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

[Haley R]

So what does the short pre show look like?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

A few less “Ummmms”.

 

[Haley R]

A few less “Ummmms”.

Then I need to see this pre show lol. That guy makes me cringe

 

[PolyRob]

Then I need to see this pre show lol. That guy makes me cringe

"You've all got them" I can hear it now!!!

This is probably not the best place to admit it, but my family and I contemplated really long and hard about abandoning a FoP FP+ on our last trip. It was the last ride planned for the AK day and we wanted to head back for our afternoon break to a MK resort. I called a Minnie Van and headed for the park exit. I cancelled the FoP FP+ on the way out in hopes someone else could pick it up. We didn't want to go through the queue and pre-show or risk getting stuck which has happened twice (What a relief to get this off my chest!)

 

[AngiTN]

I thought there was 3 shows, the one with parasites, one without, and the one with the technical difficulties

 

[TheFloatingBear]

A few less “Ummmms”.

But do you get fully decontaminated? That's important...

 

[Haley R]

"You've all got them" I can hear it now!!!

This is probably not the best place to admit it, but my family and I contemplated really long and hard about abandoning a FoP FP+ on our last trip. It was the last ride planned for the AK day and we wanted to head back for our afternoon break to a MK resort. I called a Minnie Van and headed for the park exit. I cancelled the FoP FP+ on the way out in hopes someone else could pick it up. We didn't want to go through the queue and pre-show or risk getting stuck which has happened twice (What a relief to get this off my chest!)

Lol I don’t blame you at all. Dh and I actually don’t think fop is even that fun....shocking I know. To us it’s just a simulator not much different from star tours and soarin. We’d much rather ride Everest than fop

 

[Nole95]

Love FOP, but the preshow is the absolute worst one anywhere on property. Just horrible.

 

[pharmama]

I'm not a regular on this board (I hang out on the DLR board since that's my home park) but I attended last night's After Hours at Animal Kingdom (2/13) and thought I'd leave my thoughts here in case they help anyone else.

As mentioned, I'm a DLR pro (and AP) but have extremely limited WDW experience (a MVMCP at MK 2 years ago, 1 day at Epcot this past Sunday plus about 2 hours at DHS that morning) and had not been to DAK. I am in town by myself for a conference and after having a great day at Epcot and DHS on Sunday decided this after hours event would be a great way to get a little taste of the rides. I know I'll be back some day with the family. It seems a bit pricey for a few hours of exclusive park time but it fit well for my situation. I would definitely hesitate to pay for this for my full family of 5.

As for the event itself, I loved it. Rode everything except TriceraTopSpin. I only did Primeval Whirl once but everything else at least twice and watch Rivers of Light. I enjoyed Primeval Whirl, I just liked EE and FoP better and didn't make it back over to that area to ride again.
All rides were a walk on. I nearly had my own TRAIN for EE the second time I rode but 2 other people walked up at the last minute. What a great ride!!
LOVED Rivers of Light but that type of show is right up my alley (I used to be a theatrical lighting designer so I'm a sucker for pretty, dramatic lighting). Walked up 5 min before showtime and had excellent seats. The amphitheatre was almost empty. Enjoyed the Tree as well though found it a little annoying that there wasn't an exact schedule. It just said "every 10 minutes" but I stood there for almost 25 minutes before anything happened.
Pandora is just beautiful at night. I'm curious to see (some day) if its as impactful during the day without all the lighting. FoP is a fantastic ride but the aforementioned preshow is a little painful, especially after the first time. On my second ride I looked around at the ride mechanics a bit during the ride and can see that its quite a feat to get everyone from all the different rooms ready to ride together so I guess this is the reason for the long preshow (as well as coverage for folks who need assistance) but it's pretty cheesy too.

FoP was also a "walk on"- at least into the preshow. I rode it twice but could have ridden more. Also loved the Na'vi River Journey.

