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

[Captainkidd76]

We went last night 7/1 to the Villians After Hours. We had a good time, but there were more people than I expected. The lines for the rides we went on weren’t long, but most were never walk-on either. We didn’t really have a plan and just rode whatever we wanted, that had a short wait. There were plenty of snack carts all over the park and everything was nice and cold.

Before event: (arrived around 6:45-7ish)
Carousel of Progress
Space Mountain FP
Speedway
Mine Train FP
Splash Mountain FP
BTMR

During:
Splash Mountain
BTMR
Pirates
Aladdin
Haunted Mansion
People Mover
Buzz

We stopped for snacks at various locations and did some magic shots. We watched the final stage show and Maleficent come through. It was fun, but I probably wouldn’t do it again. I’d rather do a “real” DAH or an actual party with parades and fireworks.

Also, we took the ferry back to Fort Wilderness. It was shared with Wilderness Lodge. The boat went to WL first, then to FW. There were earlier reports that it was closed. But they were running last night. I had asked the CM on the ferry earlier in the day and he said they’d be running until 2:00 AM. So we had no trouble getting back.

That worries me about the wait times. Honestly, we won't bother with 7DWT. But I would like to get a couple rides each on the 3 mountains, and 1 on everything else. Back in the days of e-ride nights, we could do everything multiple times.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Attended the Villains party on Monday, 7/1. Arrived around 8:00 pm used 3 fast passes then watched fireworks. Rode PP with 10 min wait, walked onto HM, LM, POC, and JC. Didn’t see a line on outside of 7DMT. Hung around Liberty Square eating Mickey Bars waiting for Malificent. There was an announcement around 10:40 that there would be a delay in her appearance. Then finally they announced she was cancelled. We left and rode more rides. did see her during her 2nd scheduled appearance. It was amazing...no crowds around and she came right by us.
So, anybody ever drive an ECV off a curb?! Right in front of railroad station so busy watching Lady Tremaine and her daughters wasn’t paying any attention.
No injuries just extreme mortification!

It has been reported temps were in 80s but it really didn’t feel that warm unless you were just coming out of an air conditioned area. Drinks were cold, pop corn was really good. Ice cream wasn’t frozen solid but our Mickey Bars were not falling off the sticks this time. We had a great evening didn’t watch the show as we did that on 6/27. Crowd definitely larger than regular DAH nites but rides really did seem to be walk-on or short waits. Some refreshment carts had no lines and if there was a line it moved very quickly. Seemed like more carts on Monday 7/1 than there were at party last week. Definitely way more carts than the regular DAH nights. We waited less than a minute to buy the cookie/brownie thing in liberty square and stopped in bakery on way out and bought the poison apple cupcake, nobody in bakery but us. Very glad we went and considering the extreme hot temps during the day we felt this was $ well spent! Oh BTW we are not necessarily huge “Villains” fans...

 

[GlassSlipper13]

Attended the Villains party on Monday, 7/1. Arrived around 8:00 pm used 3 fast passes then watched fireworks. Rode PP with 10 min wait, walked onto HM, LM, POC, and JC. Didn’t see a line on outside of 7DMT. Hung around Liberty Square eating Mickey Bars waiting for Malificent. There was an announcement around 10:40 that there would be a delay in her appearance. Then finally they announced she was cancelled. We left and rode more rides. did see her during her 2nd scheduled appearance. It was amazing...no crowds around and she came right by us.
So, anybody ever drive an ECV off a curb?! Right in front of railroad station so busy watching Lady Tremaine and her daughters wasn’t paying any attention.
No injuries just extreme mortification!

It has been reported temps were in 80s but it really didn’t feel that warm unless you were just coming out of an air conditioned area. Drinks were cold, pop corn was really good. Ice cream wasn’t frozen solid but our Mickey Bars were not falling off the sticks this time. We had a great evening didn’t watch the show as we did that on 6/27. Crowd definitely larger than regular DAH nites but rides really did seem to be walk-on or short waits. Some refreshment carts had no lines and if there was a line it moved very quickly. Seemed like more carts on Monday 7/1 than there were at party last week. Definitely way more carts than the regular DAH nights. We waited less than a minute to buy the cookie/brownie thing in liberty square and stopped in bakery on way out and bought the poison apple cupcake, nobody in bakery but us. Very glad we went and considering the extreme hot temps during the day we felt this was $ well spent! Oh BTW we are not necessarily huge “Villains” fans...

Thank you so much for your review! Quick question: do you happen to know what time you were in Main Street Bakery? We were hoping to get the poison apple cupcakes on our way out too, but we were worried that the Bakery might close at 1am......Thank you!!

 

[Lsdolphin]

Thank you so much for your review! Quick question: do you happen to know what time you were in Main Street Bakery? We were hoping to get the poison apple cupcakes on our way out too, but we were worried that the Bakery might close at 1am......Thank you!!

It was around 1215 when we left...you could pop your head on your way up main st and ask what time they are closing...it was delicious

 

[GlassSlipper13]

It was around 1215 when we left...you could pop your head on your way up main st and ask what time they are closing...it was delicious

Thank you!!

