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

[Haley R]

That's another really good point. The potential for it to be a waste of a night is pretty high at AK vs. the other parks, imo. TOT, RnRC, SDD, TSM, and ST at DHS don't tend to have the same issues as FOP at these after hours events. Even if one of those goes down for awhile, the others can make up for it for my crew. At AK, we have 2-4 of us that will ride EE over and over, but that's about it. I'm guessing my dd10 will love NRJ and I'm hoping we all like FOP, but I guess it makes more sense for us to spend our evening taking in Epcot's emh instead. It's already included and I never feel like I get enough time in World Showcase, especially touring it at night without the crowds and the heat sounds like heaven to me!

I LOVE Epcot emh at night. It’s so relaxing in world showcase.

 

[Castlequeen5]

That's another really good point. The potential for it to be a waste of a night is pretty high at AK vs. the other parks, imo. TOT, RnRC, SDD, TSM, and ST at DHS don't tend to have the same issues as FOP at these after hours events. Even if one of those goes down for awhile, the others can make up for it for my crew. At AK, we have 2-4 of us that will ride EE over and over, but that's about it. I'm guessing my dd10 will love NRJ and I'm hoping we all like FOP, but I guess it makes more sense for us to spend our evening taking in Epcot's emh instead. It's already included and I never feel like I get enough time in World Showcase, especially touring it at night without the crowds and the heat sounds like heaven to me!

That’s what we decided if a DAH opens up at AK in July. We are going to stick with Epcot’s EMH too, assuming it’s still on Tuesdays. I figure it’s already included and we’ll get to see Illuminations twice on our trip. Plus it’ll give us more time to tour the park at night, which is my favorite time. We would consider it if there was one on July 2 at the beginning of our trip, before our tickets start. But I’d be surprised if they have one that week, since they seem to be stingy with AK days.

 

[mcurrence]

A little bit off topic but has anyone seen Kevin from 7-close ? My daughters are obsessed with her roaming and I know she won’t be out during the event..but hoping we might catch her during that in between time

 

[DisneyDoesMyHair]

Just arrived back at Kidani after the May 6 After Hours event at Animal Kingdom. I’m dead tired, but I have to say the night was magical. We spent the morning before DAH sleeping late, spent a few hours at the pool, ate lunch, then the kids took a long nap while I did the laundry. I wanted to keep things low key so the kids would be able to hang through the event. We caught a 5:54 bus from Kidani to Animal Kingdom, hoping to reduce the risk of running late (and because I read on the forum that they occasionally let you in a bit early for this event). The early bus from Kidani turned out to be unnecessary. When we arrived at Animal Kingdom shortly after 6, there was only one other family waiting in line. We stood around and waited until 6:45 when the let us in early to get our armbands. We had booked a FP for Kilimanjaro Safari for 7:15, so we slowly made our way toward the Africa section of the park...a long walk! We took our time, stopping to take pictures of the animals and flowers, and one PhotoPass shot in front of the Tree of Life (Awakening). The line for Kilimanjaro Safari was longer than I expected, and we had to wait in line a good bit even with our FP. Posted standby was 55 minutes. It is very hot in this queue, with not enough fans to move the air. Needless to say, our four year old was a tiny bit upset. This was mainly due to being too hot and thirsty, which is understandable. Despite the heat and humidity, we all loved the safari. We got to see the giraffe, cheetah and lions. After the ride, the kids were hot, thirsty and getting hungry. We figured we would just wing it, and had no dining reservations planned. We stumbled across Tusker House as we were making our way back out of Africa. I figured it was unlikely, but worth a try to get a walk-on. Turns out luck was on our side, and they had us at a table within 5 minutes. We did not even realize it was a character meal when we asked to be seated here. The kids were so excited to meet Mickey, Goofy, Daisy, and Donald. The characters made several stops at our table, and the food was great. Goofy came back two or three times to see my youngest, because we told him how much our little guy loves him. They really made it special for him.

