disneymagicgirl
Been there, Done that, Going back!
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- Dec 13, 2005
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fantastic news on the 6:25!
**Disney After Hours - Magic Kingdom** FAQ & Discussion Thread
- Thread starter GADisneyDad14
- Start date
disneymagicgirl
Been there, Done that, Going back!
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2005
- Messages
- 10,535
Thats the one we are going to!
Cramden
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2014
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- 713
I had the same issue. We're passholders and printed at home for the 2/21 DAH. My email also lacked the PDF. I called Disney and they said I should have had a bar code somewhere on my confirmation email but there wasn't. She told me I needed to print out my confirmation email and bring it to guest relations before the party in order to get our tickets. So glad I read this.
abbiesmomma
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2005
- Messages
- 51
My DDs (17 and 20) and I attended our first DAH last night (January 7th)... it was a short, last minute surprise trip with one marathon park day. I will say that the parks (we were also at DHS and EPCOT earlier in the day) still felt pretty crowded and standby wait times were also fairly lengthy-- so we were looking forward to some shorter waits/more rides at MK! I've read a lot on this board about DAH and am super thankful for the shared experiences of others-- so hopefully this report will be helpful to someone else.
(As a side note, in case anyone cares about this detail, there were Christmas decorations still up in all three of these parks (DHS, EPCOT and MK). MK was the only one still with a Christmas tree as well as full Christmas decor & castle lights--but not really playing Christmas music. DHS was still decorated and FULLY committed to the Christmas tunes. There were very few signs of Christmas in Future World at EPCOT but the World Showcase was still very much decorated. We also visited the GF for breakfast on the 8th and their lobby trees were still up-- but the gingerbread house was down.)
We entered MK in the late afternoon (~ 4:30 pm) with a regular park hopper ticket and spent some time doing the things that 17 and 20 year olds like to do-- namely taking cute IG pictures-- purple wall, light-up ears w/ the castle, etc. and grabbing some food that would not be available later. We snagged a late FP for Jungle Cruise since we wanted to focus on mountains and other rides during DAH. After that, we picked up our wristbands in Tomorrowland-- the CM's were on Buzz/Monsters side of the walkway, and if there was a DAH sign, I did not see it. I was looking for them on Stitch side so we almost missed them. After getting scanned and wristbanded, we headed back to the Hub. The girls had not yet seen OUAT or HEA so we decided that even though watching it would cut into our DAH time, we would make that part of our evening. In preparation for as quick of an exit as possible, we sat on the curb of the Hub near the Frontierland walkway-- this gave us a reasonably good view of the castle projections and fireworks AND we only had to cross one section of crowded sidewalk after the show (which was fairly painless---no one was lost or stepped on... so... winning!!)
Immediately after HEA, we headed toward our first mountain--Splash-- which, as previously reported, was not running (and I believe remained down all night
) so we kept walking toward BTMRR. We observed lines were already forming at snack carts in Frontierland (more on this later) so we decided to forego snacks in favor of rides first. BTMRR was a complete walk-on (posted wait was 5 or 10 but it was literally just the time it took you to walk through the que and load--- which, also a few more thoughts on this later). Got off, rode again. Finished our 2nd ride at 8:39 pm. The rest of the night went as follows: HM (12 people in the Stretching Room!), grabbed our first snacks outside the HM exit (3 ice cream, 2 sodas, 2 waters), Buzz x2, Space x2, Pooh, 7DMT, LMM, Princess Meet (Tiana/Rapunzel-- wait only 5-10 min even though posted 20) and finished with 7DMT x2 and final snacks (3 ice cream and popcorn). We could have easily fit in a few more shorter rides but since we had been going all day, we weren't about walking super fast to get anywhere-- plus we had to stop and take a few 'there is no one here' pictures!! We lingered in the Hub until about 11:30, watching the Kiss Goodnight at 11:15 and 11:30 and starting walking down Main Street after that. Crowds in the Hub were really low by 11:30 pm (100-200 people??)-- if you want an 'empty park castle picture', this is definitely doable if you linger a bit, IMHO. Photopass photographers were still taking pictures in front of the castle and on Main Street. The Emporium was definitely closed and there was no one inside by 11:30-- so I'm not sure exactly when they closed it down but don't count on lingering and then shopping. We finished up taking cute IG pictures and were walking through the train station during the third Kiss Goodnight at 11:45 pm (my girls called it the 'Now really-- go home!!!!' one, LOL!!!) We never felt like we were being rushed out-- it was like we were there on any other MK park closing night (with the exception of the shopping/food being closed up). Buses were ready and waiting to take us back to the resort.
