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

Status
Not open for further replies.
I have
jungle cruise from 5:05-6:05
Splash from 6:10-7:10
Haunted mansion 7:10-8:10
We are going March 1. Should I be changing these now?
 
Would everyone say they started letting people in at 6:45? Trying to calculate because we have a FP for 7D from 6:30-7:30..we should be able to make it, no? Losing our FP for Peter Pan but grateful that I chose 7D for the last one :)

I was in the park (have an AP) and we arrived back at the gate at 6:35 and they had already been letting people in. There was a pretty decent queue to get in. I went and asked a CM if I could get a lanyard and she brought me to another CM with an iPad. I didn’t have to exit the park and the process took about 2 mins at most. It was annoying to walk against the fireworks traffic but not a huge deal for us.
 
Last edited:
I was in the park (have an AP) and we arrived back at the gate at 6:35 and they had already been letting people in. There was a pretty decent queue to get in. I went and asked a CM if aaI could get a lanyard and she brought me to another CM with an iPad. I didn’t have to exit the park and the process took about 2 mins at most. It was annoying to walk against the fireworks traffic but not a huge deal for us.

This sounds encouraging. We have an AP also, so will already be in the park. I was just hoping to be able to get the lanyard and get to the dessert party by about 7 PM. It sounds like that might be doable. Based on the feedback already, I swapped the order of our FP+ to be closer to the front of the park by around 6:30 instead of back by BTMRR.
 
Last edited:


Some of the reviews are definitely disappointing. I'm doing this for the first time on the 8th and was really looking forward to doing things like the mine train a few times in a row but that seems like it wouldn't be possible. Also, getting stuck on Pirates and eating away 40 minutes of a 3 hour special event actually does warrant a refund in my book. That's not cool, and I know things happen but I think Disney would have to make up for it. Oh and they best be kicking people out without lanyards - NO excuses! Special events and parties are fine for an extra fee, but if rules aren't enforced the value really can go down.

I too have fast passes for rides before 7 so it looks like we won't be able to use those. I'm ok with that though because early entry is never a guarantee.

Still trying to remain positive and hoping we have a great experience.
 
Last edited:


I didn’t see any attempt to get non-DAH guests out of the park this year or last. From what I saw all CMs we’re doing a good job checking for lanyards at the ride entrances but I don’t think they intend on the park being cleared. It’s not like a party in that way. That said, most people naturally clear out — no rides and almost no food choices leaves no reason to stay.
 
I didn’t see any attempt to get non-DAH guests out of the park this year or last. From what I saw all CMs we’re doing a good job checking for lanyards at the ride entrances but I don’t think they intend on the park being cleared. It’s not like a party in that way. That said, most people naturally clear out — no rides and almost no food choices leaves no reason to stay.
I intend on the park being cleared. I paid for an event where the only people in the park should be other people who paid to be there.
 
I intend on the park being cleared. I paid for an event where the only people in the park should be other people who paid to be there.

I understand but they just don’t do that for DAH. They didn’t last year either.
 
I understand but they just don’t do that for DAH. They didn’t last year either.

Doesn't surprise me, they aren't very good with it during parties either. I get that it's difficult but I can't give Disney a pass here.

I'm really not a big complainer but the more money you pay for a better, special experience the more you expect.
 
We were planning on doing the dessert party as well. We are going on a night that DAH doesn't start until 9 PM, so I am thinking about keeping it. When did you go back out and get your lanyard? Before or after the party? That was the one thing I was concerned about. I didn't want to miss the whole dessert party going back out front, but I also didn't want to fight the fireworks crowds to do it either.

We went back to get our lanyards before the dessert party. We asked three different CMs and they all said we had to actually exit and rescan our MBs to get lanyards.

I feel like the dessert party was a mistake because we could have been using the lanyard as a FP between 7-8 and riding rides before and during the fireworks. I’m not sorry we watched the fireworks. I had never seen them before and thought they were absolutely amazing. But we should have done the dessert party on a different night. Oh well.

We are leaving in a few minutes after a week here, and I don’t have any real regrets about anything. We were able to do and see so much. It was such a great trip.
 
This is my first time doing this event. There was more people then I expected however we accomplished alot with no wait. here is what we did (with a 5 year old in tow and no stroller) in order.
big thunder mountain
pirates of the Caribbean
the magic carpets of Aladdinx2
popcorn and drinks
haunted mansion
peter pan
carousal
pictures on main street
talking mickey
tinker bell
buzz
astro orbiter
tomorrowland speedway
barnstormerx3
met the little mermaid
little mermaid ride.
more pics on main street
7dmt x4
more pics

We got a ton done. I wouldnt go expecting it to be empty or expecting empty castle pictures. I would do this again though. It was fun!!
What time did you go in?
 
I intend on the park being cleared. I paid for an event where the only people in the park should be other people who paid to be there.

I agree! Even if people are not being allowed on rides, it is difficult to move around & get to different lands & attractions if there are lots of people hanging around. And that eats into time we have to get rides done. Disney’s website states “when the crowds clear & the gates close”. Sounds like they are promoting it as a closed/ empty park to me.
 
Was Splash closed for last year’s DAH? I ask because the lines would make sense if Splash was closed, PotC shut down, and it was a sold out date compared to last year’s events. I really do hate it for those of you who didn’t get to do as much as you had an anticipated. DS and I are Travel down just for this event. If we had been stuck on PotC for 40 minutes, yeah - I would have been upset.

And I TRULY hope that they don’t continue to require guests to “exit and re-enter” when they don’t even clear out the day guests. That makes NO sense.
 
Obviously an overly general statement, but to me some of the feedback from last night sounds like a continuation of the "tone" of last year's DAH reviews.

Last year, people reported seemingly really light crowds for the first few events, but then as we went along you heard more "it felt more crowded than what I had read about other nights, but we still had a lot of fun anyway" type of reviews. Sounds like we're picking up where it left off.

I went back and checked my comments from the 2/16/17 DAH and I said something similar, and also that we waited until the end of the night to do 7DMT because it always had a line. I distinctly remember having a "this doesn't match what I read online at all" feeling, but still had a blast.

I guess this doesn't really surprise me all that much. Probably two things in play.... 1) ticket sales 3+ months earlier than 2017; and 2) growing popularity of the event after 'generally' positive reviews last year.

Part of me wonders if/assumes we're going to see more dates sell out, just like last night.
 
In regards to having to exit and reenter to get the lanyard...is there possibly some way to "cheat" the system that Disney is trying to eradicate? No knowledge of this on my part, just thinking out loud. :confused::confused3
 
I agree! Even if people are not being allowed on rides, it is difficult to move around & get to different lands & attractions if there are lots of people hanging around. And that eats into time we have to get rides done. Disney’s website states “when the crowds clear & the gates close”. Sounds like they are promoting it as a closed/ empty park to me.

You are absolutely right! The more people hanging around and in the way, the harder it is to move around the park.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top