Marathon Weekend 2023

I have done MNSSHP and the lines have never been very long. We did every ride in the park a couple weeks ago between 6 and 10 PM (before getting spots for fireworks, the second parade and the final Sanderson Sister show). Our longest wait was a posted 35 minutes for 7DMT that ended up being about 15. One of the biggest perks of the parties/after hours is that there is no Genie+ so the lines actually move.

After Hours parties have, historically, been lower attendance cap than Parties. Most After Hours reviews I’ve seen have said the parks felt virtually empty and most rides were walk-ons. I don’t think that would extend to offerings like RotR and SDD but they should still be much more manageable than normal. My primary concern is whether Disney continues to keep the same low attendance caps or whether they expand. Everything I’ve seen from the past indicates After Hours are very light crowds but they don’t advertise numbers so it’s a little bit of a roll of the dice.

My other concern with the HS After Hours is whether RotR and a couple other rides will be open for all of the parties. They leave it intentionally vague on the listings. If RotR has a bad day and they decide they need the extra time during the party to make sure it is ready to go the next day I imagine it will be closed. Pirates of the Caribbean was closed the whole night unexpectedly when I was at MNSSHP. I’d assume there’s an even higher chance of that with the notoriously unreliable RotR.

I’m hoping to get tickets for the MK After Hours on the 9th because entry at 7 should allow me to see the Fireworks and MK has enough attractions that even if a couple are shut down there should be more than enough open to disperse the crowd and allow for an enjoyable experience. Every time I’ve been to MNSSHP, and the reason we keep going back, I’ve been able to do more, at a much more enjoyable pace than I can do on a full day ticket. The experience may vary for others but I have found I prefer it to a regular day at the parks.

The price has a lot of variables. For me, I don’t have an AP so a ticket to an After Hours party is basically the same as a day ticket with Genie+. While I can’t say for certain on the after hours event, I have definitely found MNSSHP well worth the price. For someone who has an AP or is already planning on doing the After Hours park on the same trip, I think your mileage may vary on the cost/benefit analysis.

Sorry for the novella.
I actually like novellas in cases like this, so thank you! I want to get all of the information before I decide to pull the trigger. I was curious about RotR and this is good insight. My only other experience with something like this was doing an Orlando Informer meet-up one weekend before the pandemic. I bought the ticket to the event because it touted that you could ride Hagrid over and over, which ended up being a lie. By the time the regular park visitors cleared the queue hours after the park closed (because they let people join the queue right up until the park closed), it left time for the event goers to ride Hagrid *maybe* once if you immediately got in line, and even then it was almost an hour wait. The rides are the draw for me with DAH, so any insight is much appreciated.

If I did buy a ticket to DAH, I would do it instead of a park ticket that day, especially because it's the day that I arrive and check in to BC. I could hit the expo that afternoon and chill for a bit before entering DHS at 7:00 PM without wasting a park ticket that would only be good for half a day or so of park time anyway.
 
I have done MNSSHP and the lines have never been very long. We did every ride in the park a couple weeks ago between 6 and 10 PM (before getting spots for fireworks, the second parade and the final Sanderson Sister show). Our longest wait was a posted 35 minutes for 7DMT that ended up being about 15. One of the biggest perks of the parties/after hours is that there is no Genie+ so the lines actually move.

After Hours parties have, historically, been lower attendance cap than Parties. Most After Hours reviews I’ve seen have said the parks felt virtually empty and most rides were walk-ons. I don’t think that would extend to offerings like RotR and SDD but they should still be much more manageable than normal. My primary concern is whether Disney continues to keep the same low attendance caps or whether they expand. Everything I’ve seen from the past indicates After Hours are very light crowds but they don’t advertise numbers so it’s a little bit of a roll of the dice.

My other concern with the HS After Hours is whether RotR and a couple other rides will be open for all of the parties. They leave it intentionally vague on the listings. If RotR has a bad day and they decide they need the extra time during the party to make sure it is ready to go the next day I imagine it will be closed. Pirates of the Caribbean was closed the whole night unexpectedly when I was at MNSSHP. I’d assume there’s an even higher chance of that with the notoriously unreliable RotR.

I’m hoping to get tickets for the MK After Hours on the 9th because entry at 7 should allow me to see the Fireworks and MK has enough attractions that even if a couple are shut down there should be more than enough open to disperse the crowd and allow for an enjoyable experience. Every time I’ve been to MNSSHP, and the reason we keep going back, I’ve been able to do more, at a much more enjoyable pace than I can do on a full day ticket. The experience may vary for others but I have found I prefer it to a regular day at the parks.