Now I will say that I don't know where this night landed in terms of number of tickets sold, but I surely don't think it was an undersold event. When everyone was spread out through the park, it never felt crowded, and we never waited more than a walk-on/load (5-10 min max)--- but at 11 pm when everyone was still lingering taking pictures in the Hub and on Main Street, it seemed like there were a good number of people all gathered together. Another thing that leads me to believe that it was a well attended night is that there were always lines at the snack carts. Based on previous DAH reports, I expected that they would diminish during the night, but this was not really our experience. Granted, they moved pretty fast (the ones we stopped at) but there were still lines/waits. My bigger 'complaint' about the snack carts is that I felt like they were sort of hard to spot. I wish they had a map for them or a special light or sign or something (like they do for the cookie/drink stations at MVMCP). We couldn't find one in Fantasyland, and I asked a CM working near Pooh if she knew where any were and she told me (incorrectly) that they were all closed up back there, and we could find them in front of the castle-- we walked down just a bit near Fairytale Hall and found an ice cream treats-only cart. By the time we made it to the front of the castle, the snack cart there was out of drinks (it was the end of the night but this was still a disappointment/frustration, and we were thirsty!!). I feel like they could do a tiny bit better job of identifying the snack carts.
One other thing that I don't understand is why the attractions utilize the standby que lines during DAH (which would not even be that bad if they would adjust the ropes to cut of large sections of zigging and zagging, but again, this was largely not our experience) -- I guess they have a reason for not doing this (and I realize some ques have sections that can't be cut out), but it seemed like a huge time waster, IMHO. I wish they would let DAH guests use FP lines or else modify the standby ques so they are not so long.
My last 'complaint' is that I really wish they would not start a MK DAH at the same time as HEA-- forcing you to choose one or the other. I realize this is only a sometimes-issue depending on park hours and fireworks schedules-- but since the winter hours are already shorter and you get less 'extra' park time than you would during a spring/summer DAH, it just seems a bit unfair. That being said, it's still doable to watch HEA and 'get your money's worth' out of a DAH ticket (see below) even during the winter hours... it would just be nice if they were more consistent in the value and scheduling across the board for all DAH tickets, regardless of season.
Overall, for us, DAH at MK was totally worth it this time. School schedules only allowed us one park day this trip, and we wanted to make the absolute most of it. It was an incredibly expensive day and not one that is in our budget on a regular basis. But it was such a great experience that I would absolutely do another trip planned around a DAH event with no other park admissions. In addition to the number of rides that you can accomplish in such a short time, the entire atmosphere of DAH is what makes it so incredible. You can hardly put a price on that 'empty park' feeling (well, Disney has... it's $125!! LOL!). The difference between 8 pm of being packed in like sardines watching fireworks and 9 pm of virtually empty streets is incredible. We've done MVMCP several times in the past few years and thought we had experienced that lower crowds feeling... Nope. This is something else entirely. I would do this event ten times over MVMCP and that is a favorite event for our family. If budget is no issue, add a DAH ticket. If you are going during a busy season, think about adding a DAH ticket because you will LOVE the no-stress/empty park feeling that you haven't seen during your entire trip!! If you are going for 3- 4+ days, have park hoppers or are going during a 'slower' season, the value of a DAH ticket is probably considerably less. You can still have a VERY magical trip without it. If you are on a real budget and can only get a one day ticket, consider a DAH ticket in the summer-- you'd get the best of both worlds-- several hours of regular park time/food/shopping plus 3 hours of AMAZING park time and TONS of rides accomplished.
