**Disney After Hours - Animal Kingdom** FAQ & Discussion Thread

[Haley R]

Does anyone know if there are plans to add more dates for 2019? We have a trip early October and I was hoping perhaps one of the dates we are there AK, MK or DHS would have an After Hours event to help making sleeping in more practical!

No one knows until Disney posts new dates

 

[maryj11]

Does anyone have any insight or opinion on what days of the week future events might be? If they have any that is.
Disney has had the dates of the event on Tuesday and Wednesday except 1 Thursday. The last 3 event dates were on Wednesday.
I'm trying to figure out our plans for our trip the last week of June with this event added for 1 day pretty much just by guessing .
Right now I'm figuring it will be on a Wednesday. Of course that guess may be wrong.
What's your insight, opinion, or guess?

 

[michelepa]

I just took the plunge and purchased DAH AK tickets for Mar 27. Because we are only going for one week, Mar 23-30, we decided to buy the tix because we are only allotting one day in AK. I am planning for us to arrive around 3pm to do our reg FPs and to do things that won't be open during DAH and have a quick dinner. Super excited to get multiple rides on our favorites during the day and after dark to make it even more exciting

We’ll see you there! Also going early and using our hopper to ride safari and primeval whirl and eat at Tiffins. See you in line for FoP!!!

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

We’ll see you there! Also going early and using our hopper to ride safari and primeval whirl and eat at Tiffins. See you in line for FoP!!!

We aren't sure where we are eating yet but most likely just something quick at Satuli. I don't want to have a full belly when I ride EE like....5 times in a row We seriously ride EE over and over until we all start feeling dizzy and need to be grounded for a while.

See you at FOP

 

[eliseisawkward]

We aren't sure where we are eating yet but most likely just something quick at Satuli. I don't want to have a full belly when I ride EE like....5 times in a row We seriously ride EE over and over until we all start feeling dizzy and need to be grounded for a while.

See you at FOP

Only took us twice to feel like we needed to sit down.... but maybe because we ate too much...

 

[michelepa]

We aren't sure where we are eating yet but most likely just something quick at Satuli. I don't want to have a full belly when I ride EE like....5 times in a row We seriously ride EE over and over until we all start feeling dizzy and need to be grounded for a while.

See you at FOP

Oh I may need to send my DD with you guys after my second time on EE. Tiffins is too expensive not to keep down. It’s one if her favorite places so a must do while she’s with us.(Most of the time she’ll be with her high school softball team.)

I should be ok though based on my prior less than smart itinerary that had us eating lunch at prime time and then back and forth between ToT and RnR but I survived. Only time I ever regretted not to have to wait in line at Disney. (That was late late Aug 2015.)

 

[zemmer]

We are going March 27 too! I looked today and saw FP for KS available at 7:00 pm.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

This is a late review but I wanted to share our experience. We attended the event on 2/5 (my birthday!) I've attended After Hours at MK 4 times and the first 2 times I loved it and the last 2 were just ok.

We spent the whole day at the park and had to go to guest relations around 5 PM for a Fastpass issue and asked about where to get our wristbands and the CM said she could give them to us then. Success especially since it made me less annoyed about having to walk there in the first place!

Here's what we accomplished:

7 pm Rivers of Light show (with FP+ made at 6 pm)
Our plan was to start in Dinoland based on reviews from here so we walked up to Discovery Island and did It's Tough to be a Bug.
In Dinoland, we started with Primeval Whirl since it was closed during After Hours.
Triceratops Spin x 2 (walk-on, able to stay on to re-ride)
Dinosaur x 3 (walk-on, asked to stay on to re-ride and were told no)
Got ice cream, popcorn and drinks in Dinoland
Everest x 4- all of Africa was closed off so had to walk up through Discovery Island to Pandora
Met Mickey and Minnie with no wait (CMs were outside asking people to come in)
Drinks and snacks in Discovery Island- was surprised to find fountain soda as an option since it wasn't in MK after hours
More drinks and snacks on the path into Pandora (took back a lot of drinks and ziplocks full of popcorn)
FOP x 5!

