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

[ambellina]

Thank you to everyone sharing their experiences. I'll be there on the 12th and will FINALLY get to ride FoP.

 

[MischaOz]

Thank you to everyone sharing their experiences. I'll be there on the 12th and will FINALLY get to ride FoP.

Hi! I’ll be there too!

 

[mamamelody2]

I like the sound of this event based on recent reviews. Planning to go 9/3. Hopefully once Villains ends, MK DAH will go back to lower crowd levels like AK DAH!

 

[houseofmouse5]

I attended the AK DAH on Monday, July 22nd...and I had a fantastic evening!

Using my AP, I was in the park by 5:00 pm - and it was very easy to swing over across from the “Bug” ride to pick up my wristband.

I rode the Safari using the SB line around 7:00 pm - with little wait - and had a fantastic ride; most all of the animals were out and very active - including the lion & his mates.

Around 9 pm, I was near EE, where I rode it 5-6 times in a row. At one time, I was the only one on the ride - and the CM was generous enough to take my photo to “prove” that I rode an entire train by myself.

Around 10:00 pm, I headed over to Pandora - where I was able to ride FOP four times in a row, and then walked over to Navi to ride it, as well.

I actually left this event slightly early, as I was tired (had gotten up at 6:00 am that morning, and had not taken a break) Would I do it again? Most definitely. It was no where NEAR as crowded as the Villains event that I participated in that Thursday evening.

We were there on 7/15 and this is exactly what we did. We also had no problem getting snacks when we wanted them. I would do this again in a heartbeat.

 

[one_cat]

I love reading all the reviews. We are doing DAH at AK on 9/16.

 

[Pucks104]

I love reading all the reviews. We are doing DAH at AK on 9/16.

We will be doing DAH at AK on 9/16 as well. I have also enjoyed all the reviews.

 

[RoboFlyer]

I am officially 30 days out from the AK After Hours event. After reading everyone's thoughts just thought I'd throw my plan in there for consideration.

I don't have day tickets so I'm planning on arriving prior to 7PM. Maybe be in line BY 6:30. Question: Do they ever let people in prior to 7PM or is it typically a hard 7PM entrance?

Once I get in, I'll likely head straight to the Safari for a 6:35 - 7:35 FP. After the Safari I'll likely check wait times to see what's low and ride that stuff. Maybe Dinosaur?

I then have an Everest 7:55 - 8:55 FP.

Does it make sense to watch the Rivers of Light show that happens for daytime guests or should I wait for the event's portion? I don't want to eat up too much time watching a show that I could watch during normal operation hours if viewing likely won't be a problem.

Once the event starts I'll probably avoid Pandora until around 10PM to give the daytime guests time to ride. Hopefully I'll be able to catch everything I want to in the rest of the park (Dinosaur, Tough to be a Bug, Mickey and Minnie, snacks). I was hoping to stay in Pandora from around 10:30 until the event closes, hopefully getting in at least 2 or 3 rides on Flight of Passage. I'll do Navi River Journey at least once, but that sounds like it's essentially a "check it out one time and you should be all set" sort of ride.

Does this seem reasonable? Is there anything other than attractions I may be missing out on or not thinking about? Just trying to cover all my bases and maximize my time.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I am officially 30 days out from the AK After Hours event. After reading everyone's thoughts just thought I'd throw my plan in there for consideration.

I don't have day tickets so I'm planning on arriving prior to 7PM. Maybe be in line BY 6:30. Question: Do they ever let people in prior to 7PM or is it typically a hard 7PM entrance?

Once I get in, I'll likely head straight to the Safari for a 6:35 - 7:35 FP. After the Safari I'll likely check wait times to see what's low and ride that stuff. Maybe Dinosaur?

I then have an Everest 7:55 - 8:55 FP.

Does it make sense to watch the Rivers of Light show that happens for daytime guests or should I wait for the event's portion? I don't want to eat up too much time watching a show that I could watch during normal operation hours if viewing likely won't be a problem.

Once the event starts I'll probably avoid Pandora until around 10PM to give the daytime guests time to ride. Hopefully I'll be able to catch everything I want to in the rest of the park (Dinosaur, Tough to be a Bug, Mickey and Minnie, snacks). I was hoping to stay in Pandora from around 10:30 until the event closes, hopefully getting in at least 2 or 3 rides on Flight of Passage. I'll do Navi River Journey at least once, but that sounds like it's essentially a "check it out one time and you should be all set" sort of ride.

