**Disney After Hours - Magic Kingdom** FAQ & Discussion Thread

It's interesting that it seems like MK consistently gets extra time for their DAH but DHS seems to get a bit more time for their EMM.
 


Yay! Hope you have a great time! I know it's been iffy to get in before 6:30 but we will probably be there right at 6 next week and take our chances! I'll be sure to report during the event while I'm sitting waiting for the girls!

We did have a great time! I was a bit concerned since it seems to be a busy week. After we got in at 6:15, we wandered over to the Laugh Floor, then Jungle Cruise with a FP, Tiki room, Pirates with a FP, Splash (standby time was listed as 30 at 8:15, only took 10 minutes), then BTMRR with FP.

At 9 there were a lot of people in BTMRR line, so we got a mickey bar and water and sat down for a bit, then did BTMRR a second time. Headed over to HM (picked up a popcorn and more water along the way), then to PP, which was posted 15 and took that long. 7DMT was 20 min wait, which we did since I wasn’t sure we would be back that way. Then over to SM, which we rode 4 times using the shortcut back. Then the last hour we rode Buzz, Astro Orbiter, Pooh, 7DMT again with a 10 min wait, and the Carousel. I got in everything I wanted to do since this was our only MK day.
 
We just finished the event. Let me begin by would I do it again? Absolutely. We rode Pirates, Jungle, BTMRR, Splash, Tiki Room, HM, PP, Small World, Under the Sea, 7 Dwarfs, TTA, Buzz and Pooh. Got 6-8 diet cokes (brought some home) 3 waters, 6 ice creams, and three popcorns. But...and this is a big BUT, the park is not empty! I did this event last January and there were TONS more people tonight...lines, yes, lines, albeit short, but lines for 7 Dwarfs, PP, Pirates, and some snack carts. There were a lot of people in the park...think old school rope drop before this whole new pre-park opening entrance which has ruined old rope drop strategies. I don’t know how many tickets Disney is selling to these events, but my guess is there were more than 3000 park guests..it never felt “empty” unless you were away from ride areas. If you are thinking unlimited rides on 7 Dwarfs and Peter Pan, know that they both have 15-20 minute waits for most of the night.
 
We just finished the event. Let me begin by would I do it again? Absolutely. We rode Pirates, Jungle, BTMRR, Splash, Tiki Room, HM, PP, Small World, Under the Sea, 7 Dwarfs, TTA, Buzz and Pooh. Got 6-8 diet cokes (brought some home) 3 waters, 6 ice creams, and three popcorns. But...and this is a big BUT, the park is not empty! I did this event last January and there were TONS more people tonight...lines, yes, lines, albeit short, but lines for 7 Dwarfs, PP, Pirates, and some snack carts. There were a lot of people in the park...think old school rope drop before this whole new pre-park opening entrance which has ruined old rope drop strategies. I don’t know how many tickets Disney is selling to these events, but my guess is there were more than 3000 park guests..it never felt “empty” unless you were away from ride areas. If you are thinking unlimited rides on 7 Dwarfs and Peter Pan, know that they both have 15-20 minute waits for most of the night.


This was our experience on the 7th also. Last year we did Jan 30th. I thought this year had more people too. Now last year it was in the 40’s, this year the weather was so much better, I think low was in the 60s. So I don’t know how much that played into it. But knowing Disney, I would bet money that they have increased the number of tickets sold. Especially because the event seems to have more people, but there are no reported sell outs. Waits of 15 - 20 minutes are pushing the limit for “low waits” IMO which is what Disney advertises for this event. They don’t promise an empty park, just low waits. Our event felt like a crowd level 1, not an empty park. So right now I still think it’s great & will continue to do it, especially with an AP discount. But I certainly hope they don’t creep the crowds up much higher.
 


This was our experience on the 7th also. Last year we did Jan 30th. I thought this year had more people too. Now last year it was in the 40’s, this year the weather was so much better, I think low was in the 60s. So I don’t know how much that played into it. But knowing Disney, I would bet money that they have increased the number of tickets sold. Especially because the event seems to have more people, but there are no reported sell outs. Waits of 15 - 20 minutes are pushing the limit for “low waits” IMO which is what Disney advertises for this event. They don’t promise an empty park, just low waits. Our event felt like a crowd level 1, not an empty park. So right now I still think it’s great & will continue to do it, especially with an AP discount. But I certainly hope they don’t creep the crowds up much higher.