 

[Lsdolphin]

Thank you!!

Welcome...the Poison Apple cupcake is huge and won’t fit into the plastic containers they put other cupcakes in they were serving it in a bowl shaped container but put mine in a square brown box with a second box covering it so I could bring it back to room.

 

[Mrjoshua]

Belated review for 6/27 Villains After Hours:
First, some quick observations...
- Definitely more crowded than regular After Hours
- Villain merch was available around 6:30pm
- Villain menu items were NOT available until 10pm
- Train station villains left and came back out multiple times after 1am
- Fastpass lines were made available to wristbanded party guests at 10pm, to bypass regular park guests still in line.

Overall, we thought it was great time, and a fun way to do the Magic Kingdom. Sinister lighting, graphics, and music made for a diabolical setting. Loved the villain silhouettes and imagery festooning the park.

Our goal was to do a little bit of everything between 10pm and 1-2am. We wanted to ride the overlay rides, sample the treats, take some Magic Shots, see the stage show, and be curbside for Maleficent. We also wanted to check out the train station villain hecklers.

Here's what we actually accomplished...
- Rode Villain Space Mountain x 1
- Rode People Mover x 1
- Rode Pirates of the Caribbean x 1
- Malificent Cone
- Headless Horseman Browkie
- Tarot Card Tart
- Hades Temptation Mocktail
- Hades Nachos
- Not-So-Poison Apple Cupcake
- Scar Magic Shot
- Hades Magic Shot
- Villains Unite the Night show
- Malificent
- Train Station villains

As many have said, we weren't able to do it all in one night, but we were able to do a little bit of this and that. We liked the ride overlays, and most of the treats were fun (HH Browkie won the award for most unenthusiastically themed dessert; something pumpkin flavored would've been a better fit). The stage show was worth seeing at least once, and the Magic Shots turned out nicely. Malificent at night is truly a commanding spectacle. The train station villains gave a wicked end to the evening.

 

[Ksquared]

It looks like you hit everything at the right time! I was leaning against not buying tickets for August 8th, but now I may have to rethink that...

I had also talked myself out of tickets for 8/8 but am seriously reconsidering. I think if I don't do it, I will regret it. Yes, it's allot of money for the 4 of us but it's an experience that we've never done before and looks pretty cool

 

[PPFlight75]

Lol, I was just updating the date tables on Page 1 where I keep track of dates, sold out status, weather, etc. I am not one to discussion/mention weather at WDW - it's Florida after all - but the 10pm temp Monday night was a whopping 88 degrees. Wowsers! Not sure how some of you do costumes or anything other than shorts/t-shirts in that!

I’m usually cool at night but opted for shorts instead of pants. Glad I did. It was so hot and humid that night!

 

[rpfennig]

I attended the 6/13 Villains After Hours and realize in retrospect that I forgot the first rule of Disney World ("Always have a plan", followed by the second rule "No plan survives contact with the enemy"... which makes it sound like I have a more hostile relationship with Disney World than intended).

I ended up splitting time between rides, shows and trying to track down merchandise (got the t-shirt, thought there was a pin set that would have gone well with the "Villainous" board game but didn't find it). Caught the midnight Villains stage show and spent an inordinate amount of time following the Maleficent float around on its early run waiting for it to breath fire... multiple times (though, to be fair... its really cool).

For rides, I made sure to do the Pirates and Space Mountain overlays. Pirates was a walk on but Space Mountain felt like the same wait as the previous Saturday when I did it as a park close and it ate up about 30 minutes. Peter Pan was pretty much a walk on and I was able to do Big Thunder Mountain a couple times along with some other smaller rides earlier in the evening.

If I were to do it over, I'd skip the merchandise scavenger hunt and do the 1:00 show instead to have more time for rides. I ended up leaving closer to 1:00 (I was weak and mocked for my weakness by the villains as I left) in part because I had a conference workshop the next morning.

 

[maryj11]

I was able to go on June 27th. I had a work conference in Orlando and my co-workers and I were desperate to do a night at Disney and when this event came out we decided to go for it. The only bummer is H20 Glow Nights was the same night for us and if one of the events had been on Wednesday it would've been nice.

The overall transportation for the night was pretty quick. The tram and the monorail were pretty quick. Once we were in the gate and through security we were in around 6:45. We were able to ride alot but two of us aren't big rollercoaster people so it may not be as exciting of a report. It was one of my co-worker's first trip to Disney so I feel like we stopped more and took pictures and looked at things.

We rode
Peter Pan- FP
Small World
Splash Mountain- FP
Haunted Mansion- FP
Little Mermaid- FP
Watched HEA for a few minutes
We ate at Cosmic Ray's for dinner
POC- 20 minute wait- the entire area was packed but it was also just turning 10 and people were starting to leave
Buzz Lightyear- walk on
Winnie the pooh- walk on
Peter Pan- 5 minute wait
Mickey Philaharmonic- walk on
Peoplemover- walk on

We did watch some of the show and the dj. We left about 1:15. The night flew by though. We rode the Ferrryboat back to parking and was able to get on a tram pretty quickly. 7DMT had a huge line that we didn't feel like braving. Space Mountain had a few minute wait before we went on Peoplemover then one of the shows let out and there was an large crowd running to Space Mountain. The overall crowd level wasn't bad at all. This was my first after hours event so it was nice to see and not feel crowded. The free treats were nice. The popcorn was fresh all night and my co-workers ate multiple strawberry bars and we drank alot of water.

