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

[DisHeels]

I had a great time at DAH last night. (8/4) Park didnt really seem to clear out of day guests until around 10:30pm. I started out in Tomorrowland and enjoyed snacks. As expected everything I rode or walked past was a walk on except for 7DMT. There were times where the park felt empty'ish and times when it didnt. But never a moment where there was the daytime gridlock that happens.

CM's were all wonderful. Jungle Cruise Skipper Marcus was one of the best I have ever heard.

I dont remember ever seeing short lines at the snack carts but never waited long. And like previous reviews at the end of the night the CM set out a bunch of drinks and we could grab whatever and however many we want. Including snacks.

I left MK at 12:50am for Pop Century. Was back at the resort at 12:34am. The only thing that went bad was me booking an early flight home. Got 4 hours of sleep before heading to the airport. Plus a layover. I am not a smart man.

 

[wdwlver]

Went last night also. Never had the empty park others talked about still had a great time snacks were plentiful and most rides were walk on. Did most everything we wanted waited till end for mine train as it had a posted 20 min wait. We got in line w a posted 15 min wait at 12:45 and were on ride at 1 so that was accurate. Main Street on way out had lots of people around. Not empty by any stretch. Worst part of night was without question walking out to bus to find out all 5 Epcot resorts were on same bus. There were hundreds of us waiting and you’d think they’d send multiple buses at same time but no. Waited 3 buses till we squeezed onto one. Not a great way to end an otherwise really good night.

 

[Haley R]

I had a great time at DAH last night. (8/4) Park didnt really seem to clear out of day guests until around 10:30pm. I started out in Tomorrowland and enjoyed snacks. As expected everything I rode or walked past was a walk on except for 7DMT. There were times where the park felt empty'ish and times when it didnt. But never a moment where there was the daytime gridlock that happens.

CM's were all wonderful. Jungle Cruise Skipper Marcus was one of the best I have ever heard.

I dont remember ever seeing short lines at the snack carts but never waited long. And like previous reviews at the end of the night the CM set out a bunch of drinks and we could grab whatever and however many we want. Including snacks.

I left MK at 12:50am for Pop Century. Was back at the resort at 12:34am. The only thing that went bad was me booking an early flight home. Got 4 hours of sleep before heading to the airport. Plus a layover. I am not a smart man.

We did a similar thing with flights when we went lol. We got back to pop at around 2:30 and DME picked us up at 3:30. We got an hour of sleep that night. When we got home we slept for about 12 hours.

 

[Alii711]

We went last night as well. I’m going to try to answer questions I’ve seen before on the post and offer some tips instead of the usual ride break down.
First off, drink carts. No problems all night. We were able to get water from a cart even after the event ended. We did see some long lines but I suggest finding a cart right before the event starts. We happened to walk by one setting up right before the event started (by POTC). There were 2 people ahead of us and we waited for about a minute for her to start handing out food. We then sat and ate for about 5-10 minutes then walked right on POTC with no wait (meanwhile the snack line was at least 15 deep). The lines seemed long for about the first hour then lessened. The snack cart in the hub never had any line any time we passed. So if you want stuff first thing, get in line a touch early or wait about an hour unless you want to wait in line.
Next PhotoPass. We actually did get a magic shot done. It was the hitchhiking ghosts over at the haunted mansion and we got it about a 1/2 hour into the event. The lantern pics were out but still had a long line about an hour into the event. Sadly we didn’t pass back through until about 12:30 and it was gone by that point. Finally, Main Street pics. We went to the hub around 12 and it was pretty empty. We got some good shots from the PhotoPass people. We wanted sitting and laying pics and the first lady said she didn’t want to take her camera off the tripod but would gladly take it with our phone. Very sweet and the phone pics came out great and there is only 1 random person in the background (her camera pics came out great too). The second guy we asked didn’t have a problem removing his camera from the tripod. We actually got these taken after the event ended. The kiss goodnight was at 1:15 (and 1:30 and the last at 1:45). At 1:20 a giant herd of people took about 5 minutes to head thru Main Street. We were in line for pictures and were praying they would pass before it was our turn. They did for the most part but going into the hub earlier was a good call for emptier pics. I will post more later but we are in Epcot now and my DH is giving me dirty looks.

