After Hours Events - Ask Questions and Share Experiences Here

[Nole95]

We did AK AH before Covid and Epcot AH last year. Both times we ate an early dinner before showing up at the park shortly after 6 to get in line. That worked for us. We're doing Epcot AH again in a few weeks and plan on doing the same thing.

 

[FGT770]

I noticed that as well. Was a bit surprised, especially since the point of the upsell is going rides! Would love to hear what they told people in the park.

Also, we’re trying to make plans for later this summer, does anyone know what food is available after 11pm? I am especially curious when Canada’s caramel popcorn stand closes.

Test Track was open during After Hours last night but only for about an hour. There were technical issues which delayed opening. The plan was to close at midnight regardless. The ride opened at around 11pm and took guests in until midnight.

The maple popcorn at Canada is part of the complimentary snack offerings and is offered until 1am. All the other snack locations have the traditional buttered popcorn. No Mickey Bars at Canada just popcorn and soft drinks/powerade/water.

 

[princesslover]

We went to the AH event at HS on July 9. Have to say I was not impressed and would not do another AH there again. RNRC kept going down but eventually came back up and we rode once. (We rode once also before party started). We saw Slinky had a wait of 40 minutes at 10:00 so decided to hold off. We rode TOT, Rise, RNRC and MMRR. We rode TSM a few times. In the middle of those, we looked to see if the wait had gone down for Slinky and it closed completely by 11:00 or so and never came back up. So we never rode slinky even once.

I think DHS just doesn’t have enough attractions to make this worth it and I also find that the rides notoriously go down. Very disappointing to see RNRC and slinky both go down on a party night and Slinky go down completely. Those two are a major draw for buying the party tickets.

Hoping to try MK AH at some point but would never do HS again.

 

[neverlandsky]

Did AH @ DHS on 7/16. Entered the park at about 7:30pm due to massive downpour of rain that hit hard. Line up was outside to the far right to scan in and get wrist bands. Between 7:30 pm - 9:30pm we hit the shops and did a relaxing stroll through Galaxy's Edge while things dried out. At 9:15 pm, did the rides in the following order: ToT, RnRc, MRR, ice cream/popcorn/drinks at Toy Story Land (two spots set up in Toy Story Land where there were no lines. Where elsewhere in the park did have long lines), TSM -was the longest wait at 45 minutes, we killed time talking about all the childhood games we would play, SD -35 minutes wait -running 3 coasters at once with constant announcements to move forward, know your party# so everyone can ride faster, then it was more ice cream/drinks, Finally made our way over to RoTR about 11pm. It was down for the rest of the night. Bummer. We left early at 11:30pm.

We ultimately were there to ride ToT & SD at night since we've never had that experience before. Enjoyed the vibe and more relaxing pace. Maxing out & repeating rides wasn't our goal. It was $175 each on our night. We skipped dinner, so we shared 1 popcorn, DH had 3 mickey bars & I had 3 mickey sandwiches, plus 3 waters & 2 diet sodas. Would definitely do it again once Monsters & Muppets is in full swing.

 

[princesslover]

We ultimately were there to ride ToT & SD at night since we've never had that experience before. Enjoyed the vibe and more relaxing pace. Maxing out & repeating rides wasn't our goal. It was $175 each on our night. We skipped dinner, so we shared 1 popcorn, DH had 3 mickey bars & I had 3 mickey sandwiches, plus 3 waters & 2 diet sodas. Would definitely do it again once Monsters & Muppets is in full swing.

We were there for the same purpose which is why it was disappointing that SDD was down for almost the entire party (and waits never got below 40 minutes before that.)

I was talking to another person in line with us waiting for RNRC and she was also sharing frustration that the rides kept going down (we were worried we would not get on RNRC either because it kept going down. We cheered when it came back up.

