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

[Dug720]

Personally, I would give up the Illuminations dining package and dining at the Wave for DAH. You will have zero issues finding a good spot for Illuminations 30 minutes prior to the show. As you said, go to the bathroom and find your spot. We like Italy a lot. If HEA is around the same time as Illuminations that night, you can see both from that pavilion area.

I'm wondering if I need to change our touring plan around as well. We are taking my friend and her DS11 on their very first trip to WDW and our arrival day is July 25. Her DS11 is really into Disney villains so I was thinking we would go, but his mom is concerned with staying out too late the first night - don't blame her. I really wanted MK to be their first park and have the HEA dessert party booked, but now I'm wondering if we should switch our MK days. I know on past DAH nights it doesn't sound like DAH guests coming in at 7 pm really elevated crowd levels, but who knows what will happen with this one. I guess I'll just keep my eye on this thread.

Edited to add: in terms of the stage show and the dragon roaming, perhaps they will wait until an hour or so into the party to introduce these elements, giving CM's a chance to clear out as many non-DAH guests as possible? With MNSSHP and MVMCP, don't the stage shows typically start about an hour, hour and a half into the party?

I realized on further reflection that the possibility existed for me to do both - just book it over to MK on the Monorail after Illuminations (I did it before when MK had evening EMH in February). BUT I also realized that is my arrival day, and I have a 6:30am flight from LGA and with the nightmare that is traffic and construction around there EVEN in the wee hours of the morning, I'll either need to hang out there overnight and get virtually no sleep or have a car at my apartment at around 2am...so doing Villains After Hours would essentially put me being up for 24 hours. No bueno.

 

[Raya]

Is single day Memory Maker available for these events, the way it is for MNSSHP?

 

[asaj]

My next trip is the first week of June. I’m willing to give it a try on 6/6. Should be interesting.

Same with us. We were hoping for DAH for the first week in June, and we are all very excited about this. We will be going 6/6 for sure.

 

[juuuliebeth]

I went to the MK After Hours event on 3/28 and had a blast. The purpose was to get some time to ride things I couldn't during the day due to having a 4 year old in tow and high crowds. The purpose was not to ride 7DMT as many times as possible. Taking that into account, it was well worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Here are my notes from the night.

Arrived around 8:45pm after spending most of the day there. Wandered the shops and watched HEA from halfway back Main Street. Getting to Adventureland was quite frustrating.

9:40pm - Decided Jungle Cruise line was too long, so skipped and went to Pirates
9:58pm - Off Pirates, BTMRR line was too long and also too cold for Splash Mountain
10:20pm - Off Haunted Mansion, walked right up to the door, opened less than two minutes later
Rode BTMRR - both sides running, long queue trek but very short wait
Got ice cream and bottled water
10:47pm - Got in line for Tangled Lantern photo
10:57pm - Done with photo
Rode Small World, checked PP which was too long.
11:30pm - Off Space Mountain
11:48pm - Off Astro Orbiter (priority for me since it was the last MK ride I'd never ridden)
11:55pm - Off Buzz
12:08am - Off Peoplemover
Popcorn and more bottled water
12:22am - Off Pooh
Peter Pan's Flight
12:47am - On the bus back to Riverside

I forgot to note the times for some things, but this should give you an idea. It never felt like the park was empty, but I personally didn't want it to. I like having people around, just not too many people. So it was perfect for me. Grand total of 1 popcorn, 2 Mickey Bars and 4 bottles of water between the two of us. 10 attractions plus the Lantern photo and Happily Ever After in about four hours. Not bad.

Mine Train was posted around 30 minutes when we left. We had ridden it earlier in the day with FP so we weren't bothered. Lines for the snacks weren't too bad. A slight wait each time, but never more than a couple minutes. Astro Orbiter and Lantern Photo were probably longest waits of the night and neither were worth complaining about.

Well worth the money and the time. If we hadn't been up early for an 8am CRT breakfast, we might have stayed longer, but we were both whooped. I highly recommend to anyone who is able to stay up late. Just go in with the right expectations and you'll be good. You won't have the park all to yourself, but it's a great way to enjoy the whole park. About halfway through I decided to ride as many different things as possible. Re-rides may have saved our legs and upped our attraction count, but that wasn't the point for me. I wanted some quality Magic Kingdom time without strollers nipping my heals and congested walkways. And that's what I got.

 

[123SA]

• A Brand-New Disney Villains Stage Show – Hades and Meg from “Hercules” will set the castle stage ablaze in this all-new stage show, Villains Unite the Night, which will also feature appearances by Jafar, The Queen, Dr. Facilier and Maleficent.

