After hours parks events

[Disney Skeptic]

So my beloved has been trying to convince me of the value in spending an exorbitant amount of money (on top of an already very expensive 2 week holiday to WDW) to get into AK after hours. He has even gone so far as to show me You Tube feeds of reviews by certain folk at different parks (including AK) to prove the point.

Now, I know that the parks are obviously much quieter after hours and there is little or no queuing involved to get onto the attractions, but is it REALLY worth the money you have to pay for such luxuries? Especially as there is limited food available (yes, I know loads of popcorn and coke!) and some of the attractions are closed at night. It really doesn't sit well with me. I understand that logic that you save time, and hassle with the crowds and queues during the day, but I feel that it's a bit steep to ask people to cough up $120 for the privilege.

For those of you who have actually done this, could you give a view please? Is it worth it???

 

[figmentfinesse]

I feel like with a two week vacation it is certainly not needed as you’ll be able to hit all the attractions 2-3 times or more in Animal Kingdom in that time (depending on how many days worth of tickets you have. I typically have 8-9 day tix and visit AK twice and do it all 2-3 times).

On the other hand, I did attend AK after hours on a long trip last August because I was intrigued by it. I had a fantastic time and I thought the whole event was fabulous but it was definitely an unnecessary splurge as far as “needing”.

 

[Heather07438]

I feel like with a two week vacation it is certainly not needed as you’ll be able to hit all the attractions 2-3 times or more in Animal Kingdom in that time (depending on how many days worth of tickets you have. I typically have 8-9 day tix and visit AK twice and do it all 2-3 times).

On the other hand, I did attend AK after hours on a long trip last August because I was intrigued by it. I had a fantastic time and I thought the whole event was fabulous but it was definitely an unnecessary splurge as far as “needing”.

I feel the same. DAH holds more value on a time limited trip.

DAH is a fun splurge for a special night but since you're already having pretty easy access with multiple days of FPs at AK, I think that money spent elsewhere would give your family more pleasure. Lion King Dinner package or Harambe Nights feast are great options. Personally I'd do one of those at AK if it were our 2 week trip.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/d...iffins-festival-of-the-lion-king-show-tier-1/https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/animal-kingdom/circle-of-flavors-harambe-at-night/

 

[mybestieismickey]

I’ve been trying to figure this one out myself. Animal Kingdom is our favorite park as a family, but we get everything done in 2-2 1/2 days.

We have done the After Hours party at with our two kids (5 and 3 at the time) at Magic Kingdom and that was 100% worth it. Just about everything was open, including character meet and greets. This event is definitely on the list for our next trip.

No matter how much I look at this though, I just don’t see the value for our family. While we love the attractions that are open, there just aren’t enough of them to provide the variety we are looking for in this time frame at this price point. So this event is out for us.

 

[mkla2015]

Last February we went on an adults only trip and did after hours at both MK and AK.

MK was definitely worth the money- we had a great experience and I would totally do it again.

AK on the other hand was NOT worth it in my opinion. Maybe it was just a bad night but FOP was up to 90 minute waits about 45 minutes into the after hours event. We rode Everest and dinosaur with no wait before the event even started. During the event we ate popcorn and ice cream and rode FOP once, Navi once, and ended up leaving early to go get dinner since no restaurants were open in the park.

 

[Katie1174]

I am going to be the odd man out here and say that my hubby and I think it is so totally worth the extra money. We go for 9-10 day trips and we have park hoppers for all 9-10 days also. After we did our first one a couple of years ago, my hubby loved it so much he declared that we are doing any AH offered during our subsequent vacations and we have. Last year we went to AH for MK, AK and DHS. This year we are doing AH for MK, Villains MK and AK. We love how empty the parks are, how magical it feels to walk around and to take pictures at night with no one in them, how the rides are all walk-on (our parties in May were totally all walk-on including SDMT and FOP) At AK we rode FOP 7 times, Navi 3 times, Everest 6 times etc. I will say that FOP and Everest are 2 of our favorite rides on property so AK was a must for us. At MK, we rode Splash, BTMR, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, SM and SDMT multiple times. I am sad there is no DHS AH this time around as that one was fabulous as well. My hubby was in heaven riding TOT 9 times.
So everyone has differing opinions on what something is worth that is a luxury and not an essential, but for us we will continue to do the AH as long as they are offered.

 

[rpb718]

So my beloved has been trying to convince me of the value in spending an exorbitant amount of money (on top of an already very expensive 2 week holiday to WDW) to get into AK after hours. He has even gone so far as to show me You Tube feeds of reviews by certain folk at different parks (including AK) to prove the point.

