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

[Liver Lips Mcgrowl]

Ok so my wife and I just did this event tonight (1/26) and I was cautious going in because I had read the mixed reviews from the first week and I didn't wanna get my hopes up too much... Well, let me just say that this night could not have been any more perfect!

EVERYTHING we did the entire night was WALK ON! Couldn't believe it!

So here's what we did, in order...

And before I start, let me share a word of advice... Don't wait in line for drinks or ice cream. Because what happens is, right after you wait in that line, you'll see a cart with NO line at all. So, if you wanna conserve time, only stop at the carts you see with no line. In other words, have enough patience to take the Mickey bar on Mickey's timing. Not your timing.

Ok here's the run down:

We got to the gate around 7:45... went in, took the bypass to tomorrowland.

• people mover (no wait)
• Barnstormer x2 (no wait)
• Mickey bar (no wait)
• Haunted mansion (no wait)
• Big thunder x2 (no wait)
• Pirates (no wait)
• Drinks (no wait)
• Space mountain x2 (no wait)
• little mermaid (no wait)
• Mickey bars (no wait)
• Philharmagic (maybe 15 people in the theater)
• Seven Dwarfs (10 min wait)
• Mickey bars and drinks (no wait)

Couple notes...


Philharmagic is always awesome but it was a mistake to do it in this event because it ate up a TON of precious time!


Seven Dwarfs is gonna have various lines all night, but has shorter lines in the last 30 mins. We did it last because we felt like if we're gonna stand in line, let's do it when the park's closing and we wouldn't be doing anything else anyway.


All in all:

This is without a doubt the most "worth it" thing I have ever spent money on at Disney. As long as they don't mess with the number of tickets sold, this is pure gold! It has spoiled me rotten. I don't ever want to go back to Magic Kingdom on a normal crowd day lol.

 

[Haley R]

Ok so my wife and I just did this event tonight (1/26) and I was cautious going in because I had read the mixed reviews from the first week and I didn't wanna get my hopes up too much... Well, let me just say that this night could not have been any more perfect!

EVERYTHING we did the entire night was WALK ON! Couldn't believe it!

So here's what we did, in order...

And before I start, let me share a word of advice... Don't wait in line for drinks or ice cream. Because what happens is, right after you wait in that line, you'll see a cart with NO line at all. So, if you wanna conserve time, only stop at the carts you see with no line. In other words, have enough patience to take the Mickey bar on Mickey's timing. Not your timing.

Ok here's the run down:

We got to the gate around 7:45... went in, took the bypass to tomorrowland.

• people mover (no wait)
• Barnstormer x2 (no wait)
• Mickey bar (no wait)
• Haunted mansion (no wait)
• Big thunder x2 (no wait)
• Pirates (no wait)
• Drinks (no wait)
• Space mountain x2 (no wait)
• little mermaid (no wait)
• Mickey bars (no wait)
• Philharmagic (maybe 15 people in the theater)
• Seven Dwarfs (10 min wait)
• Mickey bars and drinks (no wait)

Couple notes...


Philharmagic is always awesome but it was a mistake to do it in this event because it ate up a TON of precious time!


Seven Dwarfs is gonna have various lines all night, but has shorter lines in the last 30 mins. We did it last because we felt like if we're gonna stand in line, let's do it when the park's closing and we wouldn't be doing anything else anyway.


All in all:

This is without a doubt the most "worth it" thing I have ever spent money on at Disney. As long as they don't mess with the number of tickets sold, this is pure gold! It has spoiled me rotten. I don't ever want to go back to Magic Kingdom on a normal crowd day lol.

I didn’t even know philarmagic was open for dah. I definitely wouldn’t have done that lol but oh well it already happened for you and you still had a great time. We have dah and then another mk day but it’s on a Saturday with projected crowds of 7/10. I hope our niece doesn’t hate our second day there

 

[Arubaflower]

... and then got our DAH lanyards at 6:30. They did make us go out of the park and right back in.

Weird. Seems thus far you are the only one reporting being required to exit and re-enter for this recent DAH. Where did you go to get your lanyard? Did you go up to a CM by the tapstiles or did you go to Guest Services?

I got the impression that Guest Services was very organized with regard to processing In-park people and giving out lanyards for DAH this time around.

 

[Euby]

I am very glad that GS will be handing out the Lanyards. I'll have to check the one in Liberty Square since I have daytime FP+ in the area. Maybe it will save me a trip back to the front of the park.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Lol, you guys with the late reports are all night owls!!!

For those checking in, if there’s any way you can note approx what time you got your lanyard and exactly where/how you got it, I’d very much appreciate it! Trying to keep/track updated info on that topic.

Also, if anyone would like to contribute pics of the lanyard and DAH handout they give you when you enter, I’d also very much appreciate it.

 

[MommaBerd]

Thanks to everyone for the detailed reports!!! Not only are they good intel, they make me VERY excited for our event!

@Megsmachine - I literally laughed out loud over the 16 Olaf bars! I think that probably covered the cost of AT LEAST one ticket! I feel compelled to try one now. Your family ftSw! (for the Snacking win)

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Lol, you guys with the late reports are all night owls!!!

For those checking in, if there’s any way you can note approx what time you got your lanyard and exactly where/how you got it, I’d very much appreciate it! Trying to keep/track updated info on that topic.

Also, if anyone would like to contriibute pics of the lanyard and DAH handout they give you when you enter, I’d also very much appreciate it.

Also, and I know I'm being greedy now... but any comments on transportation, how you left, resorts you shared buses with, etc, would be awesome too. Thanks!

