Any recent experiences with Magic Kingdom after hours events

[proud_canadian]

We are going to be there during a busy time (mid-April... Easter, star wars marathon, spring breaks) and were planning only one park day anyways. Thinking that for not much more, it may make more sense to do an after hours event, as opposed to a day pass. And given the crowds during the day, after hours would be better.

Just wondering what types of crowds there are at these events lately?

 

[dprincessmom]

Fingers crossed they are still good crowd wise. Purchased our for March yesterday.

 

[Leafsgirl36]

We have the AH booked for the last week in January....it will be the first time we have done the MK one and we are really excited!!!

 

[flea1267]

We just booked for May I have looked at a ton of videos on YouTube and it seems great so fingers crossed!

 

[Remy is Up]

Going again on the 20th so if it holds as normal has the past 4 or 5 times we have gone, itll be an absolute blast as usual.

 

[lorenae]

I’m going on Monday for the first time- it won’t be anything like in April (still gets dark here at 6 PM for one thing!), and I’m so excited about it.

 

[Cat15]

I can't answer for recent events, but we went last April during Spring Break. It was wonderful! The crowds were awful during the day, but there was almost no wait for after hours. We rode so many rides during that time I wished I had only bought the after hours ticket and not regular tickets. Would definitely recommend it! The ice cream and popcorn is a great bonus too!

 

[RolloTomasi]

I was there 11/18 (Mickey's birthday!!) and it was phenomenal. I don't remember if it was a sell out or not, but crowds were super super low. I counted twelve people in the stretching room with me at Haunted Mansion, rode 7D twice with maybe a five minute wait each time, and had my own log on Splash Mountain (The biggest wait of the night was actually IASW right when the event started, but that's because someone had thrown up in one of the boats and the line was held up while it was cleaned up. The CM earned himself a nice round of applause when he was done lol). The park felt abandoned at the end of the night. I even got some Magic Shots in front of the castle because Main Street was empty and there was nobody waiting. Totally worth the money.

In contrast, the next night I attended MVMCP and it was way, way, way more crowded and I found myself spoiled having been at DAH the night before.

 

[focusondisney]

There is a whole thread for MK AH events. Many people post reports after they attend. We have attended 3 AH events. The first was late January 2018, then early February & December 9th last year. The first even t was truly an empty park. We were the only people on some walkways. Every ride was a true walk on. Absolutely fantastic.

Last February was not as empty, there were always a few other people in site & on rides. Mine train was down almost all night, making other rides have short wait times.

Both of those were 8 - 11 pm times. The AH in December was 10 pm - 1 am. The park was much more crowded at 10 pm than either of the other days. However I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it cleared out. We happened past Mine Train at about 10:30 & noticed it had a 15 minute posted wait. I didn’t intend to do it til later because at other events the wait seemed to be about 25 minutes til close to the end of the event. And I wasn’t wasting 25 minutes in line for 1 ride. But with 15 minutes posted, we hopped in line. Our wait was only 7 minutes, so that was amazing. Other rides were walk on or waits of less than 5 minutes. Note: we are in our 60s & mine train is the only coaster we did. Our HM stretching room had 12 people total; our boat for Pirates had us & 1 other couple. The boat after ours was empty. The walkways always had other people around & there were always a few other people near us on rides. Near us..... not on top of us. I think the late time frame helped keep the crowds down. We enjoyed it as much as the other 2 events. I am debating doing it again in April. But again, we are in our 60s & not typically out & active at 1 am. So our decision isn’t if the AH is worth it, because we know it is. But more if we can handle another late night on vacation, lol!

Here is the link to the MK AH thread:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...-kingdom-faq-discussion-thread.3713652/unread

 

[Drewmama]

I can't answer for recent events, but we went last April during Spring Break. It was wonderful! The crowds were awful during the day, but there was almost no wait for after hours. We rode so many rides during that time I wished I had only bought the after hours ticket and not regular tickets. Would definitely recommend it! The ice cream and popcorn is a great bonus too!

We have tix for the 4/5 MKAH and I'm hoping it will be as wonderful as last year. We opted not to get day tickets because of anticipated Spring Break crowds.

 

[WRLeGrand]

We attended MKAH 1/6 and it was an awesome event. We had attended Villains After Hours in July and found it to be very crowded, but still fun. The MKAH was entirely different experience in a positive way. The crowds were really low. You could walk on every ride not named SDMT and PP. Those had posted 20 minute waits, but it was not that long.

Snack lines really moved quickly. You could get popcorn, ice cream bars, and sodas/water without problem. Many stands did run out of certain drinks by the end of the evening, but still had water. Just be mindful of that.

It is a great experience. You can ride MANY MANY rides and it just feels like a really special experience!