Now, I know that the parks are obviously much quieter after hours and there is little or no queuing involved to get onto the attractions, but is it REALLY worth the money you have to pay for such luxuries? Especially as there is limited food available (yes, I know loads of popcorn and coke!) and some of the attractions are closed at night. It really doesn't sit well with me. I understand that logic that you save time, and hassle with the crowds and queues during the day, but I feel that it's a bit steep to ask people to cough up $120 for the privilege.

For those of you who have actually done this, could you give a view please? Is it worth it???

I don't know when you plan to visit, but I do know from your post on another thread that this will be your first visit. Kudos to you for your first visit to be 2 weeks long.

Since you haven't been to WDW before, you would have no prior experience with crowd levels and how that could impact your visit. As such I can see how you could be skeptical of doing any sort of extras, including after hours. You may be fine with the crowds, and there are ways of working FP+ and/or mobile ordering so that you don't need to wait in long line for rides and/or food. And as others have mentioned, the fact that you will be at WDW for many days will allow you to tour the parks at your own pace and get a "lay of the land", so to speak.

Because this is your first time, and you'll be here for a long visit, I think you should experience the parks as is without considering after hours. Only you can decide on future visits whether to consider doing the after hours.

 

[cakebaker]

With a long trip it’s not a necessity, but it is a great experience. I’ve done AK and MK after hours and will do them again in March. But, our trip is 6 days. Doing after hours not only lets us enjoy the experience of a near empty park, it frees up our days to do other things in the park without the stress of going from ride to ride. It just makes for a more relaxing trip the whole way through. I didn’t even schedule FOP because we’ll ride it as much as we want during AH. Add to that, we’re pass holders so the price drops to $99. It’s just popcorn and ice cream, but we do a late lunch and skip dinner because of it cutting our cost even more.

 

[michelleiada]

This is something I am also struggling with deciding on. We are there for 11 days and have park hoppers. I hate how crowded the parks have become and love the idea of being in the parks late...with no crowds. Decisions...decisions!!!

 

[chaoskids]

We love them and think they are well worth it. Our stays are typically 8-12 days and we have APs. We’ve been visiting since ‘97. Our trips have changed since those hectic first trips. We typically rope drop to lower wait times, hang out at the pool in the afternoon and back to a park in the evening. Now with AH we don’t rope drop so often and have fun at night without the crowds.

 

[pwmitch237]

I think it's worth it for DHS & MK. I think Animal Kingdom doesn't have too many rides spread out enough that warrant AH to not be super crowded in Pandora.

 

[Disney Skeptic]

I don't know when you plan to visit, but I do know from your post on another thread that this will be your first visit. Kudos to you for your first visit to be 2 weeks long.

Since you haven't been to WDW before, you would have no prior experience with crowd levels and how that could impact your visit. As such I can see how you could be skeptical of doing any sort of extras, including after hours. You may be fine with the crowds, and there are ways of working FP+ and/or mobile ordering so that you don't need to wait in long line for rides and/or food. And as others have mentioned, the fact that you will be at WDW for many days will allow you to tour the parks at your own pace and get a "lay of the land", so to speak.

Because this is your first time, and you'll be here for a long visit, I think you should experience the parks as is without considering after hours. Only you can decide on future visits whether to consider doing the after hours.

It is true it's my first visit and my beloved - who has been to WDW 4 times before is the one suggesting that after hours may be a good idea - not only because he knows I think queuing for anything is a complete waste of my life, and time which could be better spent elsewhere, but because he feels it's an experience in its own right and should be done at least once. I'm on the fence, which I why I posted the question to you guys. It's one of those things that I inherently resent in principle - much like having to pay even more to secure your seat on the plane when you've paid a lot for that ticket!!

Anyhow, cost aside, I have no really strong feelings either way, although, like everything else in WDW, these decisions have to be made far ahead of time (another thing which really annoys me BTW) so I suppose my fence sitting cannot last indefinitely!!

 

[Disney Skeptic]

Thank you everyone else - as expected, a range of very valuable views and opinions. As my username implies, I'm still sceptical!!

 

[jackieleanne]

I would say MK is worth it but I personally wouldn't pay for AK. We visit for 2 weeks+ as we are from the UK and usually have 14 day tickets but we are paying for the MK after hours for a second time this year as extra.

No waits for anything even Mine Train which had a line was constantly moving and took 5 minutes most. Thunder Mountain last year was so quiet towards the end that the CM let us on the train ride 3 x in a row and one of the CM even got on the ride with us the 2nd and 3rd trip.

We got plenty snacks and took around 12 bottles of water/soda to keep in the fridge at the resorts, as well as what we had drank during the night.

