After Hours Events - Ask Questions and Share Experiences Here

[Betsyp]

I just got back, and honestly, I had a great time...I don’t think the Park was that crowded, it just didn’t feel that way. I had bought a LL for ROR so that if the wait was too bad when event started, at least I’d have done it. Truthfully, I probably could have done it at least 3 or 4 times had I been inclined. The longest wait I saw was 40 minutes, and I think that was due to a brief outage. I did it again after ROR, and actually it was hard to tell if It was really 30 minutes since the pre-ride is so involving. For much of the night, the wait was 15 minutes....I would have done it again on my way out, but I wanted to finally ride Mickey and Minnie’s Movie....which I did, 3 times, lol. I loved it!

Star Tours was awesome - had consistently short waits, as did Smuggler’s Run, which I still haven’t tried.

Toy Story Mania was also consistently around 15 minutes much of the night.

Slinky was consistently 30-40 minutes, but I don’t know how true that is because when I was on line around 11:30pm or so, it moved way faster than 30 minutes.

The only bad thing was me losing my Disney 100 magic band...it’s so hard to get it on right with my left hand (since I wear it on my right, as I’m a righty and my watch is on my left hand). I deactivated it and will by some band tomorrow at the hotel.

 

[kittylady1972]

I just got back, and honestly, I had a great time...I don’t think the Park was that crowded, it just didn’t feel that way. I had bought a LL for ROR so that if the wait was too bad when event started, at least I’d have done it. Truthfully, I probably could have done it at least 3 or 4 times had I been inclined. The longest wait I saw was 40 minutes, and I think that was due to a brief outage. I did it again after ROR, and actually it was hard to tell if It was really 30 minutes since the pre-ride is so involving. For much of the night, the wait was 15 minutes....I would have done it again on my way out, but I wanted to finally ride Mickey and Minnie’s Movie....which I did, 3 times, lol. I loved it!

Star Tours was awesome - had consistently short waits, as did Smuggler’s Run, which I still haven’t tried.

Toy Story Mania was also consistently around 15 minutes much of the night.

Slinky was consistently 30-40 minutes, but I don’t know how true that is because when I was on line around 11:30pm or so, it moved way faster than 30 minutes.

The only bad thing was me losing my Disney 100 magic band...it’s so hard to get it on right with my left hand (since I wear it on my right, as I’m a righty and my watch is on my left hand). I deactivated it and will by some band tomorrow at the hotel.

Thank you for the report. We are contemplating DHS AH later this month, but want to wait until closer to our trip to decide so we have an idea of the weather. We have a very short 2-night trip planned with a Disney Boardwalk Resort stay but we are only doing the Universal parks because we have annual passes to those and no Disney tickets.

I was concerned also when I saw yesterday that last night's was sold out, but it sounds like that happened same day maybe.

ALSO about your Magic Band....make sure you report it via the MDE app, provide as much detail as possible (though they can track if it was already linked to you) and hope for the best. In March I lost my DVC MagicBand+ I THINK somewhere in Disney Springs but I'm not even sure. I reported it and about a week later (maybe a little more) I got a report that it was found and it was mailed back to me. Now that won't help you NOW but at least you may get it back and if you are at the parks and it IS found you can pick it up in person.

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

I just got back, and honestly, I had a great time...I don’t think the Park was that crowded, it just didn’t feel that way. I had bought a LL for ROR so that if the wait was too bad when event started, at least I’d have done it. Truthfully, I probably could have done it at least 3 or 4 times had I been inclined. The longest wait I saw was 40 minutes, and I think that was due to a brief outage. I did it again after ROR, and actually it was hard to tell if It was really 30 minutes since the pre-ride is so involving. For much of the night, the wait was 15 minutes....I would have done it again on my way out, but I wanted to finally ride Mickey and Minnie’s Movie....which I did, 3 times, lol. I loved it!

Star Tours was awesome - had consistently short waits, as did Smuggler’s Run, which I still haven’t tried.

