Reasons for reducing hours

The biggest reason that Disney is looking to reduce hours is likely to cut costs. Disney has done this in the past to keep their budget low, and this is an easy way for Disney to quickly save some money without massively affecting the guest experience. However, there are also some other reasons why it makes sense to cut hours, specifically in the evening. 

Now that there are no nighttime spectaculars at any park (and Disney's Animal Kingdom's Rivers of Light has been shelved permanently), guests have no reason to stay in the parks after hours, and with wait times very low at attractions due to decreased crowds, many find themselves "doing everything" at a theme park by mid-afternoon. And with park hopping still not allowed, guests who have done everything they want to are just leaving in the middle of the day, resulting in nearly-empty parks every evening. 

Finally, there is also the consideration of the difficulty of enforcing mask wearing and social distancing in the dark, particularly at Epcot, which has low lighting around the World Showcase. 

These early closures at Walt Disney World theme parks are certainly disappointing (particularly for locals who often look forward to evening visits to Epcot during the Food and Wine festival) and though it's possible we could see longer hours this holiday season, it seems more likely that this "new normal" with reduced hours will last through the rest of the year. 

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