I think AK you have less options to choose from and most people are just going for FOP which will still hold a wait, with MK you have more attractions open and more headliners for it to be spread out upon.

 

[persnickity2020]

It is true it's my first visit and my beloved - who has been to WDW 4 times before is the one suggesting that after hours may be a good idea - not only because he knows I think queuing for anything is a complete waste of my life, and time which could be better spent elsewhere, but because he feels it's an experience in its own right and should be done at least once. I'm on the fence, which I why I posted the question to you guys. It's one of those things that I inherently resent in principle - much like having to pay even more to secure your seat on the plane when you've paid a lot for that ticket!!

Anyhow, cost aside, I have no really strong feelings either way, although, like everything else in WDW, these decisions have to be made far ahead of time (another thing which really annoys me BTW) so I suppose my fence sitting cannot last indefinitely!!

I have a really difficult time not being budget-minded when planning big vacations like this (which is mostly good, because we are really not in a position to splash out on a lot of extras). So I don't spring for park hoppers, for example, because we take pretty short trips and don't really need to switch parks.

Anyway, somehow paying extra for this one isn't really bothering me! We're going over Spring Break, so I expect crowds will be nuts and hope this will be a nice reprieve from that. And I don't really resent the extra fee, because it truly is outside of their normal operating hours and must cost them a good bit to staff it. If they were closing the park early to do it, I might feel differently!

But ooh, it burned me to pay $50 extra so we could sit by our kids on the airplane.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

So my beloved has been trying to convince me of the value in spending an exorbitant amount of money (on top of an already very expensive 2 week holiday to WDW) to get into AK after hours. He has even gone so far as to show me You Tube feeds of reviews by certain folk at different parks (including AK) to prove the point.

Now, I know that the parks are obviously much quieter after hours and there is little or no queuing involved to get onto the attractions, but is it REALLY worth the money you have to pay for such luxuries? Especially as there is limited food available (yes, I know loads of popcorn and coke!) and some of the attractions are closed at night. It really doesn't sit well with me. I understand that logic that you save time, and hassle with the crowds and queues during the day, but I feel that it's a bit steep to ask people to cough up $120 for the privilege.

For those of you who have actually done this, could you give a view please? Is it worth it???

To me the benefit of After Hours is if you have a short time there (a week or less). You have two weeks and that's plenty of time to get to all the popular items.

That said, I enjoyed both Animal KIngdom and Magic Kingdom After Hours events. The major con of Animal Kingdom is that there aren't very many attractions open. The pro is that you can ride the headliners multiple times, including FLight of Passage. But keep in mind I did this when I only had a week there.

In your case, I would honestly say no it's not worth it because of the length of time you already have.

 

[maryj11]

To me it’s worth it. We go in the summer and it is so hot and crowded it can be frustrating. At AH there hardly no crowds and cooler temps is what I like and walking on most rides.
We are staying 7 days in August and what we are doing is the 4 day park tickets then buying AH tickets for whatever days they have them available. So taking off some regular day tickets and replacing them with AH makes it more affordable.
We want one rest day so I’m hoping for MK AH and AK AH.

 

[NashSmartGuy]

I've done the After Hours at Animal Kingdom, and it was totally worth it. I rode Flight of Passage five times within 90 minutes. I rode Expedition Everest three times back to back. I only moved seats to see which part of the train I preferred. I grabbed a picture with Mickey and Minnie in their safari outfits without waiting. It was a great experience. You would still need to go during the day for a bit to experience all of the animals and shows, since these aren't really available After Hours.

 

[persnickity2020]

To me it’s worth it. We go in the summer and it is so hot and crowded it can be frustrating. At AH there hardly no crowds and cooler temps is what I like and walking on most rides.
We are staying 7 days in August and what we are doing is the 4 day park tickets then buying AH tickets for whatever days they have them available. So taking off some regular day tickets and replacing them with AH makes it more affordable.
We want one rest day so I’m hoping for MK AH and AK AH.

This was our strategy, as well. 1 day per park didn't feel like it would be quite enough (I find it hard to do MK in just one day). So we could bump up to a 5 day ticket for $85 and have a partial day on day of departure (a Saturday). Or do AH on arrival day for $135. AH seemed like the clear winner to me in our case, though I am slightly worried about our 11yo running out of gas, she is kind of a drag when she is tired. I'm hoping the arrival day giddiness, empty park novelty, and a Mickey bar will keep her going!

 

[eeyoreandtink]

We won't pay for it for animal kingdom, as it really is just for 2 rides. The magic kingdom one however was one of our favorite add ons we have ever done. We rode pretty much the entire park, many multiple times in that 3 hours.