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

[Mrs~Incredible]

Hey, just thought I’d add something here as two of us attended last night. There was a pretty intense storm as we arrived which meant that by 8 virtually all day guests had already gone. I asked a CM on the way in what happens between 8 and 9 pm and she initially thought we had to just sort of hang around for guests to leave, but she checked with another CM as wasn’t sure. The answer is that you can ride from 8pm! So basically 4 hours for the price of 3, which is brilliant (they just don’t bring out the snacks and stuff until 9).
From 7:50 when we arrived we rode FOP x 3, Nav’i x 3, EE x 7, Triceretops Spin x 2 (not really sure why), Primevil x 1, Dinosaur x 3 and watched the tree of life for a bit as the only two people there. Got plenty of food/drinks and had a great time until we both ended up feeling pretty sick after going round EE several times in a row!

I highly recommend this event because at times it really did feel like we were the only ones in the park. Even in Pandora, towards the end of the night we didn’t see another person as we walked from Nav’i to FOP. There were posted wait times of 10 mins for a couple of the attractions but we never waited more than 0 minutes for anything all night other than FOP, which was about 5 mins tops. It was particularly odd going through dinosaur as the only two, from the preshow through to having our own car. They let us stay on once which was cool too.

So yeah, anyone thinking of going I would try and snag one of the ones where the park closes early! Despite the cost I would say this event is well worth it. I would just question whether Disney will continue running the events if so few people buy tickets because I can’t see that they made much money last night.

Thanks for posting! We are doing this Nov 19 and i can’t wait!!

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

Weird question. We purchased our AH tix from UT, and have the printed version we need to exchange at the ticket booth when we arrive. We didn’t want to add the tix in to our MDE because we still will have days left from our 10DPH’s and we don’t want the system to accidentally take one of our full park days and then we’d end up in guest services for who knows how long.

That being said, if we put our MBs on once inside the park, will our pictures collect into our Memory Maker that we purchased? I am assuming yes, but want to make sure.

Thanks!

 

[eliseisawkward]

Weird question. We purchased our AH tix from UT, and have the printed version we need to exchange at the ticket booth when we arrive. We didn’t want to add the tix in to our MDE because we still will have days left from our 10DPH’s and we don’t want the system to accidentally take one of our full park days and then we’d end up in guest services for who knows how long.

That being said, if we put our MBs on once inside the park, will our pictures collect into our Memory Maker that we purchased? I am assuming yes, but want to make sure.

Thanks!

You shouldn't have a problem just adding the DAH tickets to your MDE. When you enter the park for DAH it's a specific entrance and they scan specifically for the event ticket, so it will not use your other tickets.

But to answer your question, yes your bands should work for all the normal Memory Maker stuff even if you don't use them to enter the park.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

You shouldn't have a problem just adding the DAH tickets to your MDE. When you enter the park for DAH it's a specific entrance and they scan specifically for the event ticket, so it will not use your other tickets.

But to answer your question, yes your bands should work for all the normal Memory Maker stuff even if you don't use them to enter the park.

Thanks!!

 

[Rich M]

Taking the chance and bought my ticket for Dec 7th. Really excited to go to this.

 

[Van Houten]

That’s what we thought! Compared to the Halloween party where we felt completely ripped off, this felt like a bargain. I guess it wouldn’t have made sense to shut the rides down/clear the staff out for an hour of down time?

They did close out some rides, mostly the ones where wait lines weren't long. Dinosaur! closed at 8:00pm on the dot - we got on at 7:50pm, wanted a repeat, but found the gates chained, CMs told us they would re-open at 9:00pm. FOP stayed open to clear out daytime guests, so there was a bit of a wait. We got onto Navi at 8:20pm, no lines and no wait time - in fact, they had a couple of empty boats in front of us. Went to FOP around 8:45pm, it was showing 35 minutes wait time - and we were out at 9:10pm. RoL had to be stopped 5 minutes in (technical difficulty), and was restarted 10 minutes later, by that time we decided to go back to the rides, and did FOP three times in a row, with almost no wait other than staging. More Navi, then others, some food on the way there and back. Water, popcorn and ice cream were set up by the Island Mercantile, although they seemed to be running out of ice cream sandwiches by 11:00pm (Mickey bars were still in abundance). What surprised me was the wait time for characters at the outpost (10 minutes initially, and went up to 30 through the night).
Overall - an amazing experience, and definitely worth repeating.

 

[Tink1987]

Taking the chance and bought my ticket for Dec 7th. Really excited to go to this.

We have that night booked too

 

[Kms943]

We’ll be going on Saturday the 7th as well.

 

[Scott S Flicker]

We’ll be going on Saturday the 7th as well.

We are on the 7th also! Only 18 days till our arrival home!

 

[Goofy41]

Post #3 - Event Dates & Times

Disney has historically released DAH event dates in "groups." The current "groups" of dates are in the tables below.

