"Official" 2018 Disney After Hours (DAH) Thread (Now Closed, see New 2019 Thread)

[TheNameless]

I wonder if they have increased the Party size. I also saw a few groups where not everyone had a lanyard but all were enjoying drinks and ice cream. I even heard them discuss how they were sharing the lanyards passing them back and forth to do rides. Not sure how they got away with this as I was stopped a few times just going between lands and checked to make sure I had a lanyard.

Lanyards are so easy to share. Hopefully Disney looks into this and uses wrist bands like they do for the parties.

 

[scjo68]

I would not be surprised if they have increased the capacity. If they have not been selling a lot of tickets this summer (and they must not have, for them to invite bloggers for free, to get this huge marketing push) then they were not making money on this. So there would be no financial reason for them to cap the number of tickets sold if this big marketing campaign works.

It would be a shame if all of the videos showing how “the park is empty and every ride is a walk-on!” cause larger crowds to come, since the whole reason for this event was to admit only a small number of guests. This would be similar to a great restaurant getting rave reviews, becoming suddenly popular, and letting quality decline due to large crowds. I hope that WDW does not allow it to happen, but I don't know if they would turn away money in order to preserve the guest experience either.

 

[Haley R]

I feel like I haven't seen very many people with character meet & greets in their reviews. Am I silly for planning on prioritizing this? I'd like to do Princess Fairytale Hall and Ariel, at a minimum. My family is only me, DH, and DS9. It's a tough sell for me to get them to stand in line to meet a princess, so I thought this would be a good opportunity if it wouldn't waste too much time in line. I assume the waits for these are minimal during DAH, but I haven't seen anyone mention actually doing these during the event. Can anyone give me their experiences here?

We met all of the princesses in March at the event because our niece was with us. It would have been no wait but we had a woman in front of us by herself that took about 5-10 minutes talking with each princess. It wasn’t a big deal but our niece just wanted a picture lol. I say go for it! At the end of dah in March they were standing outside talking to guests.

 

[Haley R]

I wonder if they have increased the Party size. I also saw a few groups where not everyone had a lanyard but all were enjoying drinks and ice cream. I even heard them discuss how they were sharing the lanyards passing them back and forth to do rides. Not sure how they got away with this as I was stopped a few times just going between lands and checked to make sure I had a lanyard.

Oh wow that’s horrible. I didn’t notice that happening but that is so bad that people would think that’s okay. It makes me sad that other people are going to ruin this event for me. I just won’t go again if it continues. Have you contacted guest services about that? I think that’s something they should know so they can look out for it.

 

[123SA]

Isn’t Disney used to this? Don’t they herd out the non party guests for Halloween and Christmas parties? Why wouldn’t they do they for this event?

I hate that people are sharing the lanyards. That’s flat out stealing. As a paying customer, I feel like Disney should be making an effort to limit this event to paying guests.

 

[Haley R]

Isn’t Disney used to this? Don’t they herd out the non party guests for Halloween and Christmas parties? Why wouldn’t they do they for this event?

I hate that people are sharing the lanyards. That’s flat out stealing. As a paying customer, I feel like Disney should be making an effort to limit this event to paying guests.

Yep they do it for the parties. I’m not really sure why they don’t do it for dah. I can say that I saw LOTS of cms at the lanyard locations, especially the one by pirates. There were about 5-6 cms standing there.

 

[DisHeels]

I'll be attending the August 4th DAH. Still debating whether I should try to ride as many rides, take it easy, or watch Country Bear Jamboree x10 times. Lol.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I'll be attending the August 4th DAH. Still debating whether I should try to ride as many rides, take it easy, or watch Country Bear Jamboree x10 times. Lol.

Obviously Country Bears. Duh!

Have fun.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Oh wow that’s horrible. I didn’t notice that happening but that is so bad that people would think that’s okay. It makes me sad that other people are going to ruin this event for me. I just won’t go again if it continues. Have you contacted guest services about that? I think that’s something they should know so they can look out for it.

I did not contact guest services but I did say something at 2 different snack carts just so they would be aware but there is nothing they can do since a lot of people probably come and ask for multiple items instead of having everyone in their group come and stand in line. I should have taken a photo of the one group I saw passing around their lanyards I wish I had taken a video and posted but then that might just have given more people the idea...I didn't see the point of going to guest services since I didn't think they were going to run out and try to find that group of people.

 

[Haley R]

I did not contact guest services but I did say something at 2 different snack carts just so they would be aware but there is nothing they can do since a lot of people probably come and ask for multiple items instead of having everyone in their group come and stand in line. I should have taken a photo of the one group I saw passing around their lanyards I wish I had taken a video and posted but then that might just have given more people the idea...I didn't see the point of going to guest services since I didn't think they were going to run out and try to find that group of people.

