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

[MinnieMSue]

I love the idea of Mickey bars but at the parties we have attended I never want to get one because we are going from ride to ride and they slow me down. We grab waters at several spots and put them in our backpacks to use that night and on future days or in our hotel room. I do get a popcorn and eat it on the way to a ride and settle it down in my backpack where it usually sits upright without spilling while I ride. I try not to drink pop anymore and don’t want it warm so I never get it there.

 

[ninafeliz]

Thanks, that's about how many I thought, and sounds like they are in fact carts/kiosks. I'm probably odd in that I don't like Mickey bars or ice cream bars, so that's for the kids. My kids, knowing it's free, think this is cool and think the free drinks are cool also. I would like the popcorn so I thought well, free popcorn sure (though that's a problem for me to eat, but I still like it!) but the logistics of enjoying that and trying to get rides in does now make me think how do we rather do this night or what rides we really hope to do, and if there is much pause time. Maybe when about to be on the way out for the night for me. Good that drinks are available free, though typically I'd do water but saves me bringing one in I guess.

Now, I'll wonder just how busy transportation is after DAH bussing to Poly or GF, and less likely to choose ferry to TTC but leave that as an option.

Bottled water is included. I would carry a backpack and ziplock bags, and put extra drinks in your backpack for later and you could transfer popcorn to the ziplock to carry and keep for later also. These are tips that I read and never remembered to do myself lol. Also they close the snack stands at exactly the ending time, so don’t wait too long to get your stuff on the way out. We’ve been in a ride at the very end a couple of times, so we weren’t able to get a last snack or drink.

 

[mla973]

Also, since I wish I would have known in advance, the snack options were: Mickey bars, Mickey ice cream sandwich or the strawberry lemonade bar. The snack cart signs also said a no sugar added strawberry bar was an option, but when I asked, they didn’t know what I was talking about and just looked confused. Of course, popcorn was an option, and the bottled drinks were water, Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite. We got frozen treats once, and we were maybe the 6th family in line. Picked up waters near the end of the event and there were two families in line. Despite the large waits for the headliner attractions, I thought the carts were easy to find and fairly short waits. We did see several families with a MKAH times guide, but we were not given once at the entrance; I asked about one at several places and no CM knew what it was.

 

[jen7233]

Bottled water is included. I would carry a backpack and ziplock bags, and put extra drinks in your backpack for later and you could transfer popcorn to the ziplock to carry and keep for later also. These are tips that I read and never remembered to do myself lol. Also they close the snack stands at exactly the ending time, so don’t wait too long to get your stuff on the way out. We’ve been in a ride at the very end a couple of times, so we weren’t able to get a last snack or drink.

I hadn't thought about bringing our backpack and ziplock that night, and don't think we'll want to carry the bucket around, so that may work better, thanks.

 

[mgpan]

View attachment 474674

Ouch. That's at 11:44 wdw time. Yikes.

We need more people to post screenshots just like this. Show the wait times at different attractions during different times during the event. As someone else posted, if they have capped ticket sales at an appropriate number for the price paid, a sold out night should have the same approximate waits regardless of month/day of week. If my wait for the headliners is more than 10-15 actual minutes, that is not "little to no lines" as Disney advertises and to me it is oversold and not worth the extra cost.

 

[cakebaker]

We need more people to post screenshots just like this. Show the wait times at different attractions during different times during the event. As someone else posted, if they have capped ticket sales at an appropriate number for the price paid, a sold out night should have the same approximate waits regardless of month/day of week. If my wait for the headliners is more than 10-15 actual minutes, that is not "little to no lines" as Disney advertises and to me it is oversold and not worth the extra cost.

The problem is, screenshots of posted wait times aren’t a reliable way to know actual wait times at the AH events. At least they weren’t when we went. Some had no wait at all, but showed much longer. We ended up paying no attention to them. Better to me are actual reports of how long it took to get through any particular line.

 

[ninafeliz]

The problem is, screenshots of posted wait times aren’t a reliable way to know actual wait times at the AH events. At least they weren’t when we went. Some had no wait at all, but showed much longer. We ended up paying no attention to them. Better to me are actual reports of how long it took to get through any particular line.

I was going to say something similar. I know our night I saw a couple of posted wait times that weren't even close. Maybe they shouldn't try to even do the wait times during AH events?

 

[Iowamomof4]

I was going to say something similar. I know our night I saw a couple of posted wait times that weren't even close. Maybe they shouldn't try to even do the wait times during AH events?

It can be helpful though, especially if a ride is off-line.

 

[ninafeliz]

It can be helpful though, especially if a ride is off-line.

I think only helpful for if it is offline. I have found that the wait times aren't accurate at all, particularly late in the event. If you see a long wait listed it would probably make you not even go to the ride, and in reality it might be a walk on.

 

[cakebaker]

It can be helpful though, especially if a ride is off-line.

True, but we don’t tend to cross cross the park during after hours. We ride anything we’re interested in, then move to another section so it’s easy to just walk by and see a ride isn’t up. I just hate that people skip something based on what the wait time shows on the app. Quite often, anything showing 10 minutes is actually a walk-on. I won’t wait 10 minutes for some rides during AH’s that I’ll do if there’s no wait at all.

 

[Iowamomof4]

True, but we don’t tend to cross cross the park during after hours. We ride anything we’re interested in, then move to another section so it’s easy to just walk by and see a ride isn’t up. I just hate that people skip something based on what the wait time shows on the app. Quite often, anything showing 10 minutes is actually a walk-on. I won’t wait 10 minutes for some rides during AH’s that I’ll do if there’s no wait at all.