December 2018-April 2019 Dates
Dates Announced: Monday 11/5/2018
Tickets on Sale: Thursday 11/15/2018

View attachment 405544


May 2019-June 2019 Dates
Dates Announced: Thursday 3/28/2019
Tickets on Sale: Thursday 3/28/2019

View attachment 410811
Note - Tuesday 5/7/2019 was originally released as a DAH date, but later removed from the calendar. Monday 5/6/2019 was later added 4/12/2019.


July 2019-September 2019 Dates
Dates Announced: Thursday 5/22/2019
Tickets on Sale: Thursday 5/30/2019

View attachment 447799


October 2019 - March 2020 Dates
Dates Announced: Tuesday 8/20/2019
Tickets on Sale: Tuesday 8/20/2019

Park hours and times for Rivers of Light (ROL) are based on currently available schedules from Disney and are subject to change.

Table last updated 10/27/2019
View attachment 447800
View attachment 447801

I know we were able to get into MK for the Mickey's Xmas party early like after 4-5pm, do they do the same at AK..?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I know we were able to get into MK for the Mickey's Xmas party early like after 4-5pm, do they do the same at AK..?

No, Disney After Hours has kept to a 7pm entry time for the most part. At MK this has sometimes been as early as 6pm... at DAK (and DHS when it was around), it tended to be closer to legit 7pm or a little before. It hasn’t followed the same patterns as events like MNSSHP and MVMCP.

 

[Farro]

For Purchase
"Select menu items available at Pongu Pongu (Pandora). Thirsty River Bar & Trek Snacks and outdoor bars will be available throughout the Park"

Hi all - reading this... does this mean that I can purchase a glass of wine and enjoy the atmosphere during the after hours?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Hi all - reading this... does this mean that I can purchase a glass of wine and enjoy the atmosphere during the after hours?

Yup.

(Caveat, I have not specifically looked for wine as I'm more a beer person, but I assume it is available)

 

[rteetz]

From July but still helpful I think

https://www.wdwinfo.com/walt-disney-world/experiencing-disney-after-hours-at-animal-kingdom/

 

[Rich M]

From July but still helpful I think

https://www.wdwinfo.com/walt-disney-world/experiencing-disney-after-hours-at-animal-kingdom/

Thank you for that. Does the event still include River of lights at 10PM. If so I need to move my AK night regular park day and Tusker River of Lights package

 

[rteetz]

Thank you for that. Does the event still include River of lights at 10PM. If so I need to move my AK night regular park day and Tusker River of Lights package

It should. My recommendation in my article though is to not see the 10PM show and instead the earlier show to maximize your after hours time.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Some thread requests for anyone going to any upcoming DAK Disney After Hours:

1) I have not seen a DAH "flyer" in awhile - the piece of paper they give you upon entry with attraction lists, misc info, etc. If someone would be so kind as to take a pic of the front/back of the current one, I'd be very grateful!

2) Now that we're getting more of these events with the full 1 hour gap between park closing and event time, any / all details about just what is happening / available during this time are appreciated!

Thanks all!

 

[yuchench]

Hi, we just went to DAK DAH last night! I tried to figure out how to post pictures of flyer here but still couldn’t make it work...

The rivers of light started at 9:30pm last night.
attraction open for the events:
It’s tough to be a bug
Na’vi
Flight of passage
Expedition Everest
Primeval whirl
TriceraTop spin
Dinosaur

You could start riding all attritions as soon as you got the wristband, even between 8-9pm. The snack cart will be out at 9pm.

The only weird thing to me was the Primeval Whirl were still closed at 8pm. I asked the cast member and she said it will open at 9p for the event, but we never went back to check since that’s not the primary attraction for us last night. This was the only attraction I couldn’t confirm it’s status during the event.

Thirsty river bar was opened and adults could grab a drink before heading to rivers of light. The flyer didn’t say this but you cloud also get soda and ice cream bar at this location as well. Just a tip I think it’s worth to share.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Can anyone confirm if the Oasis exhibits or Discovery Island trails are open when you arrive at 7? I know in the winter months it's already dark by then (and we're attending in January), but any chance of seeing any animals at all during the AH? TIA!

 

[kylenne]

More of a touring strategy question I guess, but we just got AH tickets for our May trip, and I'm curious to hear how people who have done AK AH before structure their days. We're going for 10 days (just me and my partner) and definitely want at least a morning at AK for the animal attractions and the shows. I'm kind of at a loss as to what to use our FPs on though, since we're going to save Pandora for the event (even NRJ, which we both love despite the haters lol). My partner can't do coasters for health reasons so I use single rider for Everest anyway. Do you think the better course would be:

1) Rope drop the Safari, walk the animal trails, see shows then leave and come back that night for AH

or

2) Go to another park in the AM (probably MK, since we will be Poly guests) and set afternoon FPs for Safari (for sunset), Kali (since it will be closed), and ROL? Either way we were planning on eating dinner at Satu'li before the event.