Disney After Hours (1/20/2017) Event Report. (#45 2/2 night)

[Accident]

I was so excited to hear this event was coming back. When it finally disappeared from the website I thought we were doomed but I guess they just took the time to make the site actually try to tell you what this event it.. Last year I did it twice and I already bought tickets for 3 different nights this year.

Disney After Hours!

If you don't know what this event is. Disney in 2016 out of nowhere introduced this new night at Magic Kingdom. It sounds like your paying for things you already get free or used to get lower cost like the E-Ticket Night but it's hard to compare them as the same event.

First the event is having an empty magic kingdom. Not a "remember that trip 10 years ago" empty, this is purchasing tickets for several hours that they barely sell some tickets. Now they are higher priced considering it's just magic kingdom but they need to make money so it's a little pricier because your paying for others to not be there with you.

Most of the rides and attractions are opened. Characters are just the princesses always near the back of the castle and mickey with minnie at mickey's normal spot up front in the square. Included is free snacks, this year was ice cream, some fruit bars, frozen chocolate covered bananas. Included was bottles of water and soft drinks. They also added popcorn which was nice because last year we went looking for food because it was just too many sweets.

For purchase items are available at main street bakery (starbucks), casey's corner (hot dogs and fries) and added this year was Friar Nooks (mac n cheeses, hot dogs and some snackish items) and lunch pad (not sure what they sell actually). edit: I was wrong on casey's and didn't list lunch pad at first. more on that later.

Merchandise you have emporium on main street opened (but it closes quick at the end so you do need to plan to get into it before the event is over near the end). The plus side is there is nobody else shopping with you and it's well stocked, the castmembers really take the bored nature of having nobody shopping to restock the place. The down side is you are going to see things you want to buy that you never notice with people in your way to see it out of the corner of your eye.

Event Goals.

We're basically just going to enjoy a relaxing night at mk. We know this event we have tickets for other nights. It's also chance for me to get some video since i've taken a liking to 360/VR and it's a nice distracting hobby right now. A chance to get in some favorites and some others we don't do too often.

I'm sure everyone else is going to beat us on rides ridden. We're not really planning to hit many rides before the event starts. Last year doing some shorter wait but longer to ride rides really helped out when riding was our strategy. Now we're living here almost a year and not just arrived and anxious to do it all anymore so we're going in nice and peaceful.

Preparing to go.

I live nearby and work until 6pm but happen to work at home so scattered throughout the day I was busy making sure everything I was bringing was charged up and put together a tiny bag as I didn't want to be weighted down for this one. I've taken a liking to VR/360 video so really it was getting the camera ready that I hoped would work well for dark rides. It chews through batteries so it was a lot to make sure was ready.

I was going with my daughter so she got dinner ready and timed so we could run out the door pretty close to 6pm when I get off work. Nothing special but we made sure it was filling as we didn't want to stop to eat during the event. I would have preferred to hit poly for some sushi on the way in but I was working until 6 so just didn't have enough time.

We took a lyft over as we normally do (we've recently stopped uber, too many billing problems and 30% more with recent increases and changes in route picking). Nothing special here, we just know we are going to be tired and don't want to be that family in the ditch at the end of the night.

Arrival.

We came in via the guest drop off located at ttc. Took our time with the ferry that was empty except for a few people you could tell were also going. We hit security about 7ish and that was really slow this night for some reason. It was also inauguration day so I think they were just being extra cautious in their bag checks.

Normal ticketed event, walked up to the turnstyle with cast members holding signs and got our lanyard so CMs could tell we had a ticket to ride all night easily and this year they handed you a timesheet that was just a list of what was opened. That was great as last year it was all on the lanyard.

protip: until the event starts the lanyard is just a billboard that your doing something everyone else is not. If you like to talk to others, wear it, if you have a place to store it you don't need to wear it until the event starts.

protips with kids: if you don't want your kids wearing them put them all on your neck for rides and fan them out when walking into a ride, it'll speed up things as the cast member will be stopping your family otherwise.





It was still operating hours for day tickets, fireworks were early being at 8 with the projection show just before it and they were making the last announcements to see it as we walked down main street.

