After Hours Events - Ask Questions and Share Experiences Here

[GoofyDad_4427]

Going to Epcot AH in a little over a week. We only care about the rides and snacks! We're not really interested in the characters or photo ops for the most part. Does it seem doable to do the below (not in that order)? If so - is there a specific strategy if your goal is just rides?

Remy X2
GotG X2
Soarin X2
Spaceship Earth X2
Nemo
The Land
Frozen
Test Track

I get riding the first 3 twice, but I'd cut the second ride on Spaceship Earth. It's personal preference of course, but it's a time consuming ride and I don't see what you'd get out of a repeat on that one.

 

[focusondisney]

Going to Epcot AH in a little over a week. We only care about the rides and snacks! We're not really interested in the characters or photo ops for the most part. Does it seem doable to do the below (not in that order)? If so - is there a specific strategy if your goal is just rides?

Remy X2
GotG X2
Soarin X2
Spaceship Earth X2
Nemo
The Land
Frozen
Test Track

We went in July, just 2 adults, rides only & only 1 quick stop for snacks. We did not do Guardians, but the posted wait times were about 30 minutes . I don’t think single rider was open for TT. I don’t ride that, my husband usually uses single rider line. He was in line at least 20 minutes for his ride. We waited 20 minutes solid for Frozen. Soarin was pretty much a walk on, but even at that you’re waiting 10 - 12 minutes to get assigned your slot & load. We did Remy about half hour before the event ended & it was a walk on. But again, you wait a few minutes for your assigned spot & then for your cat to roll up. Add in the long walks from 1 attraction to the next & I think your expectations are probably a little too high.

 

[zmdisneyworld]

We went in July, just 2 adults, rides only & only 1 quick stop for snacks. We did not do Guardians, but the posted wait times were about 30 minutes . I don’t think single rider was open for TT. I don’t ride that, my husband usually uses single rider line. He was in line at least 20 minutes for his ride. We waited 20 minutes solid for Frozen. Soarin was pretty much a walk on, but even at that you’re waiting 10 - 12 minutes to get assigned your slot & load. We did Remy about half hour before the event ended & it was a walk on. But again, you wait a few minutes for your assigned spot & then for your cat to roll up. Add in the long walks from 1 attraction to the next & I think your expectations are probably a little too high.

Thanks for this -- I am not who you responded to but I always appreciate personal experiences. We are hoping to get Remy and Frozen once, and GoG 2 or 3 times and a lot of snacks. Anything else is bonus for us. (We are going in July so I just found out I will not be doing TT).

I guess my expectations sound reasonable, just hit Remy first so I can avoid walking there and back later.

 

[foolish-mortal]

We went in July, just 2 adults, rides only & only 1 quick stop for snacks. We did not do Guardians, but the posted wait times were about 30 minutes . I don’t think single rider was open for TT. I don’t ride that, my husband usually uses single rider line. He was in line at least 20 minutes for his ride. We waited 20 minutes solid for Frozen. Soarin was pretty much a walk on, but even at that you’re waiting 10 - 12 minutes to get assigned your slot & load. We did Remy about half hour before the event ended & it was a walk on. But again, you wait a few minutes for your assigned spot & then for your cat to roll up. Add in the long walks from 1 attraction to the next & I think your expectations are probably a little too high.

This helps! Thank you. Judging from the recent wait times I think we can do a few of these before the event starts. We can probably get Nemo, Soarin, The Land and SE out of the way earlier since we'll be getting to the park before 9. Guardians is the one I REALLY want to be able to ride twice so that's probably our highest priority.

 

[foolish-mortal]

I get riding the first 3 twice, but I'd cut the second ride on Spaceship Earth. It's personal preference of course, but it's a time consuming ride and I don't see what you'd get out of a repeat on that one.

Yes you're right. Time to prioritize....

 

[SaintsManiac-vol.2]

I will be at Epcot AH in a week. I'm happy to come back and report on the night. Our motivation for the tickets is to stay out of the sunlight as much as possible. And also to ride Guardians as much as we can. Fingers crossed it stays operational.