Toy Story Mania was also consistently around 15 minutes much of the night.

Slinky was consistently 30-40 minutes, but I don’t know how true that is because when I was on line around 11:30pm or so, it moved way faster than 30 minutes.

The only bad thing was me losing my Disney 100 magic band...it’s so hard to get it on right with my left hand (since I wear it on my right, as I’m a righty and my watch is on my left hand). I deactivated it and will by some band tomorrow at the hotel.

Happy to hear it went well! I’m glad to hear a sold out night can still produce low waits and lots of rides!

 

[HokieRaven5]

Can confirm with @Betsyp that last night didn’t seem crowded at all. Everything was basically a walk on once the event got rolling with the exception of Slinky and then Rise for a brief period.

Took advantage of the included drinks to stock up the fridge for the remainder of the trip. The lines for the snacks/beverages moved rather quickly and never waited more than a minute or 2 for something, most instances we were able to just walk up and get something immediately.

 

[Pyxie]

I just got back, and honestly, I had a great time...I don’t think the Park was that crowded, it just didn’t feel that way. I had bought a LL for ROR so that if the wait was too bad when event started, at least I’d have done it. Truthfully, I probably could have done it at least 3 or 4 times had I been inclined. The longest wait I saw was 40 minutes, and I think that was due to a brief outage. I did it again after ROR, and actually it was hard to tell if It was really 30 minutes since the pre-ride is so involving. For much of the night, the wait was 15 minutes....I would have done it again on my way out, but I wanted to finally ride Mickey and Minnie’s Movie....which I did, 3 times, lol. I loved it!

Star Tours was awesome - had consistently short waits, as did Smuggler’s Run, which I still haven’t tried.

Toy Story Mania was also consistently around 15 minutes much of the night.

Slinky was consistently 30-40 minutes, but I don’t know how true that is because when I was on line around 11:30pm or so, it moved way faster than 30 minutes.

The only bad thing was me losing my Disney 100 magic band...it’s so hard to get it on right with my left hand (since I wear it on my right, as I’m a righty and my watch is on my left hand). I deactivated it and will by some band tomorrow at the hotel.

I've been watching the wait times every week since I have tickets for 5/24 and last night was the first time in a while that it didn't seem too crowded. I really hope this means Disney finally figured it out and crowds will be low for my date coming up.

 

[kittylady1972]

I've been watching the wait times every week since I have tickets for 5/24 and last night was the first time in a while that it didn't seem too crowded. I really hope this means Disney finally figured it out and crowds will be low for my date coming up.

This is the date we are considering as well, but I'm concerned about potential lead up to the long holiday crowds. I'm more concerned about weather, so ours will likely be a last minute decision (maybe a day or two before) so just hoping it does NOT sell out but if it does we'll just have to find other things to do.

 

[Pyxie]

This is the date we are considering as well, but I'm concerned about potential lead up to the long holiday crowds. I'm more concerned about weather, so ours will likely be a last minute decision (maybe a day or two before) so just hoping it does NOT sell out but if it does we'll just have to find other things to do.

They could be wrong, but crowd calendars are predicting the following week will be more affected by the holiday crowds. That week actually looks pretty low comparatively. Either way, a sell out is a sell out. I'm not convinced the holidays or spring break really affected the prior dates that much. I think something else was going on.

 

[WDWLODGE]

We just went last night & had a great experience. Our longest wait all night was 15 minutes for Slink even though is was posted at 35. Almost everything else was a walk-in or less than 5 minutes despite what was posted. We consumed 4 boxes of popcorn, 9 frozen treat & several bottles beverages. We also got a May the 4th pic after midnight & had an elevator to ourselves.

 

[Betsyp]

Thank you for the report. We are contemplating DHS AH later this month, but want to wait until closer to our trip to decide so we have an idea of the weather. We have a very short 2-night trip planned with a Disney Boardwalk Resort stay but we are only doing the Universal parks because we have annual passes to those and no Disney tickets.

