4/21 After Hours - Is it really worth it?

[crazy_for_the_dis]

I have posted this on other threads, but I'll mention it again. I think your review sounds wonderful. The thought of MK half empty without a sea of strollers to navigate against sounds so magical! If this is offered in August, we will 100% be attending!!

 

[mom2rtk]

Well, at this point the DAH is not offered in June. It most likely will be added but it's not a certainty at this point. If it is, I'm assuming it'll be the same night - Thursday - and MK might close at 11? Still thinking the rest of the nights will be at least 12 with EMH to 2. Wishful thinking, anyway...

I disagree that DAH will likely be added in June. Sales have been crazy low and I wouldn't be surprised to see them cancel a couple of the nights still remaining.

 

[ArielSRL]

I disagree that DAH will likely be added in June. Sales have been crazy low and I wouldn't be surprised to see them cancel a couple of the nights still remaining.

I suppose time will tell.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It's pretty clear they messed up on the price point. Based on past behavior, they will probably just kill it rather than lower the price. Which kind of stinks if this is something you think you might have enjoyed.

I think calling it "After Hours" and charging $150 for it was a mistake. Three hours for $150 what! But really it's six hours for $150 which isn't as bad when you consider the ice cream and soda and low wait times. But that is only if you are comparing it to a one-day ticket.

It's very interesting anyway. Part of me also thinks this is just one big test to get ready for Frozen and Pandora (and Star Wars down the road) upcharge events.

 

[mom2rtk]

It's pretty clear they messed up on the price point. Based on past behavior, they will probably just kill it rather than lower the price. Which kind of stinks if this is something you think you might have enjoyed.

I think calling it "After Hours" and charging $150 for it was a mistake. Three hours for $150 what! But really it's six hours for $150 which isn't as bad when you consider the ice cream and soda and low wait times. But that is only if you are comparing it to a one-day ticket.

It's very interesting anyway. Part of me also thinks this is just one big test to get ready for Frozen and Pandora (and Star Wars down the road) upcharge events.

They could fix the whole thing pretty quickly and easily. Add half a dozen rare characters and BOOM. I predict instant sell out.

 

[ArwenMarie]

They could fix the whole thing pretty quickly and easily. Add half a dozen rare characters and BOOM. I predict instant sell out.

Oh man people would love that! I know I would be there

 

[mom2rtk]

Oh man people would love that! I know I would be there

I'd be there too.

I think their villains event established the people would show up for rare characters. It also established that they can't oversell an event. Just once they need to try something like this with rare characters, a little higher price and a limited number of tickets.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I loved reading your review!

 

[scrapquitler]

For those wondering about the advertising...I didn't see any beyond some blog posts, but I think they are starting some...last weekend we saw a flat 2 sided brochure on the counter at AKL About the DAH event. It had only very vague information about it, but it was something (the only advertising we have seen)

 

[Shanti]

I don't know if they reduced the number of nights but once they extend June hours, EMH *should* go later than midnight.

You mean if they extend the hours. They've been getting very stingy with hours lately (this summer's schedule looks ridiculously short, and they didn't extend hours much over Easter/spring break). And even last summer's night EMH (12 -2am) were a cutback from the 3-hour-long EMH guests got several years ago. There is definitely a reduction in EMH and regular guest hours going on.

That wouldn't stop me from doing DAH, but I have no illusions about what is happening.

 

[ArielSRL]

You mean if they extend the hours. They've been getting very stingy with hours lately (this summer's schedule looks rediculously short, and they didn't extend hours much over Easter/spring break). And even last summer's night EMH (12 -2am) were a cutback from the 3-hour-long EMH guests got several years ago. There is definitely a reduction in EMH and regular guest hours going on.

That wouldn't stop me from doing DAH, but I have no illusions about what is happening.

Again, like I replied above, I could be wrong but take a look at May's hours. Wouldn't make any sense to extend those (which they've already done) and not extend June.

 

[Mikie]

You mean if they extend the hours. They've been getting very stingy with hours lately (this summer's schedule looks rediculously short, and they didn't extend hours much over Easter/spring break). And even last summer's night EMH (12 -2am) were a cutback from the 3-hour-long EMH guests got several years ago. There is definitely a reduction in EMH and regular guest hours going on.

That wouldn't stop me from doing DAH, but I have no illusions about what is happening.

It's very odd what they're doing with hours. Easter/spring break were shorter overall vs the last few years, but May is 1 hour later a lot of nights vs May 2015. Currently, summer looks odd with all 10:00 closes but there's still lots of time for change.