 

[123SA]

Ditto on the park not feeling empty, but not experiencing much waits.

We met tiana and rapunzel with no wait. And Elena and Cinderella with just one set of adult women in front of us who took a uncomfortably long time...but still not 15 minutes for both. This was at 1030

At 1025 the line for the lantern photo was at least 20 deep. We didn’t get in line figuring we try later but the photograph was not there at 1215

There were lots of photographers on Main Street on the way out at 1:05 but most had at least 10 parties in line and some had closed their line.

No problems getting snacks since I was willing to wait in line while my family ride space. Long lines but fast moving.

At bus stop at 1:18, arrived ASM at 2:05 which took longer than I was expecting

Before:
(Got in Park around 8:00)
Space FP
Splash FP
7DMT FP
Jungle cruise
Carpets
Pirates

During:
10:00
BTMRx2
Rap/tiana boys HM/bathroom
Cindy/Elena
Under the seas
11:00
Teacups
Space
Popcorn
Space
Popcorn/bathroom
Buzzx3
12:00
Ice cream
BTMR x3
Splash

 

[AngiTN]

I plan to go back to look at time stamps on photos from our past DAH and try to check the same areas and see if I can compare any of them on our date later in the month. I know it's not much of a comparison since you never know what others are doing from date to date or if you've zigged when others zagged or if you are all zagging together. I mean, that alone accounts for some of the vast different reports for the same nights here on this thread. We've had some nights where 1 Dis'er said "this night was way more crowded than before" and another Dis'er would say that same night was "much less crowded than before" and the one explanation is if you travel with the crowds or against them. We all know that can make a difference on a regular park day so there's no reason to think it wouldn't make a difference at DAH too.

So as the above poster said. I also enjoyed the night. I rode everything I wanted and the longest wait was mine train but I clocked it at 9 mins and that was at 11pm. It looked like a line most of the time but it moved quickly. CM kept saying 15, 20 mins. Always was about 10 in reality.

There was zero empty park feeling though. There was deff people around the park and on the lines with you ( when there was a line, which was the main attractions but very short waits )

Then again it was sold out and the summer.

You are never really alone unless your in a section of the park with not a lot to do.

Again I had a lot of walk ones and then like 5 or 8 min waits.

Plenty of food and drink available.

It was a great experience to try and very happy I did. Anyone who has bought tickets already is truly going to enjoy it. I won’t be doing it again though cause I wanted a more empty park feel.

Interesting observation. I figure as extra events go this is the best of them all so we'll keep going as long as they have them. Because I haven't found a way to get in to an emptier park, even if it's more crowded than before. It's still got to be less crowded than any other event they have.

 

[Spunky946]

Went last night also. Never had the empty park others talked about still had a great time snacks were plentiful and most rides were walk on. Did most everything we wanted waited till end for mine train as it had a posted 20 min wait. We got in line w a posted 15 min wait at 12:45 and were on ride at 1 so that was accurate. Main Street on way out had lots of people around. Not empty by any stretch. Worst part of night was without question walking out to bus to find out all 5 Epcot resorts were on same bus. There were hundreds of us waiting and you’d think they’d send multiple buses at same time but no. Waited 3 buses till we squeezed onto one. Not a great way to end an otherwise really good night.

We were in that same line. At least the busses came quick right in a row. We had an amazing time. We rode everything we wanted and at one point back by Gaston’s tavern were the only ones around. Didn’t feel like a complete ghost town walking around, but almost every ride was a walk on and the cart lines weren’t too long. I’d totally do it again. We were lucky and got a lantern shot only waiting a few minutes. Must have been around 11.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

I plan to go back to look at time stamps on photos from our past DAH and try to check the same areas and see if I can compare any of them on our date later in the month. I know it's not much of a comparison since you never know what others are doing from date to date or if you've zigged when others zagged or if you are all zagging together. I mean, that alone accounts for some of the vast different reports for the same nights here on this thread. We've had some nights where 1 Dis'er said "this night was way more crowded than before" and another Dis'er would say that same night was "much less crowded than before" and the one explanation is if you travel with the crowds or against them. We all know that can make a difference on a regular park day so there's no reason to think it wouldn't make a difference at DAH too.

