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

[eliseisawkward]

Not sure if anyone follows Shannon from WDW Prep School. She attended the DAH at AK on Thursday and did not have good things to say. If anyone’s interested in her review you can google her podcast.

Just gave this a listen. Her review wasn’t that unfavorable. Just that as an AP it was not worth the extra money for her.

For us, we are in WDW for 1 day, so we opted to buy this ticket instead of a regular 1-day 1-park ticket. The cost for the two was nearly the same for us (we did get a small discount through a work perk thing). We will therefore get to do the 3-4 rides we really want to do (with no wait times, and the option to ride a couple times each) and see AK at night, which is pretty.

 

[chelynnah]

Just gave this a listen. Her review wasn’t that unfavorable. Just that as an AP it was not worth the extra money for her.

For us, we are in WDW for 1 day, so we opted to buy this ticket instead of a regular 1-day 1-park ticket. The cost for the two was nearly the same for us (we did get a small discount through a work perk thing). We will therefore get to do the 3-4 rides we really want to do (with no wait times, and the option to ride a couple times each) and see AK at night, which is pretty.

And this just proves the point that ‘value’ means different things to different people

This thread is such a great resource to be able to help people determine if it’s valuable for them and their needs etc. Thanks so much everyone who participates.

 

[Scoobie]

Just gave this a listen. Her review wasn’t that unfavorable. Just that as an AP it was not worth the extra money for her.

For us, we are in WDW for 1 day, so we opted to buy this ticket instead of a regular 1-day 1-park ticket. The cost for the two was nearly the same for us (we did get a small discount through a work perk thing). We will therefore get to do the 3-4 rides we really want to do (with no wait times, and the option to ride a couple times each) and see AK at night, which is pretty.

Also went to listen, the first 5 min. is of her at the airport, in her room.... and a lot of the podcast was her comparing it to the MK event, which isn't really fair. She also talked of the issue that FoP takes longer to go through because of the preshow, so you can't ride it over and over like other rides - except she didn't even enter Pandora until 9:30pm. Of course it's not like other rides, that's why this might be a great value - to experience it more than once in an evening without a 3 or 4 hour wait. AK is my favorite park, and other bloggers have said positive things about the event. And to be able to stay in Pandora after dark with smaller crowds, a win!

 

[sara_s]

And this just proves the point that ‘value’ means different things to different people

This is so much of it! The only thing in retrospect that my husband and I commented on is that part of what makes AK our favorite park is the animals! And of course at night, that part that makes it so unique isn't available. However, you have to weigh that against your circumstance. Say you only have 1 day to do AK and this is the best way to do it to experience Pandora instead of wasting half a day in lines for it. So you just have to weigh all of that and make the best decision based on what you want to get out of it.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I agree that it wouldn’t be a value to many people. And honestly, until I rode FoP for the first time last summer, I would have never even considered paying for this (we are AP holders right now). I was a big naysayer of the Pandora expansion. I’ve never seen the movie (and never will). But I was blown away by Pandora (both during the day & at night). FoP is easily my favorite WDW ride now.

So I’m waiting, not so patiently for summer DAH to be released. For us, the value is definitely there.

 

[Scoobie]

So I’m waiting, not so patiently for summer DAH to be released. For us, the value is definitely there.[/QUOTE]
Do you think Disney will keep it going? Since we won't be there until Dec., I'm wondering if it will continue that far if it isn't very popular.

 

[Remy is Up]

Value is always different depending on each situation. We are doing the one tuesday at ak and thursday at mk and to us they are both a value

 

[eagle1992]

So take this for what it's worth but just received an email from Touring Plans that Animal Kindom's closing hours is jumping from 8pm to 11pm on Wednesday, April 10th. I see nothing on the Disney World website about anything special that night...aside from the fact that that week is the last of the announced DAH and it is the one night that would have made sense to have a DAH at AK that Disney did not schedule...both HS and MK are scheduled that week...hmmmm...

 

[nyhitmen]

Let me ask this about the after dark thing for this park and the other ones. How in the world does Animal Kingdom even go about getting all the people who did not pay the extra money to leave? Its not like they wearing wrist bands or its not like they gonna walk around the park and boot people? Explain how they control this. Whats to stop someone from paying for a regular ticket and staying in the park. Maybe they check tickets on the rides but what if they just want to see the rivers of light show. No way to know who purchased what ticket. Am I wrong on this?

 

[eagle1992]

Let me ask this about the after dark thing for this park and the other ones. How in the world does Animal Kingdom even go about getting all the people who did not pay the extra money to leave? Its not like they wearing wrist bands or its not like they gonna walk around the park and boot people? Explain how they control this. Whats to stop someone from paying for a regular ticket and staying in the park. Maybe they check tickets on the rides but what if they just want to see the rivers of light show. No way to know who purchased what ticket. Am I wrong on this?

They can stay but can't ride any rides...theoretically CMs are to check for the wristbands before folks can enter ride lines. But if you are someone without a DAH ticket there really isn't much for you to do...most everything is closed up so practically speaking they'd get bored pretty damn quick...