 

[WaltsFrozenHead]

Just did MK after hours last monday. We have done after hours several times, crowds were as low as we had come to expect from others, as previously stated everything was walk on outside of peter pan and 7dmt. Peter pan took a tremendous amount of time to get through the line so I would suggest avoiding that ride or doing it late in the evening. The only differences we saw from the past was less snack/drink stands open than previous times, but not a huge decrease, as well as the fact that after hours started at 8pm with the fireworks rather than at 9, so we did not watch the fireworks prior to going and starting rides, this appears to be only on a few select dates with most starting later to allow a viewing of happily ever after prior to the start of the event. Around Liberty Square/adventureland they actually had a few setting out drinks and popcorn to grab as you walked by as opposed to wait in line and the line was for ice cream. Others had lines for all items, but none had a significant wait. These days we often base our trips around the availability of an after hours event as it is such a great experience for the cost. I highly recommend it to anyone.

 

[sghokie]

I just did MK After Hours this past Friday, (MLK weekend). It was good, I thought though that it was more crowded compared to other reviews that I have read.
My 3 hours consisted of heading over to Big Thunder, got there around 9:02 pm, had to wait about 15 minutes, I guess the regular crowds had to clear out, went a 2nd time right after. My biggest complaint about this ride was both times everyone had to walk up the regular queue line which involved walking around additional massive amounts of turnstiles for nothing. We headed over to Haunted Mansion, no wait. Went to do the Rapunzel Picture with the cube, but the line was a bit long so we hit up Peter Pan, 5 minute wait, then back to the Rapunzel picture, 4 minute wait this time. Line for 7 dwarves was really long, sign said 20 minutes, decided to hit up space mountain twice no wait, no turnstile hassle here, then astro orbiter, buzz light year. Met both pairs of princesses in fantasy land, probably a 5 minute wait for each side. Decided to go back to the Rapunzelle picture thing again. Then with just a few minutes left before midnight we hit up 7 Dwarves, we had to wait about 10 minutes.

Then back to the bus. I went to the Swan/Dolophin queue, but they combined Boardwalk, Yacht Club, and Beach Club together to 1 bus. The first bus was there when we came up to the line and had just started boarding. We were too deep in the line to get on this bus, about 10 minutes later another bus came, this time was able to get on, but barely was able to make it in. Remaining in the queue was about 1 bus load of people. Some people near us were investigating a lyft back and it was going to be $36. I am not sure how much they normally are.

So overall it was a great time, with the exception of the crazy turnstiles at big thunder and the 7 dwarves line, everything else we went to had generally no wait.
That said I think this past weekend was a very crowded time of the year the parks, so I think that the crowd size at after hours was also larger.

 

[WRLeGrand]

I just did MK After Hours this past Friday, (MLK weekend). It was good, I thought though that it was more crowded compared to other reviews that I have read.
My 3 hours consisted of heading over to Big Thunder, got there around 9:02 pm, had to wait about 15 minutes, I guess the regular crowds had to clear out, went a 2nd time right after. My biggest complaint about this ride was both times everyone had to walk up the regular queue line which involved walking around additional massive amounts of turnstiles for nothing. We headed over to Haunted Mansion, no wait. Went to do the Rapunzel Picture with the cube, but the line was a bit long so we hit up Peter Pan, 5 minute wait, then back to the Rapunzel picture, 4 minute wait this time. Line for 7 dwarves was really long, sign said 20 minutes, decided to hit up space mountain twice no wait, no turnstile hassle here, then astro orbiter, buzz light year. Met both pairs of princesses in fantasy land, probably a 5 minute wait for each side. Decided to go back to the Rapunzelle picture thing again. Then with just a few minutes left before midnight we hit up 7 Dwarves, we had to wait about 10 minutes.

Then back to the bus. I went to the Swan/Dolophin queue, but they combined Boardwalk, Yacht Club, and Beach Club together to 1 bus. The first bus was there when we came up to the line and had just started boarding. We were too deep in the line to get on this bus, about 10 minutes later another bus came, this time was able to get on, but barely was able to make it in. Remaining in the queue was about 1 bus load of people. Some people near us were investigating a lyft back and it was going to be $36. I am not sure how much they normally are.

So overall it was a great time, with the exception of the crazy turnstiles at big thunder and the 7 dwarves line, everything else we went to had generally no wait.
That said I think this past weekend was a very crowded time of the year the parks, so I think that the crowd size at after hours was also larger.

I do think your experience was probably impacted heavily by it being a BUSY Holiday weekend and being on a Friday night. The one we attended was on a Monday night. Quite a different experience...

 

[Remy is Up]

Monday night was the most quiet I have seen an after hours at MK since they first began. There were ZERO, none, nada lines on anything, including 7DMT, BTMRR, and SM. We walked onto all of them multiple times. Maybe the cold had something to do with it, maybe it being January just after a holiday. Not sure, but, I heard a lot of people saying, this was the best money they spent on their trip. Im an AP holder and we do AH on and off because we live so close. This was by far the least busy I have seen it.