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

[Justplainchy]

Report back for 7/2:
It’s just now 12:30 and we’re on our bus headed back to the resort after a spectacular night! Man, what a difference a sold out night versus a not sold out one makes! We attended in March for a sold out event, and did villians AH last night and this one blew them both away.

We got to the park at 8:50 because we had FP at Hollywood before they announced AH would be happening. We made our way to Dinosaur and got there right at 9:00.

Rode once with a full rover
Got to re-ride by getting out and waiting by the loading area, next river had 4 of us.
Third re-ride was just the two of us (!!!! Amazing!) —cast members were having a great time and challenging us to find the six hidden mickeys in the ride. We only found one!

We took a snack break and then rode triceratops spin just because we never had—felt bad for the dance party CMs, they were trying so hard but everyone was busy going from one place to the next!

Ice cream stop and then we walked to Everest. Rode 1x then got amazing seats for RoL. I like the new show so much more!

After RoL we did Everest 3 more times, back, front cart and front row. Each time was a total walk on.

About 10:40 we walked to Pandora and rode FoP with about a seven minute wait to the pre-show (which thankfully went quickly). They had half the regular queue open: the outside area and the cave painting but not the lab. Off by 11:05.

Rode Navi and were the only people in our boat (with no one in the two boats before us or the three behind us).

Walked over and rode Dinosaur 2 more times without getting off in a rover by ourselves. Given a lot of good-natured guff from the CMs about taking five times to catch the dinosaur.

Somewhere in there we stopped for snacks a couple times and twice in pandora to get the coconut bars and the Moara bars, which were a really nice change from the mickey bars (I love them, but variety is the spice of life). We found carts in Dinoland, outside Everest, on the bridge to pandora and inside pandora.

Family who went ended up stuck in the Pandora line for about 45-50 minutes early in the event, so I would definitely say save that for the end of the evening. All in all we had an absolutely amazing time and would recommend this to everyone. Our last DAH:AK we spent a lot of time chasing FoP rides and managed to ride it 3x, but we thought tonight with just riding it once was way more enjoyable—it just takes up so much event time to walk through the line and the pre-shows.

There were lots of times we were totally alone or with one or two people on paths, which is always amazing. This really is the way to do the headliners at AK!!

 

[Haley R]

Report back for 7/2:
It’s just now 12:30 and we’re on our bus headed back to the resort after a spectacular night! Man, what a difference a sold out night versus a not sold out one makes! We attended in March for a sold out event, and did villians AH last night and this one blew them both away.

We got to the park at 8:50 because we had FP at Hollywood before they announced AH would be happening. We made our way to Dinosaur and got there right at 9:00.

Rode once with a full rover
Got to re-ride by getting out and waiting by the loading area, next river had 4 of us.
Third re-ride was just the two of us (!!!! Amazing!) —cast members were having a great time and challenging us to find the six hidden mickeys in the ride. We only found one!

We took a snack break and then rode triceratops spin just because we never had—felt bad for the dance party CMs, they were trying so hard but everyone was busy going from one place to the next!

Ice cream stop and then we walked to Everest. Rode 1x then got amazing seats for RoL. I like the new show so much more!

After RoL we did Everest 3 more times, back, front cart and front row. Each time was a total walk on.

About 10:40 we walked to Pandora and rode FoP with about a seven minute wait to the pre-show (which thankfully went quickly). They had half the regular queue open: the outside area and the cave painting but not the lab. Off by 11:05.

Rode Navi and were the only people in our boat (with no one in the two boats before us or the three behind us).

Walked over and rode Dinosaur 2 more times without getting off in a rover by ourselves. Given a lot of good-natured guff from the CMs about taking five times to catch the dinosaur.

Somewhere in there we stopped for snacks a couple times and twice in pandora to get the coconut bars and the Moara bars, which were a really nice change from the mickey bars (I love them, but variety is the spice of life). We found carts in Dinoland, outside Everest, on the bridge to pandora and inside pandora.

Family who went ended up stuck in the Pandora line for about 45-50 minutes early in the event, so I would definitely say save that for the end of the evening. All in all we had an absolutely amazing time and would recommend this to everyone. Our last DAH:AK we spent a lot of time chasing FoP rides and managed to ride it 3x, but we thought tonight with just riding it once was way more enjoyable—it just takes up so much event time to walk through the line and the pre-shows.

There were lots of times we were totally alone or with one or two people on paths, which is always amazing. This really is the way to do the headliners at AK!!