The snacks were a little bit variable in how they were distributed. All spots had Mickey Bars, Ice Cream Sandwiches and the Strawberry bars. By Pandora they had boxes of popcorn (that did seem a bit stale) and bottles of soda/water/drinks. But a regular popcorn cart on DI was giving out fresh popcorn in large drink cups (and I think large fountain drinks but I didn't get a fountain drink there). Thirsty River/Trek snacks was giving out fresh popcorn and drink as well but in small cups (annoying). I left the Dino area before they started giving out the snacks there so not sure what the setup was back there.

All in all I was very happy I went to the event and it fit the bill perfectly for what I wanted- check out the rides with minimal stress and wait after conference hours. But as mentioned above, I would hesitate quite a bit more if I was paying for more than 1 or 2 tickets.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

Any chance they extend DAE events past April? Does anyone know?

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Any chance they extend DAE events past April? Does anyone know?

Definitely a chance, but no one knows for sure.

 

[monkyby87]

Love FOP, but the preshow is the absolute worst one anywhere on property. Just horrible.

The actor is what kills me. They truly could have gotten a guest to do it for free, and it would have been a better acting job than that guy. I guess they were going for the "chill" vibe for that guy, but man it's bad. They should have had someone be over the top like the guy in the Dinosaur ride. It doesn't help that the video is long. I understand why the video exists, but gosh it's hard to stand through.

 

[AngiTN]

We did DAH at AK on 2/13. Great night. Got in 5 rides on FoP, 2 on Navi and 2 on EE. Didn't want to ride anything else. We sat and ate ice cream and pop corn about mid way through. We left at 11:45, no wait for a bus to FQ. Headed to MK tonight, 2/14

 

[eeudj]

from your experience how far in advance do they announce new dates?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

from your experience how far in advance do they announce new dates?

This series of DAK (and DHS) Disney After Hours dates is new/first time ever being offered. Dates were first announced on 11/5/2018 and the first DAK event was 12/4.

So outside of that, we don’t really have much to go by.

 

[EEva]

We did DAH at AK on 2/13. Great night. Got in 5 rides on FoP, 2 on Navi and 2 on EE. Didn't want to ride anything else. We sat and ate ice cream and pop corn about mid way through. We left at 11:45, no wait for a bus to FQ. Headed to MK tonight, 2/14

Hi! I'm curious, what time did you get into line for your first FOP ride? Did your ride EE and Navi first? 5 FOP rides sounds amazing.

 

[AngiTN]

Hi! I'm curious, what time did you get into line for your first FOP ride? Did your ride EE and Navi first? 5 FOP rides sounds amazing.

We did FoP first. We'd sat at Nomads till 8 watching the basketball game on my phone. The lines for everything were closed at 8:00 and we had nothing else to do so got in line for FoP at 8:10. They opened the line at 8:30 on the dot. We got back out at 9:00. Did 2 rides on Navi next, back to FoP for 2 more rides then out to get snacks. Expected to head out to Discovery island but there was a stand set up by tiffin. Then we went out to EE. By the time we finished there and walked back to Pandora it was 11. We got back out from our next ride at 11:24. I wasn't sure if they'd let us back in for on more ride but they did. It had to be 11:29 when we walked up to the entrance

 

[Dentam]

The actor is what kills me. They truly could have gotten a guest to do it for free, and it would have been a better acting job than that guy. I guess they were going for the "chill" vibe for that guy, but man it's bad. They should have had someone be over the top like the guy in the Dinosaur ride. It doesn't help that the video is long. I understand why the video exists, but gosh it's hard to stand through.

I guess I'm in the minority in thinking that the actor did a good job of portraying a nerdy and slightly socially awkward scientist.

 

[AngiTN]

I guess I'm in the minority in thinking that the actor did a good job of portraying a nerdy and slightly socially awkward scientist.

I'm right there with you. But that's what I'm married to too. Just replace scientist with engineer

 

[CarolynFH]

I guess I'm in the minority in thinking that the actor did a good job of portraying a nerdy and slightly socially awkward scientist.

I agree as well.