Final ride count: 13 plus OUAT and HEA
Final snack count: 6 ice cream, 1 popcorn, 4 drinks
Final analysis for this trip: ABSOLUTELY. WORTH. IT.
(As a side note, in case anyone cares about this detail, there were Christmas decorations still up in all three of these parks (DHS, EPCOT and MK). MK was the only one still with a Christmas tree as well as full Christmas decor & castle lights--but not really playing Christmas music. DHS was still decorated and FULLY committed to the Christmas tunes. There were very few signs of Christmas in Future World at EPCOT but the World Showcase was still very much decorated. We also visited the GF for breakfast on the 8th and their lobby trees were still up-- but the gingerbread house was down.)
We entered MK in the late afternoon (~ 4:30 pm) with a regular park hopper ticket and spent some time doing the things that 17 and 20 year olds like to do-- namely taking cute IG pictures-- purple wall, light-up ears w/ the castle, etc. and grabbing some food that would not be available later. We snagged a late FP for Jungle Cruise since we wanted to focus on mountains and other rides during DAH. After that, we picked up our wristbands in Tomorrowland-- the CM's were on Buzz/Monsters side of the walkway, and if there was a DAH sign, I did not see it. I was looking for them on Stitch side so we almost missed them. After getting scanned and wristbanded, we headed back to the Hub. The girls had not yet seen OUAT or HEA so we decided that even though watching it would cut into our DAH time, we would make that part of our evening. In preparation for as quick of an exit as possible, we sat on the curb of the Hub near the Frontierland walkway-- this gave us a reasonably good view of the castle projections and fireworks AND we only had to cross one section of crowded sidewalk after the show (which was fairly painless---no one was lost or stepped on... so... winning!!)
Immediately after HEA, we headed toward our first mountain--Splash-- which, as previously reported, was not running (and I believe remained down all night
) so we kept walking toward BTMRR. We observed lines were already forming at snack carts in Frontierland (more on this later) so we decided to forego snacks in favor of rides first. BTMRR was a complete walk-on (posted wait was 5 or 10 but it was literally just the time it took you to walk through the que and load--- which, also a few more thoughts on this later). Got off, rode again. Finished our 2nd ride at 8:39 pm. The rest of the night went as follows: HM (12 people in the Stretching Room!), grabbed our first snacks outside the HM exit (3 ice cream, 2 sodas, 2 waters), Buzz x2, Space x2, Pooh, 7DMT, LMM, Princess Meet (Tiana/Rapunzel-- wait only 5-10 min even though posted 20) and finished with 7DMT x2 and final snacks (3 ice cream and popcorn). We could have easily fit in a few more shorter rides but since we had been going all day, we weren't about walking super fast to get anywhere-- plus we had to stop and take a few 'there is no one here' pictures!! We lingered in the Hub until about 11:30, watching the Kiss Goodnight at 11:15 and 11:30 and starting walking down Main Street after that. Crowds in the Hub were really low by 11:30 pm (100-200 people??)-- if you want an 'empty park castle picture', this is definitely doable if you linger a bit, IMHO. Photopass photographers were still taking pictures in front of the castle and on Main Street. The Emporium was definitely closed and there was no one inside by 11:30-- so I'm not sure exactly when they closed it down but don't count on lingering and then shopping. We finished up taking cute IG pictures and were walking through the train station during the third Kiss Goodnight at 11:45 pm (my girls called it the 'Now really-- go home!!!!' one, LOL!!!) We never felt like we were being rushed out-- it was like we were there on any other MK park closing night (with the exception of the shopping/food being closed up). Buses were ready and waiting to take us back to the resort.Now I will say that I don't know where this night landed in terms of number of tickets sold, but I surely don't think it was an undersold event. When everyone was spread out through the park, it never felt crowded, and we never waited more than a walk-on/load (5-10 min max)--- but at 11 pm when everyone was still lingering taking pictures in the Hub and on Main Street, it seemed like there were a good number of people all gathered together. Another thing that leads me to believe that it was a well attended night is that there were always lines at the snack carts. Based on previous DAH reports, I expected that they would diminish during the night, but this was not really our experience. Granted, they moved pretty fast (the ones we stopped at) but there were still lines/waits. My bigger 'complaint' about the snack carts is that I felt like they were sort of hard to spot. I wish they had a map for them or a special light or sign or something (like they do for the cookie/drink stations at MVMCP). We couldn't find one in Fantasyland, and I asked a CM working near Pooh if she knew where any were and she told me (incorrectly) that they were all closed up back there, and we could find them in front of the castle-- we walked down just a bit near Fairytale Hall and found an ice cream treats-only cart. By the time we made it to the front of the castle, the snack cart there was out of drinks (it was the end of the night but this was still a disappointment/frustration, and we were thirsty!!). I feel like they could do a tiny bit better job of identifying the snack carts.