I was concerned also when I saw yesterday that last night's was sold out, but it sounds like that happened same day maybe.

ALSO about your Magic Band....make sure you report it via the MDE app, provide as much detail as possible (though they can track if it was already linked to you) and hope for the best. In March I lost my DVC MagicBand+ I THINK somewhere in Disney Springs but I'm not even sure. I reported it and about a week later (maybe a little more) I got a report that it was found and it was mailed back to me. Now that won't help you NOW but at least you may get it back and if you are at the parks and it IS found you can pick it up in person.

You’re welcome ! Just keep in mind that it may sold out, so if you really want to go, I wouldn‘t wait.

Ooh, great tip, thanks ! I’ll do that when I have Some time ! I already deactivated it so no one can use it...can I still report it?

 

[WDWLODGE]

Also they let us in at 6:50. Before the party started we were able to ride ToT, MMRR, Smugglers Run, TSMM & we watched the 9pm Fantasmic.

 

[Betsyp]

Happy to hear it went well! I’m glad to hear a sold out night can still produce low waits and lots of rides!

It was really great, and a beautiful evening. I don’t know why, but I loved ROR more than I did in November...now It’s one of my favorites !

 

[erineab]

I’m really having trouble deciding between the Epcot After Hours event or MNSSHP for the third week of August.

We are doing Universal for this trip and this ticket will be our only Disney experience (we will do a Disney trip in March).

Epcot would be a new experience for us, as we’ve done MNSSHP twice before, but the hours are shorter.

Is anyone else struggling to make a decision?

 

[Mango7100]

I’m really having trouble deciding between the Epcot After Hours event or MNSSHP for the third week of August.

We are doing Universal for this trip and this ticket will be our only Disney experience (we will do a Disney trip in March).

Epcot would be a new experience for us, as we’ve done MNSSHP twice before, but the hours are shorter.

Is anyone else struggling to make a decision?

They are pretty different experiences. While shorter After Hours is a lot less crowded than MNSSHP. But AH will not have any extra entertainment (parade, fireworks, stage shows, etc). If you want to focus on rides, do AH. If you want more entertainment and a Halloween atmosphere with a few bonus rides thrown in do MNSSHP.

it is hard to know what wait times will look like since there aren’t reports from Epcot. I would love to do it to ride Guardians a bunch, but I assume that’s what a large chunk of people going to Epcot AH also think so wait times maybe decently long for Guardians. You also have a far walk to Remy or Frozen which eats up time.

 

[kat_lh]

I’m putting this here because I think it would be useful to people doing HS AH in judging actual wait times. Does anyone know if there’s a visual point for SDD where if you see people past X point, the line will be this long?

(I hope that makes sense)

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

They could be wrong, but crowd calendars are predicting the following week will be more affected by the holiday crowds. That week actually looks pretty low comparatively. Either way, a sell out is a sell out. I'm not convinced the holidays or spring break really affected the prior dates that much. I think something else was going on.

I’ve been watching too, and I’d actually argue against that. Most of the bad evenings were during holiday/busy weeks (President’s/Mardi Gras, Spring break). I haven’t looked back, but I’d also guess that the regular park reservations were booked those days. If you have more people in the parks prior to the start of DAH, you have the potential for more people in line right at park close trying to get one last ride. This causes an initial spike in waits for the beginning of the event and has a trickle down effect.

The last DAH we did was totally worth it, so maybe it’s just the optimist in me hoping it will work out again. I remember when they used to have EMM we did one of those at DHS after readings some bad reviews and were able to do 6 rides in the time we had (including SDD 4 times).

I think the evening has mostly to do with ride closures and pre-AH crowds.

 

[Pyxie]

I’ve been watching too, and I’d actually argue against that. Most of the bad evenings were during holiday/busy weeks (President’s/Mardi Gras, Spring break). I haven’t looked back, but I’d also guess that the regular park reservations were booked those days. If you have more people in the parks prior to the start of DAH, you have the potential for more people in line right at park close trying to get one last ride. This causes an initial spike in waits for the beginning of the event and has a trickle down effect.