We probably could've gotten one more ride in on FOP because we were sitting on the bikes about to start when we had to evacuate and be re-boarded when someone vomited. Also, we had a couple fighting and cursing at each other throughout that part who were probably heavily intoxicated who continued fighting all the way through the exit and we could hear them still screaming at each other standing outside the gift shop as we walked back up the entrance to the ride.

They also had the doors to the standby queue for FOP open where you could choose to go look around and take photos and come back where they separate you into theaters when you were done.

I personally found it worth the money. There were times walking when we didn't see another soul. There were no lines to speak of during the event. I love the atmosphere of AK at night though and it's my favorite of the parks so that may bias my feelings.

 

[Haley R]

I wonder what happened during my dah night to make the lines at fop so terrible. There was no way we could’ve looked at the standby que either because the line for the ride was so long. There would’ve been too many people getting in and out of line. I feel like my dah night was the only one with such long waits for fop. Maybe it was because EE broke for part of the event but I don’t think that’s it because it didn’t break until after we had been in line for awhile

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I wonder what happened during my dah night to make the lines at fop so terrible. There was no way we could’ve looked at the standby que either because the line for the ride was so long. There would’ve been too many people getting in and out of line. I feel like my dah night was the only one with such long waits for fop. Maybe it was because EE broke for part of the event but I don’t think that’s it because it didn’t break until after we had been in line for awhile

I'm sorry to hear that. That was my concern going into the night and had it been the case, I wouldn't have felt the event was worth the money. There were no lines to speak of, just as long as it took you to walk up and get sorted into a theater. Maybe there was an issue with some of the theaters on your night?

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

We probably could've gotten one more ride in on FOP because we were sitting on the bikes about to start when we had to evacuate and be re-boarded when someone vomited. Also, we had a couple fighting and cursing at each other throughout that part who were probably heavily intoxicated who continued fighting all the way through the exit and we could hear them still screaming at each other standing outside the gift shop as we walked back up the entrance to the ride.

It is a shame that some people just don't have the self-awareness to realize how their actions are perceived by others or they just don't care. Fighting in public--and in the middle of a Disney park filled with children--using profanity and spewing vitriol makes everyone around them feel so uncomfortable.

Glad to read of your accomplishments! It looks like you had a great time riding LOTS of attractions in a relaxing atmosphere void of the typical AK crowds

 

[Iowamomof4]

It is a shame that some people just don't have the self-awareness to realize how their actions are perceived by others or they just don't care. Fighting in public--and in the middle of a Disney park filled with children--using profanity and spewing vitriol makes everyone around them feel so uncomfortable.

Glad to read of your accomplishments! It looks like you had a great time riding LOTS of attractions in a relaxing atmosphere void of the typical AK crowds

My teenage son witnessed a similar situation during our one Christmas party and it upset him so much he nearly had to just leave and go back to the hotel. I think it kinda got his adrenaline pumping because he was afraid a couple people were about to come to blows or something. He certainly didn't enjoy the party as much after that happened.

 

[AngiTN]

I wonder what happened during my dah night to make the lines at fop so terrible. There was no way we could’ve looked at the standby que either because the line for the ride was so long. There would’ve been too many people getting in and out of line. I feel like my dah night was the only one with such long waits for fop. Maybe it was because EE broke for part of the event but I don’t think that’s it because it didn’t break until after we had been in line for awhile

More than likely you zigged when everyone else did and PP zagged when everyone else zigged, if that makes sense.
If you have the misfortune to end up with the flow of the crowds then it will feel way more crowded than if you run opposite the rest.
EE may have had some impact but really, when we rode EE it had so few people on it I can't imagine it made that big a difference

The one thing I do find curious about how they run FoP is how they run the line period. Every other ride at every other park uses the stand by line. FoP was the only ride to use the FP line. At least running through the lines in my mind it's the only one I can think of that ran us through the FP line. Some of them may not have you wind through the entire queue but you still entered through the regular entrance, not the FP entrance.