One other thing that I don't understand is why the attractions utilize the standby que lines during DAH (which would not even be that bad if they would adjust the ropes to cut of large sections of zigging and zagging, but again, this was largely not our experience) -- I guess they have a reason for not doing this (and I realize some ques have sections that can't be cut out), but it seemed like a huge time waster, IMHO. I wish they would let DAH guests use FP lines or else modify the standby ques so they are not so long.
My last 'complaint' is that I really wish they would not start a MK DAH at the same time as HEA-- forcing you to choose one or the other. I realize this is only a sometimes-issue depending on park hours and fireworks schedules-- but since the winter hours are already shorter and you get less 'extra' park time than you would during a spring/summer DAH, it just seems a bit unfair. That being said, it's still doable to watch HEA and 'get your money's worth' out of a DAH ticket (see below) even during the winter hours... it would just be nice if they were more consistent in the value and scheduling across the board for all DAH tickets, regardless of season.
Overall, for us, DAH at MK was totally worth it this time. School schedules only allowed us one park day this trip, and we wanted to make the absolute most of it. It was an incredibly expensive day and not one that is in our budget on a regular basis. But it was such a great experience that I would absolutely do another trip planned around a DAH event with no other park admissions. In addition to the number of rides that you can accomplish in such a short time, the entire atmosphere of DAH is what makes it so incredible. You can hardly put a price on that 'empty park' feeling (well, Disney has... it's $125!! LOL!). The difference between 8 pm of being packed in like sardines watching fireworks and 9 pm of virtually empty streets is incredible. We've done MVMCP several times in the past few years and thought we had experienced that lower crowds feeling... Nope. This is something else entirely. I would do this event ten times over MVMCP and that is a favorite event for our family. If budget is no issue, add a DAH ticket. If you are going during a busy season, think about adding a DAH ticket because you will LOVE the no-stress/empty park feeling that you haven't seen during your entire trip!! If you are going for 3- 4+ days, have park hoppers or are going during a 'slower' season, the value of a DAH ticket is probably considerably less. You can still have a VERY magical trip without it. If you are on a real budget and can only get a one day ticket, consider a DAH ticket in the summer-- you'd get the best of both worlds-- several hours of regular park time/food/shopping plus 3 hours of AMAZING park time and TONS of rides accomplished.
Final ride count: 13 plus OUAT and HEA
Final snack count: 6 ice cream, 1 popcorn, 4 drinks
Final analysis for this trip: ABSOLUTELY. WORTH. IT.
Hailey, if you've not had a lot of experience with Frontier in Orlando -- and it's a short trip -- see if you can get away with not checking bags. Some of my most frustrating times have been waiting at Frontier's baggage carousel. If you can avoid it -- and you can online check in to avoid the counter at all -- it's a good deal.
Just a suggestion. Glad you're getting the chance to go!!
Haley R
DIS Legend
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- 20,676
We usually fly with Frontier to Orlando. We've never had baggage issues, but we've had a lot of delayed flights. We probably will have Disney take care of our bags, though.
bernina
DIS Veteran
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- Jan 25, 2014
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That’s awesome!!