The last DAH we did was totally worth it, so maybe it’s just the optimist in me hoping it will work out again. I remember when they used to have EMM we did one of those at DHS after readings some bad reviews and were able to do 6 rides in the time we had (including SDD 4 times).

I think the evening has mostly to do with ride closures and pre-AH crowds.

Maybe, but I think losing RNRC had more to do with it than holidays. Almost every event since the ride closed has felt overcrowded. I'm wondering if they actually sold fewer tickets for last night's because they finally figured this out or got enough complaints. But no one really knows.

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

Maybe, but I think losing RNRC had more to do with it than holidays. Almost every event since the ride closed has felt overcrowded. I'm wondering if they actually sold fewer tickets for last night's because they finally figured this out or got enough complaints. But no one really knows.

Was curious and had the time, so went through old reports to see if there were any trends. Some can be predicted, others can’t. But may be helpful for anyone looking, as every date has sold out for this even and RNRR went down as of February 22.

February 22 - Mardi Gras/President’s Day. Start of RNR down for repairs. Bad night. ROTR down earlier in day for awhile. Parks sold out.

March 8 - pre-spring break. Great reports.

March 22 - not great. Spring break. Can’t confirm whether day parks sold out or ride downtime.

March 29 - good reports (busy til 10, then walk-on, one said). Kind of the break between spring and Easter breaks

April 2 - ROTR and MMRR down for the start of the event. Bad reports. Not sure if all, but some parks sold out. Week before Easter, so packed.

April 5 - great reports. Heart of pre-Easter week. No rides down prior to event.

April 19 - great reports. Post-Easter lull. No rides down.

May 3 - great reports. Not as busy. No rides down.

 

[seb65]

Yes, Disney is happy to take more of anyone's money even after they've paid extra for an "exclusive" event.

I will not be buying Genie plus, but will consider buying the ILL for Rise.

 

[kittylady1972]

We just went last night & had a great experience. Our longest wait all night was 15 minutes for Slink even though is was posted at 35. Almost everything else was a walk-in or less than 5 minutes despite what was posted. We consumed 4 boxes of popcorn, 9 frozen treat & several bottles beverages. We also got a May the 4th pic after midnight & had an elevator to ourselves.

This sounds awesome. I could definitely put away some popcorn I think!

You’re welcome ! Just keep in mind that it may sold out, so if you really want to go, I wouldn‘t wait.

Ooh, great tip, thanks ! I’ll do that when I have Some time ! I already deactivated it so no one can use it...can I still report it?

It is still up in the air as to if we want to spend the money, since we are doing this trip mostly on the very cheap (flights cost $44 RT per person, DVC Resort Room at BDWLK for 2 nights (so "free" for us), paying about $100 for the rental car for 2 days, and Universal APs mean we don't have to pay anything other than parking to visit a park (just not Disney).

And YES you can absolutely report the MagicBand after deactivating it, as that is exactly what I did with success. Best of luck!

I’m really having trouble deciding between the Epcot After Hours event or MNSSHP for the third week of August.

We are doing Universal for this trip and this ticket will be our only Disney experience (we will do a Disney trip in March).

Epcot would be a new experience for us, as we’ve done MNSSHP twice before, but the hours are shorter.

Is anyone else struggling to make a decision?

Tough decision for sure. We have a similar struggle with this May trip. Part of me does not want to spend the money (we would spend about $500 for 4 HS DAH tickets) when we can visit the Universal parks for free essentially with our current APs there.

 

[PaleBlueDot]

Hi, folks! First post under this name. (Think my old name was likely redstickredhead but I can't remember the password for that one or the email addy I'd used.)

My family and I are coming in this October after a LONG break, and boy, howdy, catching up with the changes has taken me months of reading!

Do y'all think these after-hours events will have new dates added for October? They seem like a good investment for our group, as we aren't show/character people but ride/ambience/love all the parks in the evenings types.

I know this is highly speculative, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.