Disney World Plans to Cut Theme Park Hours in September

By Dana Cruz First Posted: Aug 09, 2020 11:46 PM EDT

The Disney World decided to make its usually festive fall season a little less magical as it planned to cut back on park hours starting September.

Reports on the revised theme park hours had been announced on the Disney World website over the weekend, said the People.

According to Fox Business, Disney World is planning to have the park hours shorter after the Florida theme park had seen more cancellations that it expected.

The theme park had only recently reopened after its March closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But by September 8, the day after Labor Day weekend, Disney World will take a step back and change park hours in some of its attractions.

What attractions will change operating hours?

Both the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios will lose an hour of operations at the end of the day. The Animal Kingdom will cut hours in the morning, while Epcot will cut back by two hours.

With these changes, the new hours should look like this:

Magic Kingdom: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Epcot: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Hollywood Studios: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Animal Kingdom: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

How did COVID-19 affect Disney World?

After closing for nearly four months, the Disney World reopened on July 11. During that reopening, they put many protocols in place and reduced park capacity.

They made sure people wore masks and checked their temperatures upon arrival. Guests aged two and older had to wear face masks inside their parks, except when eating and drinking in "relaxation zones."

To manage park capacity, the company also asked visitors to make reservations for each park before they came in. The park rides have also been placed at reduced capacities, along with modes of transportation and in-park stores.

(Photo : Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Mickey Mouse rides in a parade through Main Street, USA with Cinderella's castle in the background at Disney World's Magic Kingdom November 11, 2001 in Orlando, Florida.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek and Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy talked about the situation in a recent conference call, reported the Deadline.

When they reopened, the company knew they were going to see fewer visitors than usual but remained hopeful that people would come in. Chapek said it was only natural to see a decline due to the "ebb and flow" of coronavirus infection numbers.

Despite this, the surge of COVID-19 cases in Florida caused more cancellations than what the company had in mind. Guests from out of state were out of their visitor count since there were declines in long-distance travel.

The Disney heads believed that this was due to the increase in Florida's infections just as they reopened. According to USA Today, the Walt Disney Co. lost almost $5 billion due to the closures in April, May, and June. On top of that, it cost the company $3.5 billion just to close the parks during the third quarter.

They have already spent $1 billion to shut the attractions down in the second half of March. The Disney reportedly saw a plunge in its Walt Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products division.

Revenue that was worth $6.575 billion last year dove to just under $1 billion this year. Operating income also went down by $1.7 billion, from $3.7 billion last year to only about $2 billion this year.