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

[TheFloatingBear]

We are missing a lot of pictures, too. We don't have any of our Dinosaur ride photos or our 7dmt photos.

I don't know if this is typical or not, but some of our pictures took a few days to catch up. I remember the SDD ride photos in particular, and something else but can't remember what it was right now...

 

[Haley R]

I know lol! But I really do appreciate your honesty and reviews of all 3 DAH events. It has helped me a lot because even though I know we want to do HS now I am also seriously thinking about MK. Seems like a ton of fun!

I really think MK is so nice for the atmosphere. At the HS one there weren't any times where we saw an empty walkway. At MK, we saw empty walkways quite a few times in Adventureland/Frontierland.

 

[Haley R]

I'll echo @SimplyTink . I really appreciate the frank comments about all of the DAH events. It really helped me to decide that the AK DAH wouldn't be worth it to us, even if Disney did get off the stick and open up dates past April 3.

Well I'm glad my reviews are helping some people out!

 

[Dentam]

We have all 3 DAH events booked. Most concerned about this one since everything is so spread out and minimal rides compared to the other two. I'm just going to keep an open mind and focus on being able to enjoy the park with minimal crowds and soak in Pandora at night. Hopefully there won't be any FOP mishaps that night.

I think you will be setting yourself up for a great night this way! We didn't have any expectations going in and really enjoyed being in an almost empty park while also getting to ride FoP, Navi, and EE multiple times. Going in with high expectations may be part of the reason some people end up upset after this event, although some of it is also just bad luck with rides loading too slowly it sounds like.

 

[Haley R]

I don't know if this is typical or not, but some of our pictures took a few days to catch up. I remember the SDD ride photos in particular, and something else but can't remember what it was right now...

Yeah most of our pictures this trip took 2-3 days. I'm gonna wait and see if the others show up. We really don't want them bad enough to contact Disney and we didn't get MM this time.

 

[Dentam]

I'm sad to hear about the FoP situations that have been happening. I have this event booked for 2/12. I'm keeping it... and I'm just going to go into it not expecting to ride FoP more than once (twice tops perhaps). I hope to just soak in AK at night with minimal crowds.. and honestly I'll prob ride River Journey a couple times! Haha! I never ride that ride on my full park day b/c I don't want to wait on it and my FP+ is always booked for FoP. So riding Navi with no wait sounds nice! It's a short, uneventful ride but i do find it really calming and beautiful! I'm also excited to ride Everest/Dinosaur multiple times as well. Don't really care about the snacks LOL. but I hope to stockpile some water bottles in my backpack to drink the rest of the week

I hope you have a great night! We did the AK one and had a great night and no issues with ride wait times - everything was a walk on for us and they let us stay on NRJ to ride it twice in a row. It's unfortunate that one person's negative experience is deterring so many from attending this event, but I guess that means that you'll have an even better chance of having a night like we did!

In contrast, we didn't have as good of luck during our MK night (we did both DAH events) with 7DMT and Pooh down for the first part of the night and waits at every other ride we went on except Splash Mtn. and People Mover.

 

[Slick519]

I'm sad to hear about the FoP situations that have been happening. I have this event booked for 2/12. I'm keeping it... and I'm just going to go into it not expecting to ride FoP more than once (twice tops perhaps). I hope to just soak in AK at night with minimal crowds.. and honestly I'll prob ride River Journey a couple times! Haha! I never ride that ride on my full park day b/c I don't want to wait on it and my FP+ is always booked for FoP. So riding Navi with no wait sounds nice! It's a short, uneventful ride but i do find it really calming and beautiful! I'm also excited to ride Everest/Dinosaur multiple times as well. Don't really care about the snacks LOL. but I hope to stockpile some water bottles in my backpack to drink the rest of the week

We’ll be there the same night! I’m hoping for the best but not expecting too much.

 

[Haley R]

I hope you have a great night! We did the AK one and had a great night and no issues with ride wait times - everything was a walk on for us and they let us stay on NRJ to ride it twice in a row. It's unfortunate that one person's negative experience is deterring so many from attending this event, but I guess that means that you'll have an even better chance of having a night like we did!

In contrast, we didn't have as good of luck during our MK night (we did both DAH events) with 7DMT and Pooh down for the first part of the night and waits at every other ride we went on except Splash Mtn. and People Mover.

I wouldn’t say it was one person’s negative experience when fop had long waits during more than one dah. I’m a firm believer that people should try things themselves because they might have a different experience but I also feel it’s important to leave an honest review of the event.

 

[Dentam]

I wouldn’t say it was one person’s negative experience when fop had long waits during more than one dah. I’m a firm believer that people should try things themselves because they might have a different experience but I also feel it’s important to leave an honest review of the event.