 

[NiceOneSimba]

We attended the DAH on 2/19, and had a wonderful time.

We got to the park pretty much right at 7, and there was a good-sized line to enter the park for the event, but it moved quickly.

Went straight to Primeval Whirl, which we had FP for. Then went to Dinosaur, which was pretty much a walk-on.

Headed to Asia, rode EE 6 times (well, DD and DH rode it 6 times. I rode it 3 and then called it a night for that one). Got snacks near EE--it was the tiny fountain drink cups of soda and popcorn.

Headed to Pandora. Rode NRJ once, then did FOP twice. Got snacks outside of Pandora. Bottled soda, ice cream, boxes of popcorn.

DD and DH headed back to Asia and rode EE six more times.

Great evening! The park was SO CROWDED earlier in the week, and wait times were crazy. It was so nice to have a mostly empty park, and to not have it be so hot, and to ride our favorites multiple times. We wouldn't hesitate to do it again if we visited during a busy week.

 

[Haley R]

I'm sorry to hear that. That was my concern going into the night and had it been the case, I wouldn't have felt the event was worth the money. There were no lines to speak of, just as long as it took you to walk up and get sorted into a theater. Maybe there was an issue with some of the theaters on your night?

Were they using all of the lines at the top of the ride during your night? When we got up to the loading area they put everyone in one long line instead of using multiple lines.

 

[Haley R]

More than likely you zigged when everyone else did and PP zagged when everyone else zigged, if that makes sense.
If you have the misfortune to end up with the flow of the crowds then it will feel way more crowded than if you run opposite the rest.
EE may have had some impact but really, when we rode EE it had so few people on it I can't imagine it made that big a difference

The one thing I do find curious about how they run FoP is how they run the line period. Every other ride at every other park uses the stand by line. FoP was the only ride to use the FP line. At least running through the lines in my mind it's the only one I can think of that ran us through the FP line. Some of them may not have you wind through the entire queue but you still entered through the regular entrance, not the FP entrance.

I’m not sure if that was why or not but it seemed like everyone in the park was all at fop. When we first got in line we were all the way back not even to the lab part of the que yet. When we’ve used FPS we’ve been way ahead of that point in line. I know I looked around on the ride specifically looking to see if it was completely filled and there were lots of empty sections so for some reason they weren’t running all of the sections

 

[lvcourtneyy]

My teenage son witnessed a similar situation during our one Christmas party and it upset him so much he nearly had to just leave and go back to the hotel. I think it kinda got his adrenaline pumping because he was afraid a couple people were about to come to blows or something. He certainly didn't enjoy the party as much after that happened.

Yeah there was a young teenage boy in our preshow who was visibly upset by what happened especially since at one point the male raised a hand to the female. I’m hoping his parents were able to console him so he could enjoy the rest of his night

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Were they using all of the lines at the top of the ride during your night? When we got up to the loading area they put everyone in one long line instead of using multiple lines.

I’m not sure about all of them but they were separating us into multiple lines. Later in the night they actually asked if we wanted to sit anywhere in particular in the ride and were choosing lines for people based on that

 

[Haley R]

I’m not sure about all of them but they were separating us into multiple lines. Later in the night they actually asked if we wanted to sit anywhere in particular in the ride and were choosing lines for people based on that

Yeah we definitely didn't have that option. They were funneling us all into one que line so I bet that's what made it take so long. I think there were 2-3 other lines in our "section" that were all empty. One they were saving for handicap guests which I understand, but I'm assuming they could've filled the other ones.

 

[bphilb]

Thanks for all the great reviews here. I'm going to the after hours even on April 3rd and am looking really forward to it. I just read the last couple of pages but it appears that I can make a 7:00 FastPass even if I don't have a regular park ticket for that day. Is that correct? I may try to catch the safari if that is the case.