 

[DisneyDoesMyHair]

After our impromptu character meal, we headed out to ride Dinosaur which is the only ride at Disney my four year old now dislikes. He actually cried, and he never cries. Lesson learned. The rest of our crew loved it. Then on to TriceraTop Spin x2 without having to get off. Then on to Pandora to explore, photograph and ride River Journey and FOP. The River Journey was beautiful and relaxing, but man o man was FOP AMAZING!!! By far, my favorite ride at Disney so far. Then we were off to grab snacks at the carts (Mickey ear ice cream, popcorn and sodas). We wrapped up with a quick stop to meet Mickey and Minnie, It’s Tough to be a Bug, and Expedition Everest x2. Our kids both loved this ride, and wanted to do it twice. We navigated slowly back out, taking our time to take in the empty park. Our bus back to Kidani arrived within 5 minutes, and we were first stop on the way back. Overall, this was an amazing experience. The kids had a blast, and even wanted to stay. I had worried so much that they would not be able to hang with the adults, but us old folks were the ones dragging by the end of the night. We could not have asked for a better night, and we would do this again in a heartbeat.

 

[DisneyDoesMyHair]

A little bit off topic but has anyone seen Kevin from 7-close ? My daughters are obsessed with her roaming and I know she won’t be out during the event..but hoping we might catch her during that in between time

We didn’t see her wandering yesterday when we entered around 6:45. She may follow a similar schedule as Russel and Dug, since her character is somewhat linked to their experience. Even though she is not “officially” part of their meet and greet. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/entertainment/animal-kingdom/character-meet-russell/

 

[houseofmouse5]

Since they haven’t announced any July dates yet should I assume they won’t have any? Our FP date is coming up and it sure would be helpful if they would let us know soon if they are going to have any.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Since they haven’t announced any July dates yet should I assume they won’t have any? Our FP date is coming up and it sure would be helpful if they would let us know soon if they are going to have any.

Speculation on my part, but I’m going to go with they’ll add dates for July and August.

Unless they don’t want to water down options and have people focus more on the MK Villains After Hours things.

At least I hope they add for July. Please and thank you Disney!

 

[houseofmouse5]

Speculation on my part, but I’m going to go with they’ll add more dates for July and August.

At least I hope for July. Please and thank you Disney!

It sure would be nice if they would announce it soon.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Speculation on my part, but I’m going to go with they’ll add dates for July and August.

Unless they don’t want to water down options and have people focus more on the MK Villains After Hours things.

At least I hope they add for July. Please and thank you Disney!

I'm debating doing the HS one if it lines up for us in July. I think you're right about it continuing. It would be nice to know NOW!

 

[22Tink]

It sure would be nice if they would announce it soon.

Agreed! We aren’t there till August but this is the last thing we have left to plan other than our FP and it sure would be nice to know either way before FP day!

 

[22Tink]

Speculation on my part, but I’m going to go with they’ll add dates for July and August.

Unless they don’t want to water down options and have people focus more on the MK Villains After Hours things.

At least I hope they add for July. Please and thank you Disney!

I hope your speculations are correct. Come on, August DAH dates!

 

[yulilin3]

Going this Tuesday, it's not sold out yet right? I'm hopeful it will be a nice evening.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Going this Tuesday, it's not sold out yet right? I'm hopeful it will be a nice evening.

Nope, not sold out. So far in May all the park DAH events have been getting pretty good reviews for low crowds. Hard to say when that tide turns in the month towards summer breaks and such, but so far so good.

Have fun! I still haven’t done DAK DAH yet and it’s starting to get to me!

 

[wvgoofyfan]

Nope, not sold out. So far in May all the park DAH events have been getting pretty good reviews for low crowds. Hard to say when that tide turns in the month towards summer breaks and such, but so far so good.

Have fun! I still haven’t done DAK DAH yet and it’s starting to get to me!

Also going Tuesday and can't wait......Changed my dinner to Tusker House and hoping to also catch the evening sunset Safari after dinner and before event starts.

 

[NICE8x]

Just got back from our Universal trip and wanted to report about our experience May 6th at Disney's AK DAH. Our trip was free since we booked the May 7th date originally so I figured whatever we got to do would be gravy. We arrived a little before 7pm and they let us into the parks right away. I had a magic band from my last trip and had bought my dad one so we could easily get into the park and use our FPs. We got in and were given wristbands for the event and a copy of the schedule.

We headed off to our safari FP first. After, we headed over to use our FP at primeval whirl however when we got there they were shutting down the ride because someone fainted so we didn't end up getting to ride it. We then decided to go do the bug's life movie which wasn't crowded at all. We got to sit right in the middle of the theater. Then we headed over to do the public ROL show at 8:45. We only got there about 10 minutes before the show started and we still got decent seats.

