Disney extended Animal Kingdom’s close every night from September 6th through October 31st. For September 7th – 16th, the Park will close at 8pm. From September 17th through October 11th, the Park will close at 7:30pm. From October 12th through October 31st, Animal Kingdom will close at 7pm.

This potentially bodes well for Animal Kingdom. The extensions mean that a nighttime show could be scheduled either at Park close or 30 minutes after Park close, depending on whether Disney wants to schedule a show at sunset or wait until it’s darker out. With the current closes no later than 8pm, there would be no time for nighttime safaris or other nighttime entertainment. But it seems likely that Disney would extend the close much later for a second Jungle Book/Rivers of Light show, in addition to late rides on Safaris, Everest, Kali River Rapids, etc. in addition to the live entertainment and Tree of Life Awakenings.

My estimation is that Disney is waiting to see if Animal Kingdom at night picks up and interest increases. The last couple of weeks have seen incredibly low attendance and even lower guest spending as the Park struggles to offer enough for most guests to extend their day all the way to 11pm. With it getting dark earlier later this fall/winter, Disney may have an easier time extending the close to 8pm or 9pm and still be able to offer two nighttime spectaculars, in addition to a couple hours of darkness for other attractions. That is much less true in September when they would have to close at 10pm to accommodate two Rivers of Light/Jungle Book shows.

We’ll see.