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

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

Sadly this has not been the case. MK after hours have typically allowed entry beginning anywhere between 6 and 7:00 depending on the night (not at all based on the time of the event). AK after hours and DHS (when they used to have them) have stuck much closer to 7.
 
We were at the 2/17 event and it was a bit of a hot mess, as others have reported. Lots of breakdowns--Big Thunder broke down right as we were about to board and was down most of the rest of the night. Space broke down and was posted 50 minutes the rest of the night after they got it back up. We managed one ride on Mine Train, and then it was posted at least 45 minutes the rest of the night.

They ran out of bottled water at every snack cart we tried.

It was our third AH event, and it as definitely not our typical experience. We did manage to ride a number of smaller rides, but the ones we really wanted were just down or had crazy waits all night. We also got the Rapunzel lantern photo I've been wanting for three years with almost no wait. :)

It is true that the lines may have been shorter than posted, but we also didn't want to walk all over the park to check. If they are going to post wait times, they should be accurate.

I stopped at City Hall on the way out and registered my disappointment. At first, the CM was just kind of "oh well" and then I mentioned that they advertise "minimal waits" and that 45 or 50 minutes is not a minimal wait, and that we were only able to ride one of the headliners. Then, she offered multiple-experience FPs for our two remaining park days. I will admit that I was hoping for a partial refund, but extra FPs at Hollywood Studios (not for Toy Story Land or Galaxy's Edge) came in VERY handy and make the rest of our trip much more enjoyable. I was literally the only person in there, which sort of surprised me. But I was at least happy to receive some compensation.

I will also be sending an email now that I'm home.

We also did the AH at Animal Kingdom later in the week, and it ran just like it should. So, really, I think it was just that "perfect storm" type situation. We'll still do the event in the future, because it's still nice to be there in the evening without huge crowds.
 
In knowing that last year the after hours party was on a Thursday in September. Will this likely to be the same this year in September?
 
In knowing that last year the after hours party was on a Thursday in September. Will this likely to be the same this year in September?

Always hard to say (also hard to predict with any certainty there will be DAH in Sept). But Sept competes with MNSSHP, so there are fewer nights per week available if Disney wants to offer DAH. Thursday is a good educated guess, but hard to say with certainty.
 


We were at the 2/17 event and it was a bit of a hot mess, as others have reported. Lots of breakdowns--Big Thunder broke down right as we were about to board and was down most of the rest of the night. Space broke down and was posted 50 minutes the rest of the night after they got it back up. We managed one ride on Mine Train, and then it was posted at least 45 minutes the rest of the night.

They ran out of bottled water at every snack cart we tried.

It was our third AH event, and it as definitely not our typical experience. We did manage to ride a number of smaller rides, but the ones we really wanted were just down or had crazy waits all night. We also got the Rapunzel lantern photo I've been wanting for three years with almost no wait. :)

It is true that the lines may have been shorter than posted, but we also didn't want to walk all over the park to check. If they are going to post wait times, they should be accurate.

I stopped at City Hall on the way out and registered my disappointment. At first, the CM was just kind of "oh well" and then I mentioned that they advertise "minimal waits" and that 45 or 50 minutes is not a minimal wait, and that we were only able to ride one of the headliners. Then, she offered multiple-experience FPs for our two remaining park days. I will admit that I was hoping for a partial refund, but extra FPs at Hollywood Studios (not for Toy Story Land or Galaxy's Edge) came in VERY handy and make the rest of our trip much more enjoyable. I was literally the only person in there, which sort of surprised me. But I was at least happy to receive some compensation.

I will also be sending an email now that I'm home.

We also did the AH at Animal Kingdom later in the week, and it ran just like it should. So, really, I think it was just that "perfect storm" type situation. We'll still do the event in the future, because it's still nice to be there in the evening without huge crowds.

Sorry to hear that your AH was disappointing. Thank you for letting Disney hear about your experience so that they have a chance to figure out why the last few events have been not as advertised and make the necessary corrections for future events.
 
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

No. The AH event is 3 hours, that’s what you’re paying for, no matter what time it starts. Any time before that is a bonus. Try to think of it that way instead of thinking that someone else is getting more time than you if their AH starts later than yours. People complain someone else got from 6:30 til their event at 9, for example. You’ll make yourself crazy.

And generally speaking, earlier park closings means lesser crowds. So in theory, an 8 pm park closing means less crowds than a day with a 10 pm close. I know, not always true. But I did say “in theory”. 😂
 
Last edited:
No. The AH event is hours, that’s what you’re paying for, no matter what time it starts. Any time before that is a bonus. Try to think of it that way instead of thinking that someone else is getting more time than you if their AH starts later than yours. People complain someone else got from 6:30 til their even at 9, for example. You’ll make yourself crazy.