What do you like better about the new ROL show? We haven’t seen it yet

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Report back for 7/2:
It’s just now 12:30 and we’re on our bus headed back to the resort after a spectacular night! Man, what a difference a sold out night versus a not sold out one makes! We attended in March for a sold out event, and did villians AH last night and this one blew them both away.

We got to the park at 8:50 because we had FP at Hollywood before they announced AH would be happening. We made our way to Dinosaur and got there right at 9:00.

Rode once with a full rover
Got to re-ride by getting out and waiting by the loading area, next river had 4 of us.
Third re-ride was just the two of us (!!!! Amazing!) —cast members were having a great time and challenging us to find the six hidden mickeys in the ride. We only found one!

We took a snack break and then rode triceratops spin just because we never had—felt bad for the dance party CMs, they were trying so hard but everyone was busy going from one place to the next!

Ice cream stop and then we walked to Everest. Rode 1x then got amazing seats for RoL. I like the new show so much more!

After RoL we did Everest 3 more times, back, front cart and front row. Each time was a total walk on.

About 10:40 we walked to Pandora and rode FoP with about a seven minute wait to the pre-show (which thankfully went quickly). They had half the regular queue open: the outside area and the cave painting but not the lab. Off by 11:05.

Rode Navi and were the only people in our boat (with no one in the two boats before us or the three behind us).

Walked over and rode Dinosaur 2 more times without getting off in a rover by ourselves. Given a lot of good-natured guff from the CMs about taking five times to catch the dinosaur.

Somewhere in there we stopped for snacks a couple times and twice in pandora to get the coconut bars and the Moara bars, which were a really nice change from the mickey bars (I love them, but variety is the spice of life). We found carts in Dinoland, outside Everest, on the bridge to pandora and inside pandora.

Family who went ended up stuck in the Pandora line for about 45-50 minutes early in the event, so I would definitely say save that for the end of the evening. All in all we had an absolutely amazing time and would recommend this to everyone. Our last DAH:AK we spent a lot of time chasing FoP rides and managed to ride it 3x, but we thought tonight with just riding it once was way more enjoyable—it just takes up so much event time to walk through the line and the pre-shows.

There were lots of times we were totally alone or with one or two people on paths, which is always amazing. This really is the way to do the headliners at AK!!

Thanks for the detailed review. This is our exact action plan (Dinoland, EE, RoL, then see how Pandora looks) and it sounds like that's the way to do it. I really appreciate the insight.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

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.

Sorry you had a rough night but appreciate your feedback.

Sounds like waiting to head to Pandora until the day crowds dissipate is the only way to do it when the event starts right at park close.

 

[DisneyFamily123]

Sorry you had a rough night but appreciate your feedback.

Sounds like waiting to head to Pandora until the day crowds dissipate is the only way to do it when the event starts right at park close.

Best strategy would be dinosaur (or Fastpass that earlier before AH), go to Asia for Everest several times, Rivers of Light show using the entrance in Asia (was 10pm our night) then Pandora FOP several times and Navi River 10:30-12. Overall night was good. Pandora FOP has 2 to 3 hour standby waits during the day and we could not get a fastpass - booked our trip only 2 weeks in advance.

 

[jandm14]

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.

My husband went to AH last night and he was part of the group of people who were escorted off the ride and immediately back into line. He said the ride malfunctioned and they needed the group to leave the ride area. Other than the hour long issue at FOP he had a great time at his first AH.

 

[disneycat321]

Report back for 7/2:
It’s just now 12:30 and we’re on our bus headed back to the resort after a spectacular night! Man, what a difference a sold out night versus a not sold out one makes! We attended in March for a sold out event, and did villians AH last night and this one blew them both away.

We got to the park at 8:50 because we had FP at Hollywood before they announced AH would be happening. We made our way to Dinosaur and got there right at 9:00.

Rode once with a full rover
Got to re-ride by getting out and waiting by the loading area, next river had 4 of us.
Third re-ride was just the two of us (!!!! Amazing!) —cast members were having a great time and challenging us to find the six hidden mickeys in the ride. We only found one!

We took a snack break and then rode triceratops spin just because we never had—felt bad for the dance party CMs, they were trying so hard but everyone was busy going from one place to the next!

Ice cream stop and then we walked to Everest. Rode 1x then got amazing seats for RoL. I like the new show so much more!

After RoL we did Everest 3 more times, back, front cart and front row. Each time was a total walk on.

About 10:40 we walked to Pandora and rode FoP with about a seven minute wait to the pre-show (which thankfully went quickly). They had half the regular queue open: the outside area and the cave painting but not the lab. Off by 11:05.

Rode Navi and were the only people in our boat (with no one in the two boats before us or the three behind us).

