After hours event

[Horizons '83]

I was fortunate in September when we went the week after the Hurricane threat and there were on 5 people I counted on Main Street at 11PM (2 hours before the event was over). It was a literal walk on, for everything. Now not all events are that light but the 3 I have been to hav been fantastic and well worth it for night owls like me and my wife.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Depends what you want, the Halloween and Christmas party offers unique entertainment, the after hours events offer short lines and almost no wait for riding, the parties can't really be compared to After Hours as they are different styles of event.

I've also heard that there's longer lines at after hours events since that's about all there is to do.
I personally do the parties for the short wait times for rides since there are so many other things going on that people want to do like meet and greets, parades, shows etc.

 

[Jon81uk]

I've also heard that there's longer lines at after hours events since that's about all there is to do.
I personally do the parties for the short wait times for rides since there are so many other things going on that people want to do like meet and greets, parades, shows etc.

I've only heard of long lines at Pirates and Space Mountain for the villians event due to the unique overlay. For the regular after hours all reports are that all lines are short.

 

[Dave B]

Yes you can do that.
I think you get more for you money with the Halloween and Christmas party but of course you're not going during that time lol.
Do the after hours and enjoy if that's what you're interested in doing.

May I ask, have you been to one of the After Hours, not the Halloween or Xmas party, but the actual after hours?

 

[Worldlover71]

We went to an after hours event at AK in July. Rode Flight of Passage 3x in a row with absolutely no wait. Try that during regular hours! Looking forward to trying EH at the MK next time.

 

[JIMINYCR]

We are also going in May and already have purchased the tickets. I know its a controversy with some who dont see the value in them or those who want to rant against Disney for profiting off of it, but every after hours event we have gone to IMHO has been worth the price we paid in extra ride time and enjoyment. We have done it both ways... gone to the park early and stayed thoughout the evening and gone to another park part of the day and returned for the event later on. By doing AK first you will benefit from having exposure to both parks and then get refreshed for the long evening. Things do get better as the evening wears on with lessening crowds. You really have to go in prepared for the extended hours and maybe plan an easier day the next morning after.

 

[steve2wdw]

Not sure, but tix to After Hours may be capped at 3000 or so. The last DAK After Hours I went to had roughly 700 guests. How can you beat that. The special Rivers of Light presentation had roughly 200 watching. It was an incredible night.

 

[KikoKea]

Despite my first negative reaction to hearing about After Hours upcharges, we have come to enjoy them. For the two of us, it is worth the price (with AP discount) and is something we now look forward to. We enjoy the AK AHP because of no lines in Pandora and EE, and no lines at MK is great, as well, and is tons of fun. We like to spend the morning at a different park from the After Hours park so that we're going to a new park that evening.

The 3 hours goes by fast, so I would not waste time eating at the park or shopping. You'll get "free" ice creams and drinks, so eat before it begins and be hungry enough for treats. We don't run back and forth across the park, but work our way around, making sure there's time to ride our favorites at least a couple of times. Have fun!

 

[hbknewman36]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Im trying to talk her into another day or two and if so I would do the reg after hours instead of villains. Still seems like a great value esp since getting in at 7, you get 5 to 6 hours eith 3 being low crowds

 

[Gabe1]

Ok so I know this sounds weird, but we are going to Disney in May. One of the days we are there will be an after hours event for the Magic Kindom. The misses, who's never been there, wants to know if we can go to like AK in the morning with a reg ticket. Relax for a bit, and then head to MK where we can enter at 7 with the special event ticket. I think that's possible, but I'm unsure. Would it be worth it to try that or stay all day at MK? Should we skip the after hours? We are going for 5 days with prob a 4 day non park hopper ticket. Also we have not purchased tickets for anything yet. That's coming soon. Also this will be our honeymoon.

We have hit most After Hour Events and we are not local. We always hit another park prior to the park with Extra Hours. Go. It is fun.

 

[Hcalvert]

We did the Villains last summer. Our big complaint was that park close (10 pm) and event start were the same time, so regular guests were allowed into ride queues as late as 9:59 pm and the major attractions (Big Thunder, Pirates, Space Mountain) had 30-40 minute waits until nearly 11 pm. We were not going to “waste time” in lines that long, so we had to find other things to do. The park was not as “empty” as we hoped, though the “free” treats were good. And it was fun to see Maleficent dragon (from the FoF parade) roaming the park. The Villains event had a few extra things regular after hours does not, which I’m sure accounted for more people and the higher cost to attend.

I keep saying this on here as well as on Disney's surveys: Once the event starts, I think that all customers who paid for the event should be sent through the fastpass line and anyone who did not pay should have to wait in standby. They'll eventually get filtered out. I did see CMs turning people away who did not have the wristbands and there were checkpoints to send those who did not have wristbands out of the park, but it did take about an hour.

 

[Lilofan]

We did the Villains last summer. Our big complaint was that park close (10 pm) and event start were the same time, so regular guests were allowed into ride queues as late as 9:59 pm and the major attractions (Big Thunder, Pirates, Space Mountain) had 30-40 minute waits until nearly 11 pm. We were not going to “waste time” in lines that long, so we had to find other things to do. The park was not as “empty” as we hoped, though the “free” treats were good. And it was fun to see Maleficent dragon (from the FoF parade) roaming the park. The Villains event had a few extra things regular after hours does not, which I’m sure accounted for more people and the higher cost to attend.

It is a good thing Villians is an after hours event. When DHS included the Villians event in regular park admission a number of years ago, thousands of locals started showing up in the late afternoon and the local roads around DHS were jammed for several hours. Many CMs and guests were stuck in massive gridlock for hours on the roads.

 

[Tuvalu]

It is a good thing Villians is an after hours event. When DHS included the Villians event in regular park admission a number of years ago, thousands of locals started showing up in the late afternoon and the local roads around DHS were jammed for several hours. Many CMs and guests were stuck in massive gridlock for hours on the roads.

The irony for us is we didn’t go for the Villains. We went to experience the “very low crowds” of a MK After Hours event. A “regular” MK After Hours was not offered during our trip, otherwise we would have chosen that.

 

[RememberWhen]

I’m hoping for any kind of after hours for our week in July. Currently there’s a villain event but it’s our Arriva day and that’s just not going to work. I’d rather another park. Hoping other options come up eventually.

 

[Trackmaster]

I also agree, but I fear the word will get around and before we know it, these After Hours events will get as mobbed as the Christmas and halloween parties!!!!!!!

I don't think its going to happen. Honestly, I go to Disney a lot after work during the week, usually in the off-peak season. And outside of the hurricane season, the most dead the park will get is as they approach closedown when there's nothing special going on. I could see hard ticket events getting crowds when there's something unique and special going on, but there just won't be much interest when you're asking people to stay in the park until midnight on a Tuesday in February with nothing special going on.

When the park closes at 9:00 PM on a random day, people are already walking around like zombies by 7:30 PM, since most people have been at the parks since 7-8 AM. So the main thing that keeps the non-special AH events empty is the timing of them and the lack of anything special. At least this way Disney can tell people that there are times when the park is absolutely dead.

I also recommend hurricane season too if you have a safe place to say. They may shut down for a day, but besides that, they run the scheduled hours at full capacity. You can lay down on main street to watch the Fireworks, Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror are posted at "13 minute" waits, and you can marathon most of the times... unfortunately they only let you skip the pre-show videos during After Hours (which was really annoying, because they were running half empty shafts on Tower of Terror).