Does this seem reasonable? Is there anything other than attractions I may be missing out on or not thinking about? Just trying to cover all my bases and maximize my time.

What time is the RoL for day guests? When we went, the main show was at 9pm, so both shows ate into party time. We opted to do the later show because we had our choice of seats and took the opportunity to enjoy some treats.

Consider doing tough to be a bug during regular hours. By that time, the wait is only as long as it takes for the prior show to finish, anyway. Better to let it eat up regular park hours than after hours.

 

[RoboFlyer]

What time is the RoL for day guests? When we went, the main show was at 9pm, so both shows ate into party time. We opted to do the later show because we had our choice of seats and took the opportunity to enjoy some treats.

Consider doing tough to be a bug during regular hours. By that time, the wait is only as long as it takes for the prior show to finish, anyway. Better to let it eat up regular park hours than after hours.

The RoL is 815 for the day guests. Maybe I'll just play it by ear and see what I've gotten accomplished in that first hour or so.

And that's a good point on Tough to be a Bug. I'll try and knock it out during regular hours.

 

[Pucks104]

We have Dah AK tickets. Is there more than one ROL show per night? If so, where can I find the times listed? We are going 9/16.

 

[RoboFlyer]

We have Dah AK tickets. Is there more than one ROL show per night? If so, where can I find the times listed? We are going 9/16.

The first page of this thread shows the times for the time for the daytime guests. There's a Rivers of Light show for the After Hours guest that seems to typically be around 10PM but they don't officially announce it until you get there and receive the brochure.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

We have Dah AK tickets. Is there more than one ROL show per night? If so, where can I find the times listed? We are going 9/16.

I keep the tables on page 1 (the ones with past/current dates) updated with the regular ROL time and DAH ROL time, FWIW.

Disney will also list two times on the ROL web page: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/entertainment/animal-kingdom/rivers-of-light/

For example, if you toggle the date to 8/26 it'll show "Times - 8:30PM Special Ticketed Event - 10:00PM". BUT (big but), they don't tend to add the time for the DAH show until much closer to the date. None of the Sept DAH's have a second time listed, but this is pretty normal. It'll show up eventually. I suspect they will end up being at either 9:30pm or 10pm.

 

[Pucks104]

I keep the tables on page 1 (the ones with past/current dates) updated with the regular ROL time and DAH ROL time, FWIW.

Disney will also list two times on the ROL web page: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/entertainment/animal-kingdom/rivers-of-light/

For example, if you toggle the date to 8/26 it'll show "Times - 8:30PM Special Ticketed Event - 10:00PM". BUT (big but), they don't tend to add the time for the DAH show until much closer to the date. None of the Sept DAH's have a second time listed, but this is pretty normal. It'll show up eventually. I suspect they will end up being at either 9:30pm or 10pm.

Thank you! That helps a lot in my plans for the evening. I was feeling a bit rushed as we are doing the after hours AK on our arrival day. It is good to know that there will likely a second show if we can’t make it to the first one.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I am officially 30 days out from the AK After Hours event. After reading everyone's thoughts just thought I'd throw my plan in there for consideration.

I don't have day tickets so I'm planning on arriving prior to 7PM. Maybe be in line BY 6:30. Question: Do they ever let people in prior to 7PM or is it typically a hard 7PM entrance?

Once I get in, I'll likely head straight to the Safari for a 6:35 - 7:35 FP. After the Safari I'll likely check wait times to see what's low and ride that stuff. Maybe Dinosaur?

I then have an Everest 7:55 - 8:55 FP.

Does it make sense to watch the Rivers of Light show that happens for daytime guests or should I wait for the event's portion? I don't want to eat up too much time watching a show that I could watch during normal operation hours if viewing likely won't be a problem.

Once the event starts I'll probably avoid Pandora until around 10PM to give the daytime guests time to ride. Hopefully I'll be able to catch everything I want to in the rest of the park (Dinosaur, Tough to be a Bug, Mickey and Minnie, snacks). I was hoping to stay in Pandora from around 10:30 until the event closes, hopefully getting in at least 2 or 3 rides on Flight of Passage. I'll do Navi River Journey at least once, but that sounds like it's essentially a "check it out one time and you should be all set" sort of ride.