One thing we noticed as caught us off guard was the scrim added to the train station. It threw us for a second because we knew it looked funny but in the dark we didn't notice why at first. That refurb ends about march 1ish so nice to see them cleaning up the place. I wonder what population will say after they are done.



Even stranger was main street getting a scrim. It is an area of the park they didn't get painted last year. I thought they might have secretly did it overnight but I guess they are making more changes than just a simple painting.



The hub was packed, the crowd wasn't horribly huge but still larger than I want to see in spring (or I should say larger than what we had last spring) but it's also not end of feb when it died down all the wa last year.

I wanted some coffee so we headed towards tomorrowland so I could stop at the venus shop that sells cheaper than starbucks with no line frozen coffee floats. I know we were getting ice cream but I really wanted coffee and the float sounded amazing so I blew it and instead of getting lower cost coffee ended up paying for snacks

 

[Accident]

Pre Event park time.

This event is interesting as you kind of do Magic Kingdom backwards. You start with night entertainment and then everyone else leaves and you get the rides. We haven't seen the new projection show but didn't want to find a spot in the hub to see it (I still hate how disney added all this area to stand and loaded it up with trees. I'm convinced they are trying for force ways for you to need to come back to the park again or want to add on hoppers just for night shows).

We hid in the tomorrowlandish smoking section for a few. It was more because we knew there would be seats, get away from the crazy guests. It was that type that run around crazy and not paying attention to anyone. I think I had about 30 close calls to getting run into just between the hub and tomorrowland. We finally got a chance to read the paper they handed out which is when I was excited to see friar nook! I actually sent in an email last year saying I was upset the food was so far from the rides and it was only casey's which is the 1 place my daughter can't eat. She has an allergy to a certain preservative but its only a problem when used in hot dogs for some reason. It's not as severe as someone with a peanut allergy but it will ruin the night if she comes into contact with it so I happened to actually say "would it have been hard to have somewhere in the middle like friar nooks opened) with more variety and near where you were riding things or passing when you were half way done and might want something.

We didn't actually do too much pre-event. We knew the event, we're locals so we come often. We just enjoyed the place, people watched, hit the people mover since that would not be opened. We sat down near cosmic rays to enjoy the coffee float and caught what we could see of the fireworks (I do love fireworks) but it's not a good spot for them but good enough to see something.

We wandered over towards BTMRR which I hadn't been on since last summer. Long story short I had to stop doing thrill rides for a medical reason but I was ok to do them again and I saved it up for this night I'm not a fan of splash so my daughter jumped into the short 5 minute line and I started to watch BTMRR as it was approaching the park close...

First half of the event.

After hours is interesting. Because they don't treat it like a party, there is the normal right at close long lines that happens so you have to throw out everything you know about disney and getting to the good rides. You actually want to avoid them so all the daytime guests can finish that last ride and then they can't get into anymore rides. Then you also need the first rush of people who don't know what after hours is like and they start to get the poplars not knowing in a short period of time they will never see another line all night.. It's a great time to get that first included in price snack, drink or hit the rides that are already almost a walk on. You will be thirsty and lightly hungry after being it the park a few hours already if you come in at 7 or even earlier. it's a well placed snack break to refresh while the day guests finish up their night and leave.

I wasn't in the mood for Splash so my daughter jumped into the short 5 minute line before the event started. After she was done we quick saw the magic less going in than out and a larger family that rode and got out in under 5 minutes. It was 9:15ish and time to start riding! Not bad for end of night clearing out of day tickets, I think 7dmt took more like 35ish minutes to get that to walk on. I was hard to tell not being near it as they moved the wait time up to 90 minutes about 8:30 to discourage people from going into it.

We had no line for btmr, we picked our row and only 5 rows of mine train were used.. We sat together and that didn't work too well to hold a video camera so we decided we'll just get a double. I was so wrong, it was harder on that ride to not slide around and hold a VR camera in 1 spot because you don't aim them, they see everything.

We grabbed our first drinks and ice cream and slowly made our way towards haunted mansion. It was clearing out nicely!