Is this the same show as MNSSHP?

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I went to the MK After Hours event on 3/28 and had a blast. The purpose was to get some time to ride things I couldn't during the day due to having a 4 year old in tow and high crowds. The purpose was not to ride 7DMT as many times as possible. Taking that into account, it was well worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Here are my notes from the night.

Arrived around 8:45pm after spending most of the day there. Wandered the shops and watched HEA from halfway back Main Street. Getting to Adventureland was quite frustrating.

9:40pm - Decided Jungle Cruise line was too long, so skipped and went to Pirates
9:58pm - Off Pirates, BTMRR line was too long and also too cold for Splash Mountain
10:20pm - Off Haunted Mansion, walked right up to the door, opened less than two minutes later
Rode BTMRR - both sides running, long queue trek but very short wait
Got ice cream and bottled water
10:47pm - Got in line for Tangled Lantern photo
10:57pm - Done with photo
Rode Small World, checked PP which was too long.
11:30pm - Off Space Mountain
11:48pm - Off Astro Orbiter (priority for me since it was the last MK ride I'd never ridden)
11:55pm - Off Buzz
12:08am - Off Peoplemover
Popcorn and more bottled water
12:22am - Off Pooh
Peter Pan's Flight
12:47am - On the bus back to Riverside

I forgot to note the times for some things, but this should give you an idea. It never felt like the park was empty, but I personally didn't want it to. I like having people around, just not too many people. So it was perfect for me. Grand total of 1 popcorn, 2 Mickey Bars and 4 bottles of water between the two of us. 10 attractions plus the Lantern photo and Happily Ever After in about four hours. Not bad.

Mine Train was posted around 30 minutes when we left. We had ridden it earlier in the day with FP so we weren't bothered. Lines for the snacks weren't too bad. A slight wait each time, but never more than a couple minutes. Astro Orbiter and Lantern Photo were probably longest waits of the night and neither were worth complaining about.

Well worth the money and the time. If we hadn't been up early for an 8am CRT breakfast, we might have stayed longer, but we were both whooped. I highly recommend to anyone who is able to stay up late. Just go in with the right expectations and you'll be good. You won't have the park all to yourself, but it's a great way to enjoy the whole park. About halfway through I decided to ride as many different things as possible. Re-rides may have saved our legs and upped our attraction count, but that wasn't the point for me. I wanted some quality Magic Kingdom time without strollers nipping my heals and congested walkways. And that's what I got.

Thanks for the details. What was the wait time for the lines that were “too long”? I’m hoping to do After Hours next year at MK and DHS with the goal of riding the “big” rides at each park multiple times. But if they all are going to have 30 minute waits then I’m going to have to rethink that plan. TIA.

 

[michelepa]

Day guests paid to be there too. And honestly, 10 PM at the height of spring break is sort of early to begin with.

Not saying they didn’t. As others have also stated there should be lag time from end of day guests to beginning of three hours after hour event. Not only did the day guests pay but I paid for three hour event that by it’s very definition is not suppose to include day guests.

 

[michelepa]

I feel like this crowd level will be increased over a regular DAH...inching up towards party levels?

anyway, Im going

Agree I think they finally got people hooked on ever which took awhile then started inching up the crowds admitted got some complaints and now are moving event to something different to really ramp up crowd levels.

 

[theostwalts]

So our first park day is June 6th. Currently we have a reservation for California Grill at 9:15 which is good for HEA. I have been checking for an earlier ADR, maybe around 8:00 pm or so, but so far nothing earlier. How crowded do you guys think that day might be? Anyone else planning on that date? We could skip dessert at the restaurant and do dessert at the party. Maybe that would give the crowds time to clear out after HEA. Thoughts?

 

[Raya]

• A Brand-New Disney Villains Stage Show – Hades and Meg from “Hercules” will set the castle stage ablaze in this all-new stage show, Villains Unite the Night, which will also feature appearances by Jafar, The Queen, Dr. Facilier and Maleficent.

Is this the same show as MNSSHP?