Interesting observation. I figure as extra events go this is the best of them all so we'll keep going as long as they have them. Because I haven't found a way to get in to an emptier park, even if it's more crowded than before. It's still got to be less crowded than any other event they have.

Hi

So here’s the main reason why I said that. I usually only go to Disney with 1 other person. So during this trip, I haven’t waited on a line more then 10 mins and literally fast passed every ride for the week. It’s a lot easier to get fast passes with only two after you use your first three.

So in that regard, while I was there last night, I felt I could just do the fast pass way and get the same result. The difference is there is no way I could ride the headliners multiple times. That’s where the value also came in for me.

So thinking of it like that, the empty park feeling would be top priority, which it wasn’t. That’s not a negative and I still greatly enjoyed it.

If I was in town for a night or lived here, I deff would continue to go to this event

 

[AngiTN]

Hi

So here’s the main reason why I said that. I usually only go to Disney with 1 other person. So during this trip, I haven’t waited on a line more then 10 mins and literally fast passed every ride for the week. It’s a lot easier to get fast passes with only two after you use your first three.

So in that regard, while I was there last night, I felt I could just do the fast pass way and get the same result. The difference is there is no way I could ride the headliners multiple times. That’s where the value also came in for me.

So thinking of it like that, the empty park feeling would be top priority, which it wasn’t. That’s not a negative and I still greatly enjoyed it.

If I was in town for a night or lived here, I deff would continue to go to this event

Great point, makes perfect sense. We too normally are just doing pairs of FP and yeah, we typically have no problems with getting all the FP we need too.
One thing that still appeals greatly about the DAH, even if the crowds are up, is the temps are down. DH is pretty anti heat AND anti morning. Since we have a real hard time avoiding both at Disney DAH suits him really well

 

[Disney Dolls]

We had an amazing time last night at DAH! I was a little disappointed when I found out it was sold out, but Now I’m laughing, because if that was the most crowded it was going to get, then it was worth every penny spent!! First, I have to say that it was a beautiful night! No heat, clear sky, perfect night! It made me feel bad for all the people who stood in long, hot lines, in the middle of the day to ride the same rides! We started off with dinner at Kona Cafe at 7:00 and then headed to the park for our SM FastPass, buzz FastPass, HEA, and SDMT FastPass before the party. At 10:00 we grabbed our first bottle water of the night, and watched philharmagic while the park cleared. Next, we got lucky and walked onto PP! By the time we got off, it looked like it was about a 5 minute wait. Next, we walked on HM, Aladdin, PoC. We then got our ice cream and more h2o as we headed to Splash and BTMR. We rode Splash twice, without getting off, which was so fun! Then walked on to BTMR. It was now midnight so we headed back to fantasy land and walked on to Pooh, teacups and then headed to SM after we grabbed more h2o and popcorn. We rode SM after a 7 minute wait and then decided we had enough fun at 12:40. We took our time leaving, taking a few photos in front of the castle, and headed to the Polynesian bus which was right there and we were in our room 15 minutes later.
My advice to all of you that are on the fence is to DO IT! This event has ruined MK for me, because now I only want to experience MK this way! To walk on every ride (or only wait 5 minutes) is a Disney dream gift! I highly recommend it, you will have so much fun, I promise!

