After Hours Events - Ask Questions and Share Experiences Here

[Betsyp]

Most of the lines weren’t that long. SDD did post for 35/40 but we got on when it was 35 and the line moved very fast and was probably only 20/25 minutes.

I honestly thought that it was great. My 6 year old made it through the night and had fun. I enjoyed the low crowds and I’d do it again. But we didn’t ride rise. If I were to do it again, I’d probably get on rise around 9

Great, thanks! I LOVED SDD, I can’t wait to ride that again, multiple times !

I‘m so glad your daughter had a great time !

I cant wait to do Mickey and Minnie’s ride - I hated that I didn’t get to do that in November...

 

[georgina]

As it stands, each park except AK seems to have AH on their own…meaning MK is March, HS is April and May, and Epcot June/July and August. Is this unusual that none of the parks have AH in the same months? I’m shocked that MK is only in March

MK has January, Feb, and March. HS has Jan, Feb, March, April, May, and June.

 

[Betsyp]

MK has January, Feb, and March. HS has Jan, Feb, March, April, May, and June.

Disappointed in no MK while I’m there, but I’ll go at night anyway - maybe it’s just because I hadn‘t been for so long, but nighttime was extra magical when I was there in November. Thanks !

 

[Leahc117]

I’ve been upset about our Wednesday AH experience - I’m realizing that compared to being in the park during the day sure the wait times improved but it is definitely not what I expected from the event. We have done early morning magic (pre covid) and read a ton of reports. So yes we expected “walk on” or close to walk on lines. Our experience was that it didn’t even seem worth it to get in some lines and we kept thinking the times would drop. We even waited for AS2. That was not my expectation. I would not pay for AH to wait in 30+ lines and rise pushed an hour all night. At around 12 it was more of a “walk on” experience but by then we didn’t have time to do much. I honestly thought (based on reports/YouTube videos) that we’d actually get most of HS done to the point of not needing to do much on our scheduled park day there- now I’m trying to figure out how to make G+ work for us this morning!
I did also stop in guest relations and the cast member made a comment about other events being preview events (maybe based on my comment about watching videos) and what I took away is that the first couple events are amazing so the bloggers can tell us about it and then Disney adds capacity.
So we did TOT during Fantasmic and only waited about 20 min.
AS2 waited 20
MMRR waited 20-25
MFSR waited 30
went to Oga’a - it was very empty but they still had people wait outside to be called for a table (maybe staffing issues?)
TSMM was walk on
Slinky was 20
Then we split up and 2 did TOT walk on and 3 did MMRR walk on- this was after 12.
At previous early morning magic events I doubt we would have waited 20 min for anything.
I did base my expectations on reports of people riding slinky 6x and rise being low wait. I didn’t even manage to get the photos of “empty” park areas because there were more people than I expected. My advice is to manage your expectations. It wasn’t terrible and I enjoyed being in the park with my family.

 

[Betsyp]

Wednesday seems to have been a very disappointing experience at HS AH, but it also seems to have been a one off, a fluke...

 

[Orsino]

If the rise wait was due to rise of the resistance being down, then it could be a fluke. Otherwise, the jump in waits is more likely due to an increase on the cap.
I remember being worried about higher caps when we bought because that seems like the standard Disney strategy. I think Halloween parties and Christmas parties used to have lower caps too.

 

[peajay18]

Does anybody know why there's no event on May 10th? (the only week we are able to go )
I guess its booked for a private event or similar, but disappointing.

 

[softballmom3]

I'm trying to scroll through and read but I've either missed it or it isn't there. Do these events typically extend through June? I know the website says March right now. I was hoping for MK when we are there in June. It's a short trip because we are heading over to Vero Beach after.

 

[dez1978]

I guess they must sell more tickets during busier times? Because sold out parties never saw these wait times. If so, that is disappointing. We have a group of 8 and spent 1K for the HS AH the end of march based on the great wait times I'd seen talked about. I'm going to be mad if that isn't the case.

 

[AngieInOH]

Reporting much of the same for HS on Wed, Feb 22. Rise was 50 min plus the entire evening. Slinky 30 min. Much more crowded than I expected. Literally, there were crowds. I'm guessing RnR played a part, but they should have capped attendance accordingly. Road Rise, Smugglers, Toy Story, Slinky, Run Away Rail. Disappointed definitely!!

Saw several parties leaving the line of Rise in disgust.

To maximize time I would suggest getting in Line for Rise at the end of the night.....of course then you run the chance of a breakdown and not getting to ride.

I will report to customer service, along with my displeasure of spending $180 on Epcot LL, for basically Remy. Still fuming from that experience.

 

[Pete W.]

They have that buffer in May…not sure why they don’t before

How do we know they won't extend park closing hours thereby eliminating the buffer? If they do, it would be after everyone has probably already purchased AH.

 

[Cherrychip]

Does anyone know if rider switch is offered during AH? Very disappointed to hear about the wait times on the 22nd. Since we have a two year old we will have to switch off on most rides- I bought tickets assuming wait times would be short enough that we would have time to take turns without rider switch, ride most of the rides during the event and to not have to do a stressful rope drop in the morning and just do shows during our day ticket. sounds like we are going to have to rope drop and rider switch one of the Star Wars rides in the morning or we might not both get to ride during the event. We will not be able to by Genie for rides during the day since we splurged for the AH tickets.

 

[Betsyp]

How do we know they won't extend park closing hours thereby eliminating the buffer? If they do, it would be after everyone has probably already purchased AH.

We don’t know....

I have until March 3 to decide if I think AH at HS would be worth it...I think it will. It frees up my last day to do Epcot and MK, and that’s worth a lot to me. If they extend hours, I’ll just have to deal with it..