The price has a lot of variables. For me, I don’t have an AP so a ticket to an After Hours party is basically the same as a day ticket with Genie+. While I can’t say for certain on the after hours event, I have definitely found MNSSHP well worth the price. For someone who has an AP or is already planning on doing the After Hours park on the same trip, I think your mileage may vary on the cost/benefit analysis.

Sorry for the novella.
I appreciate the novella also. I don't think the party fits in my budget, but curious about the food offerings? I'm sure it's different for the parties, but any insights you may have...
 
I did them in February and I won't do it again. My DIS profile pic is from that session. If I hadn't bought Memory Maker for my entire visit, I'd have been disappointed by the output. The photographer took random pics with random backgrounds that had nothing to do with runDisney. And I'm the one who asked for the over-the-shoulder pics.
Do you think you just got a bad photographer or were you just looking for more runDisney specific stuff? I'm just interested in getting something that "looks" like I was in the park. I understand it won't be quite the same and obviously the real thing was better. I was just trying to see if it was worth the savings. But maybe I'll just bite the bullet and go to MK after the half...
 
but curious about the food offerings?

I haven't looked at the promos for the current DAH, but in the past, you got free bottled drinks (soda or water), popcorn, ice cream and fruit bars. IIRC, there weren't any special foods available and in fact, once the park shut down to day guests, very few food places remained open.

Pro-tip: Bring a ziplock bag to dump your popcorn in. That way you can munch on it while in line for rides and then seal it up for the ride.
 


I appreciate the novella also. I don't think the party fits in my budget, but curious about the food offerings? I'm sure it's different for the parties, but any insights you may have...

Exactly as @sandam1 described is what I would expect. After Hours are different than the Halloween and Christmas Party; the bottled Coke products, popcorn, and a selection of frozen treats are free but there is very little else in the park open to purchase.

There will be things open when you are able to enter at 7:00, but I don’t believe you can get anything free until the After Hours officially starts at 9:30 (HS) or 10:00 (MK).
 


Following the Twitter account paid off, was finally able to snag a Dopey registration! Hopefully they refund the half and 5k registrations I have in my name still.
Congrats! Was this yesterday? I saw the notification after I got home from work and almost cried I was so upset I missed it. It was the first window (at least that the Twitter account has shown) since July.
 
Congrats! Was this yesterday? I saw the notification after I got home from work and almost cried I was so upset I missed it. It was the first window (at least that the Twitter account has shown) since July.
Yes. It was gone very quickly. I got the 10k notification right after and when I went to register my son within seconds it was gone. Got lucky I guess. Hopefully you get one soon.
 
If any of you are leaving from Disney January 10 or later, and flying on Southwest, they're having a fare sale until this Thursday. Might save yourself a few bucks!
I'm doing a 10k in Dallas in December and booked my airfare after seeing this! I saved myself $20 each way, and then made up for that by purchasing early bird boarding for $20 each way 😅
 
Following the Twitter account paid off, was finally able to snag a Dopey registration! Hopefully they refund the half and 5k registrations I have in my name still.
Can you (or anyone else) please re-share the Twitter handle? I'm realizing I really need to try to switch from Full to Half instead of just running half of the full, because I really need to be home for a thing that Monday. :headache: (There's a story in here about how I've never before had a race weekend just actively fight back to keep me from it like this one is doing, but it's pretty whiney and self-centered, so I'll spare you lol!)
 
Can you (or anyone else) please re-share the Twitter handle? I'm realizing I really need to try to switch from Full to Half instead of just running half of the full, because I really need to be home for a thing that Monday. :headache: (There's a story in here about how I've never before had a race weekend just actively fight back to keep me from it like this one is doing, but it's pretty whiney and self-centered, so I'll spare you lol!)
Sure, it is https://twitter.com/runDisRegStatus
However, I am not sure you can switch down, only up. Maybe someone can confirm.
 
Can you (or anyone else) please re-share the Twitter handle? I'm realizing I really need to try to switch from Full to Half instead of just running half of the full, because I really need to be home for a thing that Monday. :headache: (There's a story in here about how I've never before had a race weekend just actively fight back to keep me from it like this one is doing, but it's pretty whiney and self-centered, so I'll spare you lol!)
it's RunDisRegStatus
and there's a telegram app (or something like that??) that's supposedly a little more reliable/quicker than the twitterbot
 
Yes. It was gone very quickly. I got the 10k notification right after and when I went to register my son within seconds it was gone. Got lucky I guess. Hopefully you get one soon.
Did you just do a new registration from the event page or were you able to switch your registration from one of the races you already had? Also, does anyone know whether runDisney consistently refunds other races if you end up doing a new registration? The next time Dopey opens I want to make sure I'm giving myself the best chance to get it, but I also don't want to blow the money if I can't get my Goofy registration fee back.
 

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