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

[mamamelody2]

So if AK DAH goes until 1 AM, what's the latest we could get in line for FoP?

 

[Haley R]

So if AK DAH goes until 1 AM, what's the latest we could get in line for FoP?

They should let you in all the way up until 1 am

 

[barefootMom]

I thought I knew the answer to this but am not sure -- The AK closes at 8:30 for the night in August I am thinking of going to DAH and I know they let people in at 7, but is there actually a way I could get on the Safari ride before they close the park with a fast pass? If I do not have a regular park ticket, can I actually get a fastpass for that night? Does the DAH event ticket allow for that and if so, is it 3 FPs that are still allowed?

 

[22Tink]

I thought I knew the answer to this but am not sure -- The AK closes at 8:30 for the night in August I am thinking of going to DAH and I know they let people in at 7, but is there actually a way I could get on the Safari ride before they close the park with a fast pass? If I do not have a regular park ticket, can I actually get a fastpass for that night? Does the DAH event ticket allow for that and if so, is it 3 FPs that are still allowed?

Yes you can get FP with your DAH ticket. I have 3 FP booked for our DAH night August 12th, including 1 for the Safari at 6:25-7:25. I think your being able to get a Safari FP depends on what time the Safari closes for the day, which seems to be about an hour before official park closing.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

My 7/8 PW FP just got bumped to EE. Looks like it won't be up and running by then, at least.

I guess we'll be doing something else in the last hour before park close...

 

[DisneyFamily123]

RIVERS OF LIGHT? The WDW web site shows Rivers of Light duringk AK after hours but I did not see it on the flyer in this thread. Are there special showings? Or should we see the 9pm ROL show another night? Thanks

 

[Haley R]

RIVERS OF LIGHT? The WDW web site shows Rivers of Light duringk AK after hours but I did not see it on the flyer in this thread. Are there special showings? Or should we see the 9pm ROL show another night? Thanks

They do a special showing just for dah guests.

 

[eliseisawkward]

They do a special showing just for dah guests.

Yup! It’s listed on the flyers under entertainment in Asia! Usually about 30-60 minutes into the event depending on when the park closes!

 

[Miniature Tim]

Quick question for y’all who e done this before

My son and I will be doing this on 7/2 and I was wondering if there is any exclusive DAH merch? I haven’t seen mention of it but figured I’d ask! Thanks!

 

[Haley R]

Quick question for y’all who e done this before

My son and I will be doing this on 7/2 and I was wondering if there is any exclusive DAH merch? I haven’t seen mention of it but figured I’d ask! Thanks!

Nope, no DAH merch for AK. The Villains DAH is the only one that gets special merch.

 

[djc9699]

We did AK after hours on June 18th. It was way too crowded this time and we likely will not do it again. We had already spent most of the day in the park. We did the safari and FOP, ate at Tiffins for lunch with the Lion King package and walked the trails. The new baby gorilla is so cute! Anyway, we had already rode dinosaur and EE several times with additional fast passes before the park closed, so we weren't overly upset about wait times. EE was almost a walk on when the park closed, but that was because it was pouring rain at 9:00. My daughter and niece rode twice in a row and were thoroughly soaked when they got off. We decided to go ahead to Pandora since they didn't want to ride in the heavy rain again. There were people everywhere, so different from our December AK after hours experience. Navi boat ride had a 15 minute wait at 10:00, where in December it was walk-on all night. FOP at 10:30 had a fifteen minute wait, which it maintained through the rest of the night. We figured once it stopped raining, lots of people headed back to Asia. We rode FOP 3 times in an hour and 15 mins. and then called it a night. Snacks were almost impossible to find. We had to leave Pandora and go all the way to Discovery Island and the ice cream was half melted once we finally found it and the drinks were warm. This was totally unacceptable to me. Pandora should have had ice cream and popcorn within the land. We decided we will not do this one again. fast passes are too easy to get for almost all the rides at AK and with the added crowds and frustration of finding snacks, it wasn't as much fun as our last time. I would guess there was at least 4-5 times more people than when we did this in December. People were everywhere. One positive is they did appear to be using all rooms for FOP so those wait times were kept low. I will say the bus transportation for all the after hours was excellent. A bus was waiting for each combined spot when we walked out and they waited about 15 minutes for people to come and a 2nd bus was waiting by he time we pulled out.

 

[TinkerTracy]

I just purchased our tickets for 8/5 - see you in line for FOP, @TinkerTracy !

It's our arrival day and we should get in around lunch time, so we just plan on hanging around the pool for the afternoon. I've done DAH at both MK and HS. I'm looking forward to AK, although given how big AK is, it sounds like it can be tougher to adjust to setbacks and such. I'm definitely looking forward to avoiding the August heat and enjoying Pandora at night!