And generally speaking, earlier park closings means lesser crowds. So in theory, an 8 pm park closing means less crowds than a day with a 10 pm close. I know, not always true. But I did say “in theory”. 😂

I did not mean to imply I thought other people are getting more time than I am. Just trying to determine what time to arrive at the gates (I have a severely autistic son who is not good at waiting especially with the excitement of entering the Magic Kingdom). I want to maximize my time but not arrive too early.

I agree with you on the earlier park closings. I specifically choose the week I did because the DAH event started at 9 PM. Best crowd calculator I know.
 


I did not mean to imply I thought other people are getting more time than I am. Just trying to determine what time to arrive at the gates (I have a severely autistic son who is not good at waiting especially with the excitement of entering the Magic Kingdom). I want to maximize my time but not arrive too early.

I agree with you on the earlier park closings. I specifically choose the week I did because the DAH event started at 9 PM. Best crowd calculator I know.


Sorry, I should have quoted the poster you were responding to & not you. They were the one who commented on wanting to get let in earlier because the event starts at 8.
 
Tonight was absolutely fantastic. By far the best AH event we’ve attended. We exited the ferry right at 6:45 and walked right in. We used our fast passes for Mickey (6:10-7:10) and Dumbo (7:10-8:10). Right after we walked off Dumbo, we sat on the nearby benches and watched the fireworks. After the fireworks we went to IASW and used our last FP. We noticed around 8:50 that the posted line for Peter Pan was only 30 minutes so we hopped on it and were off by 9:16.

Official tally after Peter Pan's Flight, in order:
Winnie the Pooh
Mad Tea Party x2
Space Ranger Spin x2
Space Mountain x2
Pirates
BTMR
Magic Carpets x2
Jungle Cruise
Magic Carpets x2 (yes, again)

We would have accomplished a LOT more, but we had a very slow walker in our 10 person party. *Everything* was a walk-on, aside from BTMR which was 15 minutes. Even the snack/drink carts only had 1 or 2 people, if any, at them whenever we stopped by. We stayed until midnight then grabbed a couple photopass pictures on Main St. We used the ferry (didn't have to wait at all) when we left. It was truly an amazing night.

87208725_483229992349623_2796445003038064640_n.jpg

87306848_1694941553980211_7684423016326889472_n.jpg

87331807_2900010563391291_8388309053096329216_n.jpg

87941499_2829206370534033_6781635253078327296_n.jpg
 
Tonight was absolutely fantastic. By far the best AH event we’ve attended. We exited the ferry right at 6:45 and walked right in. We used our fast passes for Mickey (6:10-7:10) and Dumbo (7:10-8:10). Right after we walked off Dumbo, we sat on the nearby benches and watched the fireworks. After the fireworks we went to IASW and used our last FP. We noticed around 8:50 that the posted line for Peter Pan was only 30 minutes so we hopped on it and were off by 9:16.

Official tally after Peter Pan's Flight, in order:
Winnie the Pooh
Mad Tea Party x2
Space Ranger Spin x2
Space Mountain x2
Pirates
BTMR
Magic Carpets x2
Jungle Cruise
Magic Carpets x2 (yes, again)

We would have accomplished a LOT more, but we had a very slow walker in our 10 person party. *Everything* was a walk-on, aside from BTMR which was 15 minutes. Even the snack/drink carts only had 1 or 2 people, if any, at them whenever we stopped by. We stayed until midnight then grabbed a couple photopass pictures on Main St. We used the ferry (didn't have to wait at all) when we left. It was truly an amazing night.

View attachment 476475

View attachment 476476

View attachment 476477

View attachment 476478

Sounds like a great night! Thanks for the recap.
 
Tonight was absolutely fantastic. By far the best AH event we’ve attended. We exited the ferry right at 6:45 and walked right in. We used our fast passes for Mickey (6:10-7:10) and Dumbo (7:10-8:10). Right after we walked off Dumbo, we sat on the nearby benches and watched the fireworks. After the fireworks we went to IASW and used our last FP. We noticed around 8:50 that the posted line for Peter Pan was only 30 minutes so we hopped on it and were off by 9:16.