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Lol, you guys with the late reports are all night owls!!!

For those checking in, if there’s any way you can note approx what time you got your lanyard and exactly where/how you got it, I’d very much appreciate it! Trying to keep/track updated info on that topic.

Also, if anyone would like to contriibute pics of the lanyard and DAH handout they give you when you enter, I’d also very much appreciate it.

We got a late start (group travel issues!), so didn't enter the park until about 7thirty. There were lots of CMs there handing out lanyards upon entrance, but when I asked then for a brochure/handout they had no idea what I was talking about! I'm pretty sure I saw a picture of one from last week, but maybe I'm wrong? I wanted one as a souvenir if nothing else! I would have thought they'd have one at the entrance at that point!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

We got a late start (group travel issues!), so didn't enter the park until about 7thirty.

Ohana means family.... and family means no one gets left behind.... except for getting to rope drop or DAH on time....

 

[alexce]

Also, and I know I'm being greedy now... but any comments on transportation, how you left, resorts you shared buses with, etc, would be awesome too. Thanks!

I left Coronado Springs by bus at 545, entered the park at 615 through the event entrance where they had the lanyards. Didn’t share a bus either way, and the ride home was around 1130.

These pics of the brochure aren’t too pretty. It was crammed in my pocket, sorry...

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Also, and I know I'm being greedy now... but any comments on transportation, how you left, resorts you shared buses with, etc, would be awesome too. Thanks!

So, my 11 year old early bird started to fall to pieces in the last hour. We hung on as long as we could but by 10:40, she was done!

We made our way from Fantasyland to the hub, stopped for popcorn and got one picture and headed out. I would have liked to have gotten a few more pictures on the way out, but the photopass stations were several families deep and my daughter was luggage at this point.

We arrived at the bus stop by 10:50pm. We waited a full half hour for a bus, which arrived about 11:20. At that point, the corral was overflowing, and people were left behind. During that half hour, in which we were sandwiched between Unhappy Bickering Couple and PDA Couple, we saw very few busses overall, which seemed like a bit of a fail.

We were headed to POR and I believe we only shared with POFQ. We were back to the room by about 11:40pm.

I am curious if the buses came more frequently after that time and that maybe the people left by the first bus may have had a shorter overall travel experience than our 50 minutes. I hate hoped we'd get a bit of a jump on things leaving ahead of the crush but it was not in the cards.

 

[SafariFan1984]

Will he be checking MDE? If not, you can always say you were able to get a FP for a specific ride? Or maybe just want to see HEA?

He's an MDE champ, so I would have to actually be able to score the fastpass. We haven't actually ever watched HEA, though, so that is a fabulous option! Thank you because I totally didn't think of that!!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I saw a report on FB that someone picked up their lanyard in Liberty Square last night. Any confirmation of this?

 

[pitpat]

Would people mover be a waste of time if we have a full day at mk after doing dah? I’m wondering which rides would be best to skip. Right now I’m thinking Jungle cruise, Astro orbiters, people mover, country bears, tiki room. We have a FP for haunted mansion and one for splash before dah so I probably won’t do those during dah.

Not to make your decision more difficult, but JC, Peoplemover and Orbiters are better at night. So whether you can fit them in before 8 or during DAH, they are more fun in the dark. Absolutely I would skip the indoor shows.

 

[kmc8826]

We got a late start (group travel issues!), so didn't enter the park until about 7thirty. There were lots of CMs there handing out lanyards upon entrance, but when I asked then for a brochure/handout they had no idea what I was talking about! I'm pretty sure I saw a picture of one from last week, but maybe I'm wrong? I wanted one as a souvenir if nothing else! I would have thought they'd have one at the entrance at that point!

If it is a flyer that you want (for scrapbooking etc) I just grabbed one at the resort check in desk. Sure they have one at guest services too. It doesn’t list rides but has the DAH dates and is super cute with Peter Pan on the front.

Thanks everyone for the reports. Fingers crossed weather cooperates for Tuesday. Just in case we had the girls bring their winter coats instead of leaving them in the car at the airport!

 

[sdomino11]

If it is a flyer that you want (for scrapbooking etc) I just grabbed one at the resort check in desk. Sure they have one at guest services too. It doesn’t list rides but has the DAH dates and is super cute with Peter Pan on the front.

Thanks everyone for the reports. Fingers crossed weather cooperates for Tuesday. Just in case we had the girls bring their winter coats instead of leaving them in the car at the airport!

We leave for Florida tomorrow at 6 am. We, too, packed winter coats and hats for the next DAH night. It’s the only night of our trip that’s projected to be so cold! Maybe it will change! It sure felt strange packing swimsuits AND scarves!

 

[WiWe]

When we left last night heading to TTC there were 2 ferries waiting. So we did not have long to wait.

 

[Lsdolphin]

I left Coronado Springs by bus at 545, entered the park at 615 through the event entrance where they had the lanyards. Didn’t share a bus either way, and the ride home was around 1130.

These pics of the brochure aren’t too pretty. It was crammed in my pocket, sorry...

Was your bus to Coronado Springs very crowded?

 

[KCSherri]

With regards to transportation, I left the park around 11:20 pm (after meeting Tinkerbell) and was heading to Caribbean Beach. Normally, I have to trek all the way to bus stop #30, but was instead directed to #8. Bus pulled up in about 5 minutes, and we did not share a bus with any other resort. (And bus was about half-full; no one standing)

 

[to be tink]

We're going 3/1 and that was what I told DH we would do. We won't stop for snacks unless we see a pretty short line on the way.

We are going the same night and I just told my husband the same thing! Great minds....