 

[nyhitmen]

They can stay but can't ride any rides...theoretically CMs are to check for the wristbands before folks can enter ride lines. But if you are someone without a DAH ticket there really isn't much for you to do...most everything is closed up so practically speaking they'd get bored pretty damn quick...

Ok but would you need toe special ticket to see the river of lights? That is really all that would interest us since we will do all the rides during the day. Do you need to get past a certain blocked off point to see the river of lights?

 

[eagle1992]

Ok but would you need toe special ticket to see the river of lights? That is really all that would interest us since we will do all the rides during the day. Do you need to get past a certain blocked off point to see the river of lights?

No...you should be fine.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Ok but would you need toe special ticket to see the river of lights? That is really all that would interest us since we will do all the rides during the day. Do you need to get past a certain blocked off point to see the river of lights?

The special showing of ROL is for the people who bought tickets. Whether they check or not, you shouldn’t try to stay if you don’t have a ticket.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Ok but would you need toe special ticket to see the river of lights? That is really all that would interest us since we will do all the rides during the day. Do you need to get past a certain blocked off point to see the river of lights?

Just so it's clear, there will always be one - and usually two - RoL shows that perform during or shortly after park operating hours that are available to all guests. There is a special showing of RoL that occurs during the Disney After Hours event that is for ticket holders. So for example, let's take 1/16 in the table below. There were "normal" RoL shows for all day guests at 6:30 pm and 7:45 pm that evening, then a 9pm showing during Disney After Hours.

 

[Tinkerbellmom43]

We just did the After hours in Animal Kingdom on Wednesday the 16th and loved it!! To a previous poster, we got wristbands and they were checked on every ride each time we went on. Our bands were checked upon admission to the park. I didn't personally witness them ask people to leave but it definitely was cleared out. We arrived at 8 and headed to Everest and rode that with a 5 minute wait 3 times in a row. Then to Dinosaur with no wait. After getting popcorn and beverages we went to FOP around 9/9:30. There was only a 15 minute wait time posted and walked right on each of the 3 times we rode it in a row. By 11 we were wiped as we were out earlier in the day. We definitely could have gotten a couple more rides in. The drummers were playing in Pandora and interacting with the crowd. The tree of life was beautiful lit up! It was a pretty cool feeling we had the park to ourselves. I would totally do this again. My 15 yr old daughter loved it and wants to do it on future trips.

 

[Rick195275]

So take this for what it's worth but just received an email from Touring Plans that Animal Kindom's closing hours is jumping from 8pm to 11pm on Wednesday, April 10th. I see nothing on the Disney World website about anything special that night...aside from the fact that that week is the last of the announced DAH and it is the one night that would have made sense to have a DAH at AK that Disney did not schedule...both HS and MK are scheduled that week...hmmmm...

Then they changed it back today. Very strange but hoping maybe they’re adding it to the calendar as an event date.

 

[Staren]

Just did all 3 after hours this week. I have to say that the AK DAH was my least favorite. That’s not to say that I didn’t have fun, I did, but there are some things to keep in mind with this one. It’s a trek to get between attractions because the park is so spread out. Also because of that, the snack carts feel hard to find. Those points having been made, Pandora specifically is amazing after the first hour or so and has had time to clear a bit. FoP was never completely empty. Getting a bay to yourself is still going to be rare this year unlike what MK can sometimes be like, but it was still basically a walk on.

 

[HatboxHaint]

attended Jan 16

came straight from airport. got in about 8pm. nice and cold all night. which I loved having normally gone to parks during hotter times of year. tried to use FoP FP which we were 30-45min late for due to holdups getting our rental car. They saw the DAH band and just said come back later in the event. Tried to grab food at satuli but they were closed. We tried Africa bridge but were blocked. walked trail behind tree of life. walked over asia bridge. got snacks next to everest. rode everest twice. got snacks in dinoland. danced with chipmunks. rode dinosaur twice and got to just stay on vehicle for second ride. danced with chipmunks. got DD a hotdog at cart by dance party. rode TS. watched tree of life awakenings for 5min. got more snack. had ziploc bag for popcorn and string back to store bottled drinks. bottled drinks were by entrance to pandora area. over the last two hours of the event we rode river journey twice and FoP three times. I timed FoP and it was 15-20 min from the time we entered the queue. each time. We entered the stand-by queue behind some other people who said yeah it's ok and then go busted by a cast member, they were keeping it closed so that they did not have to do another walk-through at the end of the event. We shopped for a few min in pandora store and went back for more snacks/drinks in between rides. the stores closed promptly at 11:30 and my DD was disappointed she did not get to buy her Navi braid. All in all it was good...but not great I guess. We definitely enjoyed all of the FoP re-rides but now that that is out our system I wouldn't really see doing the event again.

 

[Iowamomof4]

attended Jan 16

We entered the stand-by queue behind some other people who said yeah it's ok and then go busted by a cast member, they were keeping it closed so that they did not have to do another walk-through at the end of the event.

I'm a bit confused by this part. You mean you were redirected to the fastpass line?

 

[Haley R]

I'm a bit confused by this part. You mean you were redirected to the fastpass line?

I think they followed people into the standby line and a cm redirected them into the fp line because they weren’t supposed to be using the standby line.