There are a LOT of reasons to visit Disney World this October.
At Magic Kingdom, the streets are decorated with pumpkins, scarecrows, and more for the Halloween season. There is a ton of Halloween merch and of course, Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party will be happening on certain dates. At EPCOT, the Food and Wine Festival will be happening all month long. But now, there is one reason NOT to visit Disney World in October.
Disney park hours can change and vary depending on the time of the year. As we were looking at park hours for October, we noticed that on October 17th, TWO parks will be closing early. Magic Kingdom is set to close early, at 6PM, but this is typical as there is a Halloween party that night and it is a separately ticketed event.
However, what is surprising was that Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be closing at 5PM that day. This is FOUR hours earlier than the days leading up to the 17th when Hollywood Studios closes at 9PM. While it is not known why the park is closing early, it could be for a private event or scheduled maintenance.
Since Hollywood Studios is closing so early, there is a large chance that there will be no showings of Fantasmic! this night. If you have a trip booked during this time, you might want to avoid going to Studios on this day so that you don’t miss out on any of the fun.
Instead, head to EPCOT or Disney’s Animal Kingdom that day (though keep in mind that both of those parks might be crowded in the evening since Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios are both unavailable).
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What is your favorite part of visiting Disney World in October? Let us know in the comments.
Jennifer says
Hollywood Studios is closing early on October 17th for a private event. Every year (except during the Covid madness) the Gartner Conference holds a special event for their attendees at one of the theme parks and this year it’s Hollywood Studios. So if you ever see a park closing early in October and you don’t know why, it’s probably for the conference.