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

[to be tink]

Thanks for all the great info. everyone! We are going 3/1. I was wondering, for those of you that went on Peter Pan do you queue through the regular line or FP?

 

[cigar95]

Thanks for all the great info. everyone! We are going 3/1. I was wondering, for those of you that went on Peter Pan do you queue through the regular line or FP?

We did last year. I got the impression from the CM that I was not the only one who asked when I arrived that evening.

 

[Euby]

How was the popcorn "served"? If I bring a refillable popcorn bucket, would they fill that?

I never thought about riding Dumbo during the fireworks! That's brilliant! I'm definitely going to do it this!

 

[to be tink]

We did last year. I got the impression from the CM that I was not the only one who asked when I arrived that evening.

Thanks! Now I know to ask.

 

[Karen46]

We attended this event on 1/19 and were already in the park on Friday and had dinner at BOG at 6. A manager in Fantasyland told us that they were going to pass out lanyards near stitch starting at 7, but nobody was there so we had to exit the park and go back in. Luckily the main st bypass was open so getting to the front wasn’t too bad. We then went back to Tomorrowland and started riding. Our pattern went like this:

People-mover (8:00pm)
Buzz
Space Mtn
Pirates
BTMRR
County Bears (9:00pm)
Haunted Mansion
IASW
Journey of the Little Mermaid
Barnstormer
Dumbo
Teacups
Space Mountain (10:30pm)

Every ride was a walk on for us except for the final ride on space mountain where we had about a 15 minute wait with both lines going.

The lines to get snacks were pretty long all night and after 10 the Tomorrowland popcorn cart ran out of popcorn until about 10:50.

There were moments where the park seemed sparse, but I didn’t get a feeling of an empty park. That being said the number of people there had no impact on what we were able to accomplish because of all the walk ons. We have done EMM a few times and the crowd level seemed pretty similar to that. We could have probably ran between the rides and possibly jumped on right before 11 and snuck in 2-3 more rides if we really had pushed it.

We must have just escaped pirates before the breakdown. Ironically we did the KTTK tour earlier that day and they said that riding pirates is no longer included on the tour because when it breaks down it ruins their scheduling. I could see it being excluded from other events in the future (since it’s going down to change the redhead scene anyway). And if I ever do the event again I’ll just skip it so that I don’t ruin my evening.

\

Thank you for this information. I have a BOG at 545 and was hoping they had a location in the park for lanyards as well. I will not give up our BOG but know now that we have to go back out and get the landyards.

 

[kristenabelle]

Would doing a bog dinner at 8 be a bad idea for a dah that starts at 9? I had a 4:15 but looks like we won’t be able to use that now.

We're doing a 7 PM dinner at BOG for the 9 PM start. We'll check in at 6:45, and order pretty quickly since it's our fave spot and we all know what we like. Gonna stink running back to the front gates if they keep entry the same, especially since it'll be right before the fireworks. Planning for this, and hoping for better!

 

[lugnut33]

This Disney After Hours is such a great idea for Disney. Looks like they are targeting around 100K per hour to keep the park open for 3000 guests. However, if they can bump that number up to 5000 guests, then they would see revenue increase by 66%. Disney has to make way more money off guests coming to this event than they would if they had EMH in its place.

I'm not judging at all as my daughter and I did it the first year it was offered. Just looking at it through Disney's eyes.

 

[anomamatt]

Okay! We got back yesterday and I'm finally in my office "working hard" and have time to post some more details comments and afterthoughts... I posted a lot the night of DAH, but I figured a summary and overall timeline would be useful... This post will be text heavy and then I'll post some pictures in a following post.

BACKGROUND: I have an AP and we have gone a few times in the past year. We did DAH last year on March 2, 2017. When they announced DAH for this year, I decided to make a trip just for it. I loved it that much last year... My wife said she was Disney'd-out (wha!?!), so I convinced my younger brother to join me (his first Disney World trip).

OVERALL: I loved it. My brother loved it. It was amazing. It is seriously the most fun I have ever had in Magic Kingdom. I heartily recommend it to anyone, it's an experience that you cannot get any other way.