No. The MNSSHP show is the Sanderson Sisters (from Hocus Pocus). They have one night to try to take over the world (again) so they invite the Disney Villains to help. A handful of villains arrive, each one singing a song before the next one shows up. Then fireworks, pyro stuff, catchy dance number, and done. One of my gripes with the show is that they don't pick their villains based on who would be most helpful to take over the world. I mean Maleficent should be a shoe-in (she can change into a dragon, for Mickey's Sake) but they invite Cinderella's stepmother who is.... a bad parent? How is that helpful? Wouldn't you rather--

Oh dear, I seem to have stepped up on my soap box again. Sorry about that. No, very different show.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

One of my gripes with the show is that they don't pick their villains based on who would be most helpful to take over the world. I mean Maleficent should be a shoe-in (she can change into a dragon, for Mickey's Sake) but they invite Cinderella's stepmother who is.... a bad parent? How is that helpful? Wouldn't you rather--

 

[Cowgirl_Jessie]

I did notice that, while the regular DAH's at MK, HS, and AK all mention having "little-to-no wait times" or say you can "skip the waits," the new villains one says that you'll have "low wait times." I wonder if that's just a coincidence, or if they're managing expectations from the get-go.

THIS! Yes, Disney is very meticulous with their wording. I think we can assume it will be more crowded; however how much more crowded? Last year’s MNSSHP felt very crowded; we would be so disappointed to see these levels at the DAH this summer. Wonder if it will be somewhere in between historic DAH and the parties?

Hoping for the best! We will be there in July and pretty certain to attend this as I’m guessing WDW is hotter than the surface of the sun then!

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

So our first park day is June 6th. Currently we have a reservation for California Grill at 9:15 which is good for HEA. I have been checking for an earlier ADR, maybe around 8:00 pm or so, but so far nothing earlier. How crowded do you guys think that day might be? Anyone else planning on that date? We could skip dessert at the restaurant and do dessert at the party. Maybe that would give the crowds time to clear out after HEA. Thoughts?

We went to DAH in January and I sacrificed our California Grill reservation that I'd snagged 180 days out to do DAH. And we were happy with that decision, despite the fact that I couldn't get California Grill at any other time during our trip. Two words of note, though. We were staying at the Grand Floridian with a theme park view and could watch HEA from our balcony every night. And, DAH began at 9 PM as the park closed then.....

 

[PPFlight75]

We had such a great time doing this last week, so I am seriously considering this for July. The 1st would work out perfectly with our plans and we could just have another pool day. I am worried about the difference in crowds though.

 

[kylieh]

We have 16 May booked. Plan is to do the outdoor rides and fit everything else around them - Splash if it isn't too cool, Mine Train, Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder. We'll do the People Mover if it's running. Probably can skip Astro Orbiter and Dumbo, but we'll see. Any others worth doing at night that should be prioritised?

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

We have 16 May booked. Plan is to do the outdoor rides and fit everything else around them - Splash if it isn't too cool, Mine Train, Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder. We'll do the People Mover if it's running. Probably can skip Astro Orbiter and Dumbo, but we'll see. Any others worth doing at night that should be prioritised?

Splash and Mine Train are awesome at night. Magic Kingdom in general is awesome at night. I actually like Astro Orbiter at night but wouldn’t wait in a long line.

 

[JohnGypsy]

So, I just tried to order After Hours at Animal Kingdom for May 7th and apparently it is already sold out!?

The web site says that it is not sold out when you pick the date, but then when you try to check out it gives an error saying that the order can't be placed online right now and to call. So I called and they said that they are already sold out for May 7th and they just haven't updated the website yet.

Is it really sold out 5 weeks ahead of time? I guess I'm just really surprised -- didn't they just announce the May 7th date like 4-5 days ago?

Or is this just the site being weird and the CSR being wrong? I've been getting all kinds of errors on the site today. So, I have a tiny amount of hope that this is just a mistake...

 

[focusondisney]

So, I just tried to order After Hours at Animal Kingdom for May 7th and apparently it is already sold out!?

The web site says that it is not sold out when you pick the date, but then when you try to check out it gives an error saying that the order can't be placed online right now and to call. So I called and they said that they are already sold out for May 7th and they just haven't updated the website yet.

Is it really sold out 5 weeks ahead of time? I guess I'm just really surprised -- didn't they just announce the May 7th date like 4-5 days ago?

Or is this just the site being weird and the CSR being wrong? I've been getting all kinds of errors on the site today. So, I have a tiny amount of hope that this is just a mistake...

I read on another site that the May 7th date is cancelled. The poster had the same issue. She called DVC member services who transferred her to ticketing. She was told the date was being cancelled & they were waiting for IT to delete it from the website.

 

[JohnGypsy]

That would actually make more sense, at least. Just seems too weird to be sold out already.

Still really disappointing, but makes more sense.

I guess we'll see. I sent an email over to confirm things already.

 

[kylieh]

16 May: Park hours currently state park closes at 9, party begins at 10. Assuming the closing time stays at 9, can the DAH guests enter lines between 9 and 10 or are they closed for them as well?