It’s a Festivus miracle! For a limited time this holiday season, Extended Evening Theme Park Hours will return to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This post shares dates, details, and strategy for taking advantage of the on-site perk for Walt Disney World guests staying at a Deluxe Resorts, DVC Villas, and select other hotels.

For those who are new to Walt Disney World vacation planning, Extended Evening Theme Park Hours is nighttime counterpart to Early Theme Park Entry. There are several differences, most notably that guests staying at Value or Moderate Resorts are not eligible for Extended Evening Hours.

Extended Evening Theme Park Hours has two types of resort eligibility, occurs two nights per week, is at two parks, and runs for two hours (pretty much everything about the perk occurs in twos). It’s usually every Monday at EPCOT and every Wednesday at Magic Kingdom. See our Strategy Guide Guide for Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for more ins and outs of the nighttime Deluxe benefit.

By contrast, Early Entry is offered at all 4 theme parks every single day, runs for 30 minutes, and every on-site resort guest is eligible, including the third party on-property hotels. Despite the expanded eligibility, Early Entry is also great–especially at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! (For everything you need to know about that benefit, see our Strategy Guide for Early Theme Park Entry at Walt Disney World.)

Anyway, here’s the new announcement about Extended Evening Hours at DHS from Walt Disney World:

Special Disney’s Hollywood Studios Offering – December 15 and 22, 2022 – It’s time for the most magical season of the year at Walt Disney World Resort! We welcome you to enjoy a few extra hours of festive fun at Magic Kingdom park, EPCOT and––now at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!

During select nights this December, Guests staying at a Disney Deluxe Resort, Disney Deluxe Villa Resort or other select hotels can experience more attractions and more yuletide joy with extended evening theme park hours!

Feast your eyes on sparkling décor, special holiday overlays on some favorite attractions, heartwarming performances and so much more!

Extended Evening Theme Park Hours will be available at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT on the following dates in December 2022:

Additionally, Extended Evening Theme Park Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is available on December 15 and 22, 2022 from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM.

Here’s the eligible attraction roster for Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

In addition to the December 2022 schedule, here are dates and times for now through November 2022:

I don’t know why Walt Disney World published the schedule for December, but not the remainder of November. Rest assured, there almost certainly will be Extended Evening Hours on November 21, 23, 28 & 30.

Normally, Disney’s Hollywood Studios does not participate in Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. However, DHS did participate in Extended Evening Hours earlier this spring, and will again a couple of times during the Christmas 2022 season.

It’s worth noting that those rare Evening Extra Magic Hours nights (post-Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge) at Disney’s Hollywood Studios were fantastic–the crowd situation during Evening EMH was always better at DHS. We’d expect the same to hold true for Extended Evening Hours at DHS, and would highly recommend taking advantage if you’re able to do so.

We haven’t done Disney’s Hollywood Studios for Extended Evening Theme Park Hours and a lot has changed since this park last offered Evening Extra Magic Hours. Namely, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is operating without a virtual queue and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is open, period.

When DHS offers another Extended Evening Hours, our recommendation is starting with Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, followed by Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, and finishing with Slinky Dog Dash before jumping in line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance right at the very end of the night. That’ll likely be the best strategy, and one we hope to test in December 2022!

Ultimately, that’s what you need to know about Extended Evening Theme Park Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

While the return of Fantasmic will unquestionably make DHS more popular at night, we’re still hopeful that Extended Evening Hours are as good as Evening Extra Magic Hours at DHS, which were fantastic!

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

Thoughts on Extended Evening Theme Park Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Excited to take advantage of the limited time on-site guest perk or think it’s too short to be useful? Disappointed about the eligibility rules or attraction lineups? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

I think we are going to get park hoppers so we can hop to DHS for the evening hours on the 22nd. Should I be concerned that the park will reach capacity and hopping won’t be allowed? I’m thinking it will be okay but just a little nervous.

You’ll probably be okay. That’s also a party night for MVMCP, so thousands will be at MK for that. Typically parks only reach capacity and close like you’re worried about on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.

Oh, yay! Will be there for one late night for each park over the hols!

Thursdays, huh? I thought Tuesdays would have made more sense to WDW, especially as as way of drawing out crowds on weeknights. Either way, I’m glad to see its return to HS, and personally it’s better for me to come across it on a long weekend trip Thursday night.

…..and of course I have my Christmas Party already booked for the 15th 🙁

I wish they would bring back paid after hours events!

Or the early mornings! Those were the best!

We were at MK in July and were surprised how Disney handled the queues for the EE and extremely disappointed. Rather than closing standby and using the LL for EE eligible guests, they funneled everyone into the standby! We had been successfully touring with LLs all day and then, during our “deluxe” benefit, we were hit with a 60 minute wait for BTMRR!

which other “select hotels” are included?

I am keeping my fingers crossed that HS EEs will be extended at some point. As a DVC member I feel like so many perks have been taken away over the last 10 years, it would be nice if this one continued once staffing levels are more stable.

Part of me wishes we had booked for December just for HS EEs! My spouse and I are both night owls. The flip side is, I’m sure outside of EEs the parks will be bonkers busy–with the sneaking suspicion that there will be a push to get TRON Light cycle open by the holiday season.

This is awesome, thanks for the great news!!! As always, your posts make my day. It IS a Festivus miracle! A Festivus for the rest of us!

What are the odds Disney adds add’l HS hours to the December schedule? The 1st and the 8th perhaps? 🙂 Just some wishful thinking.

Odd that the thanksgiving dates aren’t announced.

I’m so excited about this! Going to need to change our planned park days to take advantage of this for sure.

I was excited to see your post..for 1 minute until I saw dates..I leave for home the 13th. Bummer!

So only two days? Looks like I will be there for Epcot at least

Your list doesn’t include rise of the resistance. One of your comments says during extended evenings to jump in line at rise right before the end of extended evenings. Is it missing from your list?

It’s on the list–between Star Tours and Toy Story Mania.

This tip was spot on. We entered Rise at 8.55pm on Sat 3rd Sept. and walked straight into the 1st pre-show room with Rey and BB8 despite a displayed wait time of 40mins. Also did Rise twice during Early Entry. HS quietly opened at least 45 mins early (15 mins before EE was due to start at 8am) and we were on and off Rise by just after 8am (we arrived at HS 45mins before EE as you have previously suggested Tom). Thank you!!!!

Tom…….Why hasn’t WDW made HS part of the normal rotation? Is it as simple as cost? If so, why wouldn’t they just keep the same number of evenings and add it to the rotation? for eg.

Monday – Epcot Wednesday – MK Monday – HS Wednesday – Epcot Monday – MK

My guess is either staffing or demand. Both could change with Fantasmic returning before the holiday season. That’s my hope!

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