Same night we were there. We got there and went in about the same time as you.

 

[maryj11]

I have this video. Not the greatest but thought I would post it.

https://flic.kr/p/2gropkk

 

[GADisneyDad14]

A big thanks to the 41 DISers who have stopped by since VAH started to post about their experiences. Bloggers/Vloggers/Etc serve their purpose, but in my opinion nothing beats the collective experiences of 'real' guests. Review links can be found on Post #10.

 

[maryj11]

I had also talked myself out of tickets for 8/8 but am seriously reconsidering. I think if I don't do it, I will regret it. Yes, it's allot of money for the 4 of us but it's an experience that we've never done before and looks pretty cool

When we were there it was in the 90's during the day the highest temp was 97 on one day. If we did not go to the After Hours I know we would of not of enjoyed MK and HS as much as we did. It really was a needed event during that week because during the day was just miserable. There was just no way we could stand the heat in the middle of the day. We did do rope drop at AK 8:00am opening and I was sweating before we went through security. Our last day temps dropped below 90, but I'm so glad we did go to the AH events.

 

[Mrjoshua]

Review number 2! 7/1 Villains After Hours:

It might seem silly to post about my second event, especially after reviewing the first. We lined things up differently, and had another great time on Monday night/Tuesday morning.

A few quick observations...
- I can't stress this enough. The overlay rides (PotC and SM) have fastpass lanes or side queues available that open at exactly 10pm. This is important because Thursday, we saw wristbanded guests waiting in the regular queue for SM, with last minute regular park guests, which is a MUCH longer line.
- We got an unexpected surprise by arriving at PotC 20 minutes before 10pm. It had no wait before the official party time, and we got a boat all to ourselves! Immediately afterward (maybe 10 minutes before 10pm), we got in line to experience the ride with live pirates.
- Fantasy Faire had a broader selection of villain merchandise than any of the other stores we came across (Oogie Boogie and Evil Queen shirts, villain mugs, villain pins... etc).
- We could hear the SM Villain soundtrack much better on Monday night. We were able to identify several villainous voices and phrases, whereas Thursday it seemed muddy and indiscernible. Perhaps they tinkered with the sound.

Here's what we accomplished between 10pm and 1-2am...
- Pirates of the Caribbean x 1
- Hades Nachos
- Maleficent Magic Shot
- Oogie Boogie Magic Shot
- Villains Space Mountain x 2
- Emperor Zurg Noodles and Yzma's Llama Potion
- Villains Space Mountain x 2 again
- Free drinks, popcorn, and ice cream
- Maleficent
- Train Station villains

We had another great night, and accomplished all the wants between both nights. I probably liked Monday a little better because we slipped in a couple more rides on Space Mountain; each time we heard something new.

I recommend Villains After Hours largely for the atmosphere and uniqueness. It really adds a different feel to the Magic Kingdom, and I say that having attended prior MK AH, MNSSHP, and MVMCP. There were unexpected visual treats like a Bowler Hat Guy photo backdrop in Tomorrowland, and Kaa's hypnotic eyes staring out from a marquee in Adventureland. While the DJ at the castle was playing top of the pops type stuff, there were deviously dark instrumentals being played in each of the lands. An amalgamation of things helped to keep the ominous mood.

If you're just looking to maximize rides, I would recommend regular MK AH over the Villains version. It's going to be less crowded, with no parade dragon to contend with, and no castle congestion, for a cheaper price. However, if you dig the villains, or are looking for a different MK experience, I'd recommend trying Villains After Hours.

 

[Dug720]

So sorry if I have missed this... Is there a list of the places where the event merch is being sold?

 

[Mrjoshua]

From the pamphlet:

 

[Dug720]

From the pamphlet:View attachment 414769

Thank you!

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

This might be a really dumb question, but I've never done an AH event before and I need logistics help - I purchased tickets for my group (9 adults including me) to Villians with my DVC discount and received paper things to print at home.

So.. we printed them out.

When we get to MK, do we go to guest services and they turn into plastic card tickets for those people in my group without magic bands? (Which is everyone except me and my husband?) This is our only night at Disney, and no one else is going to download MDE and get into all that jazz.

 

[DreadBaroness]

"When we get to MK, do we go to guest services and they turn into plastic card tickets for those people in my group without magic bands? (Which is everyone except me and my husband?) This is our only night at Disney, and no one else is going to download MDE and get into all that jazz."

Your paper (so long as it has a scannable square) will be exchanged for a wristband, not a Magic Band, but a rubber wrist band at a gate marked for the After Hours Event. You and your party can enter as early as 7pm, sometimes a few minutes before.