week of November, Disney's Animal Kingdom was posted to close at 6pm every night. Not anymore. Disney has stretched five of those eight days, and two of them now run all the way to 8pm.

Walt Disney World updated hours at Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios for November 1 through 8. Saturday, November 7 is the only day with changes at all three parks, and it opens the first holiday party weekend: on November 7 and 8, Hollywood Studios hosts the first Disney Jollywood Nights of the season and Magic Kingdom hosts the first Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Disney has not said why it added the hours.

The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom at twilight. Two November days now run until 8pm for all guests. Photo: Walt Disney World

What changed

• Animal Kingdom, Sunday, November 1 and Saturday, November 7: 8am-8pm, up from 8am-6pm.
• Animal Kingdom, Monday, November 2, Thursday, November 5 and Friday, November 6: 8am-7pm, up from 8am-6pm.
• Magic Kingdom, Saturday, November 7: 9am-11pm, up from 9am-10pm.
• Hollywood Studios, Saturday, November 7: opens 30 minutes early at 8:30am. In WDWMagic's words, "The posted closing time of 7pm remains the same."

Animal Kingdom keeps its 8am-6pm hours on Tuesday, November 3, Wednesday, November 4 and Sunday, November 8. The new times also show up in Disney's park schedule data as published by ThemeParks.wiki, which we checked on Monday morning against WDWMagic's list.

Animal Kingdom, day by day

• Sunday, November 1: 8am-8pm
• Monday, November 2: 8am-7pm
• Tuesday, November 3: 8am-6pm
• Wednesday, November 4: 8am-6pm, plus Extended Evening Hours for eligible Disney resort hotel guests from 6pm to 8pm
• Thursday, November 5: 8am-7pm
• Friday, November 6: 8am-7pm
• Saturday, November 7: 8am-8pm
• Sunday, November 8: 8am-6pm

Early Entry for Disney resort hotel guests runs 7:30am to 8am every day that week.

The holiday party weekend

On Saturday, November 7, all three parks change their hours. Magic Kingdom gets its extra hour to 11pm, and Hollywood Studios opens early but still closes at 7pm, two hours earlier than its 9pm close on every other day that week. The schedule data lists a special ticketed event at Hollywood Studios that night from 7:30pm to 12:30am. That is the Disney Jollywood Nights opening night, and as we reported on October 11, it was the first 2026 date to sell out.

One night later, Magic Kingdom closes at 6pm on Sunday, November 8, ahead of a ticketed evening event from 7pm to midnight. November 8 is the first Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party of 2026, and it sold out on October 17.

Main Street, U.S.A. and Cinderella Castle. Magic Kingdom now stays open until 11pm on Saturday, November 7. Photo: WDWMAGIC

Everything else that week

• Magic Kingdom runs 9am-10pm from November 1 through November 6, with Early Entry from 8:30am.
• Hollywood Studios runs 9am-9pm on every day except November 7. Early Entry that Saturday moves to 8am-8:30am.
• EPCOT runs 9am-9pm all week, with Extended Evening Hours for eligible Disney resort hotel guests on Monday, November 2, from 9pm to 11pm.
• Early Entry opens every theme park 30 minutes early for guests staying at Disney resort hotels, on all eight days.

An Early Entry sign at Animal Kingdom, photographed in September. Early Entry runs 7:30am to 8am there all week. Photo: WDW News Today

Disney's hours can still move before November, so recheck the calendar the week of your trip. As WDWMagic put it, "Several days now run longer than originally posted, so it's worth checking your plans before you go."

If you are there that week, what are you doing with the extra time: two more hours at Animal Kingdom, or a late night at Magic Kingdom on November 7?

Sources

• WDWMagic, "Walt Disney World Park Hours Extended for Week of November 1, 2026" (October 18, 2026)
• ThemeParks.wiki schedule data for Disney's Animal Kingdom, November 2026, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios (accessed October 19, 2026)
• Parks Magic, Jollywood Nights' November 7 opening night sold out
• Parks Magic, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party opening night sold out

Image credits: Walt Disney World (Tree of Life), WDWMAGIC (Main Street, U.S.A.), WDW News Today (Early Entry sign).