Official tally after Peter Pan's Flight, in order:
Winnie the Pooh
Mad Tea Party x2
Space Ranger Spin x2
Space Mountain x2
Pirates
BTMR
Magic Carpets x2
Jungle Cruise
Magic Carpets x2 (yes, again)

We would have accomplished a LOT more, but we had a very slow walker in our 10 person party. *Everything* was a walk-on, aside from BTMR which was 15 minutes. Even the snack/drink carts only had 1 or 2 people, if any, at them whenever we stopped by. We stayed until midnight then grabbed a couple photopass pictures on Main St. We used the ferry (didn't have to wait at all) when we left. It was truly an amazing night.
That's still quite a bit done. Sounds like a good event night.
 
I looked at wait times last night and saw 0 minutes posted for both Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. This was around 11:00 eastern. I thought maybe it was a glitch, but it sounds like it could have been accurate!
 
I too went last night (2/24) and had a great time. After spending the majority of the day at AK in wall-to-wall crowds last night's MK AH was refreshing in that the longest waits we had were 7DMT (12 min.) and BTMRR (10 min.) with everything else virtual walk-ons. I will say that the 7DMT line was intimidating in that it spilled out into the middle of the walkway. Despite that, with the fact they were using the FP line to load it never took longer than 12 min to board.

We cruised in around 6:45 pm, did JC, Alladin Carpets, Swiss Tree House, Haunted Mansion (small timeout to convince 7 year old they didnt really keep his soul), IASW, Dumbo X2, Little Mermaid, Astro Orbiter, Space Mountain X2, Buzz (same 7 year old got 450k blindly shooting and spinning our car around...no idea how), Tea Cups, Peter Pan, 7DMT X2, BTMRR X2. We walked out around 11:50, totally spent, full of ice cream, popcorn, and memories.
 
I too went last night (2/24) and had a great time. After spending the majority of the day at AK in wall-to-wall crowds last night's MK AH was refreshing in that the longest waits we had were 7DMT (12 min.) and BTMRR (10 min.) with everything else virtual walk-ons. I will say that the 7DMT line was intimidating in that it spilled out into the middle of the walkway. Despite that, with the fact they were using the FP line to load it never took longer than 12 min to board.

We cruised in around 6:45 pm, did JC, Alladin Carpets, Swiss Tree House, Haunted Mansion (small timeout to convince 7 year old they didnt really keep his soul), IASW, Dumbo X2, Little Mermaid, Astro Orbiter, Space Mountain X2, Buzz (same 7 year old got 450k blindly shooting and spinning our car around...no idea how), Tea Cups, Peter Pan, 7DMT X2, BTMRR X2. We walked out around 11:50, totally spent, full of ice cream, popcorn, and memories.
That sounds awesome! Hoping the April 5th one is just as great and doesn’t get oversold due to spring break.
 
I looked at wait times last night and saw 0 minutes posted for both Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. This was around 11:00 eastern. I thought maybe it was a glitch, but it sounds like it could have been accurate!
It was accurate! I couldn’t believe it. Walked right on multiple times. We had a great time last night at the after hours. I wish my kids weren’t so tired from the day, but we did enough to make us happy. We came around 6:45, poked around the shops, watched the fireworks, used our Buzz FP, rode People Mover, BTMR 2 or 3x, Space 3x, 7DMT 1x, Jungle Cruise, snacks and drinks, and just enjoyed the ambience.
 
Still waiting for a response to the email I sent complaining about the 2/17 event. For those who have gone this route about how long was your typical response time? Not that I expect much but at least a response outside of the automated we got your email and will review your feedback would be nice.
 
We also went last night. I was nervous after last week’s post, and the fact that we started our day before 4am CST to get to Disney. However, a pre-DAH nap helped!

As such, we got to MK around 745. I asked my girls how many rides we should try to get during our time, and the goal was 20. From start to finish:

Meet Ariel (FP)
Dumbo
Voyage of Little Mermaid
Tea cups
Haunted mansion

start Of official AH:
Pirates
BTMRR x2
Space mountain x4
Meet Cinderella, Elena, tiana, and Rapunzel (all spending PLENTY of time with my princess-loving girls)
Peter pan
SDMT
Buzz Lightyear

we could have done another ride at the end, but felt like we had done more than enough. We also stopped several times for multiple rounds of popcorn and ice cream.

I do think my 5 year old would’ve been happy staying on space mountain. It was her first time and she LOVED it! We spent more time walking on and off than waiting in line. SDMT was the longest, But that was only 15.

also, we found that asked CMs the true wait times was super effective. For instance, all princesses had 20 minutes listed when we went, and we walked right in.

weather was perfect, and would definitely do it again! Made today even harder to have to deal with crowds and lines again!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top