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

[ConnecticutNonna]

Yes I did. I also had an AP and got a discount on my ticket. No AP this year, it would be 2 full price tickets for us. We were just there a few weeks ago so Feb would be a more relaxed trip, plus we are staying offsite so no hard to get FP's, which are reasons to do DAH. I did go back and reread last years thread, I got a lot done so maybe I will spring for tickets. There are no after hours for Ak or HS while we are there.

It's funny, I seriously think I may plan my next trip around DAH and EMM, stay off-site in a really nice hotel and not worry about Fast passes, etc. Possibly stay one night to be able to get DHs favorite CG brunch in, but with all these extras it may just be better. We always rented a vehicle, now you have to pay to park at the resort. Seriously, it's becoming far less important to stay onsite with all the other options. It's kind of freeing!
Lol

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I want to buy DAH for mid-January. Tempted to wait until weather forecast comes out (not worried about cold, we are from the northeast, but rain would be bad for DS in his WC. I just do not think mid-January will sell out early. Thankfully we are DVC and get that nice discount.

I'm wondering if the "sell out" history we experienced last winter will still hold true this year with more DAH events (not just MK, now AK and DHS) and at more times throughout the year to potentially spread demand around. I know for us, we made special trips in Feb in the past just for DAH... but now that I'm 'assuming' it'll continue to be offered on/off over the year, including the summer which is more convenient for us to travel... I'm not feeling the big need to plan a specific MK DAH trip in Jan/Feb this year.

Time will tell I guess.

 

[Lisa F]

It's funny, I seriously think I may plan my next trip around DAH and EMM, stay off-site in a really nice hotel and not worry about Fast passes, etc. Possibly stay one night to be able to get DHs favorite CG brunch in, but with all these extras it may just be better. We always rented a vehicle, now you have to pay to park at the resort. Seriously, it's becoming far less important to stay onsite with all the other options. It's kind of freeing!
Lol

it's certainly not the worst strategy in the world with a cost of regular tickets what they are.

 

[GAN]

I want to buy DAH for mid-January. Tempted to wait until weather forecast comes out (not worried about cold, we are from the northeast, but rain would be bad for DS in his WC. I just do not think mid-January will sell out early. Thankfully we are DVC and get that nice discount.

I totally agree with your thinking....it probably won’t sell out, so wait. My only concern would be if you were there during the marathon weekend -that might cause higher than normal sales

 

[ErinBoBerin]

Question for you guys - not attending after hours but if I want to go to MK just to see the fireworks on an after hours night, do you think there'll be an issue with that? It's the only night we're free to go see them...

 

[SaintsManiac]

Question for you guys - not attending after hours but if I want to go to MK just to see the fireworks on an after hours night, do you think there'll be an issue with that? It's the only night we're free to go see them...

The fireworks are during normal park hours, so there would not be an issue.

 

[ErinBoBerin]

The fireworks are during normal park hours, so there would not be an issue.

Thanks!

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I'm wondering if the "sell out" history we experienced last winter will still hold true this year with more DAH events (not just MK, now AK and DHS) and at more times throughout the year to potentially spread demand around. I know for us, we made special trips in Feb in the past just for DAH... but now that I'm 'assuming' it'll continue to be offered on/off over the year, including the summer which is more convenient for us to travel... I'm not feeling the big need to plan a specific MK DAH trip in Jan/Feb this year.

Time will tell I guess.

I've been contemplating changing our flight to early morning to do MK DAH on our arrival day, but I can't seem to commit to it yet (fear of kids missing too much school), but I've been worried it will sell out - it's MLK weekend and I know that one sold out last year, but I think just a few days before the event. But I hadn't thought of it that way about spreading out demand - just that it seems to be increasing in popularity! I wish it was like SW airlines and there was a "number of seats left at that fare" kind of thing! Or I could just make up my mind...

 

[amiskell28]

The fireworks are during normal park hours, so there would not be an issue.

Are they, even on an 8 PM closing night? For some reason, I thought they were right at 8:00?

 

[PatMcDuck]

I arrive on January 13th, Sunday, the end of the marathon weekend, so not sure. Maybe I will buy soon. My husband does not arrive until very late Wednesday night, and he only has 3 days in the parks. So doing MK on Thursday night, would free up time to see some of each of the other 3 parks. I did this last January with my daughter too, that was a 3 day trip as well, so the MK DAH was fantastic, we went on almost every ride in the park that night, after spending the earlier part of the day at another park.

 

[Lisa F]

I've been contemplating changing our flight to early morning to do MK DAH on our arrival day, but I can't seem to commit to it yet (fear of kids missing too much school), but I've been worried it will sell out - it's MLK weekend and I know that one sold out last year, but I think just a few days before the event. But I hadn't thought of it that way about spreading out demand - just that it seems to be increasing in popularity! I wish it was like SW airlines and there was a "number of seats left at that fare" kind of thing! Or I could just make up my mind...

We're flying on the same day (if I am piecing this together correctly). the 17th? I thought about doing it that night but we have a 6am flight, LONG day. so we'll skip it. I don't think it will be super crowded on the 17th because it's Thursday - last year it was on Friday so that probably contributed, probably lots of friday afternoon arrivals kicking their vacation off with the extra hours.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

We're flying on the same day (if I am piecing this together correctly). the 17th? I thought about doing it that night but we have a 6am flight, LONG day. so we'll skip it. I don't think it will be super crowded on the 17th because it's Thursday - last year it was on Friday so that probably contributed, probably lots of friday afternoon arrivals kicking their vacation off with the extra hours.

