Epcot Moonlight Magic 3/30 Full Report

[Dancergirlmelody]

This was my first Moonlight Magic and honestly, it was incredible. We chose to spend the entire day in the park because we wanted to really enjoy the Flower & Garden festival, so it was an incredibly long day, but also a near-perfect Disney day. During the daytime, we could move slowly, appreciate the flowers and food, and really take our time to enjoy the park. During that time the only rides we did were single-rider for Ratatouille, 3 Caballeros, and Spaceship Eath, all as walk-ons.

We checked in for MM at about 5:30 and immediately read through the voucher info and event guide, which told us about the 11pm special firework show, the free ice cream, and how to use the vouchers. Knowing that the lines for food would get super long, we prioritized using our vouchers as soon as we could. Between hubby and I, we used all 6 vouchers before 8pm with no more than a 15 minute wait. 5 out of 6 we used on festival booths and 1 we used on cheese fries at the Smokehouse.

After Luminous at 9, which we watched from Japan, we walked quickly to Frozen. Posted wait time was 45 minutes, but we were off the ride within 35. We then went to Guardians which had a posted wait time of 30 minutes, with actual wait being about 35-40. (Between 9 and 10ish the app did not show wait times, so we went to these rides just hoping for the best. Later in the night, wait times seemed to facilitate wildly for Guardians, Frozen, and Ratatouille.) We got free ice cream, watched the special firework show (which was short, but excellent), then walked on Mission: Space and Figment. Soarin' was our final ride of the night with a 20ish minute wait. After that we just walked around and enjoyed the ambiance until heading out at 12:45. They were giving out Starburst gummies as the end of night treat.

So that was it! It was truly one of the best Disney experiences I've ever had. I know it's just dumb luck getting tickets because it's a lottery system, but if you get the opportunity, I highly recommend it! Feel free to ask any specific questions and I might have an answer!

 

[Girlstar30]

This was my first Moonlight Magic and honestly, it was incredible. We chose to spend the entire day in the park because we wanted to really enjoy the Flower & Garden festival, so it was an incredibly long day, but also a near-perfect Disney day. During the daytime, we could move slowly, appreciate the flowers and food, and really take our time to enjoy the park. During that time the only rides we did were single-rider for Ratatouille, 3 Caballeros, and Spaceship Eath, all as walk-ons.

We checked in for MM at about 5:30 and immediately read through the voucher info and event guide, which told us about the 11pm special firework show, the free ice cream, and how to use the vouchers. Knowing that the lines for food would get super long, we prioritized using our vouchers as soon as we could. Between hubby and I, we used all 6 vouchers before 8pm with no more than a 15 minute wait. 5 out of 6 we used on festival booths and 1 we used on cheese fries at the Smokehouse.

After Luminous at 9, which we watched from Japan, we walked quickly to Frozen. Posted wait time was 45 minutes, but we were off the ride within 35. We then went to Guardians which had a posted wait time of 30 minutes, with actual wait being about 35-40. (Between 9 and 10ish the app did not show wait times, so we went to these rides just hoping for the best. Later in the night, wait times seemed to facilitate wildly for Guardians, Frozen, and Ratatouille.) We got free ice cream, watched the special firework show (which was short, but excellent), then walked on Mission: Space and Figment. Soarin' was our final ride of the night with a 20ish minute wait. After that we just walked around and enjoyed the ambiance until heading out at 12:45. They were giving out Starburst gummies as the end of night treat.

So that was it! It was truly one of the best Disney experiences I've ever had. I know it's just dumb luck getting tickets because it's a lottery system, but if you get the opportunity, I highly recommend it! Feel free to ask any specific questions and I might have an answer!

What rare characters were there?

 

[VGCgroupie]

Im glad you had a great time, that is what is important. I have never attended a MM. I personally think those wait times are pretty high and not what I would have expected. Others that have attended MM's is this normal for wait times?

 

[cabloom]

We also went to the recent MM at Epcot and had a great time!

Rare characters - Esmarelda & Clopin (we got in line right after watching Luminous, about 9:30 - line was already forming. They didn’t come out until about 10:10 and we met them about 10:45. Remy & Emil were also in France, but we wanted to watch the fireworks (which were fantastic!) so skipped them. Thumper & Miss Bunny, Mr & Mrs Easter Bunny, Duffy, Miguel, Olaf, Mushu, White Rabbit and Rabbit - also skipped those so no idea on the lines for them. Judy Hopps, Stitch and Star-Lord & Gamora all had short lines after the fireworks.

Only did one ride, Guardians, and waited about 40 minutes.

We thought this MM was much more enjoyable than recent ones we’ve done at AK and HS, and better than the last one we did at Epcot after the closure. I’d say it was as good as the pre-closure one at Epcot in 2019.

We, like the OP, used our vouchers as early as possible with minimal waits and everything we got (all from the festival booths) was very good and plenty filling.

 

[Girlstar30]

We also went to the recent MM at Epcot and had a great time!

Rare characters - Esmarelda & Clopin (we got in line right after watching Luminous, about 9:30 - line was already forming. They didn’t come out until about 10:10 and we met them about 10:45. Remy & Emil were also in France, but we wanted to watch the fireworks (which were fantastic!) so skipped them. Thumper & Miss Bunny, Mr & Mrs Easter Bunny, Duffy, Miguel, Olaf, Mushu, White Rabbit and Rabbit - also skipped those so no idea on the lines for them. Judy Hopps, Stitch and Star-Lord & Gamora all had short lines after the fireworks.