I was hoping to get empty just us stretch rooms to film that in VR but we could tell that line still didn't go down all the way yet so we kept on with plans to circle back. We found small world almost completly empty so decided that would be the next one to hit and try to film. That worked ok but I needed to hold the camera up a hair higher as it caught too much of us in the video to use. I was only using a single camera in night/windy/shaky mode so that was 230 degrees. This is going to be one i hit the next time with both cameras to get a full 360 of the ride. Also the ride was really really slow and the volume was low, it just didn't come out usable..

We skipped peter pan as the line was still a little longer than I wanted for video. I think I can snag it next trip where there is 2 boats before and after me with nobody in it, that's what you need to get VR video with nobody else in the video.. if I can't I'll just get it anyway to have something..

We had eaten and snacked but I was so happy to see friar nooks opened that we split a mac n cheese to encourage them that this was the food place to keep opened. We didn't finish it, that thing is so huge. Loved the free 20oz soda though



At this point we split up, my daughter hit 7dmt a couple times while I was gong to hit some of the younger rides. First I did tea cups (again held the camera a little too low but that video makes you dizzy with VR goggles on). Then I enjoyed taking some photos around fantasy land..





I ended up skipping barn stormer as I wasn't in the mood to squish into the seat (it's not fun for a 6'4" person) and I could see my daughter catching up to me..

I hit the smoking section for a break and my daughter went ahead for some space mountain....

 

[Accident]

Second half of after hours

I went to catch up with her when I got distracted by the DJ. I saw there was a DJ there but didn't pay attention to where it was going to be. I was happy it wasn't the castle stage as that would ruin pictures later but I felt so bad how few people came and how short they stayed. Who wants to join a dance party when you have 3 hours of empty no line magic kingdom. They would be better in the frontier land spot and maybe sending the audio around but at the same time that would ruin the pure magic kingdom you get as well so I guess it was fitting to have them in an area that is always djs and dancing to get the full MK experience.




My favorite thing is live music, even if djs just playing songs.. It took me awhile before my daughter pulled me away saying we're missing ice cream and snacks (really hungry? we just had mac n cheese not that long ago).. we took advantage of the restrooms being right here and then circled back for more fantasyland and reverse our previous walkway filling in rides..

We did pooh and I got some video. I've learned I need to get a gimbal modified as there is non for 360 cameras. I've been working with EVO on how to safely modify one meant for other cameras so it's just a matter of not being lazy to 3d print a new mount and counterweight. That'll be next weeks project because I also need time to learn how to do things like a ride with a gimbal as it's job is to keep the camera steady and not turn unless you want it too.

from there we just hit some more rides as we made our way back to haunted mansion.






Haunted was fun but not as fun as last year. They were more in character last year so I think it might have been college program not really knowing what the night would be like. there was also someone that had a voice that would carry and loved to talk. It was also too dark for that camera so hopefully the next one will handle dark better but its also much later so I'm not sure they would allow it to be held on the ride but it is a slower ride so I'm not concerned on safety. Also the back of the doom buggy doens't let you get good 360 anyway so I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best.

We looked at each other wondering if we wanted to run around for more rides or go into adventureland. We decided we wanted to spend some time so we headed to the hub to see if the main street vehicles were out (they weren't this year. ). It was too crowded for them during the day so I understand not having drivers around. Also with no night parade it's not like you have drivers around for that to take them out (you did know it was the same drivers right?).




Ending the night coming soon...

 

[fallonkendra]

I've always thought the After Hours Event sounded like a great idea - I would gladly pay for those crowds! I was excited when they announced it was coming back, but we missed it by a week

Sounds like you made the most of it!

 

[Accident]

Ending the night....

My daughter made a comment that the hub was broken and all the people were missing. I also happened to notice all the new plants that I'll have to film around in the future... stop gardening!! there's too many things in your way already!

We stopped close to the castle to get some close up photos (not posted here) as they aren't anything special). The normal line was right at the photopass photographer with walt and mickey. I was able to jump in between families to get some quick pics. Hard to get that picture with nobody esle in the hub... Look close, you can see the carousel through the castle, that's rare also as people are always in that walkway..



We spent the last 30 minutes just going up and down a we own the place main street, hanging out with the photopass photographers and getting some you never see this empty pictures...



Look, Starbucks was a walk on!!! that's that best image of the night to expalin how empty MK is during after hours.. When you have multiple registers waiting to get you on your way in seconds at starbucks, it's dead and empty and we loved it!