Oh, absolutely. You do have to use your own eyes and a little common sense. If 7dmt is showing a 40 minute wait, but you walk by the ride and can tell the line is short, obviously the posted wait is seriously overstated. It's also good to know that any wait showing 10 minutes or less will be either a walk on or a very, very short wait. I'm glad they post wait times in the app during the event and would really hate to see them discontinue it. I do wish the longer waits could be more reliably accurate though.

 

[jen7233]

On the line subject, on some rides I personally wouldn't be able to tell if the ride lines seemed long. For rides where I can see the whole queue like Pooh, maybe. I personally don't have a good idea by visual on some of the rides what a wait might really be, and some I for sure wouldn't such a Space Mountain.

 

[chelynnah]

I wish they had Sprite Zero! I don't like Coke, but don't want to drink all of the sugar in regular Sprite!

Me too. I don’t understand why they don’t. A lot of people who are cutting out sugar are also cutting out caffeine (like me). I usually compromise when there and go for the Minute Maid light where it’s offered. Still more sugar than I’d like, but keeps me away from the caffeine headache potential

 

[CJN]

On the line subject, on some rides I personally wouldn't be able to tell if the ride lines seemed long. For rides where I can see the whole queue like Pooh, maybe. I personally don't have a good idea by visual on some of the rides what a wait might really be, and some I for sure wouldn't such a Space Mountain.

I agree. And it shouldn’t be a case of relying on our own judgement for wait times or trekking across the park to visually see the length of the line anyway. The line should be short or non-existent. Period. That’s the whole point.

And those screenshots for wait times should also be tweeted to WDW Guest Services. Tweets to them tend to get quick reactions because they’re public and they usually say they’ll pass the info on to the right team.

 

[cakebaker]

And it shouldn’t be a case of relying on our own judgement for wait times or trekking across the park to visually see the length of the line anyway. The line should be short or non-existent. Period. That’s the whole point.

I absolutely agree with this. My point was, we don't pay attention to whatever the wait time posted is because it's usually not accurate. It can be posted at 30 min though and a lot of people will not even attempt to ride it. They either need to not post a wait time, or make them accurate. If they do what they advertise, there's no need for them at all.

 

[Kricketnp]

Me too. I don’t understand why they don’t. A lot of people who are cutting out sugar are also cutting out caffeine (like me). I usually compromise when there and go for the Minute Maid light where it’s offered. Still more sugar than I’d like, but keeps me away from the caffeine headache potential

Same! But for After Hours it was only Sprite, Diet Coke, Coke or Water. I went with one Sprite and then switched to water, but would've loved a Sprite Zero.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Was there last nights as well, it was Presidents’ Day so the crowds during the day before the party were huge. We were in the park by 6:40, not sure when they started letting people in, but that was super quick and nice. Able to do Robinson tree house, Tiki, Pirates, Counrey Bear, Carousel if Progress and People mover three times with fireworks before the party began.

Once the party started did Big Thunder with 10 minute wait, some ice cream - another ten minutes there. Jungle cruise was walk on and had a boat with just one other family which was awesome! Haunted mansion was walk on with few people. Skipped Peter Pan has that showed 30 minutes and Dwarves same thing. Space was down so we walked on Buzz and then back to Space with 10 minute wait which was back up running.
Dwarves was still showing 45 minutes so we got some more food and drinks and relaxed and then decided to leave early around 11 as we were exhausted getting off the cruise earlier in the day.
It was awesome, and we could have done the last two things we wanted to - Peter and Dwarves by midnight but were too exhausted. Well worth it for us. The lines did seem a bit longer than the first time we went, but not by much. The food had 5-10 minutes waits this time which was different but that was all I noticed compared to the first time when they had separate popcorn and ice cream areas (they did take away the chocolate covered banana I loved the first time).

We were there Monday too. My DD20 was soooo upset about the bananas being gone. The snack/drink options are lame, IMO.

The sign for SDMT said 45 mins all night but we rode twice in a row at 11pm and were in and off the ride in under 15 mins both times. I hate you missed it b/c of the posted time.

This was our 2nd DAH and we still enjoyed it and will likely return in may.

 

[Dakota Dexter]

Is anyone going on March 2nd? Since it's STILL scheduled for 8 to 11, (can't help but feel that they oughta let us in at 6 instead of 7 at the very least,) I wonder if they're predicting light crowds?

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

Bit the bullet last night and decided to get the AH ticket for February 24. I was initially looking to do EMM on Tuesday, as we had a positive experience last year at HS. However, there are far more rides at AH that appeal to us (dare I say SDMT is NOT even in my top 10?!), so I decided to try it out. My dad hasn’t been to Disney in 10+ years, so I think this will be nice for him.

I was initially holding off on purchasing because I didn’t want a frigid, rainy night (my girls would whine). I was a little apprehensive after reading last week’s posts. However, I remember similar complaints last year going into EMM, and our experience there was amazing. Fingers crossed for fun, but we’re pretty easygoing in terms of managing expectations. It’ll be our first night at Disney, so hoping to kick off my birthday trip right!

Will post back after our experience (but probably not until after our trip).

 

[Cloudy]

Is anyone going on March 2nd? Since it's STILL scheduled for 8 to 11, (can't help but feel that they oughta let us in at 6 instead of 7 at the very least,) I wonder if they're predicting light crowds?

I wondered the same thing. On days that the park closes earlier, do they let you in earlier? I would love to know others experiences