Moonlight Magic V Extra Magic Hours & Are These Days To Avoid A Park?

[Mkaiser1]

Hi all,

Well, having bought our DVC membership a few years ago we resigned ourselves to the fact that we just won’t ever get to a Moonlight Magic event given we’re in the UK. But we’re there in February when the first Moonlight Magic event is on in EPCOT! We’re very excited about that!

But then comes the questions of - Is Moonlight Magic significantly better than the Extra Magic Hours we get in the evenings for staying in Riv? Are queues shorter? Is the park emptier?

And then comes the other question - We were planning on being in HS that day. Should we instead park pass EPCOT and just stay til late? Will EPCOT be busier as a result? The park’s usual opening hours are the same that day (they’re not shutting earlier), so presumably it won’t be any quieter?

Any advice and info and help gratefully recieved!!

 

[tjkraz]

Moonlight Magic events are open to ~10k DVC members who obtained tickets. Pretty much everyone who has a ticket will be there.

Extended Evening Hours are open to more than 50k guests staying in all Deluxe hotels and DVC villas. But only a fraction will attend.

Since MM is essentially a private event, I would expect less occurrences of people flocking to the park earlier in the day. MM will be better than the typical Extended Evening Hours, but don't expect lines to be nonexistent. Most attendees will gravitate to Test Track, Remy, Frozen and Guardians.

 

[CarolynFH]

MM usually comes with free snacks, appearances by rare characters, and sometimes other special perks that DEEH don’t get. Given a choice, I’d rather go to MM if offered on the same night.

But neither MM nor DEEH have noticeable effects on park attendance.

 

[Mkaiser1]

Thank you both very much! That’s great info! When we come we tend to be there for a long time but have to have an itinerary which I’m now re-doing so that we’re not pinging around the whole of WDW before getting to an MM evening in EPCOT! And have to squeeze in getting back to Riv to settle our little ones down with my parents before heading back out to MM. But of course I’ve already got reservations at restaurants I can’t really move too so quite complivated!

 

[TCRAIG]

I’ve done both - MM and Deluxe extra hours - MM is better!

 

[dez1978]

I’ve done both - MM and Deluxe extra hours - MM is better!

How do those compare to the After Hours things?

 

[Pooh12863]

Hi all,

Well, having bought our DVC membership a few years ago we resigned ourselves to the fact that we just won’t ever get to a Moonlight Magic event given we’re in the UK. But we’re there in February when the first Moonlight Magic event is on in EPCOT! We’re very excited about that!

But then comes the questions of - Is Moonlight Magic significantly better than the Extra Magic Hours we get in the evenings for staying in Riv? Are queues shorter? Is the park emptier?

And then comes the other question - We were planning on being in HS that day. Should we instead park pass EPCOT and just stay til late? Will EPCOT be busier as a result? The park’s usual opening hours are the same that day (they’re not shutting earlier), so presumably it won’t be any quieter?

Any advice and info and help gratefully recieved!!

Events that close parks early for regular guests (MNSSHP, MVMCP) tend to have lower crowds and shorter lines during the day. I haven't noticed the same to be true for any after hours events.

 

[tjkraz]

How do those compare to the After Hours things?

Moonlight Magic and (paid) Disney After Hours are basically the same thing. They're separate ticketed events with capped attendance.

Extended Evening Hours is open to all Deluxe and DVC resort guests. There is no park attendance cap and no extra fee. Generally speaking, I'd expect Extended Evening Hours to be busier.

 

[TCRAIG]

How do those compare to the After Hours things?

I’d put MM about on par with paid after hours events - less busy than MNSSHP and MVMCP - based on last year