I agree. We did last year on 1/26 and this year on 1/17. The first was on a Friday and this year was a Thursday, however it was the holiday weekend. Last year our event was Sold Out but this year it was not, but both myself and my daughter thought it was noticeably more crowded this year on our NOT sold out event night - not that we didn't get a lot of rides in - but that it was more crowded overall. We loved it and would do it again if we had the opportunity and the $, but I agree that waits of 15-20 are pushing the "low wait" limit. 3 hours goes by fast!
 
The crowd reports are scaring me a bit. I hope going at a lower overall crowd time will help make the crowds lower at DAH as well.
 
The crowd reports are scaring me a bit. I hope going at a lower overall crowd time will help make the crowds lower at DAH as well.

And maybe time of year impacts it too...I'm not sure when you're traveling - spring maybe? But in January, the park hours are shortened anyway, so maybe the DAH events are more attractive to people since the crowds are less spread out during the regular hours. Plus for me, the earlier event time benefits my family since my kids are young teens - my daughter could never make a 10-1am event - she'd be a puddle! But the trade-off may be a slightly more crowded event. But I'm just speculating, I have no idea!
 
And maybe time of year impacts it too...I'm not sure when you're traveling - spring maybe? But in January, the park hours are shortened anyway, so maybe the DAH events are more attractive to people since the crowds are less spread out during the regular hours. Plus for me, the earlier event time benefits my family since my kids are young teens - my daughter could never make a 10-1am event - she'd be a puddle! But the trade-off may be a slightly more crowded event. But I'm just speculating, I have no idea!

Yeah, we're going in mid-May. So far, MK is closing at 9 the entire time. Lately, it doesn't seem like they've been as interested in extending hours like they used to, so while I imagine we'll get a few 10:00 closings, I'm not expecting anything later than that.
 
The crowd reports are scaring me a bit. I hope going at a lower overall crowd time will help make the crowds lower at DAH as well.
I think it also depends on if you’re going where everyone else is going. There are times (I’m looking at you fantasyland) where the park seems more crowded but you’ll get over to Adventureland and it’s barren. We thought our night was pretty good crowd wise. We didn’t ride 7dmt though and pp was closed so nothing we did had a long wait
 
We were there last night too, and I agree that I was surprised by how many people were there. BUT other than 7DMT (posted 20 minute wait which was a REAL 20 minute wait - we did it once), it didn’t impact us. We did multiple rides on Thunder, Buzz, and Space, and one ride on Splash and one 7DMT. Only 7DMT was anything other than a walk-on or maybe 2 minute wait. The lines to take a castle picture at the end of the night looked looooong - probably 5-10 groups in each one. Main Street was relatively crowded when we left right after the Kiss Goodnight at 12, so don’t count on an empty castle picture at the end of the night.

Oh, and I can’t remember who posted about the Space shortcut, but it was awesome! The walk out and in is soooo long, and we were able to ride 3x in a row in about 20 minutes total. If you’re not sure what the shortcut is - after you look at ride pictures, don’t follow the sign that says “exit to Tomorrowland”. Head the opposite direction. There’s a pink stripe along the wall - just follow that and it takes you right back to the loading area. If you get confused, just ask the CMs at the unloading area. They’ll direct you.

Also, FYI - at park close, Space had a 45-minute wait posted (likely inflated). CMs let DAH folks go through the FP line.
 
It is definitely a "MUST"!!! We have visited WDW 7 times now, always in January or first week of February, and we have become very disheartened with how busy the parks all are now. We always have a touring plan, and while they work to a degree, we get very edgy trying to walk through shoulder-to-shoulder crowds and usually end up leaving the park by 1pm. DAH, however, is exactly how we love the parks - no hustling through crowds, easy-pace, no ridiculous 3 hour lines. We loved it so much that our next trip will be ONLY after-hour events. Unless of course they start inching up the number of tickets they sell (which wouldn't surprise me at all).
THIS^^^
I absolutely want to make our next trip is mostly DAH. With a possible 1-2 day ticket to see FotLK, and possibly do an Epcot day.
 