After the show the event officially started and we headed to DINOSAUR and rode that twice. The cast member asked if we wanted to see the preshow or not and I said no cause it's stupid and he agreed lol. So we got to skip that. After the first ride I asked if we could ride again. We had to get off the ride to let the other people in our row get off but then she let us go right back on our car for the 2nd ride. After we finished our 2nd ride another guy on the ride who had joined us said he hoped he could go a 2nd time and I told him he just had to ask. As we left I saw he had the car to himself.

We then headed to EE. My dad and I rode it twice together and then I rode it once by myself while he went to get a water and a strawberry bar. They let us sit in any row we wanted. The ride is really cool looking at night. They didn't have bottles of water near EE so we were handed cups of water with ice. I got myself an ice cream sandwich and ate it as we walked over to Pandora.

We met a nice guy as we were walking towards Pandora who was telling us all about the construction of the land and other facts about Disney World. So we walked slower than we normally would. Once we got to Pandora (I believe around 10pm or so) we went on FOP. There was always a 0-5 minute wait to get into the preshow room even though the posted wait time was 15 minutes. We rode FOP twice and then headed over to Navi River Journey where we were able to walk right onto the ride. After that we went back to FOP and proceeded to ride it 3 more times. One of the times I was in line they asked if I wanted to be in the upstairs or downstairs theater. They also offered to let us see the lab if we wanted when they overheard me telling my dad how cool it is but we didn't want to waste time so we didn't go to the lab area. We were sent through the FP line each time. It was about midnight or a few minutes after when we did our third ride. I was pleasantly surprised they let us go into the ride again. We were in a room with just one other guy so we all got to pick where we sat (seats 7-10 are center I found out). I was ready to scream after seeing the preshows so many times though-they are truly awful to stand through.

After our last ride we causally took photos of Pandora, the Tree of Life, and the park in general before leaving around 12:25am. No one was rushing us to leave.

So overall from 7pm-slightly past midnight we did:

x1 Safari
x1 It's Tough to Be a Bug Movie
x1 ROL Show
x2 DINOSAUR
x3 Expedition Everest
x1 Navi River Journey
x5 Flight of Passage

 

[Ladyfish77]

Going this Tuesday, it's not sold out yet right? I'm hopeful it will be a nice evening.

Also going Tuesday and can't wait......Changed my dinner to Tusker House and hoping to also catch the evening sunset Safari after dinner and before event starts.

I'll be there too with my adult DS! We've done it once before, but it was a sold out event. Took us about an hour to ride FOP twice. Sounds like people are getting through the ride a bit quicker recently, so fingers crossed!!!

Also--does anyone know if they have the sugar free frozen treats available? I saw on FB that there is a sugar free frozen treat available at WDW, but is it available during the parties? I'm trying to stay keto, so last time I just watched my DS enjoy all the frozen treats. I took one bite but that's it. Would love to have an entire treat, especially since I can't eat the popcorn either!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

BTW, something to 'watch' with the upcoming DAK DAH dates.

This Tuesday 5/14 is the last date in the current series that has the the 30 minute "buffer" between park closing and DAH event time. To date, all DAK DAH dates have been scheduled this way.

Starting Tuesday 5/21 and for the remaining 3 currently scheduled June dates, there is no "buffer" - the park closes at 9pm and the event starts at 9pm.

On the surface this seems like a raw deal for the DAH folks, but I'm going to reserve full judgement to see how reports come in. Obviously this mostly impacts experiences with FoP, from a practical perspective.

 

[L&Lfan]

My boyfriend and I also will be there Tuesday. We’re arriving around 230. We’ve got FPs for Flights of Wonder, Primeval Whirl and the Safari. We have ADRs at Tiffins for 745. Hope to do all the rest before midnight. It’ll be our first experience of Navi River Journey.

 

[mcurrence]

BTW, something to 'watch' with the upcoming DAK DAH dates.

This Tuesday 5/14 is the last date in the current series that has the the 30 minute "buffer" between park closing and DAH event time. To date, all DAK DAH dates have been scheduled this way.

Starting Tuesday 5/21 and for the remaining 3 currently scheduled June dates, there is no "buffer" - the park closes at 9pm and the event starts at 9pm.

On the surface this seems like a raw deal for the DAH folks, but I'm going to reserve full judgement to see how reports come in. Obviously this mostly impacts experiences with FoP, from a practical perspective.

Strange that it seems they left the "buffer" for HS, but not Animal Kingdom..going to try and wait until 10ish to go over, hopefully that will be enough time to clear out the regular attendees? We've never had a buffer at MK but I know that park is so spread out and has so many more rides open. Maybe they will let us use the FP entrance? Getting excited!