Extended Evening Hours Are Back This August

My favorite perk at Disney World is back. On nine nights this August, guests staying at Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resorts get Extended Evening Hours: two extra hours in the park after it closes to everyone else.

How it works

On select nights (usually Magic Kingdom on Wednesdays and EPCOT on Mondays), the park stays open two hours past regular closing for guests at Deluxe-tier resorts. There's no extra ticket and no fee. You just stay in the park and keep riding.

The difference is hard to overstate. I've walked onto Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, ridden TRON twice in a row, and taken my niece on Frozen Ever After three times back to back because the lines simply weren't there. Rides that post 90-minute waits in the afternoon drop to five or ten minutes. Two of these hours are worth more than a whole afternoon in the park.

Whether it's worth booking deluxe for

Sometimes the gap between a moderate resort and a discounted deluxe comes down to $100 or $150 a night. If your dates line up with two Extended Evening nights, those quiet hours can honestly replace a full park day, ticket and all. If you've been on the fence about the Polynesian or Wilderness Lodge, this perk is a fair tiebreaker.

How to make the most of it

• Take an afternoon break at the pool. Midnight comes fast, especially with kids.
• Eat dinner during regular park hours while everyone else is in line for rides.
• Save your favorite headliners for the last hour, when the park is at its emptiest.
• Before you leave, stop and look at Main Street with almost no one on it. That view alone is worth the late night.