We were there last night too, and I agree that I was surprised by how many people were there. BUT other than 7DMT (posted 20 minute wait which was a REAL 20 minute wait - we did it once), it didn’t impact us. We did multiple rides on Thunder, Buzz, and Space, and one ride on Splash and one 7DMT. Only 7DMT was anything other than a walk-on or maybe 2 minute wait. The lines to take a castle picture at the end of the night looked looooong - probably 5-10 groups in each one. Main Street was relatively crowded when we left right after the Kiss Goodnight at 12, so don’t count on an empty castle picture at the end of the night.

Oh, and I can’t remember who posted about the Space shortcut, but it was awesome! The walk out and in is soooo long, and we were able to ride 3x in a row in about 20 minutes total. If you’re not sure what the shortcut is - after you look at ride pictures, don’t follow the sign that says “exit to Tomorrowland”. Head the opposite direction. There’s a pink stripe along the wall - just follow that and it takes you right back to the loading area. If you get confused, just ask the CMs at the unloading area. They’ll direct you.

Also, FYI - at park close, Space had a 45-minute wait posted (likely inflated). CMs let DAH folks go through the FP line.
I just want to add that one side of the SM shortcut has a green line on the wall instead of pink.
 
Quick question???
With DAH tickets, are you able to book a dessert party for HEA?

Yes - anyone can book dining, even if you have no tickets. You just need a ticket to get into the park and access the restaurant/party. Since the dessert party starts around the time they let folks in for DAH, you’ll be fine. Beware, it’s a LOT of food!! (We just did the dessert party/DAH combo last night)
 
Yes - anyone can book dining, even if you have no tickets. You just need a ticket to get into the park and access the restaurant/party. Since the dessert party starts around the time they let folks in for DAH, you’ll be fine. Beware, it’s a LOT of food!! (We just did the dessert party/DAH combo last night)
We definitely DON'T go for the food, lol. I'm not fond of the choices, I really go for the Plaza Garden View. This last trip was our 5th or 6th MK dessert party, and there is far less quality and quantity.
But, again, it's worth it to me to not have to be squished in place while trying to enjoy the fireworks.
 
Just got back from our trip. Our party was Dh, myself, and DD14. We went to the 2/21 DAH at MK. Our annual passes had expired Tuesday, so it was worth it to us to spend the money to do this event with much lower wait times and snacks. It had been a very crowded week, as usual for President's day week! During the event, we never saw areas completely empty, but it was thousands of times better than what the park was like Sunday mid-day when you could barely walk. We got there around 6:15PM, let us right in, said they started letting people in at 6PM. I had made 3 FP+, starting at 6:25PM with Jungle Cruise. Then we went to Tiki Room and Country Bears. Went to our 7:25PM FP of the Magic Carpets. Did Hall of Presidents during Fireworks (had seen them earlier in the week), then did our 8:25PM FP of Haunted Mansion, then went on Small World, walked right on. So 7 things before the event started.

For the event we went on 11 rides: 2x Winnie the Pooh (2-5 min. wait), 2x Peter Pan (10-15 min wait), 1x 7 Dwarf Mine Train (20 min wait...it was listed between 15-30 minutes all night--we did it halfway through the night.), 1x Tea Cups (walk on), 1x Under the Sea (walk on), 1x Buzz (walk on), 1x Haunted Mansion (walk on, 9 of us in the stretching room), 1x Jungle Cruise (walk on, but a full boat), 1x Pirates at end of night (walk on). Definitely seemed 'busy' in Fantasyland--saw 5 min waits listed for Adventureland/Frontierland/Tomorrowland for most of the night. It was so funny, during the event, they listed the wait time for Haunted Mansion as 13 minutes...

Between the 3 of us we got 8 ice cream treats, 2 popcorn, 4 water, 1 coke. (2 of the ice creams were just after midnight near Tiki Room/Jungle Cruise). Worst of the food lines were within the first 1/2 hour. Around 9:20, had 5 people in front of us in Fantasyland (by that castle wall between Mine Train and pooh.), 1 person in front of us by the Speedway, no one in front of us in Liberty Square (popcorn!) For places we walked by, I noticed popcorn in Liberty Square and Adventureland

Light showers around 10PM (went on Ariel then, ended by the time we came out), it was warm during the event, we were comfortable in our t-shirts/shorts.

Had a great time! Would do it again if we don't have active tix!
 

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