We got the DVC discount so I’m disappointed but not devastated. Maybe HS will be better when there are more headliners. SDD is ridiculous 24/7 to ride. Lucky we rode it at night on a different night. Just not the overpriced party.

 

[magicmountainmama]

I appreciate hearing everyone’s recent experiences at AH @ DHS. We’re going 8/6 for my sons birthday, mainly to ride RnRC as many times as we can to say our goodbyes
I hope we don’t have as many down rides (or rain!) but it’s good to be prepared for that possibility. Thanks to all who have been posting!

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Test Track was open during After Hours last night but only for about an hour. There were technical issues which delayed opening. The plan was to close at midnight regardless. The ride opened at around 11pm and took guests in until midnight.

Cool, thanks. This suggests it should be open for at least part of the evening for the August events. It also explains why Cosmic rewind was over 40 minutes early and then down to 20-30 for the later hours of the event.

The maple popcorn at Canada is part of the complimentary snack offerings and is offered until 1am. All the other snack locations have the traditional buttered popcorn. No Mickey Bars at Canada just popcorn and soft drinks/powerade/water.

I am so happy right now. This is the best possible news you could have given us!

I agree that it’s not the best use of AH to be eating and snacking—BUT we are West coast based and I am worried my kids will be hungry and cranky if we eat dinner before AH and then don’t eat again until we get back to the room after 1:20AM. The real decision will be if we take a break around midnight to detour over to Canada or if we skip the final ride to hit it on the way out.

 

[RapunzelRN]

I am especially curious when Canada’s caramel popcorn stand closes.

The caramel popcorn in Canada was part of the free snacks all night! They were making it fresh, and it was so good.

 

[RapunzelRN]

We went to the AH event at HS on July 9. Have to say I was not impressed and would not do another AH there again. RNRC kept going down but eventually came back up and we rode once. (We rode once also before party started). We saw Slinky had a wait of 40 minutes at 10:00 so decided to hold off. We rode TOT, Rise, RNRC and MMRR. We rode TSM a few times. In the middle of those, we looked to see if the wait had gone down for Slinky and it closed completely by 11:00 or so and never came back up. So we never rode slinky even once.

I think DHS just doesn’t have enough attractions to make this worth it and I also find that the rides notoriously go down. Very disappointing to see RNRC and slinky both go down on a party night and Slinky go down completely. Those two are a major draw for buying the party tickets.

Hoping to try MK AH at some point but would never do HS again.

We also attended that night. But I will say, we went again this year bc last years AH at HS ran so smooth so I’m not sure what the difference was this year, but the vibe was off, and I’m not hearing a lot of positive feedback on this particular party at HS. For example, I didn’t see Stitch this year or there seemed to be less character variety. Less snack stops. More rides down for “technical difficulties” which I’m convinced was a way of shutting down SDD early. On other nights, other big rides going down or offline early also. The party seemed to have a tighter budget or someone is cutting corners. Just my take.

 

[princesslover]

We also attended that night. But I will say, we went again this year bc last years AH at HS ran so smooth so I’m not sure what the difference was this year, but the vibe was off, and I’m not hearing a lot of positive feedback on this particular party at HS. For example, I didn’t see Stitch this year or there seemed to be less character variety. Less snack stops. More rides down for “technical difficulties” which I’m convinced was a way of shutting down SDD early. On other nights, other big rides going down or offline early also. The party seemed to have a tighter budget or someone is cutting corners. Just my take.

Thank you for commenting. I was hoping someone else would come by who was there that night. This was our first ever AH so it was hard to know what to expect. I didn’t think everything was going to be walk on but this didn’t feel like a party atmosphere. It felt similar to regular park evening with some lower waits but with slinky down, waits went up for everything else. Then when RNRC started having issues earlier in the night that added more of a bad vibe. Funny how RNRC came up but then SDD went down for the night shortly afterwards.

The plus was we did get to basically walk on Rise, which I didn’t care about but my daughters did. We still had a good time but just wasn’t what I’d hoped.