 

[whiporee]

I couldn’t disagree with a post more. And yet at the same time, this is probably what Disney will do. The whole idea is to have the empty park “feel”; that is what you are paying for. When I went in February, that was not the case, because I have been when it was truly a virtually empty park. From the reports I’ve read recently, it seems to be the same level of experience, and most people seem to be satisfied with the current level of attendance. It seems like the sweet spot. However, you double the number of attendees, with no other diversions, and you practically double the ride wait times thus receive 1/2 the value. No thank you. I realize crowd size is all a matter of perspective, but please don’t give Disney permission to slowly degrade the original experience.

As opposed to not having the option at all?

I don't think anyone ever wants more people at any of the parks, but if WDW offers this with twice as many people -- and waits going from multiple back to backs to get off and walk back on -- that's a trade-off I'd make in order to have to option of dramatically reduced crowds and wait times. From what I can read, the average party is getting in about 15 rides during DAH. You can't do that any other time the park is open.

I'm not requesting they increase availability, but if the event becomes 6,000 people or even 10,000 (as opposed to the daily average of 45), I'd still find it worthwhile, especially during the summer.

I don't think you're paying for an "empty" park; that's a rather unrealistic expectation. You're paying for dramatically fewer people in line, and dramatically fewer people walking around. You're paying for a chance to do a lot in a compressed period of time. If you're looking for "empty," and walking on 7DMT a bunch of times, I think EMM offers that. I also think that aside from 7DMT, reports have been that after the daytime crowd thins, almost everything walks on (except the Speedway, but that's more a logistic ride issue than a crowd one). When you say doubling wait times, you're actually talking about going from sitting right down to waiting for a car to pull up -- going from 30 seconds to a minute. While it's a good theoretical complaint, I don't think it's an actual problem, nor do I think it would be one at twice the attendees. It may not be as idyllic as the original events from two years ago when no one knew about the thing at all, but it's a better option than a normal summer night.

 

[k&Jsmom]

We went last night as well. I’m going to try to answer questions I’ve seen before on the post and offer some tips instead of the usual ride break down.
First off, drink carts. No problems all night. We were able to get water from a cart even after the event ended. We did see some long lines but I suggest finding a cart right before the event starts. We happened to walk by one setting up right before the event started (by POTC). There were 2 people ahead of us and we waited for about a minute for her to start handing out food. We then sat and ate for about 5-10 minutes then walked right on POTC with no wait (meanwhile the snack line was at least 15 deep). The lines seemed long for about the first hour then lessened. The snack cart in the hub never had any line any time we passed. So if you want stuff first thing, get in line a touch early or wait about an hour unless you want to wait in line.
Next PhotoPass. We actually did get a magic shot done. It was the hitchhiking ghosts over at the haunted mansion and we got it about a 1/2 hour into the event. The lantern pics were out but still had a long line about an hour into the event. Sadly we didn’t pass back through until about 12:30 and it was gone by that point. Finally, Main Street pics. We went to the hub around 12 and it was pretty empty. We got some good shots from the PhotoPass people. We wanted sitting and laying pics and the first lady said she didn’t want to take her camera off the tripod but would gladly take it with our phone. Very sweet and the phone pics came out great and there is only 1 random person in the background (her camera pics came out great too). The second guy we asked didn’t have a problem removing his camera from the tripod. We actually got these taken after the event ended. The kiss goodnight was at 1:15 (and 1:30 and the last at 1:45). At 1:20 a giant herd of people took about 5 minutes to head thru Main Street. We were in line for pictures and were praying they would pass before it was our turn. They did for the most part but going into the hub earlier was a good call for emptier pics. I will post more later but we are in Epcot now and my DH is giving me dirty looks.

 

[k&Jsmom]

I have read from some people that they had a hard time finding the snack carts. Can you tell me where you found them? Was there aleast one snack cart in each land?
Thanks!!

 

[Haley R]

As opposed to not having the option at all?

I don't think anyone ever wants more people at any of the parks, but if WDW offers this with twice as many people -- and waits going from multiple back to backs to get off and walk back on -- that's a trade-off I'd make in order to have to option of dramatically reduced crowds and wait times. From what I can read, the average party is getting in about 15 rides during DAH. You can't do that any other time the park is open.