Even the emporium was all to yourself to shop..



We spent a good 30 minutes, took about 300 of our own photos and then anouther 50-60 photopass photos. Just up and down main street. This needs to be cleaned up better but this might be my all time favorite main street photopass photo..



We probably looked like disney imagineers at some remote locations, we took that many strange photos a the details.. We also had a blast with the photographers that were just happy to see someone on main street finally. Apparently the whole night is dead for them We'll hit main street sooner next time to take advantage of that..

1 thing I did notice that was strange. Casey's was closed. I think Friar Nooks was so much better that nobody had come down. Star bucks did have their food if you needed it up there. We had food waiting at home so we didn't get anything to go.. (and we ended up saving that for lunch as we weren't hungry when we got home).

Eventually we decided to leave, talked with security and those castmembers for awhile, even the ferry cast members. That might be my favorite part of this event. you can just meet everyone that works there, their managers.. You get interactions you just can't have during any other time.. Well you can but not this many of them...

The ferry was pretty empty for what was almost close. Some left before it ended.. after hours is strange, you do so much it's almost too much time. I personally wouldn't come before 7 even though you should be able to get in at 4. It's just a dream night and I don't like to clutter it was an annoying afternoon. The exception would be adding in a nice table service somewhere special for dinner inside mk.





Fun night.. After hours #1 over!! Next one for me is 2/2/2017 but my daughter is not joining that one and working late. We're going back together on the last night of the event like we did last year to get our fix in. I'm hoping my new camera arrives by then.. (it's really really new, not in stores so it's coming slow from china direct from the manufacturer).. only about 15 exist in the world (this is #16). I'm stoked!

I am going to head back 1 or 2 other nights just for outside shots. This is interesting, as they don't disturb the day tickets, they don't force anyone out. They leave on their own because thy cna't ride anything and only shopping on main street is opened. I did it last year also where I just stayed after close and took pictures and just hung out. snacks wasn't as interesting since they weren't free and only starbucks opened to get anything snack like for top dollar but it's great to just be there and do some more photographs..

All photos were taken with my mobile phone, nothing special. The only special camera I had was the 360 video cameras and that takes horrible stills.. next time we'll pull out the better stuff..

Conclusion...

It was a crowd that was the size of a sold out crowd last year. It's right at the edge where I would tolerate it so hopefully they aren't planning to sell many more tickets as that might change the feel of the event.. It was not as empty as last year but that's ok, it's empty enough and back!!!!

everyone should go, just get it out of your head that your getting rides really fast. Your buying an empty magic kingdom and it will be the most magical it can be with nobody around to interfere with whatever you feel like doing all night long. no planning needed just show up and enjoy over and over and over again...

Magic kingdom is a completely different experience with no lines, no rush, nobody in your way, nobody unhappy, cast members all giddy with you. You cannot get a better time at magic kingdom than this event.

Side note, it will also ruin you for this and you'll keep coming back for it and mad how big the crowds really are...

EDITED TO ADD: I also didn't catch earlier but casey's wasn't on the list to be opened and launch pad was a second eatery available. I wish I saw that because I think they have turkey legs and I would have loved just sitting aroudn with a turkey leg. I'm going to plan on doing that for part of the night on 2/2 when I go back.

This is a much better food layout with something behind the castle, something in tomorrowland and starbucks for prepackaged stuff on the way out at the end of the night.. Kudos to this change!

See ya real soon!!!!

 

[Accident]

I've always thought the After Hours Event sounded like a great idea - I would gladly pay for those crowds! I was excited when they announced it was coming back, but we missed it by a week

Sounds like you made the most of it!

Actually we took it easy but we knew what we were getting and looking to take photos and video so we had a blast and did exactly what we set out to do! We're also going back so we didn't have the need to ride ride ride.

 

[MissPrice]

Thanks for the report. Looks amazing! I'll be at one of the events in early February. -Amanda

 

[chelynnah]

Great report. I wish it was on a more convenient night when I'm there.

Just a check, in your first post you say they were introduced in 2015. Did you mean 2016?

Thanks for such a comprehensive report. I'm so jealous

 

[LumosQ102]

looks like you had a great night. We did the event in May last year and had such a good time, as you said, everything was a walk on once the day guests left, and the opportunities for photos were amazing.

