Disney After Hours...what to do, what to do?

[acarsme123]

So I have a dilemma and need opinions on what to do. For spring break, we are mostly doing Universal this year and staying on-site at Universal. However we wanted to get our Disney fix in. My original idea was to arrive by car Monday afternoon, and hit Universal for the evening hours. Then do Universal for two full days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then on Thursday hit Magic Kingdom for rope drop, and also book an after fireworks dessert party. That way we are maximizing our time at Magic Kingdom.
Next year Disney just unveiled more dates for their After Hours events. In the past they’ve always ended the week before we arrive on Spring Break. But next year they actually have dates when we will be down there. So now I’m not sure what is the better way to go...i could forgo the full day at MK on Thursday, and instead of going to Universal on arrival day, go to MK After Hours...PLUS book the Animal Kingdom After Hours on Thursday. What is a better use of the money? My friend that’s done the After Hours says it’s incredible and worth the money. I admit I’m the type that spoils my kid, and I just wonder if he’d like going to both Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom for just the After Hours events...vs just going to MK for a full open to close day? What are your opinions?

 

[Katie1174]

Imho the After Hours are great and the way to go. We love all of the After Hours parties. You can get so many rides in and they let you in by 7, if you dont have a regular day ticket, so for MK if your party is from 9-12 or 10-1 thats actually 5 or 6 hours in the park and you can make fastpasses with your AH tickets starting at 7, so two or three extra rides. Another thing to think about...does your son like thrill and coaster rides and is tall enough to ride?
The Animal Kingdom After Hours is great and we love going but we like Everest and FOP specifically so for us we rode those 7 times each and Navi x 3 and Dinosaur. We skipped its Tough to Be A Bug. If he hates roller coaster or a thrilling simulator like FOP, then i don't know if Animal Kingdom would have enough for you to do. But MK, definitely. We got so much done with basically no wait, and a basically empty park, it seemed weird but wonderful. My husband will now do any and all AH if they have them during our visits.
Have to add though that our very low crowd parties this year were all in May, spring break may make the parties more crowded than our experiencd

 

[acarsme123]

My son loves Everest and FOP and Navi.
Are there any particular rides that aren’t open at MK that I would possibly miss out on? And just to confirm, you don’t need a regular park ticket in addition to these After Dark events, right? Does Disney ship you new magic bands if you’re just booking an After Dark event? We have bands from our last visit in March 2018. Not sure if they’ll still work for 2020 or not

 

[zoo2tycoon]

Do you have to have your DAH tickets in a different MDE if you have regular park tickets to do the FastPasses for that ticket?

 

[Katie1174]

My son loves Everest and FOP and Navi.
Are there any particular rides that aren’t open at MK that I would possibly miss out on? And just to confirm, you don’t need a regular park ticket in addition to these After Dark events, right? Does Disney ship you new magic bands if you’re just booking an After Dark event? We have bands from our last visit in March 2018. Not sure if they’ll still work for 2020 or not

No, all the rides at MK are open so you shouldn't miss anything. No, you do not need a regular park ticket, the AH ticket will let you in at 7pm but ofter earlier like 6-6:30pm. I do not believe Disney ships magic bands for AH parties (we have always had park hoppers for even AH nights so we can get in the park anytime and already have our bands) but if you have an MDE account the tickets will show up in ticket section and you should be able to use your bands from 2018 as they will link with the bands. We have used older bands before and they work fine for the parks.
if your son loves FOP and Everest and Navi, then he should love AK AH.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

We did a Uni trip with MK DAH in late August. I got the tickets online and they sent me hard tickets, but they also added to my MDE right away. They did not send Magic Bands; I had one from a previous trip and I bought one for my sister.

The event was amazing, and I recommend it as an add-on to any Universal trip.

We rode everything. Repeat: EVERYTHING, with little to no wait. We got there just before 7 and had FP for each of the 3 mountains (park close was 10pm), plus we rode HM and got dole whips. Rode every ride in Tomorrow Land except Astro Orbiter (closed) during the fireworks. Got in line for 7DMT at 9:20 with a 25 min wait (it went up to 45 min while we were in line - we just beat the fireworks crowd). Rode Peter Pan for our last ride before 10pm. We concentrated on the smaller rides for the first hour or so, got Mickey Bars, popcorn and waters. Rode Splash and 7DMT again, as near walk-ons. In all, I don't think there was a single thing we didn't ride (no shows or greets tho), and we were on the ferry about 20 minutes before the event was over.

Best. Day. Ever.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

Do you have to have your DAH tickets in a different MDE if you have regular park tickets to do the FastPasses for that ticket?

 

[Katie1174]

Do you have to have your DAH tickets in a different MDE if you have regular park tickets to do the FastPasses for that ticket?

No, but you cant book 3 at another park and then book 2 or 3 AH ones at the same time. You can only book AH fastpasses if you are only using them for the AH park after 7. But beware, if you have regular park tickets and you are using the AH ticket as your “park” ticket that day, only go into the park using the AH event entrance at the front or the system may try to use a regular day ticket instead of the AH ticket. Its a problem for some people. We have never had a problem because we have hopper tickets for the entire length if our stay.