Hoping we can find the elusive snack carts! My son has some kind of internal radar for popcorn, so hoping he will zero in on it...

Yay! I'll see you there! I cannot WAIT!

 

[dancergirlsmom]

Yay! I'll see you there! I cannot WAIT!

DD19 and I will be there too. We haven't been to an AH yet and are really excited. We will be going to the MK Villains event on 8/8 too.

 

[Mastachill]

7/2 AKAH ticket here (tonight!) and my Safari FP is still holding for 7:05-8:05 so maybe the sunset timing is right as previously mentioned by @TheOneWithTheTriplets

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

7/2 AKAH ticket here (tonight!) and my Safari FP is still holding for 7:05-8:05 so maybe the sunset timing is right as previously mentioned by @TheOneWithTheTriplets

Fingers crossed. My 7:15 for the 8th is holding strong as well.

Have fun tonight! Make sure you come back with a detailed review so I can prepare for next week.

 

[TinkerTracy]

DD19 and I will be there too. We haven't been to an AH yet and are really excited. We will be going to the MK Villains event on 8/8 too.

I will see you at BOTH! Yay! You're going to have an amazing time

 

[kittyab]

We are going to Orlando in February 2020, when do they normal post the dates for the after hour parties for the next year?

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

We are going to Orlando in February 2020, when do they normal post the dates for the after hour parties for the next year?

Check out the dates section at the beginning of this thread. It lists the announcement date for each corresponding set of event dates.

Other than the initial announcement when it first started, they have been released in 2-3 month chunks starting less than 60 days out from the beginning of the chunk. July- Sept wasn't announced until end of May, well within the 60 day window for the first few dates in the batch. So, if you're lucky, maybe November?

 

[DisneyFamily123]

AK after Hours 9pm-12 on July 2, 2019 very frustrating. Dinosaur at 9pm. In line at FOP at 9:25. 10:05 still waiting. Missing Rivers of Light. Still letting people without after hours bands ahead of us. Better to do FOP later in the night. A large group without after hours wristbands got off the ride and jumped line and cast members let them back on ahead of us even though they knew they line jumped. 10:25pm finally off ride. An hour is way too long for AH and it could’ve been shorter if they would manage it better by starting after hours later at 9:30pm instead of right when AK regular hours ended at 9pm. There are only 2 rides worth paying the AH price: FOP and Everest. Everything else is an easy fastpass. And FOP was way backed up with guests who got on before 9pm. FOP was an incredible ride so not too upset about missing Rivers of light that would’ve been nice to see it. We skipped the 9pm show thinking we would see it at 10pm. And as others have said very few carts with the included drinks, ice cream and popcorn. At 11pm, we had only done Dinosaur, Flight of Passage x1, and Navi River. We tode FOP a 2nd time but the cast member sent us in a line that already had too many people so to resolve that, we had to wait in the pre-ride room and sit through the pre-tode instructions again before our 2nd ride. At 11:30pm, finally off FOP. We speed walked to Everest and rode that 3 times in a row. No wait at all at Everest at the end if the night. Tip - bring a backpack to stock up on some drinks and popcorn because there was no time to enjoy a snack and the carts stop serving right at closing. That way we had a snack while walking out of the park and a drink for the bus ride. Buses were lined up and ready when we walked out of the park - no wait for the bus. We did MK and HS after hours this trip too. Worth it? I guess for not having to wait for FOP which had standby wait times up to 3 hours. But $133 per person to ride only a few rides and deal with poorly managed FOP makes this a poor value compared to our experience this week at MK and HS after hours that was more positive.

 

[22Tink]

AK after Hours July 2, 2019 very frustrating. Dinosaur at 9pm. In line at FOP at 9:25. 10:05 still waiting. Missing Rivers of Light. Still letting people without after hours bands ahead of us. Better to do FOP later in the night. A large group got off the ride and jumped line and cast members let them back on ahead of us even though they know they line jumped. . Finally just got in the prep room. 10:25 off ride. An hour is way too long and it could’ve been shorter if they would manage the after hours better by starting after hours later instead of right when the parks regular hours ends. FOP was an incredible ride so not too upset about missing Rivers of light that would’ve been nice to see it. . And as others have said very few carts with the included drinks, ice cream and popcorn. It is 11pm and we have only done Dinosaur, Flight of Passage x1, and Navi River. In line for FOP for 2nd ride and hope to get to Expedition Everest for some rides before midnight. Will update as long as I can edit my post.

That’s disappointing to hear. I won’t be happy about losing a whole hour of the event on one ride because they’re still letting day guests through, especially line jumping ones! DAH events are way to expensive to be losing time like that. I hope the rest of your night is better!