Disney After Hours Q&A and Experiences Thread

[TikiRob]

I’ve never done the after hours events, so I was excited to see one during my upcoming trip. Now I'm not so sure...

This would be for the MK, not Epcot.

Pros:

• no lines!
• no need for G+

Cons:

• Starts at 7, park closes at 9, so will still actually have crowds for a while.
• After hours goes until 1, but I doubt my kids will make it to midnight, if that. So will we get everything done?
• We will want to eat dinner before, so would probably have dinner at a monorail resort at around 5:30 I guess? That's a *little* early for us, but do-able.

Do any of these "cons" matter, given the no lines "pro"?

It can often be "worth it" by value alone if you would have otherwise paid $100+ per person for park tickets and another $30-$50 per person in G+ and ILL. If you are a Passholder, the discount is nice, but that negates some of the savings on not purchasing park tickets.

That being said, we have always loved these events. My kids still fondly remember our first one at AK where dad (me), who is usually a frugal gatekeeper of the snacks, kept handing out more ice cream bars than they could eat!

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

My kids still RAVE about our MK AH (not the same feelings about Epcot). They did SO many rides that day, including SM 5 or 6 times in a row (the only “wait” was the time it took to run from the exit back to the ride). We had plenty of snacks, and prepared by taking a nap earlier in the day. I think my kids were 9 and 6 at the time. We did leave about 30 minutes early, but only because we felt we had more than accomplished what we had set out to.

For the MK AH, I really can’t think of a single con!

 

[scrappinginontario]

I’ve never done the after hours events, so I was excited to see one during my upcoming trip. Now I'm not so sure...

This would be for the MK, not Epcot.

Cons:

• Starts at 7, park closes at 9, so will still actually have crowds for a while.

Do any of these "cons" matter, given the no lines "pro"?

Technically the event does not start until 10PM so that's an hour after the park closes to day guests. A party ticket allows you to enter at 7:00 but those are not party hours, those are day guest hours.

 

[BostonEd]

(not the same feelings about Epcot).

Yeah, we like spending time in all the countries in Epcot, and are not frequent visitors, so I think that was a deal-breaker for us.

 

[georgina]

My kids still RAVE about our MK AH (not the same feelings about Epcot). They did SO many rides that day, including SM 5 or 6 times in a row (the only “wait” was the time it took to run from the exit back to the ride). We had plenty of snacks, and prepared by taking a nap earlier in the day. I think my kids were 9 and 6 at the time. We did leave about 30 minutes early, but only because we felt we had more than accomplished what we had set out to.

For the MK AH, I really can’t think of a single con!

Several years ago, for SM they used to let you use the direct route back to the ride (pink line on the wall) rather than exiting and going around to the entrance. Good times. We bought tickets for the April 29 MK AH. It will be our only MK day.

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

Several years ago, for SM they used to let you use the direct route back to the ride (pink line on the wall) rather than exiting and going around to the entrance. Good times. We bought tickets for the April 29 MK AH. It will be our only MK day.

That would’ve been nice! After round 4 my dad took an ice cream break. Certainly got out steps in that night!

 

[ZebraDomeCrazy]

Any thoughts or experience regarding these events selling out? We are looking to do MK on May 13th. We are resort guests. How soon do we need to buy our tickets??

 

[DesertScorpion]

We will be in WDW at the end of May and it looks like we’ll miss the after hours for MK but they have Epcot and HS available during our stay. Are either of these worth it?

We’ll have 7 park days overall at WDW so it’s not like we’ll be short on time in the parks, but the thought of having a lot less people at one of these parks for a few hours late at night sounds like fun. Just not sure if my daughter will be able to make it through the day/night for one of these after hours events (she’s 9).

 

[Nole95]

My son and I did the Epcot AH this past Thursday, February 15.

We arrived shortly after 6 and went to the holding area where all the AH people enter. They ended up letting us enter Epcot just after 6:30, so that was a nice little bonus.

Over the course of the night, we were able to do the following.

Spaceship Earth
Soarin
Mission Space
Mexico
Remy
Test Tack (x2)
Guardians (x3)

We literally finished our third ride on Guardians right at 1am.