I'm in the market for a new camera, mind if I ask what camera you are waiting for?

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Thanks for this interesting insight I really enjoyed it. It answered many questions. I wondered any photopass photograhers? Check. Any good places open for snacks? Check yeah Friars! How cool for your daughter.

You got to do many cool rides. I love your photos. Plus with main street now open in the morning not many photo ops for empty park anymore!

As a DVC member I am wondering how these compare to the moonlight magic events through the year. Although yhese are free you have to be staying at a DVC resort at the time.

Great report thanks!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Thanks for the review, we are doing it for the first time on 2/16, we are so excited. We love MK and the crowds can drain you! We are AP holders so the price was not to bad for this. It is the first day of our trip , we always start at MK so I thought this would be perfect. We love HM, is Pirates open as well? How would you summarize the ride availability and how much can you accomplish in 3 hours? Thank you.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Thanks for the review Bryan. I was wondering how the crowds would be now that they lowered the price a bit - sounds like a bit higher but still very low ... hopefully that is what's disne was shooting for and they are happy with it vs ending them or lowering the price even more to get larger crowds

Love the no-one-in-them photos!

 

[perditax]

everyone should go, just get it out of your head that your getting rides really fast.

What were the waits like on headliner rides?

 

[Accident]

What were the waits like on headliner rides?

no wait, not even a full ride when it started. It's the most relaxing time you'll have at magic kingdom, there is nobody in your way.

 

[Accident]

Great report. I wish it was on a more convenient night when I'm there.

Just a check, in your first post you say they were introduced in 2015. Did you mean 2016?

Thanks for such a comprehensive report. I'm so jealous

I was kind of introducing the event so I could explain what changed but it did get a little intermixed.

edit: crap I was wrong and fixed. I forgot it's 2017..

 

[Accident]

Thanks for the review Bryan. I was wondering how the crowds would be now that they lowered the price a bit - sounds like a bit higher but still very low ... hopefully that is what's disne was shooting for and they are happy with it vs ending them or lowering the price even more to get larger crowds

The last night of 2015 was about the same size which is why I think it was roughly 3000 people attending. They are doing a lot better ticket wise but it was also first night so we'll see if that maintains.

EDIT: crap yes it's 2016 now that it just hit me we're in 2017

 

[mcurrence]

Thank you so much for the review and all the details! It'll be interesting to see if you notice any difference between the Friday/Thursday crowds. Will say hi if we see you on the 2nd!
Do you think the Monorail will be working on 2/2 since the event ends at 11? We're staying at the Poly and would love that convenience but the bus would be fun too!

 

[Accident]

As a DVC member I am wondering how these compare to the moonlight magic events through the year. Although yhese are free you have to be staying at a DVC resort at the time

I've never been to one but I know they close the park and force out the general admissions like a party, have a special fireworks, more snacks and last one I heard about someone said it was half the park but very empty. but again I've never been (I'll be more than happy to join you or anyone that is dvc and going). i've considered doing a minimum dvc buy in just to get the extra events.

 

[Accident]

Thank you so much for the review and all the details! It'll be interesting to see if you notice any difference between the Friday/Thursday crowds. Will say hi if we see you on the 2nd!
Do you think the Monorail will be working on 2/2 since the event ends at 11? We're staying at the Poly and would love that convenience but the bus would be fun too!

Good question as the resort loop is also for dining needs so it might be running. I would plan on it not running and bus is quick. So few people you kind of walk up, they tell you where to stand and a bus is there moments later. There was actually a couple people that were taking the ferry to poly and the ferry cm waiting the line told them to run to the bus, they'll be in their room before the ferry gets across the water.

 

[Accident]

I'm in the market for a new camera, mind if I ask what camera you are waiting for?

It's actually a 360 camera that I'm waiting for (zcam s1). I've been eyeing the sony A6000 for still photos. i like the idea of the smaller mirrorless size for park usage and it should fit in the same bag depending on what I go for lense wise. I started a thread on the photography forum asking about cameras or more specifically something dslr like without the size and weight, tons of great posts on what to consider and people really took their time to type a lot of information up so you might want to look for that one.