This event might start at 11 instead of 10, right? If so, it's possible to have hours in June comparable to the last few years and still have this event 11-2 some nights. In 2015, MK closed at 12 or later (regular hours) every night, but in the 3years prior (as far back as I bothered to look) it was 11, 12 or 1, so room for EMH , late hours AND DAH to all exist. If they do them more frequently or start them at 10, it will be a reduction of regular hours compared to other summers and that would suck

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I do wish people would stop saying this. The only way to get Front of the Line passes at Universal is to to their tour.
Staying at a resort gets you an Unlimited Express Pass.
I'm not denying it's a benefit, but it's not Front of the Line.

True. If it helps, it is the acronym I like: F-o-t-L-A. To my knowledge, DISers don't use the acronym UEP. (Mind, I'm not going to claim my posts are short!)

We've now used the - UEP's quite a bit. Technically you are correct that the passes don't grant instant access, but you are also incorrect about merged queues.

Most our waits with the access pass are 10min. or less, and free of time restrictions. There's just no comparing Disney's current FP+ fiasco against being able to walk on (almost) any attraction at any time of day with no hassle!

Second, Express lines don't merge with the regular lines the way FP does on the Safari. Most express lines are dedicated lines all the way to the attraction. Further, in practice, Express Pass does effectively = FotLA on the smaller attractions.

Look, we used to be big fans of WDW, but that was when WDW was beautiful, reasonably priced, and park touring was flexible. Universal is currently doing a much better job of giving us the kind of fun experience we enjoy. This latest attempt from Disney is just one more indication that WDW is on the wrong path.

 

[jade1]

True. If it helps, it is the acronym I like: F-o-t-L-A. To my knowledge, DISers don't use the acronym UEP. (Mind, I'm not going to claim my posts are short!)

We've now used the - UEP's quite a bit. Technically you are correct that the passes don't grant instant access, but you are also incorrect about merged queues.

Most our waits with the access pass are 10min. or less, and free of time restrictions. There's just no comparing Disney's current FP+ fiasco against being able to walk on (almost) any attraction at any time of day with no hassle!

Second, Express lines don't merge with the regular lines the way FP does on the Safari. Most express lines are dedicated lines all the way to the attraction. Further, in practice, Express Pass does effectively = FotLA on the smaller attractions.

Look, we used to be big fans of WDW, but that was when WDW was beautiful, reasonably priced, and park touring was flexible. Universal is currently doing a much better job of giving us the kind of fun experience we enjoy. This latest attempt from Disney is just one more indication that WDW is on the wrong path.

We go to US/IOA almost every trip now. But we (we) can get all we want done in one day-which is an awesome day. Followed up with FP+ and night shows that night back at WDW, making that day even better-much better.

I would have no problem with WDW allowing Deluxe guests into the FP+ lines or selling an all day FP like US.

Likewise, I would have no problem with a US/IOA after hours ticket like WDW, sadly that would be like 6PM to 9PM.

The early closing and lack of night shows at US is what sends us away.

 

[erinscreen]

I was also able to attend on 4/21. I was staying at POFQ and waiting for the bus to MK about 4:30, and some CMs came to the bus stop for MK and asked if we wanted tickets to a "special after-hours event at Magic Kingdom." I knew what this was, and of course I jumped at the chance.

We were able to use our After Hours pass to get into the park at 5:00. After the regular attendees left, the event was AMAZING. I was able to do rides that I have never been on. I agree with OP that it was definitely the most rides I have ever been on in a short period of time. I also must echo the OP at how amazingly cheery all of the other attendees and CMs were. These were my people! The CMs clearly thought of this as a party for them, too. They were dancing around, and encouraged us to ride the rides as many times as possible. They were practically begging us to eat more ice cream treats and drink more soda. One CM even came up to a group ahead of us and said, "It looks like you all need some Diet Cokes. Here you go!"

This is DEFINITELY worth the cost of admission. I was able to get in for free, but if I was a FL resident or someone who only had an evening to spend at MK, I would most definitely take advantage of this event. It was absolutely the best experience I have ever had at MK.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

This is DEFINITELY worth the cost of admission. I was able to get in for free, but if I was a FL resident or someone who only had an evening to spend at MK, I would most definitely take advantage of this event. It was absolutely the best experience I have ever had at MK.

