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

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

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.

So would you still be returning w/ the same FP's from option #2 in hand for #1 as well? If so, w/ a 10-day ticket I'd probably choose that. Would you be going back to the Poly for that break? That's the only thing that gives me pause traveling all the way back.

 

[kylenne]

So would you still be returning w/ the same FP's from option #2 in hand for #1 as well? If so, w/ a 10-day ticket I'd probably choose that. Would you be going back to the Poly for that break? That's the only thing that gives me pause traveling all the way back.

Yes to both. We tend to take Lyft a lot on AK days so distance isn’t something I’m super concerned with. Last year when we stayed at the Poly we took a resort break in the middle of our AK day and it wasn’t bad.

 

[tiggerrr]

We went to the Nov 19 party and it was awesome. We used the DVC discount, so $99 each for my wife and I. We arrived about 7:30 to a park close at 8. We timed it to be the last people in standby on FOP before park close. Posted standby wait was 90 minutes, it was actually 11 to the pre-show. So, they clearly were trying to discourage people from getting in line so the party could start. By the time we we’re off the ride, just after 8:30, the line was open for the party.

We actually rode stuff so many times, we were starting to get sick. Everything was a straight walk on. Or maybe 2 minutes on FOP waiting for the next pre-show room to open. Expedition Everest - they just told us pick a row when we walked up, so we picked the front, then the back alternatively each time we rode.

Dinosaur - we had a whole car to ourselves (which made for great ride photo), and they asked us at the end if we just wanted to stay on. We didn’t but the people in the car ahead of us did.

We had enough time for 4 times on FOP (including the ride at park close), 4 times on EE, once on Dinosaur, and a couple of times on Navi River (mostly to try to calm our heads from FOP). The biggest time suck is that the FOP pre-show, plus ride, plus really long walk on and off the ride makes a very time consuming ride. But, we rode it as much as we wanted to, so I was happy.

Popcorn, two ice creams, an adult drink at the bar by EE and we walked out at the end of the party at midnight, and it was a great night. Well worth the money because we love both FOP and EE.

 

[Melodious]

We were also there on 11/19 and it was great! The only negative is that it was cold. We have APs so bought the tickets at a discount. We arrived a bit before the party entry and rode Safari and Dinosaur (twice). At 7pm, we picked up our bands (to the right of the tree of life if the exit is behind you), then we went to Nomad Lounge until 8pm. Then we headed to Everest. I'm used to getting there through Africa, but Africa was completely closed off.

Crowds were non-existent. We started the party at Everest and rode twice times, then went to FOP and rode four times, then Naavi once, and then Everest three more times. Once on FOP, we did ask if there was a way that we didn't have to walk all the way around again (my mother has a harder time walking) and the CMs sort of discussed it and decided that one of them could take us through the ride back to the preshow. It appears to be up to the CM working and she was very nice to allow us this. On Everest, the CMs were allowing us to choose the row (resulting in clusters of lines at the front and back).

The bar near Everest was open. There was a snack cart in Pandora serving drinks and strawberry and coconut bars. We picked up ice cream bars back near the tree of life with popcorn in boxes. We also picked up cups of popcorn on the way to Everest.

We definitely recommend this event. I love AK at night, especially Pandora. It was weirdly quiet, but it gave us the opportunity to just ride some of our favorites, especially FOP, back to back. The first time that I rode FOP, I just wanted to ride it again so I really see the details. So I thought it was worth the money.

 

[Deploraboo]

Anyone know whether the Boneyard stays open during Disney AH @ AK?

 

[hiroMYhero]

Anyone know whether the Boneyard stays open during Disney AH @ AK?

See Post#5.

 

[krayzie]

Anyone with food allergies notice any allergy friendly snack options? I am packing my own stuff for my daughter but I figure it would be nice to know before hand what she could have besides water / soda. I tried contacting the special diets people to see if they could provide me with the snack options and ingredients but they just told me to check with the chef / manager when I got there.

 

[eliseisawkward]

Anyone with food allergies notice any allergy friendly snack options? I am packing my own stuff for my daughter but I figure it would be nice to know before hand what she could have besides water / soda. I tried contacting the special diets people to see if they could provide me with the snack options and ingredients but they just told me to check with the chef / manager when I got there.

What are her allergies? The snacks are pretty limited for this event (popcorn and frozen snacks). You could probably find some allergy information. Online about things like Mickey bars, fruit popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, etc.