Walked over and rode Dinosaur 2 more times without getting off in a rover by ourselves. Given a lot of good-natured guff from the CMs about taking five times to catch the dinosaur.

Somewhere in there we stopped for snacks a couple times and twice in pandora to get the coconut bars and the Moara bars, which were a really nice change from the mickey bars (I love them, but variety is the spice of life). We found carts in Dinoland, outside Everest, on the bridge to pandora and inside pandora.

Family who went ended up stuck in the Pandora line for about 45-50 minutes early in the event, so I would definitely say save that for the end of the evening. All in all we had an absolutely amazing time and would recommend this to everyone. Our last DAH:AK we spent a lot of time chasing FoP rides and managed to ride it 3x, but we thought tonight with just riding it once was way more enjoyable—it just takes up so much event time to walk through the line and the pre-shows.

There were lots of times we were totally alone or with one or two people on paths, which is always amazing. This really is the way to do the headliners at AK!!

Thank you so much for this detailed report! This gives me so much more clarity for when we go 7/22. We've never been to AK after dark and we also haven't been since Pandora, so our must dos for the event are EE in the dark (EE is my favorite ride at any Disney park), ROL, FOP, and Navi. Your experience sounds about perfect for what we want to do. We do have FOP FPs for 7/24, so that takes a little of the pressure off riding that multiple times.

I'm also excited to hear about different snacks in AK! I actually don't like chocolate (I know, I know, insanity), so hearing about something non chocolate being offered other than the strawberry bars is exciting!

 

[DisneyFamily123]

Thank you so much for this detailed report! This gives me so much more clarity for when we go 7/22. We've never been to AK after dark and we also haven't been since Pandora, so our must dos for the event are EE in the dark (EE is my favorite ride at any Disney park), ROL, FOP, and Navi. Your experience sounds about perfect for what we want to do. We do have FOP FPs for 7/24, so that takes a little of the pressure off riding that multiple times.

I'm also excited to hear about different snacks in AK! I actually don't like chocolate (I know, I know, insanity), so hearing about something non chocolate being offered other than the strawberry bars is exciting!

Sodas, bottled water, popcorn, mickey bars and ice cream sandwiches. In the Pamdora area, there were fruit flavored Popsicles like strawberry and coconut. We didn’t have much time for snacks other than bottled water to stay hydrated through the night But we brought some plastic bags to put some sodas and waters in at the end of the night and also some popcorn. They had popcorn already in boxes and you could take as many as you could carry at the end of the night

 

[disneycat321]

Sodas, bottled water, popcorn, mickey bars and ice cream sandwiches. In the Pamdora area, there were fruit flavored Popsicles like strawberry and coconut. We didn’t have much time for snacks other than bottled water to stay hydrated through the night But we brought some plastic bags to put some sodas and waters in at the end of the night and also some popcorn. They had popcorn already in boxes and you could take as many as you could carry at the end of the night

Luckily, popcorn is my favorite food, so I'm looking forward to that!

 

[123SA]

Sodas, bottled water, popcorn, mickey bars and ice cream sandwiches. In the Pamdora area, there were fruit flavored Popsicles like strawberry and coconut. We didn’t have much time for snacks other than bottled water to stay hydrated through the night But we brought some plastic bags to put some sodas and waters in at the end of the night and also some popcorn. They had popcorn already in boxes and you could take as many as you could carry at the end of the night

Where in Pandora do you get snacks? I've read other reports of people not able to get snacks in this area. Thx

 

[DisneyFamily123]

Where in Pandora do you get snacks? I've read other reports of people not able to get snacks in this area. Thx

At the entrance to Pandora land near the drummers.

 

[cakebaker]

My husband went to AH last night and he was part of the group of people who were escorted off the ride and immediately back into line. He said the ride malfunctioned and they needed the group to leave the ride area. Other than the hour long issue at FOP he had a great time at his first AH.

That certainly explains it and they really didn't have a lot of choice, those people were entitled to get a ride in. That said, they really need to build a break inbetween closing and the start of AH. We did it in May and couldn't have been more pleased, doing it again next month. It really frees up a day at AK not having to get all the rides in when we love the shows just as much. We did everything we wanted to do before heading to Pandora, then finished the evening there. Going to Pandora first is a mistake, imo, when there's no break before AH starts.

 

[DisneyFamily123]

My husband went to AH last night and he was part of the group of people who were escorted off the ride and immediately back into line. He said the ride malfunctioned and they needed the group to leave the ride area. Other than the hour long issue at FOP he had a great time at his first AH.