I will say that the only thing with Epcot is that the rides with pre-shows do take up a lot of time. I timed Gurdians, and from the time the first pre-show started to the time we exited the coaster was 20 minutes. I believe all three times we rode we were in the queue for about 15 minutes before the pre-show. My watch said 12:23 when we entered the building for the third time, and we got off at 1am. We probably could have squeezed in another ride on TT and/or Soarin and got in the Guardians line just before 1am. However, we decided to not worry about it.

Guardians and TT eat up the most time. Everything else was manageable and walk on most of the night.

Food carts were easy to spot, and the DJ music was piped in all around the park.

 

[focusondisney]

Any thoughts or experience regarding these events selling out? We are looking to do MK on May 13th. We are resort guests. How soon do we need to buy our tickets??

Really, it’s anyone’s guess when or if an event will sell out. If it’s something you absolutely know you want to do, buy tickets whenever you can. Waiting til a few days before to see what the weather will be or debating too long, you do risk the event selling out. Truly, your date could sell out tomorrow or it could have tickets available day off. No one has any way to know. Sometimes there are reports of same day sales for previously sold out events, but that’s rare & shouldn’t be counted on. Except for being able to buy tickets before the general public, resort guests have no other advantage over anyone else. Being onsite won’t help if the event gets sold out before you buy tickets.

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

Any thoughts or experience regarding these events selling out? We are looking to do MK on May 13th. We are resort guests. How soon do we need to buy our tickets??

Last year we wanted HS and waited too long and it sold out. It was maybe 3 weeks before. I tried calling to see if they could help, and nothing. We did Epcot instead (the first night of the event), which was a bust. It sounds like since then they have worked out some of the issues. Our favorite was MK and that was totally worth it. Tempted to do HS this year, as we love a lot of those rides. But a lot of that depends on reopening of RnRC for us, as that’s a big draw.

 

[ZebraDomeCrazy]

Last year we wanted HS and waited too long and it sold out. It was maybe 3 weeks before. I tried calling to see if they could help, and nothing. We did Epcot instead (the first night of the event), which was a bust. It sounds like since then they have worked out some of the issues. Our favorite was MK and that was totally worth it. Tempted to do HS this year, as we love a lot of those rides. But a lot of that depends on reopening of RnRC for us, as that’s a big draw.

Thank you for your quick reply and insight

 

[ZebraDomeCrazy]

Last year we wanted HS and waited too long and it sold out. It was maybe 3 weeks before. I tried calling to see if they could help, and nothing. We did Epcot instead (the first night of the event), which was a bust. It sounds like since then they have worked out some of the issues. Our favorite was MK and that was totally worth it. Tempted to do HS this year, as we love a lot of those rides. But a lot of that depends on reopening of RnRC for us, as that’s a big draw.

Thank you so much!

 

[ZebraDomeCrazy]

Sorry, I have another question…. my DH and Myself are Dvc members, and are traveling with our daughter and her boyfriend, in a different Dvc room. Can I buy 4 discounted Dvc tickets for all of us?

 

[focusondisney]

Sorry, I have another question…. my DH and Myself are Dvc members, and are traveling with our daughter and her boyfriend, in a different Dvc room. Can I buy 4 discounted Dvc tickets for all of us?

Yes, it doesn’t matter where you’re staying. You don’t even have to be onsite. You order 4 tickets, then link them to everyone in your MDE. There used to be a limit how many you could get with a discount, might have been 8, but not positive. You can definitely get 4 with no issues.

 

[Philsfan77]

Does anyone know if you can get an adult beverage during Epcot after hours? It looks like rose and crown is open from the guide, but wanted some first hand experience.

 

[pinkxray]

Finalizing our spring break plans so I just bought tickets for the DHS AH on April 3. A little worried about how long DD6 will last. Hoping she can stay awake for at least the first hour of the event. If she falls asleep Dh and I will take turns riding everything with Ds9. Looking forward to seeing DHS at night. It’s been a long time since we’ve been there in the dark.

 

[Nole95]

Does anyone know if you can get an adult beverage during Epcot after hours? It looks like rose and crown is open from the guide, but wanted some first hand experience.

Rose and Crown was definitely open last week when we were there. They had a cast member at the door making sure you had a wrist band on for entrance.

 

[Juventus]

The hotdog stand behind connections Cafe, the cart kinda in front of the land, the canada kiosk that had maple popcorn and Norway all had beer.

 

[KateMW]

I know that at Epcot only the countries with rides are open, but are the other places/stands in those countries open as well? Like can I grab a margarita in Mexico or the slushy drink in France before Remi?