 

[JMommyof3]

We went to EPCOT AH on May 9. We did TT with a LL at 8:30 so we were able to hit GotG right at 9 when AH "started". We were able to ride it 4x in a row the first hour (4th time we got an immediate reride due to someone pushing my 11 year old into a wall and us notifying staff). Then we got snacks, took pics, walked through Moana, rode Nemo, Frozen, Three Caballeros, some shopping in Mexico. At this point it was almost midnight so 3 of our party hit GotG again and 2 of us went off to Canada to get more snacks. This time GotG was much longer and they were done around 12:30 so maybe 40 minutes total vs the 15 at the start. We got snacks and left shortly after. We could have ridden one more ride but we had our fill for the night. I would 100% do it again if given the chance.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Chip and dale are owning this dance party I must say at Epcot. Guardians between 25-30 mins from enter to exit of ride. Frozen 5 mins. Rat 10 test 10.

The DJ makes the night pretty cool

 

[nlenguyen]

I will be at Epcot AH in a week. I'm happy to come back and report on the night. Our motivation for the tickets is to stay out of the sunlight as much as possible. And also to ride Guardians as much as we can. Fingers crossed it stays operational.

I will be there next week as well

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

Did the event at Epcot last night.

For reference, we went to the first event last year. It was such a bad event that I swore I would never do it again. Apparently, I have really bad amnesia and decided to risk it again this year.

This experience was exponentially better than our first. My only gripe with the evening was that they did not open Guardians until 10 o’clock. It seems they had some sort of other group in the park during that hour that was able to ride guardians, but nobody with an after hours pass was. This definitely put a hangup in things, as we plan to start there. However, we quickly pivoted and had a great evening.

We actually flew in yesterday, so we were pretty exhausted. We made it till just past midnight. We could’ve easily ridden more rides if we had wanted to. However, my girls and I had such a wonderful time. Guardians was often posted at 30 to 35 minutes, but we found it was closer to 20 most times that we wrote it. Test track was nearly a walk on. We did frozen, but we decided it wasn’t worth the walk to Remi’s, as we had already put in over 20,000 steps yesterday.

We got to the park around 5 o’clock after traveling all day (and getting to our hotel around 4) and did several rides before our dinner reservation. Unfortunately, we got caught up on a ride in the front of the park, and then had to run all the way to Italy. We were about 20 minutes late, but they still let us have our reservation at Via Napoli. We officially started our night after that, about an hour before the event actually started.

I would definitely do this event again, as our goal was to ride guardians as many times as possible. I am still waiting to get Conga, as I think I have now gotten every other song on this ride. Hopefully we will get it tomorrow when we go back to visit the park for a bit!

 

[foolish-mortal]

Thoughts on the best strategy for when to hit Remy if you want to do a little of everything, so you'll essentially be trying to hit just about everywhere? I'm assuming if you tried to do it first so you're not backtracking too much it will still have a long wait at the beginning of the event?

 

[foolish-mortal]

Did the event at Epcot last night.

For reference, we went to the first event last year. It was such a bad event that I swore I would never do it again. Apparently, I have really bad amnesia and decided to risk it again this year.

This experience was exponentially better than our first. My only gripe with the evening was that they did not open Guardians until 10 o’clock. It seems they had some sort of other group in the park during that hour that was able to ride guardians, but nobody with an after hours pass was. This definitely put a hangup in things, as we plan to start there. However, we quickly pivoted and had a great evening.

We actually flew in yesterday, so we were pretty exhausted. We made it till just past midnight. We could’ve easily ridden more rides if we had wanted to. However, my girls and I had such a wonderful time. Guardians was often posted at 30 to 35 minutes, but we found it was closer to 20 most times that we wrote it. Test track was nearly a walk on. We did frozen, but we decided it wasn’t worth the walk to Remi’s, as we had already put in over 20,000 steps yesterday.

We got to the park around 5 o’clock after traveling all day (and getting to our hotel around 4) and did several rides before our dinner reservation. Unfortunately, we got caught up on a ride in the front of the park, and then had to run all the way to Italy. We were about 20 minutes late, but they still let us have our reservation at Via Napoli. We officially started our night after that, about an hour before the event actually started.

I would definitely do this event again, as our goal was to ride guardians as many times as possible. I am still waiting to get Conga, as I think I have now gotten every other song on this ride. Hopefully we will get it tomorrow when we go back to visit the park for a bit!

Thanks! We'll be there next week so this is helpful!

