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

[GADisneyDad14]

What fastpasses do you generally get for before the party starts (between 7-10 pm)?

I am thinking I"d like to try things with low lines that we still enjoy (or that won't be available during the party) like Carousel of progress, Tiki Room, maybe knock off Ariel (since that is generally short), maybe people mover (again short line generally). Wondering what makes sense to try and get fp for. Maybe Peter Pan in case it is busy during the party, or 7DMT for the same reason.

What ones do you try to get?

Everything you listed (other than PP, 7DMT, and Under the Sea) doesn’t have FPs (probably obvious, but just in case you didn’t know). Granted my perspective is skewed as an AP holder who goes a few times per year so I don’t feel the need to book any FPs pre-event - but for us, yes, spending the time doing things like CoP, Tiki Room, HoP, etc makes sense. Or prepping for Happily Every After (which for us is a must do).

My one bit of advice - eat a good dinner. A dinner at Skipper Canteen, for example, can be a great start to the evening. Too often I haven’t really eaten dinner and end up chasing hunger with Strawbery Bars, which isn’t a good recipe to make it to 1am!

 

[maryj11]

Everything you listed (other than PP, 7DMT, and Under the Sea) doesn’t have FPs (probably obvious, but just in case you didn’t know). Granted my perspective is skewed as an AP holder who goes a few times per year so I don’t feel the need to book any FPs pre-event - but for us, yes, spending the time doing things like CoP, Tiki Room, HoP, etc makes sense. Or prepping for Happily Every After (which for us is a must do).

My one bit of advice - eat a good dinner. A dinner at Skipper Canteen, for example, can be a great start to the evening. Too often I haven’t really eaten dinner and end up chasing hunger with Strawbery Bars, which isn’t a good recipe to make it to 1am!

We ate at Tony’s right when we got there before it started and were stuffed. I kind of wished we didn’t because we did not want any of the free snacks. All we got was drinks. So I would say eat a light or earlier dinner.

 

[proud_canadian]

I understand that stores are not open during the event. But what about stores that you are "dumped" into after the ride, like buzz, pooh, pirates.... are those stores open, or merchandise covered up and can't buy?

 

[proud_canadian]

Can a friend who is a DVC member purchase After hours tickets for me at discounted rate and transfer them to me? Is that allowed?

 

[123SA]

What fastpasses do you generally get for before the party starts (between 7-10 pm)?

I am thinking I"d like to try things with low lines that we still enjoy (or that won't be available during the party) like Carousel of progress, Tiki Room, maybe knock off Ariel (since that is generally short), maybe people mover (again short line generally). Wondering what makes sense to try and get fp for. Maybe Peter Pan in case it is busy during the party, or 7DMT for the same reason.

What ones do you try to get?

We usually get:

Splash Mountain - there will be no line during the party, but the ride itself is long, around 20 minutes, so I like to do that before the party

7DMT - the line is usually longer than I like during the party, so another good choice pre-party. We try to get it during the fireworks because it's just a really neat experience

For the last FP, I'd get Peter Pan (again, this line will be longer than others during AH) or Space Mountain because my kids can't ever ride it enough

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I so wish i was going in March, they are having one the day we are at MK. If we went i think it would be hard to get up early for DS the next day.
When any of you go do you do anything the next day?

 

[Amyshubby]

We are doing our first MKAH next week. Really looking forward to it but wish the hours were a little longer then 8-11. We will get there at 630 per the advice we've seen. We did book fastpasses for the time before the event starts (one from 630-730 and one from 730-830). Just want to make sure that's ok even though we aren't paying for daytime admission. I'm assuming that we don't need to scan in the way we normally do because we have a separate after hours ticket. I just want to make sure we don't lose a day from our other tickets (believe it or not, we still have 2 days left from our final 10 day no experation passes) when we use the fastpasses.

 

[lisa cameron]

We usually get:

Splash Mountain - there will be no line during the party, but the ride itself is long, around 20 minutes, so I like to do that before the party

7DMT - the line is usually longer than I like during the party, so another good choice pre-party. We try to get it during the fireworks because it's just a really neat experience

For the last FP, I'd get Peter Pan (again, this line will be longer than others during AH) or Space Mountain because my kids can't ever ride it enough

I will was thinking Space, SDMT, and PP for a FP and then do Splash right at the end of the regular hours, right before the party starts because the line is really short for Splash that time of night. Plus, I agree, Splash takes like 20 minutes so won’t eat too much into the party hours if you so during regular hours.

 

[Lsdolphin]

We are doing our first MKAH next week. Really looking forward to it but wish the hours were a little longer then 8-11. We will get there at 630 per the advice we've seen. We did book fastpasses for the time before the event starts (one from 630-730 and one from 730-830). Just want to make sure that's ok even though we aren't paying for daytime admission. I'm assuming that we don't need to scan in the way we normally do because we have a separate after hours ticket. I just want to make sure we don't lose a day from our other tickets (believe it or not, we still have 2 days left from our final 10 day no experation passes) when we use the fastpasses.

you definitely need to make sure that when you enter park thru the special line for “special event” you will see CM holding signs directing guests to DAH line.

 

[CJN]

I so wish i was going in March, they are having one the day we are at MK. If we went i think it would be hard to get up early for DS the next day.
When any of you go do you do anything the next day?