Yes, as you have described it and for now. But that has been the problem with WDW. Once, people start to enjoy it Disney messes with it to
1) make it more expensive
2) make it less of a value

Exactly like the Wishes dessert party, they
1) increased the pricing
2) no longer assign seats, so if you want to get a seat with a view you have to line up an hour before it opens and which is 2 hours before wishes

 

[spyderskiss]

I know it's been a while, but I thought this was worth sharing, so I'm back. I haven't read any forum stuff (cuz I don't spend a lot of time reading now when I'm at the parks all week, to be honest) so there may already be opinions and experiences, etc. These just reflect my personal experience. That having been said, a lot of my friends thought the idea of this ticket was bonkers. It most definitely is not, depending on a few factors (mainly, if you are a night owl, love rides and the MK.) There are still some nights available, so perhaps a few out there might want to think about whether it's a good value for them.

Here are my basic comments and highlights...

Entering before Park Closing:
MK lines were already looking fairly good when I got to the park at 9pm. Just so that you know, you can enter in with this ticket even before 7pm if you like. (I had a regular work day, so I went back home to sleep, get ready and then run down to DSprings to get a new tiara since I planned to finally get to meet Anna and Elsa.) I jumped into Pixie Hollow to meet Tink since I was already all tiared and gussied up for photos (and because I was traveling solo, and that's not something my honey would be in to.) I decided to make it an all princess night and did Belle Storytime (sing Opera, and you are basically automatically selected to participate so you can get your photo with Belle) before Wishes. Wishes was great, I got a seat around Gaston's Tavern and relaxed. Big fireworks, but not recommended viewing if you have never seen with the castle. If you have lots of times, it was a great spot for big loud booms. Afterwards, Ariel's line dropped from 40 to 15, so I met her. She was stellar. These 3 gals would not be participating in the After Hours party so my plan was not to ride rides but to catch princesses that would close at 10:30.

Park Closing- No one but After Hours folks left:
Things died down QUICKLY and within minutes, it was just lanyard wearing folks. The amount of tickets sold are VERY, VERY limited, like shockingly so. (The Holiday parties have at least 4 x the amount of crowds if not much higher.) Even so, I wouldn't have liked it to empty out like weirdly. Instead, it was a fun loving happy group of people who I noticed basically headed straight for the free icecream. I decided to let the park quiet a tad and went had Philharmagic to myself and about 7 others. It is amazing how much better that show is without 18 million big heads and mickey ears in front of you. After that, I realize I'm already 40 mins in, I better get a move on. Its on to Cinderella and Rapunzel, Elsa and Anna. Despite the very late hours, all these ladies are just lovely. Elsa and Anna were about a 10 min wait, all the others were just as we could get around the queue. I didn't have as much time as they would have happily spent chatting with me, I had to get my photos and head out. Now to Peter Pan, walk right on, and happy happy people with me the whole time. CMs cheery, fellow guests just loving it. I really want some icecream, but it's already one hour down! So off to 7D where I unsuccessfully try to take a photo of the 10 min wait on the sign. That is really something I have never seen before. I got my back car so I was happy, no time to reride but you could have gone around and around all night if you wanted.

So much to do! Our lanyards have a list of all the offerings and attractions and I'm staring at it like "how am I going to get all this?!" I run on to Winnie the Pooh. I have to say, I haven't seen the cute games in that queue, I think it's SO fun! But again, no time to play, the line is less than 5 mins. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get the weird attraction song out from playing in my head all night long. A word of caution if you ride this late at night! LOL And then on to TeaCups which I never make time for and haven't been on since I was little! and a newly wed couple is a teacup over, they got married at Epcot Italy yesterday!

At this point, I'm sad to find out that I have missed all the HARD real scoop icecream that was available early on, as its getting closer to 1am. That's ok, I run for a Mickey bar. The only time I have is wolfing it down as I head to Space Mtn. It's time to really get cracking on these rides! lol. Space is great, walk right on (a long walk too btw) and so I ride it twice. The stars were really wild with galaxies and nebulas in there! Two is all I have time for (plus my tiara is bouncing around) so I head off to Astro Orbiter. This makes only the second time in my life I can remember riding it. But I ever only ride it at night. It was SUCH a great night with a huge full moon and no cloud cover or wind. Coming down, I decide to pop on to Buzz Spin. Fairly decent score. I like to steer myself. Grab my photos and go.

Time to get a move on! I haven't even hit Adventure or Frontier land yet and I'm less than an hour left! Again, as I'm moving through the park, everyone is super nice, including CMs. There are a LOT of upper staff (like management) plentiful around the park too. It's not a ghost town, I wouldn't have liked that, but there was plenty of room to run around with out hitting a stroller. I saw other more relaxed folks with ECVs as well. I'm sure they appreciated not being cut off constantly.