On Friday we did Animal Kingdom in the morning (9am-1pm) and then took a quick break back in our resort (Poly). We took the boat over to MK and arrived around 3:15. I asked the CM at the Passholder entrance about lanyards and he had no idea what I was talking about. I told him there was an after hours event that night and he seemed genuinely clueless and said to ask Guest Relations. I walked to GR, but the line was out the door (and then some), so I decided to look for another CM near the gate. I found another who had no idea what DAH was. So weird! Then I found a CM wearing plaid and holding an iPad. They said we had to come back at 7pm and that they would not have lanyards out until then. Boo! So off we went to do a few rides (space, tea cups, small world, pirates and jungle cruise). It was now about 6:30, so I decided we would head back to the gate. It was a bit difficult crossing all the fireworks traffic, but they had the backstage area by the first aid station open and that helped a ton. When we got to the gate there was a pretty long line that I didn't want to wait it. I thought exiting and re-entering was totally silly. So I went up to a CM wearing plaid (the ones who are ready for ticketing problems, not the main gate checkers) and said "we used other tickets to get in, but I'd like to get our lanyards". She brought a CM with an iPad who checked our bands and gave us the lanyards. Success! I didn't have to exit the park! Now we were at the gate and hungry, so I mobile ordered us some footlong coneys from Casey's. The line was INSANE, so mobile ordering was essential. They were ready before we got there (yay!) and we scarfed them down.

So now it was about 7 and I knew I wanted to start in Fronteirland with BTMRR. So I thought let's do Country Bears. It was deserted and AWESOME. We then called our significant others (so I could talk to my kids). We played around in fronteirland (shops, shooting) and walked over to BTMRR around 7:40. The standby was 10 mins so we did BTMRR via standby. After that it was 10 till the fun, so I chatted the CM in the FP line about DAH. He said we could go ahead and get in the FP line (yay!), so we rode BTMRR again. After that ride it was 8pm and DAH officially started. Right at 8pm, they closed the standby line at BTMRR and only let those with lanyards into the line starting at 8pm. I saw many people turned away (and many people asking what DAH was and how to get tickets). We then rode BTMRR another 4 times, during the fireworks. I personally think BTMRR with fireworks is incredible. After a total of 6 rides on BTMRR, we did Haunted Mansion. Then we stopped for snacks. The line was LONG, but I wanted snacks for our walk to Tomorrowland, so we waited. This was right around 8:30 in a cart outside of HM. We each got a Mickey bar, a coke, and shared a popcorn. We had eaten most all of it by the time we walked to space mountain, though the Mickey bars are not so enjoyable when stuffing one's face with one, haha. (much better when relaxing on a park bench watching the crowds, but not doing that on DAH night!). For what it's worth, we passed three snack carts with no one in line on the way from HM to space mountain. You win some, you lose some.

At 8:45PM we got to space mountain and it was deserted. Literally walk-on. Both sides were open (alpha and omega) and you could pick either. I'll post a picture of the "queue" in the next post, but there was no stopping to wait whatsoever. We did space mountain 5 times in the span of maybe 30-40 mins? I didn't keep great time records, I'm piecing the timeline together based on phone pictures, texts to my wife, and my Dis posts... ha. The entire time it was walk on and awesome. Though my body was angry at me by the last couple rides. =). We then did Astro Orbiter, a DAH must (IMO). MDE was saying 50 minutes wait, but clearly the wait times are not correct. We walked right into an elevator and only had to wait for the current ride to end. We got on quickly and did Astro. I love that ride at night. We did tea cups spinning as fast as we could and then stopped at an empty snack carts to get a water and strawberry bar (healthy, haha). Next onto fantasyland and my plan for riding 7DMT several times...