I was referring to the multiple people who have said they decided not to go after reading your review. I'm sorry to hear that you didn't have a good night!

 

[Haley R]

I was referring to the multiple people who have said they decided not to go after reading your review. I'm sorry to hear that you didn't have a good night!

Oh okay. I thought you were throwing me under the bus lol. I tried to leave as honest of a review as I could.

 

[Dentam]

Oh okay. I thought you were throwing me under the bus lol. I tried to leave as honest of a review as I could.

No, I just felt bad seeing so many people discouraged about the event and wanted to point out that there were others like us who had a great time. I really am sorry that your night didn't go well.

 

[Iowamomof4]

I think people who have recently decided NOT to do DAH at AK were really on the fence already and probably leaning toward not doing it. Hearing Haley and others talk about long waits for FOP and other issues may have been just the push they needed to make a decision to forego the event. People always have to make the best choice for themselves as to how to spend their limited vacation funds. By not doing this event, they'll be able to do other things that might fit their needs better. It's all good.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I think people who have recently decided NOT to do DAH at AK were really on the fence already and probably leaning toward not doing it. Hearing Haley and others talk about long waits for FOP and other issues may have been just the push they needed to make a decision to forego the event. People always have to make the best choice for themselves as to how to spend their limited vacation funds. By not doing this event, they'll be able to do other things that might fit their needs better. It's all good.

This.

I first heard a negative review on the WDW Prep To Go podcast and I trust Shannon. She actually pays for these events unlike the many bloggers who got in free and loved it.

I wasn't sure about the value of this when it was announced. I know it's not for us now.

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

It is frustrating, because Josh went 2x, and had nothing but positive to report. But, we all feared as it got going , FOP would have waits.
I go next month, tickets purchased, no choice now. Hoping for the best. Actually, repeats on EE and just seeing AK at night without crowds might end up being worth it for us. AK is always soooo packed and hot, and in Jan EE had a 45 minute FP wait, so we had to skip. Left with my DS7 teary because he couldn't ride it. (He likes it more than FOP)

 

[Haley R]

It is frustrating, because Josh went 2x, and had nothing but positive to report. But, we all feared as it got going , FOP would have waits.
I go next month, tickets purchased, no choice now. Hoping for the best. Actually, repeats on EE and just seeing AK at night without crowds might end up being worth it for us. AK is always soooo packed and hot, and in Jan EE had a 45 minute FP wait, so we had to skip. Left with my DS7 teary because he couldn't ride it. (He likes it more than FOP)

I’m sure you’ll still have a good time. Maybe just go in with low expectations for fop

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

I’m sure you’ll still have a good time. Maybe just go in with low expectations for fop

And plastic pants for EE...

 

[Marionnette]

I think people who have recently decided NOT to do DAH at AK were really on the fence already and probably leaning toward not doing it. Hearing Haley and others talk about long waits for FOP and other issues may have been just the push they needed to make a decision to forego the event. People always have to make the best choice for themselves as to how to spend their limited vacation funds. By not doing this event, they'll be able to do other things that might fit their needs better. It's all good.

Yes, I was on the fence. We already have MK and HS DAH booked for our stay. There is no AK DAH as of this morning. I debated whether it was worth the price, even with my AP discount due to the limited number of attractions open and the distance between them. Seeing AK at night with very few people around would be awesome but not at that price. I'm inside my FP window and I have FoP fast passes. If I only ride it once during this trip, I'll be okay with that. The same with EE. I've read all of the first-person reports in this thread, as well as a few blog reports. And until two weeks ago, I was leaning toward doing the CLFPs during our stay instead of the DAH events. I decided to book the two DAHs instead, even though it cost more than 3 days of CLFP. I just felt it was a better bang for the buck. With Disney dragging their feet on releasing additional April dates, and the lackluster reviews as of late, I've decided not to add AK DAH to our vacation this time around. Maybe it will be different for a future trip.

 

[Haley R]

And plastic pants for EE...

Lol just in case

 

[detroitdad]

I'm flexible to a certain point. I won't be impressed if headliners are having issues since the rides are so limited. Even with the DVC discount, $300 is still pricey to not have multiple bays open for FOP. They need to do what they can to deliver on the "minimal to no wait" advertising for the event, otherwise I'll make a polite stop in customer service. We've been going to WDW for years and will be on our 6th cruise in June and although Disney is expensive, I have never felt that I didn't get my money's worth for the experience. Hopefully the AK-DAH won't disappoint. Looking forward to experiencing all three of them

 

[eliseisawkward]

Tonight’s the night! We are staying off property (“free” stay) and spent the morning in the pool heading to Disney spring for food and VR and hoping to get into AK right at 7! Will report back how it goes.