I saw a different group. They were joking out loud after that they just rode FOP and they were getting to ride it a 2nd time. This was well after 9.

 

[TikiRob]

Thanks for all the candid feedback on this event! We've never done a special ticketed event, but since Everest, FOP, Navi and Dinosaur are all favorites of our family, it seems to be a no-brainer. As cakebaker mentioned, it also puts less pressure on our AK day to get all the rides in so we can eat, see some shows and eat.

Question though... I read reports of folks making additional FPs on that evening before the start of the event. When I tried to make additional FPs (we already have 3 for Epcot in the morning) it gives me a warning. We don't have park hopper, and I'm hoping that isn't the issue! We were really hoping to FP a safari before the event started. Thanks!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Thanks for all the candid feedback on this event! We've never done a special ticketed event, but since Everest, FOP, Navi and Dinosaur are all favorites of our family, it seems to be a no-brainer. As cakebaker mentioned, it also puts less pressure on our AK day to get all the rides in so we can eat, see some shows and eat.

Question though... I read reports of folks making additional FPs on that evening before the start of the event. When I tried to make additional FPs (we already have 3 for Epcot in the morning) it gives me a warning. We don't have park hopper, and I'm hoping that isn't the issue! We were really hoping to FP a safari before the event started. Thanks!

You can only have three per day in the system. For people who are doing a special event on a day that they don't have a morning park, they can book FPs on the special event ticket. If you are doing both a morning park and the special event ticket, you have to decide which set of FPs you want to book.

Day of, you could also try to pick it up as an additional FP after you're done using FPs in epcot.

 

[TikiRob]

You can only have three per day in the system. For people who are doing a special event on a day that they don't have a morning park, they can book FPs on the special event ticket. If you are doing both a morning park and the special event ticket, you have to decide which set of FPs you want to book.

Day of, you could also try to pick it up as an additional FP after you're done using FPs in epcot.

Yep! I totally missed that. Thanks for the clarification. Oh well, I'll try for FP after we use our Epcot FPs.

 

[SamanthaH]

You can only have three per day in the system. For people who are doing a special event on a day that they don't have a morning park, they can book FPs on the special event ticket. If you are doing both a morning park and the special event ticket, you have to decide which set of FPs you want to book.

Day of, you could also try to pick it up as an additional FP after you're done using FPs in epcot.

I really wish Disney would change this. If you are paying for an additional day of tickets, you should be able to use fastpasses for your regular ticket. If they are allowing people who do not have daytime tickets to book fastpasses before the event starts and letting people in early at 7pm, they should also give people who have bought both a DAH ticket and a regular park ticket the opportunity to use both. In the future, I will not buy additional park days when we are doing a DAH event. I’ve noticed a lot of savvy people here on dis are forgoing park tickets on DAH days. This is what we should have done, but I caught on too late, and they announce these DAH late, and already bought our regular ticket through undercover tourist and could not make modifications. Live and learn. It almost sounds like an IT logistics issue that they don’t want to mess with. I think it will be really tough to get an additional fastpass at AK after the Epcot fastpasses because many DAH goers will have booked these fastpasses in advance.

 

[123SA]

Has anyone had recent experience with photopass photographers during the event? Where were they stationed?

 

[YawningDodo]

As cakebaker mentioned, it also puts less pressure on our AK day to get all the rides in so we can eat, see some shows and eat.

I like your priorities!

 

[disneycat321]

I really wish Disney would change this. If you are paying for an additional day of tickets, you should be able to use fastpasses for your regular ticket. If they are allowing people who do not have daytime tickets to book fastpasses before the event starts and letting people in early at 7pm, they should also give people who have bought both a DAH ticket and a regular park ticket the opportunity to use both. In the future, I will not buy additional park days when we are doing a DAH event. I’ve noticed a lot of savvy people here on dis are forgoing park tickets on DAH days. This is what we should have done, but I caught on too late, and they announce these DAH late, and already bought our regular ticket through undercover tourist and could not make modifications. Live and learn. It almost sounds like an IT logistics issue that they don’t want to mess with. I think it will be really tough to get an additional fastpass at AK after the Epcot fastpasses because many DAH goers will have booked these fastpasses in advance.

I agree with this so much. Personally, we feel we don’t go often enough to go an entire day before a DAH event with no park time. I’m sure it’s just some tech thing in their system, but I feel like we should be getting fast passes with both tickets since we paid separately for DAH just like everyone else. Oh, well. Our “solution” is to just not bother getting there much before DAH actually starts.

And sure, we could have planned a water park that day, Disney Springs, etc etc, but we made ADRs long before DAH dates were released, so it’s not always that simple.