Welcome back to the Disney Parks Moms Panel, Stephanie!
With a February 2020 Walt Disney World Resort vacation planned, you are in one of my very favorite magical planning stages! You’ve hopefully chosen your
Walt Disney World Resort hotel, and now you’re getting ready to start sketching out your daily plans so you’re ready to make your
Disney dining reservations when you get to 180 days from your check-in date (and for up to 10 days if you’re staying in a Disney hotel). That’s when the vacation really takes starts to take shape for me, as I start to picture my family in each theme park and experiencing all the magic.
The
Park Hours for each theme park, which include operating hours,
Extra Magic Hours, and select parade and nighttime spectacular times, are typically updated at right around 180 days in the future. So, for late February, you’ll want to keep an eye on the Park Hours web page beginning in the middle of August.
Stephanie, we hear from a lot of Guests who wish that the park hours were updated in advance of their 180-day mark for dining reservations. I just booked dining a few weeks ago for a January visit, and I looked at the hours that were available to see if there were any patterns, and then made an educated guess. Another option is to look at third-party site Touring Plans, who seem to have Park Hours about 10 days earlier than the official Walt Disney World Resort web page – but please remember that this is unofficial information, which means it may not be accurate. Also, Park Hours are subject to change at any time, so my advice is to sketch out your plans but also be flexible.
I hope you enjoy this stage of the planning process. It’s so fun to dream about your vacation and think about all the adventures in store, and I love doing magical research – reading online reviews, watching YouTube videos, and reading the
Disney Parks Blog. Please come back and see us if you have any more questions.
I’m sending pixie dust that you’re able to get the dining reservations you’re wishing for when the time comes!
Wishing you a magical vacation,
Robyn