oceanmarina
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2004
Episode VII: Disney After Hours (Part 3)
After enjoying a nearly empty Philharmagic, it was time to head over to a brand new ride for me - another Disney first. We narrowly missed the opening of this ride on my last trip, so I was really excited to try out...
The Seven Dwarves Mine Train. While the wait time was posted at 20 minutes (by far the longest we saw) we were moving and on the ride so quickly, I didn't even get a chance to take any pictures in the queue!
I absolutely LOVED this ride and found it to be worth the wait. I was surprised by how smooth the ride is. One of the reasons I hate BTMRR and refuse to ride it is because I feel like I get tossed around like a rag doll. I could have ridden this over and over again, but alas, our journey needed to continue, so off we went to...
Why...the Journey of the Little Mermaid of course! While I still needed to figure out my camera settings, I managed to get some good shots on the ride.
Prince Eric's castle is so beautiful at night!
We headed further into New Fantasyland, and not much was happening at Gaston's tavern...
We made our way towards our final destination of the night...but not without stopping to take backside of the castle pictures...
Is this not the most beautiful site you’ve seen? And as you can tell, completely deserted.
Finally, we reached our final destination...
That ten minutes is a complete fib. This ride was also a walk on. For the first time ever, I experienced motion sickness on a ride. I've rode space mountain about a million times in my life...and it's never been an issue. But I did not enjoy this ride on this evening. We took a quick spin on Buzz Lightyear, well, because we could. And while Emily definitely beat me, it was unanimous that we both sucked at this game.
The smell of popcorn lingered in the distance so we each got a soda and a water, plus a popcorn (all included with the price of admission). I NEVER eat popcorn at home, not even at the movies, but Disney popcorn is delicious!
At this point, it was approaching 11:30. We literally had nothing else we wanted to ride so we slowly made our way down Main Street. The Emporium was the only shop open, so we quickly browsed our way through. I don't think either of us was in a shopping mood. Unfortunately, when we got back to the hotel that night and were looking at our passes, we discovered there was limited edition merchandise available only at the event, which we did not happen to see at the Emporium. Bummer!
We also discovered that the monorail was not running to either the resorts or the TTC (we were parked at the Poly still). I know. Rebel rule breakers we were. We did ask when we arrived at the Poly and they told us it was fine to park there (we paid for valet) while we went to the Magic Kingdom.
Anyway, we had to take a bus, which stopped at Wilderness Lodge first, before arriving back at the Poly and heading back to the hotel. At this point, as you can tell from lack of pictures - we were both beat. My lack of sleep and travel day had definitely gotten to me. Thankfully, its a much shorter drive back to your resort when you are driving yourself.
We made it back to the room and I was pleased to find out my bag had been dropped off and my Garden Grocer order delivered. They were even kind enough to put the refrigerated items (coffee creamer and soy milk) away in the fridge. In the past, I remember having to call down to bell services to have the Garden Grocer items brought up, so this was nice, especially since it was about 12:15 when we finally arrived back.
Final Thoughts on Disney After Hours
I know a lot has been said on the boards about the price tag of this event. We found that to be more than reasonable. Truthfully, I would have paid twice what we did to attend. We were able to ride everything we wanted to and had 30 minutes to spare. This is by far the closest I will ever be to being the only person in the Magic Kingdom.
I think some may be disappointed if they're comparing this event to the Halloween or Christmas parties. This event is simply about access - there are no special character meet n' greets, no parade and no fireworks. Some have compared it to the Evening Extra Magic Hours from a few years ago. I'm not sure what nights they went...but the park was significantly less crowded than during EMH. The longest wait we had was for Philharmagic and it was because we missed the show start time. Everything else was a walk on and they very quickly removed anyone from the park who was not part of the event. At many times we were the only people in sight, which being at night was almost eerie. We loved it and hope they continue to offer this event on a limited basis!
My only complaint, if I had to make one, was they only offered ice cream and popcorn as a snack. It was very chilly/windy on our night and while I would have adored a Mickey Bar, it was too cold for one. It would have been nice to have other options. But seriously insignificant and in no way hampered our evening!
Up Next: A Magic Kingdom Morning, Lunch at Be Our Guest and My Most Exciting Disney Adventure Yet!
Love the updates, your pictures are fantastic, may I ask what camera you are using?
It's very sad to say but it is a brave thing to watch a parade at Magic Kingdom alone. I went quite a few times as a single mother and grown adults (men and woman) would cut, push and shove us. 
