E-Night Was it worth it?

[lovin_disney]

Probably not, at least during the busier times. The park stayed open from 10-1 and at 12:30 there was still a 20 minute wait for Space Mountain. On early morning entry a few days later we were able to ride Space Mountain 3 times before 10:30 a.m. Plus, coupled with the next day's hangover for DS (8) it was a bit much.

 

[puffkin]

I agree completely.

While we did get to enjoy the MK at night when it was much cooler, it was still crowded and we had waits of 15-20 minutes for each ride. Yes, that beats the lines during mid-afternoon, but it is a far cry from the walk ons that people claim. If you don't have a lot of time to spare at MK, then I say it is definitely worth it. However, it isn't necessary if you are able to get up and get to the MK early. On our last Saturday (July 26) we got to the park at opening and did more in 2 hours than the hour before E-ride started and E-ride. I don't think we will do this again.

 

[DrKnow77]

Wow, I am really surprised by these reports. When I went to E-Night last year (late August), we got right on and off rides. I think we waited 5 minutes for Buzz - which was the longest wait. What took the longest was actually walking through the "maze" that they make for each of the line queues.

We rode Splash mountain 3 times, Thunder Mountain 1 time, Haunted Mansion 1 time, Space mountain 4 times, Buzz 1 time and Alien Encounter 1 time - all in the three hours. We also walked around and enjoyed the beautifully lit Cinderalla Castle.

I'm sure the differences are tied to the time frames of the vacations. By late August, most of the children are back in school and crowds start to die off a little bit.

 

[doubled07]

We attended an e-ride night during our stay in June. We never had to wait more than 5 minutes on any ride and we rode virtually every one multiple times. Right before e-ride closing we walked onto Space Mountain for 4 straight rides without any wait and did the same with Buzz. Our experience was that e-ride feature was well worth the price and we would do it again in a heartbeat!

doubled07

 

[lfmb]

We did E night on August 15. We were surprised to see how crowded it was there were 15 to 20 min waits for space and splash. We thought these would be walk ons. We were not to happy that night.

 

[Pkdcoastrs]

My father and I did E-Ride night August 12th and it WAS NOT WORTH it at all! In the past two E-Rides, the lines were never non-existent...but they were never as long as they were for this E-Ride night! We waited almost the whole cooridor in Space Mountain! Big Thunder's queue was half full, Splash Mountain was right at the first building you enter right after getting in line!

It all depends I guess on luck. Do they have them in the off season? I would think they are even more crowded then because the parks close early I bet!

It's all hit or miss in the end.

Mike

 

[ead79]

I think it must really vary by time of year. I went to e-night on May 17 of this year, and we did not encounter any long lines. We were able to get on lots of rides very quickly, and thought it was well worth the ticket price.

 

[Msslaydbug]

I am also surprised by some of these reports but think it does have to do with the timing of the diffrent vacations. Last year we were there Aug 14 - 26 th and went to an ERIDE night and it was worth every penny plus some. We did every ride without so much as a 3 minute wait. Multiple rides for BTMRR, Spash , Buzz, and Space Mountain !!

This year we will be there in Sept so disapointed there aren't any Eride nights for us to go to

 

[drp4video]

This was the 4th year we have gone in AUgust and have done E-rides. The previous 3 years were great. We rode Splash Mt six times, Thunder T. 4 etc. This year it was so crowded we only got to ride each ride once. The parks were so much more crowded this year than the past 3. A lot of people took advantage of the FTP.

 

[njmomof2]

There is an e-night going on right now(Tues Aug 19 8:46PM) I wonder how crowded it is? I keep hoping the crowds are thinning out.

 

[LadyAurora]

We did e-night Friday July 25th, and it was worth every penny. We walked onto every ride, with the exception of Buzz Lightyear, right after the park closed. We had a great time and it was so nice to enjoy the park, feeling like we had it to "ourselves".
However, I will say that there were torrential downpours earlier that night, and most likely this contributed to our positive experience! All the chickens went back to the hotel to dry off!

 

[epcotfan]

I went to the e-night on the 8th and it definitely wasn't worth it. I've been to e-nights in august before and you could walk on rides in previous years. There were long waits (20 minutes or so) for Space, BTMR, etc...It seemed like there were waaay more than 5000 people in the park. I wonder if they oversold it?