I didn't mean stop by guest services. I'm actually going to email them right now and say I saw the same thing happening. I obviously didn't, but they need to know. There's no reason they can't treat DAH the same as parties by trying to get everyone out. Also, instead of a lanyard they should use wristbands like the parties. They won't know to change anything if they don't hear from people's experiences.

 

[Haley R]

Now that I've finally had a chance to sit down and look through all of my pictures, I thought I would post some on here:

This is a picture from the DAH on March 1. You can clearly see there is hardly anyone in the picture. This was at 11:30 pm on a midnight closing.

This was Saturday night at about 1:30 am. I think you can definitely see the difference in crowds by the castle.

I thought this picture was kind of cool. This was right before we went to Main Street. Everyone cleared out of Tomorrowland pretty fast when DAH ended, but stuck around Main Street for awhile.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I wonder if this last event was more crowded because of all the bloggers they invited for free on 7/14

 

[Lsdolphin]

I didn't mean stop by guest services. I'm actually going to email them right now and say I saw the same thing happening. I obviously didn't, but they need to know. There's no reason they can't treat DAH the same as parties by trying to get everyone out. Also, instead of a lanyard they should use wristbands like the parties. They won't know to change anything if they don't hear from people's experiences.

I think wristbands would make a huge difference.

 

[mcurrence]

I think wristbands would make a huge difference.

I would write an email too... my concern about the magic band is that it would be harder to spot those who didn’t have tickets? Don’t they give you a special paper wrist band for the parties? (Haven’t been to those in a while) but I do wish they would treat them the same way maybe the lanyard plus the band? We’re paying a lot more (we don’t get discounts and even without the discounts) and getting less time and perks - I know the ice cream and soda are a big perk the parties don’t get but now they’re running out??!!) also I assume all these people sticking around are all day ticket people .. I can’t imagine people are getting in later once the event starts without a ticket ..

I still think it’s absolutely worth it and am excited for September just wish they would be more consistent

 

[Lsdolphin]

I would write an email too... my concern about the magic band is that it would be harder to spot those who didn’t have tickets? Don’t they give you a special paper wrist band for the parties? (Haven’t been to those in a while) but I do wish they would treat them the same way maybe the lanyard plus the band? We’re paying a lot more (we don’t get discounts and even without the discounts) and getting less time and perks - I know the ice cream and soda are a big perk the parties don’t get but now they’re running out??!!) also I assume all these people sticking around are all day ticket people .. I can’t imagine people are getting in later once the event starts without a ticket ..

I still think it’s absolutely worth it and am excited for September just wish they would be more consistent

Actually I did just email guest services following my last post! They do give the wrist bands for the holiday and dessert parties but lanyards for the DAH events. People are not getting in without a ticket once event begins but are obviously already in the park and just don't leave. It just amazes me that people think it's ok to try to participate in these events without paying.

 

[Haley R]

I would write an email too... my concern about the magic band is that it would be harder to spot those who didn’t have tickets? Don’t they give you a special paper wrist band for the parties? (Haven’t been to those in a while) but I do wish they would treat them the same way maybe the lanyard plus the band? We’re paying a lot more (we don’t get discounts and even without the discounts) and getting less time and perks - I know the ice cream and soda are a big perk the parties don’t get but now they’re running out??!!) also I assume all these people sticking around are all day ticket people .. I can’t imagine people are getting in later once the event starts without a ticket ..

I still think it’s absolutely worth it and am excited for September just wish they would be more consistent

You’ll still have a great time! We had lots of fun and still got lots of things done. We actually got a lot done before dah started.

 

[mcurrence]

You’ll still have a great time! We had lots of fun and still got lots of things done. We actually got a lot done before dah started.

Absolutely! This will be our third time and hopefully not our last! Those pics are awesome ! You guys are adorable So glad you were able to make this trip happen.

 

[mcurrence]

Absolutely! This will be our third time and hopefully not our last! Those pics are awesome ! You guys are adorable So glad you were able to make this trip happen.

PS. Can't wait to hear what you think about the BC..I think you're going to fall in love!

 

[lucas]

We are not people who usually stay until park closing and this may be a stupid question - but what do they do at DAH closing? Make an announcement or something?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

We are not people who usually stay until park closing and this may be a stupid question - but what do they do at DAH closing? Make an announcement or something?

Good question. I’ve done it twice and haven’t actually made it to the very end either time!