Does this seem reasonable? Is there anything other than attractions I may be missing out on or not thinking about? Just trying to cover all my bases and maximize my time.

I'm going to post about our experience on 8/5/19 but your plan is similar to what we did so I figured I'd answer some of your questions directly...

We entered at 6:40pm without day tickets. I'm not sure if they would have let us in sooner, that was just when we arrived (later than I had hoped!) they were all set up and such so maybe you could get in a little sooner - not sure what others have experienced!

I would try to do the ROL show during regular park hours if possible. Originally I had a FP for the "regular" ROL and gave my kids the choice if they wanted to do it. They have seen it before so opted for more rides instead, but having seen it twice, for me I didn't want to spend event time doing it - I might feel differently if I hadn't seen it before, however it does take a while just to actually ride FOP, so there's that to consider when figuring out your timing and how many times you want to ride FOP! I agree about heading to Pandora an hour or so into the event! I am unsure of how difficult it is to see ROL during regular hours (without an FP) so not sure about how that might factor in!

We had a great time - I hope you do too!

 

[TheFloatingBear]

We attended the event 0n 8/5/19. We were a party of four, two adults and two kids 14 and 12.

We entered at 6:40 pm with three FPs booked - KS (6:30-7:30), Kali (7:30-8), and Everest (8-9). It had rained in the afternoon, which had its pros and cons. Took our time going to KS. The rain cooled things off and it was truly one of the best safaris we have ever experienced - wildebeest frolicking, more giraffes than we could count, and lions awake and moving around! It was amazing! Headed to Kali and then to Everest. Everest was a bit tricky due to the rain impact. It had been shut down for a bit so it was more crowded than it would have been, but that was the trade off to the rain clearing some people out and a generally pleasant park experience with less heat and fewer crowds overall.

By about 9:20pm, we had done EE 3x (once with FP before event). It was a little more crowed than expected at 9pm again due to the rain closure. We would have gone on a 4th time, but the ROL crowd was coming out and the line filled up so we decided to move on.

The kids wanted a rest break so we took a water break next to EE before we headed to Dinoland. I only mention it as it was a bit of a hassle. Someone may have mentioned it before but just in case...The little AH flyer said that free water was located a snack carts in Asia, Dinoland, and in Pandora, and that there were items for purchase at various locations including Thirsty River Bar in Asia. Since it didn't mention the availability of free drinks at the Thirsty River Bar, I didn't think that they were available. I went to three carts in Asia and they had absolutely no idea what I was talking about! One CM across from EE told me free water was available only at the front of the park! Finally found a CM that took me to...Thirsty River Bar for free water and popcorn! So again, someone may have mentioned this already and I missed it, but just thought I'd mention it!

Went to Dinoland and forced my family to do a cheesy photobooth picture that I will treasure forever, lol! We then did Dinosaur! essentially as a walk on, just to reaffirm that my son does not like that ride! My notes say we did two other popcorn breaks on the way to Pandora but I don't really recall. I think one was next to Flame Tree and I know my daughter got a mickey bar across from Tiffins!

We got to Pandora around 10pm as I planned - I was trying to balance waiting for day crowds to be gone with my early bird daughter's crankiness. I was fairly successful in that endeavor.

First FOP - 20 minute wait posted - 25 minutes to first room for decontamination
Navi at 10:45 - walk on
Second FOP - 11pm - 20 minute wait posted, 10 minutes to first room

After second FOP, my daughter turned into a pumpkin and they left and were back at Poly about 12:10am (just mentioning for transportation purposes)

Third FOP solo - entered line at 11:35, in room at 11:45

I took a few pictures of the Tree of Life on the way out. I didn't really see any Photopass photographers during the event but maybe I just missed them with timing and all? Wished I had found one at some point since we did have on our coordinated Hakuna Matada shirts and you can't really see them in the squishy photobooth picture!

I just missed a bus so I had to wait a bit and was on a bus by 12:45pm. I had a lovely time waiting with a gentleman who was waiting on his family that went on FOP one more time! They made it for the 12:45 bus!

Overall, we really enjoyed the event. Riding FOP takes a while anyway, so I was happy with 3 rides and with 6 rides overall during the event. It wasn't "empty" of course, but it was really pleasant to walk around and enjoy the sights without the crowds.

We did the event on our arrival day and that worked out really well. We arrived at our resort around noon and just checked in and relaxed. Not sure if I'd plan that in the winter with possible weather issues, but it worked out really nicely on this trip! Happy to answer any questions!