We got to 7DMT around 9:40. Last year I was able to ride 7DMT ~5 times in a row (in about 30 mins total) at this same time... But this year, the line was LONG. I first was stumped why the main queue was open and not the FP line. It took us a little over 30 mins to ride 7DMT. I guess for what it's worth, I did get to experience the main full queue with a 30+ minute wait -- I have only rode 7DMT via FP previously. Still, I was a bit annoyed and decided I was not waiting another 30 minutes to ride again... This was the first ride we saw any wait and I was totally shocked at how many people were there. Clearly everyone stayed in NFL... After 7DMT, we did Pooh. Then we did the carousel (yup, two ~40 year old men riding the carousel alone!). Then I made my brother meet the princesses (all 4 of them) because I wanted the pictures. We didn't chat them up much, but the pictures are awesome! Rapunzel/Tiana was quick (5 mins) but we arrived during a break for Cindy/Elena and that took 15 mins. After the princesses, we did Peter Pan. Then we did talking Mickey and finally walked around Main Street doing photo pass photos and exploring with no crowds.

We were at the castle at 11pm and walked out at that point. The transportation back to the Poly was a total mess. The monorails were not running and the resort ferry was not either. So we were told to take a bus. In hindsight, should have taken a ferry to the TTC and walked from TTC to Poly. The bus to Poly was shared with WL, FW, Contemporary, and GF. The line was enormous. We waited ~30 mins for a bus. Luckily, Poly was the second stop after CR. I guess I was not thinking clearly and I remember reading posts about this last year, but the bus was not a good choice. I did try to get a Minnie Van from the time we were walking from the gate and the whole time waiting in line, but none were ever available.

Ride summary (DAH only, starting at 8pm):

- BTMRR x 4 (all walk on)
- Haunted Mansion (walk on)
- Space Mountain x 5 (all walk on)
- Astro Orbiter (walk on)
- Tea Cups (walk on)
- 7DMT (30 min wait)
- Pooh (walk on)
- Carousel (walk on)
- Tiana / Rapunzel (5 min)
- Cinderella / Elena (15 mins)
- Peter Pan (walk on)
- "Talking" Mickey (5 mins)

FINAL THOUGHTS: It was amazing. I loved it. I would do this on every single Disney trip if it were available, without any hesitation. The ONLY lines we encountered all night were at 7DMT. And that line was, admittedly, crazy. But even riding 7DMT just once, it was a great night. If you really care about riding 7DMT over and over, I would suggest doing EMM in addition to this. And get your 7DMT fix at EMM and skip 7DMT at DAH. I didn't like the idea of any ride taking 30 mins of precious DAH time. The crowd levels outside seemed very low and the park is as empty as you will ever see it. We were there midnight Saturday (the day after) and the crowds were probably 10x or more what they were at DAH. There is nothing else like it.

(sorry for this being so long)

 

[anomamatt]

Here are some pictures to accompany my text-heavy review above.


Space mountain queue. It's an awful picture, but there was NO stopping whatsoever and I took it on the walk. You can see there is NO ONE in line! The timestamp on this is 8:58PM so this is in the middle of our 5 SM rides:



Empty shot of the castle at around 10:45:



Main Street shot of people exiting park around 11pm:

 

[famsen]

Thanks for all the great info. everyone! We are going 3/1. I was wondering, for those of you that went on Peter Pan do you queue through the regular line or FP?[/Q

It was the Fastpass line.

 

[Iowamomof4]

Fantastic report, @anomamatt !

 

[Yojenitan]

Bit bummed about this After Hours Party. We arrived at MK at 5:00 and they told us that they were not going to let anyone in prior to 7 but would hand lanyards out around 6:30. Waiting around for an hour and a half wasn't our idea of fun so we went up to the Top of the World at BLT until about 6:30, rode the monorail back to MK and got there just at 7. We got through the line quickly and took pictures with the photopass at the entry, visited Tink at townsquare and then got immediately jammed up by the people on main street. We walked around the shops for 20 minutes until the fireworks started, watched the fireworks, and then we were dead in the water until just after 8. CMs with batons were filtered people out of the park and we couldn't move at all.

