This is a shame because as others have said, the park is beautiful at night and, like most outdoor coasters, Everest takes on a completely different personality and mystique after dark.
On a positive note, there will still be a few windows every year to experience the park after dark, because when they close at 8 PM during the Christmas holidays and President's week, standard time is still being observed and the sun goes down very early anyway due to the shorter days of winter.
There are some 8 PM closes during the upcoming Spring Break as well that will give a small taste of the park after dark.
For instance, every day in March from March 6 until March 30, the park will be closing at 8 PM. On March 6, sunset at WDW is at 6:29 PM with "Civil Twilight" (the time when it is considered dark enough to be night, although still not 100% completely dark) at 6:52 PM. This will give at least a 1 hour taste of the nighttime experience at AK and the chance to ride Everest at night.
Unfortunately, just one week later, Daylight Savings Time Begins in the US (it used to begin the first Sunday of April a few years ago), so on Sunday, March 13, sunset is at 7:33 PM and twilight at 7:57 PM. So you would only get "dusky" rides on Everest the last half hour, a near-dark ride the last three minutes, and then the park closes.
Still, if one takes their time lingering in the park like I like to do after closing (the Disney parks have a much "softer" way of closing than many parks, which literally run everyone out 1 minute after close), you can still enjoy the atmosphere of AK after dark as you slowly walk to the front gate - such as, (if you ended on Everest) the Asia section at night, the Flame Tree Barbecue Everest overlook, Discovery Island overlooking the Tree of Life, and the Oasis. Usually it takes long enough to do the "sweep" that you can end up walking through the exit gate nearly 1 hour after the park is "officially" closed.
The ability to do this will decrease less and less as summer approaches and it gets dark later and later. For instance, on the next scheduled 8 PM closes after March - the week before Easter, beginning April 17 - sunset is at 7:52 PM, with twilight at 8:17 PM. By May 1, sunset itself won't be until 8 PM, and the extended 8 PM closing time will be over by then anyway.
Next Christmas season, though, we get the 8 PM closing time (and last year they did some 9 PMs!) combined with a nice, early 5:35 PM standard time sunset and twilight at 6 PM, making this a Prime Time to be at AK for those who love getting night rides on Everest, or just being in the park after dark in general.
Yet another reason why late December is my favorite time at WDW!