Oh and while we were not that interested in snacks, they seemed sparse. Popcorn, water and ice cream is all I remember and there only a few.

Why would they want to shut down SDD early?

 

[jods]

We also attended that night. But I will say, we went again this year bc last years AH at HS ran so smooth so I’m not sure what the difference was this year, but the vibe was off, and I’m not hearing a lot of positive feedback on this particular party at HS. For example, I didn’t see Stitch this year or there seemed to be less character variety. Less snack stops. More rides down for “technical difficulties” which I’m convinced was a way of shutting down SDD early. On other nights, other big rides going down or offline early also. The party seemed to have a tighter budget or someone is cutting corners. Just my take.

Thank you for commenting. I was hoping someone else would come by who was there that night. This was our first ever AH so it was hard to know what to expect. I didn’t think everything was going to be walk on but this didn’t feel like a party atmosphere. It felt similar to regular park evening with some lower waits but with slinky down, waits went up for everything else. Then when RNRC started having issues earlier in the night that added more of a bad vibe. Funny how RNRC came up but then SDD went down for the night shortly afterwards.

The plus was we did get to basically walk on Rise, which I didn’t care about but my daughters did. We still had a good time but just wasn’t what I’d hoped.

Oh and while we were not that interested in snacks, they seemed sparse. Popcorn, water and ice cream is all I remember and there only a few.

Why would they want to shut down SDD early?

We were there that night too. We didn't get there until 9, after the storm. My family loved the night. Though early on it was tough finding popcorn. We started in Galaxies edge and both rides were a walk on. We literally scanned in at 9 and was off rise by 930. We.did take out time in GE and my son had to browse the shops. The only wait we had was for toy story mania which was annoying. Waited about 1p minutes for mickey and Minnie railway. Slinky was down but that was a bummer. I think the big storm cleared the park a bit because i.never saw GE so empty. I wasn't expecting rise to be a walk on at 9. Overall we had a good time even though Slinky was down. I would definitely do it again, especially in the summer to avoid the heat. We have no interest in RNRC so I wasn't even aware it was having issues.

 

[princesslover]

We were there that night too. We didn't get there until 9, after the storm. My family loved the night. Though early on it was tough finding popcorn. We started in Galaxies edge and both rides were a walk on. We literally scanned in at 9 and was off rise by 930. We.did take out time in GE and my son had to browse the shops. The only wait we had was for toy story mania which was annoying. Waited about 1p minutes for mickey and Minnie railway. Slinky was down but that was a bummer. I think the big storm cleared the park a bit because i.never saw GE so empty. I wasn't expecting rise to be a walk on at 9. Overall we had a good time even though Slinky was down. I would definitely do it again, especially in the summer to avoid the heat. We have no interest in RNRC so I wasn't even aware it was having issues.

I will concur that Rise was a walk on and GE was empty which was weird. My girls wanted to ride Rise so that was good.

We had minimal posted waits for TSM but the ride itself was malfunctioning and the loading time seemed off.

I think your perception of the night changes based on your priorities. Not a Star Wars fan whatsoever but really was so pumped about riding slinky at night. Even thought maybe we could do it twice. Also huge RNRC fans. We did get to ride it twice (only once during official party hours) but the stress of seeing it keep going down kind of was a bummer. I imagine for some people that was their “goodbye” night to a beloved attraction.

The other poster indicated the vibe was definitely off compared to other AH there so maybe I will try again in the distant future. But it’s definitely not a priority for me.

 

[jods]

I will concur that Rise was a walk on and GE was empty which was weird. My girls wanted to ride Rise so that was good.

We had minimal posted waits for TSM but the ride itself was malfunctioning and the loading time seemed off.