 

[acarsme123]

So if we went the After Dark route with Magic Kingdom, is there still an opportunity to do the before fireworks dessert party? Do they let you in early enough for that? Not sure when the fireworks occur that week. The time change occurs Sunday, the day before we arrive in Orlando.

I take it they don’t coincide any “extra magic hours” for hotel guests alongside these After Hours events, right?

How long does it take the park to start thinning out once the After Dark event starts?
Thanks for answering my questions everyone.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

So if we went the After Dark route with Magic Kingdom, is there still an opportunity to do the before fireworks dessert party? Do they let you in early enough for that? Not sure when the fireworks occur that week. The time change occurs Sunday, the day before we arrive in Orlando.

I take it they don’t coincide any “extra magic hours” for hotel guests alongside these After Hours events, right?

How long does it take the park to start thinning out once the After Dark event starts?
Thanks for answering my questions everyone.

We didn't look at the dessert parties, we took advantage of short ride waits during the fireworks instead.

No late EMH; they start asking for wristbands right away at park close and send you back if you don't have a party wrist band.

In August, it only took about 35-40 min for things to thin. We planned bigger rides like 7DMT and BTM for about an hour after the park closed to everyone else. Really, by then, the walk to Frontierland was something that would make me very nervous if it was outside the park. Nobody there but us for long stretches.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

The after hours events at MK are amazing. My DH says all the time that they are the best deal at Disney. We have been twice and the only thing that ever had a wait was SDMT and Space, but those were no more than 10 min. We stayed on Thunder for 2 rounds one night because no one wanted on.

We are doing Villains after hours for our next trip. We discussed it vs the regular after hours, but once I found out that there is a 1am showing of the stage show, so you don't have to cut into your time to see it i was sold on Villains.

I have never done the AH event at Animal Kingdom, but I just don't think there is enough there to justify the cost for us.

 

[Katie1174]

So if we went the After Dark route with Magic Kingdom, is there still an opportunity to do the before fireworks dessert party? Do they let you in early enough for that? Not sure when the fireworks occur that week. The time change occurs Sunday, the day before we arrive in Orlando.

I take it they don’t coincide any “extra magic hours” for hotel guests alongside these After Hours events, right?

How long does it take the park to start thinning out once the After Dark event starts?
Thanks for answering my questions everyone.

You should certainly have time to attend a dessert party if you want. Even if they let you in at 7pm you still have time enough to walk over to Tomorrowland Terrace. They say the party starts around 8, fireworks are usually at 9pm. Last time we did the MK dessert party with Garden Plaza viewing we checked in around 7:15 even though it said 8, and they let us start eating right away but most people didn't show up until 7:45ish.
They sometimes do morning emh the day of a AH event, but never an evening emh, so no worries there.
This last May when we did all three the parks cleared out really fast. The CMs at the rides turned away promptly, the minite the park officially closed for day people, anyone who didnt have the wristband they give you when you arrive

 

[acarsme123]

Wow. This event sounds really amazing. Thanks for the responses everyone!

 

[Babs1975]

After Hours 100% no question. Best money ever spent at Disney. If it were up to me I’d never do regular park hours again! Just do After Hours! It’s so good!

 

[acarsme123]

The After Hours event we are attending ends at 1am. Will the monorails back to the TTC still be running that late? I read one review of the After Hours that said only the boat transportation was running. But Disney's website says monorails run up to 1 hour after latest park closing.

 

[acarsme123]

Also, for those of you that have attended these After Hours events, are the Photopass photographers still around for the event? I was debating whether or not to purchase Memory Maker. We are only going to be at Disney for the MK and AK After Hours, and I'm going to assume the ride photos will be available....but I'd only want to probably purchase Memory Maker if the photographers were around taking shots during the event too. Thanks.

 

[will5mom]

We had some great photos in front of the castle with no one around (my profile pic). Would do this again in a heartbeat!!!!

 

[kwdw]

We did DAH at AK - and if you are fast walkers who want to hit ride after ride, if you are night owls so you aren't all asleep on your feet, if you don't have plans to get up early the next day, and you pay attention to what snacks are offered where - I think it was well worth the money!

I saw a fair number of folks just sitting around the night we went - for LONG periods of time (I was one of them because 2x on FOP is the most I can handle before nausea takes over) - either watching kids that had fallen asleep or just looked like they were exhausted - and if that's going to be you - then don't do it.

 

[chalee94]

The After Hours event we are attending ends at 1am. Will the monorails back to the TTC still be running that late? I read one review of the After Hours that said only the boat transportation was running. But Disney's website says monorails run up to 1 hour after latest park closing.

Everything I have seen says ferry only.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

The After Hours event we are attending ends at 1am. Will the monorails back to the TTC still be running that late? I read one review of the After Hours that said only the boat transportation was running. But Disney's website says monorails run up to 1 hour after latest park closing.

Everything I have seen says ferry only.

Based on past patterns, the monorail will not be running at the end of regular Disney After Hours. But they did run monorails at the end of Villains After Hours this summer. They can always change things of course, but that is how it has been historically.