 

[p2oh]

We did both e-nights of our trip, 8/12 and 8/15. We did the people mover first and let the crowd thin out, then we did everything else with no wait at all. I heard some people on the bus on the way back to the resort saying that the mountains always have a wait at the beginning of e-night because people hit them first. We didn't have a problem because we did them last, and rode all three at least three times.

 

[snowflake82]

As others have said, the experience varies greatly depending on the season (and maybe the weather as well). Is it worth it? That may depend on your expectations...

DH and I attended alone one trip in Sept. Very light crowds, rode Splash 3 times in a row without getting out of the log! Definitely worth it.

Next trip was in July with DH, myself, DS(2), my Dad, and my Mom, who won't do any "big" rides. Dad, DH, and I went to e-ride while Mom babysat at the hotel. Pretty crowded, 15-20 min waits for each of the mountains. IMO, still worth it, because we got to ride those rides without taking time out of the whole family's touring day.

Just my .02.

Jennifer

 

[BuzzMe]

We've always loved E-Nights and have done them during some of the busiest times of year(July 4th week, Christmas/NYE, Easter break) and have never seen it as crowded as it was on Aug 8th!
The line for Buzz was out the door, around the corner!

 

[epcotfan]

Originally posted by BuzzMe
We've always loved E-Nights and have done them during some of the busiest times of year(July 4th week, Christmas/NYE, Easter break) and have never seen it as crowded as it was on Aug 8th!
The line for Buzz was out the door, around the corner!

That is funny that you mentioned the Buzz line. It was so long on the e-night of August 8th! The cast member out front used me to determine the new wait time for that ride. They handed me a pass once I entered the line and then I gave it to the cast member loading ride vehicles. She scanned it and a new wait time was posted.

 

[HakunaMatataMan]

I never like to answer the "was it worth it" questions because everyone puts a different value on things. That being said, I think E-Ride nights are great for anyone who does not have a problem spending a little more $$$ at night for additional MK entertainment.

The way I see it, I would be spending that much money, if not more, if I went to Downtown Disney, Pleasure Island, or DisneyQuest at night anyways.

The BEST thing about E-nites is that the park is much less crowded, so its a great time to stroll around the park and take some great photos without others in the background. Last year, I proposed to my fiance at the rose garden near the castle. No one was around so it was the most romantic time to do it at MK. Then we had our picture taken with Mickey and Minnie to celebrate with no line!

 

[Boo'sMom]

We were there on the 12th too, and I don't think it was worth the extra $12 at all.....when we were on the TTA, the line for Space Mtn. was out the door, it seemed like there were a whole lot more than 5000 ppl in the park,
HOWEVER, that being said, if we didn't do e-night, we would have NEVER been in the boat on Splash where the wave came up and over and INTO the front seat, totally soaking the two teens in that seat....it was worth the $12 right there for their reactions!!!!

 

[jdonat]

We did e-ride nights 8/5 and 8/8. The 8/5
night was VERY late as WDW had
THAT DAY extended the park hours to 11pm.
So's our night went to 2am! This was the
busier of the two E ride nights that week.
We had 15 min wait for Space Mtn, and a 15m
wait for Buzz at the beginning of the night.
We went on Buzz about 0130 and walked on.

The second night, we went for the stuff in
the West end of the Park -Splash MTN, and
BTMRR. We walked onto both. Literally.
Haunted Mansion was 1 ride cycle both times,
not a big deal... and the CM's running
Haunted Mansion were really getting into
the E ride night... they were having a good time. We then went to the east side
attractions, and had no problems with
Buzz and Space Mountain.

The other advantage to E ride nights are that
character greetings are much more relaxed
and more fun for both the Character and
the Guest. My DW was sitting in the hub,
when Gideon walked up to her and took
her Guidemap. Unfortunately for Gideon
it was the Studios map -she was planning
the next day. Poor Gideon spent a
considerable time looking at the map
every which way until he finally figured out
that he was lost. There is no way that
you could duplicate something like that
during normal operating hours.

JED

 

[punkin]

we did e ride on 8/1. Aside from the rain, it was not too bad. The rides were not a walk on, but the lines were no more than 5 to 10 minutes. I'm not sure if I thought it was worth it. The e ride night we did in May was much better. No lines at all (and better weather)