I'm not requesting they increase availability, but if the event becomes 6,000 people or even 10,000 (as opposed to the daily average of 45), I'd still find it worthwhile, especially during the summer.

I don't think you're paying for an "empty" park; that's a rather unrealistic expectation. You're paying for dramatically fewer people in line, and dramatically fewer people walking around. You're paying for a chance to do a lot in a compressed period of time. If you're looking for "empty," and walking on 7DMT a bunch of times, I think EMM offers that. I also think that aside from 7DMT, reports have been that after the daytime crowd thins, almost everything walks on (except the Speedway, but that's more a logistic ride issue than a crowd one). When you say doubling wait times, you're actually talking about going from sitting right down to waiting for a car to pull up -- going from 30 seconds to a minute. While it's a good theoretical complaint, I don't think it's an actual problem, nor do I think it would be one at twice the attendees. It may not be as idyllic as the original events from two years ago when no one knew about the thing at all, but it's a better option than a normal summer night.

I can honestly say that I would not attend if they doubled the number of people. 7dmt would be a 40 minute wait which isn’t what Disney advertises. They advertise little to no waits and that wouldn’t be true. If they upped the number of tickets sold by a lot I think they would need to add special characters or something.

 

[Disney Dolls]

I have read from some people that they had a hard time finding the snack carts. Can you tell me where you found them? Was there aleast one snack cart in each land?
Thanks!!

We did not have a hard time finding snack carts at all! For a “sold out” night, we found many carts in each land. If a particular cart had a long line, we would just keep on moving to the next cart. Hope this helps!

 

[jenjersnap]

Went last night also. Never had the empty park others talked about still had a great time snacks were plentiful and most rides were walk on. Did most everything we wanted waited till end for mine train as it had a posted 20 min wait. We got in line w a posted 15 min wait at 12:45 and were on ride at 1 so that was accurate. Main Street on way out had lots of people around. Not empty by any stretch. Worst part of night was without question walking out to bus to find out all 5 Epcot resorts were on same bus. There were hundreds of us waiting and you’d think they’d send multiple buses at same time but no. Waited 3 buses till we squeezed onto one. Not a great way to end an otherwise really good night.

Oof, I think we will drive from BC our night.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I am going to write a quick trip report in the next couple days but...

We got a lot done. Went in around 5:45. Rode a few things with FP 4 and 5 of the day in Adventureland.
Couldn’t find anything we wanted for dinner so left and took monorail to last minute adr at kona. Back to park for fireworks.
....
It was a challenge to wade through the masses to start the party hours but we did it and started at splash. Did a ton of stuff working clockwise around the park.
PP line was quite long so skipped that. 7dmt was crazy long. Skipped that. Did many other things. Got in line for 7dmt at 12:52. It was still long but not as bad as earlier.
I think they could address the 7dmt line....or is there only one place to load at a time? I ask because space and btm were both loading both sides and had no wait.

My biggest complaint was the snack lines. Dd19 rode space for a 2nd time and I felt like seeing the chiro after ride #1 so I waited on a bench for her. I watched the snack line. Consistently 13-16 groups (x1-4 ish people/group) in line. Never got shorter than 13 groups. It was a time sucker. We went to snack carts 3x. So if we waited 10 mins each time...that’s 30 mins or 10% of the event time. The prob is they only have 1 person working a booth. Scooping popcorn, making more popcorn, grabbing drinks, etc. if they’d add a 2nd person the problem would disappear. The one liberty square cart was nice because I just grabbed a water from the top when I walked by.

Overall it was good. Lines were short except those at PP and 7dmt. There were quite a lot of people around but much better than the holiday parties.
I think I was expecting it to be more like the park is during EMMH. It wasn’t.

I’d definitely do it again over a normal park day at MK. No sun and much less crowded.