TheFloatingBear
DIS Veteran
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- Feb 17, 2016
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@abbiesmomma - Thanks for review - the details are really helpful! I'm going next week and I'm struggling with the HEA issue! It's a short trip so we may not have another opportunity to see it but we don't have another park ticket for that day so not sure if I want to spend the time! Glad you guys had fun!
CaribbeanJack
Earning My Ears
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- Jul 17, 2014
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- 5
Awesome, that's what I was assuming but you know what they say... Thanks for the help everyone!
GeneralTso
DIS Veteran
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- Aug 28, 2009
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- 2,546
Despite quite the hiccup in the system, we are registered for the 12th. What a nail biter though. Man, what we fans go through!
abbiesmomma
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2005
- Messages
- 51
I would say see it if you haven't yet... my girls (and I) were die hard Wishes fans... I saw HEA for the first time in October and knew they would love it, so I convinced them they needed to give it a try. They were not sad we took the time to watch HEA! Choose a viewing spot near an outer edge of the Hub (near a 'land walkway') so you can make a quick-ish getaway the second it is over and should be on your way to rides within a minute or two.
michellej47
Mouseketeer
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- Jun 7, 2011
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- 433
For those of you who have done DAH before in MK, which land do you usually start in? I know when the event first starts we will be dealing with those who were in line when the park closed, so what area of the park typically empties out fastest?
michellej47
Mouseketeer
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- Jun 7, 2011
- Messages
- 433
@GADisneyDad14 , could you add me to 2/14?
Haley R
DIS Legend
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We normally do the lands in this order: adventure, frontier, liberty square, tomorrow, fantasy
For those who have gone to DAH a second (or more times), did you change your plan of attack from the first time you went?
For example, DW and I went a year ago and basically started in Fantasyland and made our way around the park back to Tomorrowland. Worked out great. DW thinks we should do the same way this year. I suggested that we spend more time focusing on riding our favorite rides as many times as possible. To which she asked "How many time can one really ride the Peoplemover?" So I showed her the following formula:
((Facing Forward + Facing Backwards) x (Front of the Train + Back of Train) x (With People on the Train + With Only Ourselves) x (DW and I in one car + DW and I in separate cars) x (DW and I on the same train + DW and I on different Trains) x (Sleeping + Awake)) = N.
But really, as to the initial question . . .
For example, DW and I went a year ago and basically started in Fantasyland and made our way around the park back to Tomorrowland. Worked out great. DW thinks we should do the same way this year. I suggested that we spend more time focusing on riding our favorite rides as many times as possible. To which she asked "How many time can one really ride the Peoplemover?" So I showed her the following formula:
((Facing Forward + Facing Backwards) x (Front of the Train + Back of Train) x (With People on the Train + With Only Ourselves) x (DW and I in one car + DW and I in separate cars) x (DW and I on the same train + DW and I on different Trains) x (Sleeping + Awake)) = N.
But really, as to the initial question . . .
GeneralTso
DIS Veteran
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- 2,546
We won't attempt 7DMT or Big Thunder/Peter Pan/Other big rides, until at least an hour after it starts. The line is filled with non-wristband folks still.
It empties out quickly after about an hour.
It empties out quickly after about an hour.
Haley R
DIS Legend
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- Sep 3, 2017
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Lol omg. Can I use this plan when I go?
realhousewife
Mouseketeer
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- Jan 8, 2011
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- 321
Hi, We are going to be in Orlando in March and I see there is DAH on 3/7 from 9-12. We are night owls so that would be perfect. Can anyone tell me if they let you in earlier than 9 pm? I would imagine they wouldn't make you wait in line to walk in the door at 9 pm.
Also, any idea how many people will be in the parks? Do you think there will be short waits at that time of the year? TIA.
Also, any idea how many people will be in the parks? Do you think there will be short waits at that time of the year? TIA.
Iowamomof4
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- Jul 26, 2015
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I had to print that out and show it to my daughter. Congratulations! You made Disney planning look like fun to her!
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