 

[RoboFlyer]

We attended the event 0n 8/5/19. We were a party of four, two adults and two kids 14 and 12.

We entered at 6:40 pm with three FPs booked - KS (6:30-7:30), Kali (7:30-8), and Everest (8-9). It had rained in the afternoon, which had its pros and cons. Took our time going to KS. The rain cooled things off and it was truly one of the best safaris we have ever experienced - wildebeest frolicking, more giraffes than we could count, and lions awake and moving around! It was amazing! Headed to Kali and then to Everest. Everest was a bit tricky due to the rain impact. It had been shut down for a bit so it was more crowded than it would have been, but that was the trade off to the rain clearing some people out and a generally pleasant park experience with less heat and fewer crowds overall.

By about 9:20pm, we had done EE 3x (once with FP before event). It was a little more crowed than expected at 9pm again due to the rain closure. We would have gone on a 4th time, but the ROL crowd was coming out and the line filled up so we decided to move on.

The kids wanted a rest break so we took a water break next to EE before we headed to Dinoland. I only mention it as it was a bit of a hassle. Someone may have mentioned it before but just in case...The little AH flyer said that free water was located a snack carts in Asia, Dinoland, and in Pandora, and that there were items for purchase at various locations including Thirsty River Bar in Asia. Since it didn't mention the availability of free drinks at the Thirsty River Bar, I didn't think that they were available. I went to three carts in Asia and they had absolutely no idea what I was talking about! One CM across from EE told me free water was available only at the front of the park! Finally found a CM that took me to...Thirsty River Bar for free water and popcorn! So again, someone may have mentioned this already and I missed it, but just thought I'd mention it!

Went to Dinoland and forced my family to do a cheesy photobooth picture that I will treasure forever, lol! We then did Dinosaur! essentially as a walk on, just to reaffirm that my son does not like that ride! My notes say we did two other popcorn breaks on the way to Pandora but I don't really recall. I think one was next to Flame Tree and I know my daughter got a mickey bar across from Tiffins!

We got to Pandora around 10pm as I planned - I was trying to balance waiting for day crowds to be gone with my early bird daughter's crankiness. I was fairly successful in that endeavor.

First FOP - 20 minute wait posted - 25 minutes to first room for decontamination
Navi at 10:45 - walk on
Second FOP - 11pm - 20 minute wait posted, 10 minutes to first room

After second FOP, my daughter turned into a pumpkin and they left and were back at Poly about 12:10am (just mentioning for transportation purposes)

Third FOP solo - entered line at 11:35, in room at 11:45

I took a few pictures of the Tree of Life on the way out. I didn't really see any Photopass photographers during the event but maybe I just missed them with timing and all? Wished I had found one at some point since we did have on our coordinated Hakuna Matada shirts and you can't really see them in the squishy photobooth picture!

I just missed a bus so I had to wait a bit and was on a bus by 12:45pm. I had a lovely time waiting with a gentleman who was waiting on his family that went on FOP one more time! They made it for the 12:45 bus!

Overall, we really enjoyed the event. Riding FOP takes a while anyway, so I was happy with 3 rides and with 6 rides overall during the event. It wasn't "empty" of course, but it was really pleasant to walk around and enjoy the sights without the crowds.

We did the event on our arrival day and that worked out really well. We arrived at our resort around noon and just checked in and relaxed. Not sure if I'd plan that in the winter with possible weather issues, but it worked out really nicely on this trip! Happy to answer any questions!

This is almost exactly what I'm hoping for. The only difference is I don't have much interest in Kali because I'd prefer not to be soaked. I don't mind getting a little wet, but I really don't want to be drenched. Other than that, if I can have the exact same night you had, it will be a huge success.

Thanks for your River of Light feedback. I'm more interested in rides than experiences, so I'll try to check it out during regular hours. If I end up missing RoL because of a Pandora-centric focus, I think I'll be all right with that.

I'm only 29 days out and I've only been to AK once two years ago for about an hour to park hop and ride Everest, so getting to experience all this in one night is something I'm really really looking forward to.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

This is almost exactly what I'm hoping for. The only difference is I don't have much interest in Kali because I'd prefer not to be soaked. I don't mind getting a little wet, but I really don't want to be drenched. Other than that, if I can have the exact same night you had, it will be a huge success.