We rode Buzz, Peter Pan, and 7 dwarves in a row, got back in line for 7 Dwarves and found that they had changed the queue from the fast pass line to the regular line. We were stuck in that line for 25 minutes. o__o

We got some popcorn, took about 10 minutes, and then visited the castle for princess pictures and zipped to liberty square. They again had Haunted Mansion go through the regular line, which was silly. It was walk on but took forever. By the time we got off, Pirates was down (and stayed down all night). We went to Jungle Cruise, Aladdin...and then it was 10:55 so we did the Tiki Room.

It was fun, but we had 3 hours of rides. Even for the DVC discount, it wasn't worth it and I would not do it again. If they let us in at 4 like they did last year, that would have been a different story. Pretty disappointed.

Especially because we were hoping for empty street castle or main street pictures. We stayed until about 11:25 for the kiss goodnight and there were still people everywhere. The buses were terrible. They said that the monorail and ferry would be running...but weren't.

We got back to WL around 12:30. Thankfully it was the first stop because no one on the bus was headed to Contemporary.

 

[CarolynFH]

Thanks for the nice report, @anomamatt! The photos of a nearly-empty park remind me of the old E-Ticket Nights (which cost a whole lot less money, unfortunately), and I'm hoping our experience in February is similar!

 

[Iowamomof4]

I so wish they would expand this and run it like EMM, a few days each month for most of the year (I guess EMM isn't running in November or December anymore? We did it in late Nov and early Dec on our last trip in 2016). I don't know if we'll ever be able to get down to WDW when DAH would be an option.

 

[dcassetta]

DAH is March is from 9-12, do you think they will still allow people in at 7?

 

[Haley R]

DAH is March is from 9-12, do you think they will still allow people in at 7?

I’m going March 1 and planning on 7 pm. That’s what they have advertised on their website.

 

[Haley R]

Here are some pictures to accompany my text-heavy review above.


Space mountain queue. It's an awful picture, but there was NO stopping whatsoever and I took it on the walk. You can see there is NO ONE in line! The timestamp on this is 8:58PM so this is in the middle of our 5 SM rides:

View attachment 297206

Empty shot of the castle at around 10:45:

View attachment 297208

Main Street shot of people exiting park around 11pm:

View attachment 297209

When you did space did you get to stay on or did you have to walk all the way around?

 

[Haley R]

We're doing a 7 PM dinner at BOG for the 9 PM start. We'll check in at 6:45, and order pretty quickly since it's our fave spot and we all know what we like. Gonna stink running back to the front gates if they keep entry the same, especially since it'll be right before the fireworks. Planning for this, and hoping for better!

I went ahead and cancelled ours. We’ve never done dinner there and I don’t want our first experience to be rushed and take time away from dah. I’d rather be riding btmr during fireworks!

 

[hcap1j]

Our family went on 1/19 and had a really good night. We attended last January and had the best time ever. Although this was not the same empty park experience, I would still recommend it. Compared to our struggles to move our group around during the day, this was a WIN.

Entered at 7:20 (no line) The most difficult part of the evening was getting through the fireworks crowds to reach the rides. You should use some strategy if you want to maximize your time. For example, right at 8 there are still many day guests standing in lines so skip anything with a wait and try again later. We never did make it on Peter Pan for that reason.

Starting at 8pm we rode:
Tea cups (walk on)
Dumbo (walk on)
Barnstormer (walk on)
Space Mt x2 (minimal waits - less than posted)
Grabbed snacks for the walk
Haunted Mansion (walk on)
BTMR x2 (5 min)
Popcorn for the walk back
Carousel (walk on)
Met Rapunzel and Tiana (waited for 1 family)
7DMT x2 (first 10 min wait, second 5 min wait, not including walking the queue)
Pooh (walk on)
Space Mt x2, some of our party x3 (waits varied 5-15 min)
more snacks for the way out
Saw the Kiss Goodnight and took photos
left the park around 45 min after the event ended, no trouble with transportation

15-16 rides, a couple of snack breaks, and a beautiful nighttime walk out

 

[dolewhipdreams]

How were the temps late at night for those who went on Friday?