I think your perception of the night changes based on your priorities. Not a Star Wars fan whatsoever but really was so pumped about riding slinky at night. Even thought maybe we could do it twice. Also huge RNRC fans. We did get to ride it twice (only once during official party hours) but the stress of seeing it keep going down kind of was a bummer. I imagine for some people that was their “goodbye” night to a beloved attraction.

The other poster indicated the vibe was definitely off compared to other AH there so maybe I will try again in the distant future. But it’s definitely not a priority for me.

This was my first after hours so I have nothing to compare it to. I did attend a Halloween party and that was a totally different vibe. There was no fun/excitement to the night but other then slinky we accomplished everything we wanted. We had no issue with tsm either. It was posted as 45 minutes and I was annoyed but took about 25. Other then a long wait for drinks/popcorn early in the night we had fun. There were a ton of characters with barely a wait but my kids had no interest. GE was a priority for my kids (not me lol) so it worked out.

 

[princesslover]

This was my first after hours so I have nothing to compare it to. I did attend a Halloween party and that was a totally different vibe. There was no fun/excitement to the night but other then slinky we accomplished everything we wanted. We had no issue with tsm either. It was posted as 45 minutes and I was annoyed but took about 25. Other then a long wait for drinks/popcorn early in the night we had fun. There were a ton of characters with barely a wait but my kids had no interest. GE was a priority for my kids (not me lol) so it worked out.

So odd. I don’t recall a 45 minute wait for TSM. We must have gone at a different time. That was one attraction we were able to do multiple times. I had no issues with it but one of the screens was malfunctioning and for some reason the loading area was backed up, could have been people taking too long to load.

 

[jods]

So odd. I don’t recall a 45 minute wait for TSM. We must have gone at a different time. That was one attraction we were able to do multiple times. I had no issues with it but one of the screens was malfunctioning and for some reason the loading area was backed up, could have been people taking too long to load.

So funny that we were there the exact same night and had such different experiences. When we got off tsm the wait had dropped so I guess it was just bad timing on our part.

 

[princesslover]

So funny that we were there the exact same night and had such different experiences. When we got off tsm the wait had dropped so I guess it was just bad timing on our part.

I think we did experience the same things mostly. Empty GE, walk on Rise, not riding slinky etc. However I think the longest we saw TSM was 25 minutes but I could be wrong about that. It’s been a minute. I do remember stating to my family that TSM was getting higher due to slinky being shut down. If I saw 45 minutes for TSM at an AH party I would have been extremely annoyed. . I am glad you had fun. For me it wasn’t terrible but we didn’t walk away going “Wow! so fun!!” either you know?

On July 17 we did Moonlight Magic at Epcot (for DVC). THAT experience “wowed” us. We rode Guardian twice with a 25 minute wait or less. Snacks galore, walk on everything else. Empty park. Granted Epcot is bigger too. IMO Disney sells too many AH tickets. I shared my experience on the survey.

 

[jods]

Our

I think we did experience the same things mostly. Empty GE, walk on Rise, not riding slinky etc. However I think the longest we saw TSM was 25 minutes but I could be wrong about that. It’s been a minute. I do remember stating to my family that TSM was getting higher due to slinky being shut down. If I saw 45 minutes for TSM at an AH party I would have been extremely annoyed. . I am glad you had fun. For me it wasn’t terrible but we didn’t walk away going “Wow! so fun!!” either you know?

On July 17 we did Moonlight Magic at Epcot (for DVC). THAT experience “wowed” us. We rode Guardian twice with a 25 minute wait or less. Snacks galore, walk on everything else. Empty park. Granted Epcot is bigger too. IMO Disney sells too many AH tickets. I shared my experience on the survey.

Our night wasn't sold out. No idea how close it was but they had a sign saying tickets were available when we got there.

 

[princesslover]

Our

Our night wasn't sold out. No idea how close it was but they had a sign saying tickets were available when we got there.

Yeah I know. That goes even more to my point. Imagine if they sold out. Again, too many tickets. But they likely won’t change that as long as people continue to buy them.