 

[nlenguyen]

What are some attractions to do while the park is open before the fireworks? We were thinking to walk around world showcase as most of the countries are closed during the event or should we ride any attractions?

 

[foolish-mortal]

What are some attractions to do while the park is open before the fireworks? We were thinking to walk around world showcase as most of the countries are closed during the event or should we ride any attractions?

We're going next week and I've been watching the wait times pretty closely. Towards the end of the evening the wait times for Nemo, The Land, Soarin and Spaceship Earth have been really low. We're going to try to hit some of those before the event starts. Sometimes they're even down to 5-10 minutes.

 

[Mexacajun]

How sparse are these? Less people than moonlight magic? Have they been selling out?

 

[nlenguyen]

How sparse are these? Less people than moonlight magic? Have they been selling out?

I think there are less people than moonlight magic, but they are more strict getting people off of rides and not able to access areas without a wristband

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Thoughts on the best strategy for when to hit Remy if you want to do a little of everything, so you'll essentially be trying to hit just about everywhere? I'm assuming if you tried to do it first so you're not backtracking too much it will still have a long wait at the beginning of the event?

Remy was like 10 mins after 11. Only guardians hovered at 25 mins most of the night. Soarin was 20 at some point but the later it gets everything was walk on except guardians

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Anyone know who the DJ is for the Epcot after hours? He played an amazing mix of tiki room and Macarena mashed. I want it lol

Nevermind found it !

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

I spoke with my kids before going, and we chose to not do Remy. We didn’t find any value in walking all the way to the back of the park. We decided to focus on the front of the park and did end up doing frozen as well. Before the event, we did focus on doing the rides that traditionally have lower wait times during the regular day. This allowed us to get those events out of the way before the actual evening started. Our goal was to do test track, guardians, and frozen. We were able to do all of those, multiple times. We had plenty of food and had a really great time. We could’ve done them even more had we stayed longer.

In regards to Remy’s, it really depends on your tolerance for that. We had put in 20,000 steps that day, so we didn’t miss walking all the way back there to return to the front of the park later. We did go to Via Napoli for dinner, which allowed us to do the world showcase for a little bit before the event started.

 

[MemoryMakers]

Did Epcot AH last Thursday (haven't had a chance to report back since then). We were able to walk on Figment, Soarin, Nemo, and Spaceship Earth before 9pm. We actually could have walked through Journey of Water but wanted to grab some real food before the event.

Goal was to ride Guardians around 9:10/9:15 but as someone else posted, they didn't open the ride 9:45 so we did Test Track around 9:30 instead. LOVED that they didn't make you design a car if you didn't want to. Able to walk right through. Waited LESS then 5 min to ride. After TT, walked over to Guardians and since they had JUST opened it, the line was huge so we pivoted.

Did Mexico ride (obvious walk on) before 10. Right around 10, we got in line for Frozen. Posted wait was 20...and it was actually 20. What we didn't think of was a lot of the AH people who watched fireworks from World Showcase then went to Frozen (or Remy). Oh well. Still not bad. Got some ice cream, waters, and pop corn....and took some photos. One awesome thing was there were a ton of photo pass people all around the park. Never waiting more than one group to get some awesome photos.

Went to Guardians around 10:45. Posted wait was 30 but it was more like 10 min to get to first pre show.

More popcorn (and water) and slow walked to Remi. Posted wait was 10 but it was a walk on. Pluto was meeting in France and there was only one group there when we were walking back so got that pic as well. I'm not a fan of maple popcorn but the Canada cart had a ton of it and there wasn't anyone there so for those how like that type...definitely make the trip to Canada.

Walked to Journey of Water and we were the ONLY ONES there the entire time. Did that around 12:00. As two adults it was great to be able to "play" in the area. They even had a photo pass person in the attraction (with a great magic shot).

Test Track at 12:15/12:20 was a true walk on. Lots of cars with only one group in each (which was great).

Went to Guardians with the idea to end the night with one more ride...well, that one ride ended and it was 12:53 so we jumped in line again. The last ride, we walked right into the first pre show. Was pretty cool to do that.

All in all, we enjoyed the event quite a bit. Only very minor gripe would be they only have three characters things (if you count Chip and Dale dancing). Playing the music from the DJ throughout the park was a nice touch.