Thanks for your River of Light feedback. I'm more interested in rides than experiences, so I'll try to check it out during regular hours. If I end up missing RoL because of a Pandora-centric focus, I think I'll be all right with that.

I'm only 29 days out and I've only been to AK once two years ago for about an hour to park hop and ride Everest, so getting to experience all this in one night is something I'm really really looking forward to.

I hear what you're saying about Kali! We had ponchos and we definitely needed them! The river seemed to be running high, lol! My DH decided to forgo his poncho and I think he regretted that decision!

Yes, the ROL thing is a tough one, because it's a nice show and if I hadn't seen it, I'm sure I'd want to - although I think it's changed a bit since I lasts saw it? However, no matter what show you see you're cutting into something...we did our 2 EE rides during the regular hour ROL from 9-9:20pm, and the line definitely filled quickly after the ROL show ended, but I don't think that would have been as bad if there hadn't been the rain closure?

Pandora at night is beautiful! And being to enjoy it without huge crowds is really a treat! Hope you have a blast!

 

[JeninTexas]

We just got back home from our trip and I thought I would share my experiences from the 8/5 event. We had FPs set up for Kali at 6:30, Safari at 7:30 and RoL at 8:30. The bus from our hotel was delayed, which caused a lot of problems with our plan. We checked the bus wait times from our room and it said the bus was leaving at 6:29 so we went down and a few minutes before that. The monitor was showing 6:37, which then became 6:45, and then 6:57. I went inside to ask when the bus was coming and someone started checking. The bus didn't show up until 7:30, so we completely missed our Kali FP. By the time we were inside the park and had received our wristbands, it was about 8:10. We went to do our Safari FP but it was so dark that by the time we got loaded, you could not see any of the animals. One really cool thing though was that the male lion was roaring at us from atop on of the rocks. I had never seen this before and my kids loved this part of the safari ride! By the time we got off of KS, it was too late to make our RoL FP.

We had never seen ROL before so we decided to see it at 10. Between 9 and 10, we rode Navi, which was a walk on. We got some snacks and saw that the posted wait for FOP was 20 minutes. We decided not to get in line because we didn't want to be late for ROL, and the kids really just wanted to sit down and wait for the show while eating our snacks. We got out of RoL at 10:20 and rode EE twice as a walk on. Could have ridden it again, but twice was enough for us. We did Dinosaur as a walk on and then went over to FOP. Posted wait was 20 minutes, but it was more like 30 because someone in the ride before us threw up on the ride and they had to evacuate everyone in that chamber and re-load them all again before us. We walked around Pandora for a bit and rode Navi one more time. We could have gotten in line for FOP again, but the kids were tired and wanted to go back to the hotel.

It was never crowded and it was really nice to enjoy Pandora without huge crowds. Our plan did not work out as well as we expected mainly due to the bus issue, but our hotel did give us 3 more FPs for the following day. It was somewhat difficult to find snacks and we were looking for them on the way out, but the carts were already closed and so we only had one round of snacks. If you only have one day at AK, I think this is a good event for getting to do a lot in a short period of time. It is also great to enjoy the park without the crowds.

 

[22Tink]

We did this event last night and it was fantastic!! I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

We arrived at about 6:30 and there were already people lining up but they didn’t let us in till pretty well 7:00. We went straight to safari for our 6:30-7:30 FP. It was storming a bit so Everest was closed. This was our next FP so we headed to Yak and Yeti around 7:30 for dinner instead. (Delicious, by the way!!) By the time we were done eating Everest was back up so we headed there to use our FP. By the time we rode twice it was 9:00 and the event began.

They were really diligent about checking for wristbands at the rides and snack carts so the crowds diminished really quickly. We grabbed snacks near Everest and near Triceratop spin. Those were the only 2 places we saw so I’m not sure where the rest were. Our event ride totals were:

Everest x8
Dinosaur x3
Triceratop spin x1
FOP x1
Na’vi River x1

We could gave done more but also spent time snacking and just enjoying the empty park at night. My only real complaint is that they had the preshows running for Dinosaur and FOP so that ate up lots of time. Our third ride on Dinosaur they just let us stay in the car so that was nice!

Overall a wonderful night and well worth the cost! I only wish there were more DAH events for our week. I’d love to do HS and MK.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I agree, @22Tink, CMs were great about checking bands our night too! Glad you had so much fun! We really enjoyed it too!