 

[scrappinginontario]

Does anyone know if rider switch is offered during AH? Very disappointed to hear about the wait times on the 22nd. Since we have a two year old we will have to switch off on most rides- I bought tickets assuming wait times would be short enough that we would have time to take turns without rider switch, ride most of the rides during the event and to not have to do a stressful rope drop in the morning and just do shows during our day ticket. sounds like we are going to have to rope drop and rider switch one of the Star Wars rides in the morning or we might not both get to ride during the event. We will not be able to by Genie for rides during the day since we splurged for the AH tickets.

Yes, rider swap should be available although for some attractions may not be needed if the lines are short.

 

[pjderosa]

We don’t know....

I have until March 3 to decide if I think AH at HS would be worth it...I think it will. It frees up my last day to do Epcot and MK, and that’s worth a lot to me. If they extend hours, I’ll just have to deal with it..

I think a lot depends on your expectations and your decision on the cost. It was also our only chance to do HS rides on a 3 day visit, so in that sense was worth it and definitely fun overall. But our expectations were way off so that detracted. I think the full day visit with Genie+ is probably a better value (though I haven’t done that), but if you don’t have the time and you do have the money I’d still say go for it and enjoy!

 

[brockash]

I’ve been upset about our Wednesday AH experience - I’m realizing that compared to being in the park during the day sure the wait times improved but it is definitely not what I expected from the event. We have done early morning magic (pre covid) and read a ton of reports. So yes we expected “walk on” or close to walk on lines. Our experience was that it didn’t even seem worth it to get in some lines and we kept thinking the times would drop. We even waited for AS2. That was not my expectation. I would not pay for AH to wait in 30+ lines and rise pushed an hour all night. At around 12 it was more of a “walk on” experience but by then we didn’t have time to do much. I honestly thought (based on reports/YouTube videos) that we’d actually get most of HS done to the point of not needing to do much on our scheduled park day there- now I’m trying to figure out how to make G+ work for us this morning!
I did also stop in guest relations and the cast member made a comment about other events being preview events (maybe based on my comment about watching videos) and what I took away is that the first couple events are amazing so the bloggers can tell us about it and then Disney adds capacity.
So we did TOT during Fantasmic and only waited about 20 min.
AS2 waited 20
MMRR waited 20-25
MFSR waited 30
went to Oga’a - it was very empty but they still had people wait outside to be called for a table (maybe staffing issues?)
TSMM was walk on
Slinky was 20
Then we split up and 2 did TOT walk on and 3 did MMRR walk on- this was after 12.
At previous early morning magic events I doubt we would have waited 20 min for anything.
I did base my expectations on reports of people riding slinky 6x and rise being low wait. I didn’t even manage to get the photos of “empty” park areas because there were more people than I expected. My advice is to manage your expectations. It wasn’t terrible and I enjoyed being in the park with my family.

Yes, this was our thoughts as well from Wed. I will also say that I do 100% believe WDW just as philosophy start out really strong and try to impress for anything new the first few times and then start pushing the envelope to see how far they can push things. It's definitely disappointing. I remember specifically having these thoughts after they reopened from Covid. It's like they pulled out all the stops for the first week and then cut back little by little. You see this in other areas of Disney as well.

 

[brockash]

Reporting much of the same for HS on Wed, Feb 22. Rise was 50 min plus the entire evening. Slinky 30 min. Much more crowded than I expected. Literally, there were crowds. I'm guessing RnR played a part, but they should have capped attendance accordingly. Road Rise, Smugglers, Toy Story, Slinky, Run Away Rail. Disappointed definitely!!

Saw several parties leaving the line of Rise in disgust.

To maximize time I would suggest getting in Line for Rise at the end of the night.....of course then you run the chance of a breakdown and not getting to ride.

I will report to customer service, along with my displeasure of spending $180 on Epcot LL, for basically Remy. Still fuming from that experience.

Is there an email for customer service. I'd like to express our experience on Wed. as well. Doubt it will actually give them any pause to make changes, but it's all I can do for future ppls experience.

 

[Betsyp]

I think a lot depends on your expectations and your decision on the cost. It was also our only chance to do HS rides on a 3 day visit, so in that sense was worth it and definitely fun overall. But our expectations were way off so that detracted. I think the full day visit with Genie+ is probably a better value (though I haven’t done that), but if you don’t have the time and you do have the money I’d still say go for it and enjoy!

I do have the time - I was planning on DHS for Friday. But, if I want more time at Epcot and MK, it could be worth it. All the reviews except for Wednesday have been great. I have a lot to think about, lol

Thanks !

 

[disneyfan123]

Great idea !

So, I’m going to hope that MK will extend AH into May ... but if they don’t, I’ll buy the AH for DHS.

If I don’t get to DHS by 7 (I’ll have dinner reservations that night), which is when AH pass holders can get to HS, will I still be able to get my rides done between 10 pm-1 am? And, is there a particular order I should aim for? Like, I imagine most people would head for Star Wars, whereas I wouldn’t necessarily need to. Is it likely I’ll be able to ride most of the rides multiple times?

Thanks!

We arrived at the park just before 9pm, for the 9:30 start. We rode ROTR 3 times, it was a total walk on. Did MMRR twice, along with TSM and MFSR. We waited about 25 mins for Smugglers, it was the only ride we waited for, outside of the first time we went on MMRR, which we went on first and there were still people from the regular park hours.

You will be able to ride whatever you want. AH is amazing and was the highlight of our trip.

 

[summerlvr]

Is there an email for customer service. I'd like to express our experience on Wed. as well. Doubt it will actually give them any pause to make changes, but it's all I can do for future ppls experience.

guest.services@disneyworld.com