Yes! The 17th! I hadn't thought about the Thursday vs Friday thing, I was just thinking holiday weekend, but that's true it could definitely make a difference. Maybe I can extend my indecisiveness a few more days! Last year I went the following weekend, the last weekend in January - it was also a Friday and I think it sold out.

Right now our flight gets in at 9pm, which we've never done before with the kids, but we can just pick them up from school and head to the airport and they'd only miss one day. The only other direct flight gets in at 11 am - departs around 8am. That's more our "usual" flight time, and then we'd generally go into a park, but not plan a late night. If we did this earlier departure, we'd probably do lunch at the resort and just do low-key resort stuff until our room was ready and save energy for the evening. We're already doing DAH at HS on Saturday night, but it's a birthday splurge and I think this would be fun! But I can definitely see where it could be tiring after a long flight - I remember my daughter was dragging last year at DAH just from a full day of fun...(Plus I could be rolling the dice with bad weather given it's January, but I'm trying not to thing about that!)

 

[Lisa F]

Yes! The 17th! I hadn't thought about the Thursday vs Friday thing, I was just thinking holiday weekend, but that's true it could definitely make a difference. Maybe I can extend my indecisiveness a few more days! Last year I went the following weekend, the last weekend in January - it was also a Friday and I think it sold out.

Right now our flight gets in at 9pm, which we've never done before with the kids, but we can just pick them up from school and head to the airport and they'd only miss one day. The only other direct flight gets in at 11 am - departs around 8am. That's more our "usual" flight time, and then we'd generally go into a park, but not plan a late night. If we did this earlier departure, we'd probably do lunch at the resort and just do low-key resort stuff until our room was ready and save energy for the evening. We're already doing DAH at HS on Saturday night, but it's a birthday splurge and I think this would be fun! But I can definitely see where it could be tiring after a long flight - I remember my daughter was dragging last year at DAH just from a full day of fun...(Plus I could be rolling the dice with bad weather given it's January, but I'm trying not to thing about that!)

I'm just pulling my kid out of school for the day and the following week, lol. So I only considered it for about a second but I am doing the following one our 2nd to last night. I know from previous experience that my kid will poop out by around 6:30pm on travel day with a flight that early so we have a 5:15 crystal palace and then back to the hotel to chill before we start the real vacation.

I will just dress warm if it's cold. I'm coming from MA so it won't be as cold as here, that's for sure! Reminds me I wanted to get hand warmers though!

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I'm just pulling my kid out of school for the day and the following week, lol. So I only considered it for about a second but I am doing the following one our 2nd to last night. I know from previous experience that my kid will poop out by around 6:30pm on travel day with a flight that early so we have a 5:15 crystal palace and then back to the hotel to chill before we start the real vacation.

I will just dress warm if it's cold. I'm coming from MA so it won't be as cold as here, that's for sure! Reminds me I wanted to get hand warmers though!

That sounds like a good plan! We love CP on arrival day! It's a short trip for us so I have to jam in all I can! When they were younger I would pull them out a couple of days but now it's getting tougher, which is why we went with the holiday weekend instead of the following weekend.

I'm coming from MA too! Layers! I don't remember being cold last year except when we were sitting in Tomorrowland eating Mickey bars!

 

[Lisa F]

That sounds like a good plan! We love CP on arrival day! It's a short trip for us so I have to jam in all I can! When they were younger I would pull them out a couple of days but now it's getting tougher, which is why we went with the holiday weekend instead of the following weekend.

I'm coming from MA too! Layers! I don't remember being cold last year except when we were sitting in Tomorrowland eating Mickey bars!

Yeah my kid has friday and monday off so I am basically pulling him out a week for a 9 day trip so that's pretty good! I like to go back on Saturday to give us time to re-enter. He is in the 5th grade and this is the last year I will do this - i'm only really doing it because I decided to upgrade to APs last year on his february break and I needed time to save for the next trip but couldn't push it out to february break again because not enough overlap, so since he had the Friday and the Monday off I decided to hitch it to this break.

After this I'll stick to breaks!

Hopefully it won't be as bad either because the thursday hours won't be expanded from an 8pm close but friday might have a later close.. I think DAH last year ran later than 8-11, although the sun goes down early it seems like it doesn't reach the low until midnight or after so that helps a bit too. Or so I tell myself. Still hoping for more in the 50's than the 40's. It was in the 50's for halloween here and it was very comfortable walking around!

 

[georgina]

Are they, even on an 8 PM closing night? For some reason, I thought they were right at 8:00?

Yes. Regular guests will not be kicked out of the park at 8, you just can't get in any more ride lines after the 'after hours' starts.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

FYI, the new dates that were added 11/15 (* 2/21, 3/21, 3/28, 4/4, and 4/11 2019) are now finally available to buy tickets online. Was previously only by phone.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

FYI, the new dates that were added 11/15 (* 2/21, 3/21, 3/28, 4/4, and 4/11 2019) are now finally available to buy tickets online. Was previously only by phone.

Awesome, thanks for the info.

 

[NYCANC]

We have Friday and Monday off too for MLK and now, of course, that Friday is now a snow make-up day (we are in NC where they don't really build in banked days). So my oldest will miss two days instead of just one.
We are doing MK AH Thursday night- we are coming down late on Wednesday.

 

[Mainebound]

I want to buy DAH for mid-January. Tempted to wait until weather forecast comes out (not worried about cold, we are from the northeast, but rain would be bad for DS in his WC. I just do not think mid-January will sell out early. Thankfully we are DVC and get that nice discount.

I am considering the Jan 7 MK DAH, but also waiting on the weather. Did it sell out last mid-Jan? (we have only done DAH in March in the past).