That said, they need to improve the snack cart situation, and if mine train isn’t running at full capacity it needs to be.

oh and our bus didn’t come til 2am! We were waiting at the stop for 30 mins. Every resort had a completely full stall when we got out there. By the time we left the other stalls were empty (multiple bus loads) and we were still sitting there waiting. That was super frustrating.
@wdwlver we we’re in the csr bus line at the same time as you were in the Epcot resort bus line. If it makes you feel better we didn’t finally get a bus til 2am...so your multiple busses wait was better than ours.

We slept in til 10:15, packed and left the room at 11. At the airport now.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Hi

So here’s the main reason why I said that. I usually only go to Disney with 1 other person. So during this trip, I haven’t waited on a line more then 10 mins and literally fast passed every ride for the week. It’s a lot easier to get fast passes with only two after you use your first three.

This is so true. We normally travel as a family of 6. There is basically no flexibility that way. This trip it was myself and dd19 and we did FP after FP. Longest line whole trip was at FEA right before the park closed...20 mins.
We were also able to pick up adr’s last minute as well. I don’t like to be tied to a schedule so usually we do QS with our family. But making an adr when we are ready to eat with 2 people is great!

 

[k&Jsmom]

We did not have a hard time finding snack carts at all! For a “sold out” night, we found many carts in each land. If a particular cart had a long line, we would just keep on moving to the next cart. Hope this helps!

Thank you!!! I'm going next Saturday

 

[MommaBerd]

As opposed to not having the option at all?

I don't think anyone ever wants more people at any of the parks, but if WDW offers this with twice as many people -- and waits going from multiple back to backs to get off and walk back on -- that's a trade-off I'd make in order to have to option of dramatically reduced crowds and wait times. From what I can read, the average party is getting in about 15 rides during DAH. You can't do that any other time the park is open.

I'm not requesting they increase availability, but if the event becomes 6,000 people or even 10,000 (as opposed to the daily average of 45), I'd still find it worthwhile, especially during the summer.

I don't think you're paying for an "empty" park; that's a rather unrealistic expectation. You're paying for dramatically fewer people in line, and dramatically fewer people walking around. You're paying for a chance to do a lot in a compressed period of time. If you're looking for "empty," and walking on 7DMT a bunch of times, I think EMM offers that. I also think that aside from 7DMT, reports have been that after the daytime crowd thins, almost everything walks on (except the Speedway, but that's more a logistic ride issue than a crowd one). When you say doubling wait times, you're actually talking about going from sitting right down to waiting for a car to pull up -- going from 30 seconds to a minute. While it's a good theoretical complaint, I don't think it's an actual problem, nor do I think it would be one at twice the attendees. It may not be as idyllic as the original events from two years ago when no one knew about the thing at all, but it's a better option than a normal summer night.

I’m not sure what you meant by the bolded statement? 45 people? Or 4500? Regardless, my experience in February was definitely not walk-on rides and riding back-to-back on the headliners, and IIRC, my night was sold out. I don’t want to ride 7DMT over and over without any wait, but I also didn’t want a 25 minute wait! That’s longer than using an FP during normal crowds. As I stated before, it IS all about perspective, and my measure of value is this: Can I do the rides with a wait time equal to or less than an FP line? Disney advertises it as “little to no wait.” After all, we are paying MORE than the cost of a one-day ticket for THREE HOURS of park time + a limited number of treats and drinks, so it *should* be “little to no wait.”

It’s OK if we disagree. But, I think if you talk to people who attended some of the first Halloween and/or Christmas parties and have attended them recently, and you ask them to compare the experiences, my guess is you will hear that they aren’t nearly what they used to be because Disney has significantly increased the number of tickets sold.

If DAH didn’t survive, I would be sad for people who wanted to experience it but didn’t. But, I would be even more disappointed and frustrated if guests didn’t get the “little to no wait” experience of DAH because Disney decided to increase the number of tickets sold. People are already frustrated over the wait for snacks; imagine what it would be like if the average ride lines started creeping into the 15-20 minute range or longer? Compared to peak stand-by wait times, yes, even that is awesome! But skillful FP planning and touring strategies can lead to 15-20 minute waits without shelling out $100+.