Only did one ride, Guardians, and waited about 40 minutes.

We thought this MM was much more enjoyable than recent ones we’ve done at AK and HS, and better than the last one we did at Epcot after the closure. I’d say it was as good as the pre-closure one at Epcot in 2019.

We, like the OP, used our vouchers as early as possible with minimal waits and everything we got (all from the festival booths) was very good and plenty filling.

Oh man those rare characters are the reason I would buy direct for reals would love to meet Clopin and Remy, Ratatouille is my favorite Pixar film! I saw the pictures of all the bunnies, so cute! Definitely sounds like a blast!

 

[VGCgroupie]

Oh man those rare characters are the reason I would buy direct for reals would love to meet Clopin and Remy, Ratatouille is my favorite Pixar film! I saw the pictures of all the bunnies, so cute! Definitely sounds like a blast!

Yeah Im a sucker for rare characters

 

[foodiddiedoo]

We also went to the recent MM at Epcot and had a great time!

Rare characters - Esmarelda & Clopin (we got in line right after watching Luminous, about 9:30 - line was already forming. They didn’t come out until about 10:10 and we met them about 10:45. Remy & Emil were also in France, but we wanted to watch the fireworks (which were fantastic!) so skipped them. Thumper & Miss Bunny, Mr & Mrs Easter Bunny, Duffy, Miguel, Olaf, Mushu, White Rabbit and Rabbit - also skipped those so no idea on the lines for them. Judy Hopps, Stitch and Star-Lord & Gamora all had short lines after the fireworks.

Only did one ride, Guardians, and waited about 40 minutes.

We thought this MM was much more enjoyable than recent ones we’ve done at AK and HS, and better than the last one we did at Epcot after the closure. I’d say it was as good as the pre-closure one at Epcot in 2019.

We, like the OP, used our vouchers as early as possible with minimal waits and everything we got (all from the festival booths) was very good and plenty filling.

I’m aiming to get HS MM next week. Can you please expand on what you didn’t enjoy about the recent ones at HS? I have only been a DVC owner since 2024 so this would be my first MM as an owner. I did one years ago as a guest of someone else who owned DVC.

 

[cabloom]

We did the HS MM in Aug ‘24. It was fine, don’t get me wrong but whatever characters they had didn’t interest us - lots of Star Wars characters as I recall, and the ones we walked by had really long lines. I can’t actually find any pics of us at the event with any characters at all so if there were any we would’ve liked, the lines must’ve been too long because we do typically like character greets!

The food vouchers - the snack items at HS don’t lend themselves much to making an actual meal so I think we ended up with all sweet things like Wookie cookies, etc (which, to be fair, my husband was totally on board with!).

There was some sort of projection show on the theater, but it was pretty crowded and I don’t think it was unique to the event but I could be wrong about that. There was a Fantasmic show, also nothing unique about it but we did it because we don’t typically go see Fantasmic - it wasn’t too crowded so had great seats.

If we had really been into the SW characters (and maybe there were Marvel, too), I’m sure we would feel differently but I guess our overall impression was that there really wasn’t much “special” about it. It was just another pleasant evening in the park. It was a nice time and I don’t regret going - but the Epcot fireworks and character lineup made it feel like it was something unique.

 

[toesmom]

This was my first Moonlight Magic and honestly, it was incredible. We chose to spend the entire day in the park because we wanted to really enjoy the Flower & Garden festival, so it was an incredibly long day, but also a near-perfect Disney day. During the daytime, we could move slowly, appreciate the flowers and food, and really take our time to enjoy the park. During that time the only rides we did were single-rider for Ratatouille, 3 Caballeros, and Spaceship Eath, all as walk-ons.

We checked in for MM at about 5:30 and immediately read through the voucher info and event guide, which told us about the 11pm special firework show, the free ice cream, and how to use the vouchers. Knowing that the lines for food would get super long, we prioritized using our vouchers as soon as we could. Between hubby and I, we used all 6 vouchers before 8pm with no more than a 15 minute wait. 5 out of 6 we used on festival booths and 1 we used on cheese fries at the Smokehouse.

After Luminous at 9, which we watched from Japan, we walked quickly to Frozen. Posted wait time was 45 minutes, but we were off the ride within 35. We then went to Guardians which had a posted wait time of 30 minutes, with actual wait being about 35-40. (Between 9 and 10ish the app did not show wait times, so we went to these rides just hoping for the best. Later in the night, wait times seemed to facilitate wildly for Guardians, Frozen, and Ratatouille.) We got free ice cream, watched the special firework show (which was short, but excellent), then walked on Mission: Space and Figment. Soarin' was our final ride of the night with a 20ish minute wait. After that we just walked around and enjoyed the ambiance until heading out at 12:45. They were giving out Starburst gummies as the end of night treat.

So that was it! It was truly one of the best Disney experiences I've ever had. I know it's just dumb luck getting tickets because it's a lottery system, but if you get the opportunity, I highly recommend it! Feel free to ask any specific questions and I might have an answer!

Thanks for positing this, we are there in July hoping to get tickets for MM at epcot