It won't come as a surprise to any Disney fan right now when I say that Walt Disney World has been very crowded over the last two weeks. The Magic Kingdom has been fully booked since February 17, with all four parks at capacity for the Presidents' Weekend. 

The Magic Kingdom continues to be fully booked with the earliest availability being Friday March 4, 2022 for those wanting to visit that park. Check out the Walt Disney World Theme Park Reservation website to see current availability.

Disney responded to the huge crowds by extending hours across the parks on select dates in February. We now know with huge crowds expected throughout March that Disney has extended the park hours of EPCOT even further.

As of today (February 28) EPCOT will open at 8:30AM and close at 9:00PM. Disney had already opted to extend EPCOT opening hours to 9:00AM on certain days in February but this extra extension will come as welcome news as crowds continue to flock to Walt Disney World.

Currently this new 8:30AM opening at EPCOT will continue through March and will end on Saturday March 19. Beginning March 20, EPCOT will return to opening at 10:00AM. Be sure to check the official calendar as other changes may be made. This early opening is just in time for the start of the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival which kicks off on March 2.

We are expecting to see Disney extending the hours further at the Walt Disney World parks as we head towards Spring Break and beyond. The crowds certainly don't seem to be waning so if you are heading to Walt Disney World be prepared for it to be extremely busy.

There has been a lot of negativity online regarding Disney in recent months but it is good to see that in this case they are responding positively and increasing park opening hours to try to alleviate the crowds. We are hoping to bring you more news of extended hours soon on our news and Facebook page.