 

[krayzie]

What are her allergies? The snacks are pretty limited for this event (popcorn and frozen snacks). You could probably find some allergy information. Online about things like Mickey bars, fruit popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, etc.

Allergies are peanuts, tree nuts and eggs. Yeah, I looked at a few after hours reviews to try and figure out the brands of all the products. I know the mickey bars are nestle and I forget offhand what two brands the fruit bars were. I read somewhere that someone said the popcorn oil might be unsafe due to cross contamination with peanut oil..

edit: i think one of them was helados fruit bars which may have traces of pecans.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

If anyone happened to go last night and can report on 1) what time the DAH Rivers of Light performance was and 2) are they still giving out event flyers/handouts, it would be most appreciated. Thank you!

 

[kota]

Any chance of meeting Russell at the party?

 

[Wolfli]

Hi
Does anyone know how long it takes for purchased AKAH tickets to show up in my Disney experience account? For some reason I thought it would be instant! I did receive confirmation via email.
Thanks!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Hi
Does anyone know how long it takes for purchased AKAH tickets to show up in my Disney experience account? For some reason I thought it would be instant! I did receive confirmation via email.
Thanks!

Are you looking under the Tickets part? DAH won't show up under "My Plans."

 

[SamFaniam]

Any chance of meeting Russell at the party?

Probably not. Russell and Dug usually ends their meet and greet before 5.

 

[krayzie]

Any chance of meeting Russell at the party?

I went to the after hours on Saturday and the only meet and greet at the party was mickey and minnie in the safari outfits.

The rides were basically all walk on. FOP was like a 5 minute wait when we went at like 11ish. Daughter stayed on that primeval whirl ride 2 or 3 times without getting off.

 

[YawningDodo]

Hi
Does anyone know how long it takes for purchased AKAH tickets to show up in my Disney experience account? For some reason I thought it would be instant! I did receive confirmation via email.
Thanks!

This threw me, too! I know you already have the answer, but it's listed under Tickets rather than My Plans. I ended up manually inputting a reminder in My Plans because I like to see everything in one place. I kind of get why it's under Tickets, but since it's a date/time-specific reservation it seems more intuitive for it to show up in My Plans. :/

 

[krayzie]

This threw me, too! I know you already have the answer, but it's listed under Tickets rather than My Plans. I ended up manually inputting a reminder in My Plans because I like to see everything in one place. I kind of get why it's under Tickets, but since it's a date/time-specific reservation it seems more intuitive for it to show up in My Plans. :/

Yeah, at first I thought I didn't actually buy the tickets lol

 

[chelynnah]

This threw me, too! I know you already have the answer, but it's listed under Tickets rather than My Plans. I ended up manually inputting a reminder in My Plans because I like to see everything in one place. I kind of get why it's under Tickets, but since it's a date/time-specific reservation it seems more intuitive for it to show up in My Plans. :/

It’s an actual hard ticket event, so it shows under tickets. I’m the opposite, it never occurred to me it would be anywhere else except tickets

 

[OKWFan88]

Went last night and fantastic experience.
Got their at 830pm and huge crowds leaving. Hit up dinosaur and walk on , got to ride three times in a row without getting off. Then went over to primeval whirl which I’m convinced is a death trap but ride that two times. Then got popcorn, water and ice cream. Then walked over to Everest and ride four times. All walk on. Then walked over to pandora, walk on flight of passage and did that five times but had to go thru pre show each time which slowed things. Then got more food and did Navi River once and left. Well worth the money. Highly recommend. Place was not busy at all.

 

[Chickinvic]

Went last night and fantastic experience.
Got their at 830pm and huge crowds leaving. Hit up dinosaur and walk on , got to ride three times in a row without getting off. Then went over to primeval whirl which I’m convinced is a death trap but ride that two times. Then got popcorn, water and ice cream. Then walked over to Everest and ride four times. All walk on. Then walked over to pandora, walk on flight of passage and did that five times but had to go thru pre show each time which slowed things. Then got more food and did Navi River once and left. Well worth the money. Highly recommend. Place was not busy at all.

This was our experience in November also. It was well worth it. I wanted to eat my money's worth in ice cream sandwiches. I made a valiant effort and had 5 lol (I purposely didn't eat that day). Then we grabbed a bunch on the way out and ate them for the next few days