I leave Tomorrowland with a water bottle to toss in to my bag and head to Jungle Cruise. At 1:30 at night, I'm curious to see how funny my Skipper will be? Well, it was one of the best ones yet! (I'm now at Jungle Cruise obsessed person after falling in love with Trader Sams at the Poly, now I totally get it!) So kudos to our Skipper who almost was hoarse, he had been at it so long, but he was SOOO funny and enthusiastic! It was a perfect punny cruise. And on to Big Thunder, where our train is literally loading us as we walk on to it. I realize as I'm cruising around the mountain that this is the nicest night I have had. The moon is so pretty, and everyone is screaming and laughing so hard in the train having just the best time. I totally know I'm going back around again, but it's going to cut me close. I have another awesome ride and by the time I get off, its 1:57. Can I make it to Pirates? Lets run and find out!

At exactly 2:00, with NO one else in this part of the park, I run up to Pirates and I am literally the LAST guest to ride and I absolutely have no one in the boat and no one anywhere else besides CMs. None of them gave me the vibe of like "Really? It's 2 and you are STILL running to get a ride? Can we ever go home?" like NOT at ALL! They were all like "Come on in!" so cheerful and happy. I'm amazed with all the CMs. They are human after all, and there are SOOOO few tickets of this nature sold, and they are all happy as can be (at least projecting) to provide the same great service. I cannot give them enough kudos, there was not one cranky one in the bunch. And Photopass Cms EVERYWHERE.

At 2:15, I'm making my way back to the exit when I meet a bunch of people I know! And as if it's not late enough, everyone is taking photos in front of the castle Hub because NO ONE is practically left! They were laying all over Main St in front of the castle posing. Super fun! And the Photopass CMs just kept clicking away, they were all amazing.

As we head on to the Ferry, exhausted but still super pumped and excited happy, along with everyone else, I see people literally loading entire bags full of soda pops and waters. One kid had an entire BOX of Mickey Bars he took back with him, the whole box! LOL. It is REALLY unlimited! I only had time for one, but I got a Frozen Banana off of him at least. (He had plenty to share. ) So I left still eating icecream for the road. Again, as its almost 3 at this point, but all the CMs for transport are just as pleasant as can be.

To sum up:
From 11pm-2:15am, I ended up with:
-Philharmagic
-Cinderella, Rapunzel, Anna, Elsa
-Peter Pan
-7 Dwarfs
-Winnie Pooh
-TeaCups
-Mickey Bar
-Space Mtn x 2
-Astro Orbiter
-Buzz Lightyr
-Jungle Cruise
-Big Thunder x 2
-Pirates
-Frozen Banana and Water to Go

I should mention that if I had timed it better, or if I had wanted, other attractions I wasn't even close to getting to included: Mickey Theater Photos, Tiki Room, Stitch, Tomorrowland Speedway, Barnstormer, Dumbo, Country Bears (really?), Splash Mtn (still die hards riding at night?) and many other attractions.

It is not a skeleton park by any means. That is definitely the most attractions I can ever remember doing in strictly a 3 hr period. Remember though that you CAN get in earlier than 7pm, which means I would recommend having a totally relaxing resort day with plenty of rest, getting in around dinner time, enjoying the park at sunset (my fave time), catching Celebrate & Wishes and Elec Parade (got all those as I came in) and then at closing, ride and ride and ride. It IS worth $158 including tax when you consider a 1 Day Ticket was already $117, and then I knew some that calculated that they ate over $90 worth of snacks and drinks. Not to mention having unlimited fastpasses basically, because everything was just a walk on.

In all seriousness, this ticket should absolutely be selling out. I don't think a lot of people know how really tremendously awesome a deal it is. To basically rent out Magic Kingdom for a little under half the day during hours and a few hrs after. You can ride and see everything, as fast as your feet personally can carry you. (So I do NOT recommend making a long day of it. Just make it an evening ticket and love the fact that you can meet all your princesses and ride rides.

It was definitely one of my more magical times I have ever spent in the MK!

Hope that helps!

Okay- after reading all this I would consider going, but I am gonna have to pass as I will be at MK all day the day prior to and after the After Hours. Personally I think 3 insanely long days in a row would probably kill me. Touring with my mom & 13 year old this trip and have already had to cut way back on my camando touring style to accomodate them in the Florida heat. Plus I splurged on the Club Villan event so really thinking I should skip it but may be tempted to ask at our resort about buying a last minute ticket day of depending on how I feel after being in EPCOT all day until 9pm before thinking about hoping over to MK to hit some of my big hit bucket list. Food for thought though...this may not be too bad when paired with an exsisting park hopper ticket especially if you do a smaller park day like Animal Kingdom (before the new night time show) or the now mostly closed Hollywood Studios.
Thanks for sharing. It seems to be a lot more than I initially thought would be offered and you got all the highlights done.