We generally don’t make plans for anything before noon the next day. If we do get up and around earlier we consider it bonus time. Next trip we‘re doing two DAHs and have our DHS days scheduled the day before each of them.

 

[YawningDodo]

Everything you listed (other than PP, 7DMT, and Under the Sea) doesn’t have FPs (probably obvious, but just in case you didn’t know). Granted my perspective is skewed as an AP holder who goes a few times per year so I don’t feel the need to book any FPs pre-event - but for us, yes, spending the time doing things like CoP, Tiki Room, HoP, etc makes sense. Or prepping for Happily Every After (which for us is a must do).

My one bit of advice - eat a good dinner. A dinner at Skipper Canteen, for example, can be a great start to the evening. Too often I haven’t really eaten dinner and end up chasing hunger with Strawbery Bars, which isn’t a good recipe to make it to 1am!

My exact plan! I've never done Skipper's, wanted to give it a try, and ended up shifting it to my DAH evening. Booked it for about three hours ahead of the event's official start...figure that gives me enough time to eat without feeling crunched for time, but it's far enough ahead that I'll have room for ice cream.

 

[jackieleanne]

We ate at Tony’s right when we got there before it started and were stuffed. I kind of wished we didn’t because we did not want any of the free snacks. All we got was drinks. So I would say eat a light or earlier dinner.

Us too on our last trip, we didn't eat at Tony's but had an ADR somewhere before hand. This time we have a 10am ADR at Tusker House and a reservation for Burgers and Sundaes at 5pm before we head over to Magic Kingdom. That should keep us fed enough until the party and the snacks going for the rest of the night.

 

[DisneyRobin]

I so wish i was going in March, they are having one the day we are at MK. If we went i think it would be hard to get up early for DS the next day.
When any of you go do you do anything the next day?

We are going on April and the party is from 10pm-1am. We probably won’t get to sleep until 2am! I’m planning to sleep in the next day and uber to AK by 11. I’ll set our 1st FP for about 10 or 10:30 and we’ll plan to ride just before that FP expires.

I’m going to try to make it a short day (trying to be back to the hotel by 8:30pm) because the next day we have to be up very early to try and get boarding passes at HS!

 

[MrsInsG]

My exact plan! I've never done Skipper's, wanted to give it a try, and ended up shifting it to my DAH evening. Booked it for about three hours ahead of the event's official start...figure that gives me enough time to eat without feeling crunched for time, but it's far enough ahead that I'll have room for ice cream.

We (my dh and I) did this and just shared some appetizers. This gave us the opportunity to try several things we were interested in, have an adult beverage, and not be stuffed walking out the door. Our kids are in their teens/tweens, so they went off and rode rides and ate whatever while Mom and Dad chilled and had a lovely date before we all met up for the event; it was perfect!

 

[Drewmama]

Yes last night’s MKAH was incredible! I’m sure our paths must have crossed fivefourdis. I’ve added some photos so people can get an idea of just how empty it was.

We entered at about 8:15 and cut up the left side of Nain St shops to get past the crowds. We wanted a ride on BTMRR during the fireworks- recreating one of our favorite memories from previous trips. Had to ride 3x in a row to make it happen. First time was with a FP then standby 2x. Crowds were already thinning and I noticed very few people with bands.

During fireworks Frontierland was pretty empty

Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr


After BT we went to HM which was walk on. We’d done Splash and JC the day before So skipped those.

Moved on to PP. Waited about 10 minutes. Park was originally scheduled to close at 9 but had been extended to 10. It was almost 10 when we exited.

Grabbed snacks no line to speak of

Next rode 7D 3x. First time waited about 5-10 minutes, lots of people without bands still in line. 2nd time was almost a walk in and third was.

Headed over to Space but first our traditional family Buzz contest with winner getting restaurant choice for our next meal.

Tomorrow Land was very deserted:

Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr

And so was Space

Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr

After Space 2x for me then 2 more for the teens we got snacks and rode the People Mover. We needed a break in the action. We passed only one other car with people in it and saw only 2 cars on the road at Speedway.

We worked our way back to 7D via Carousel and Tea Cups and then 2 more times on 7D.

At that point we were toast. It was about 12:30 and I wanted some castle and Main St pics so we made our way slowly out of the nearly empty park.

Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr


Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr


Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr

Well worth the money. I highly recommend doing nothing earlier that day and planning to sleep in the next!

Your pictures are awesome!

 

[proud_canadian]

Just wondering if anyone can explain how shopping works during the event. I understand that stores are not open during the event. But what about stores that you are "dumped" into after the ride, like buzz, pooh, pirates.... are those stores open, or merchandise covered up and can't buy?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Just wondering if anyone can explain how shopping works during the event. I understand that stores are not open during the event. But what about stores that you are "dumped" into after the ride, like buzz, pooh, pirates.... are those stores open, or merchandise covered up and can't buy?

I believe most/all of those types of stores are open, to the best I can recall.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I believe most/all of those types of stores are open, to the best I can

Yes i think you are correct they were all open.... one thing WDW loves is to make money

 

[proud_canadian]

LOL thanks guys. Disney scared me with the "limited shopping" available spiel.

 

[proud_canadian]

Last question, I think it got lost earlier. My friend is a DVC member, but isn't travelling with us. Is there a way for her to purchase our tickets for me and my husband at a discounted rate?