Hollywood Studios After Hours with RNRC Closed

[MrsTski]

Was anyone at the Hollywood Studios After Hours event on Feb 22nd with RNRC closed? I had such high hopes for this After Hours event, but the two reports I've seen from the 22nd mentioned incredibly long lines (which was not the case prior to RNRC closing!). Just trying to have realistic expectations for the event on April 2nd. Thanks in advance!

 

[musicguy856]

Was anyone at the Hollywood Studios After Hours event on Feb 22nd with RNRC closed? I had such high hopes for this After Hours event, but the two reports I've seen from the 22nd mentioned incredibly long lines (which was not the case prior to RNRC closing!). Just trying to have realistic expectations for the event on April 2nd. Thanks in advance!

Keep in mind that during previous AH events this year Tower was at half capacity. They brought it back to full capacity mere days before RnRC closed for its refurb, so that should balance it out some.

 

[brockash]

Was anyone at the Hollywood Studios After Hours event on Feb 22nd with RNRC closed? I had such high hopes for this After Hours event, but the two reports I've seen from the 22nd mentioned incredibly long lines (which was not the case prior to RNRC closing!). Just trying to have realistic expectations for the event on April 2nd. Thanks in advance!

We were there. I definitely would not do it again. It was our first after hrs event but we ended up waiting in lots of lines (other than Tower of Terror- that was a walk on basically). It's way cheaper to rope drop or go during the day with genie + and you get way more time and more offerings than the after hrs. We waited longer in all lines other than tower than we ever do during rope drop/early morning and/or with fastpass.

To us it felt like a waste of money.

 

[shm_helene]

There is a whole thread, maybe check that out. I'm very nervous as well. I'm hoping that the lack of buffer combined with higher crowds meant that there were a ton of non party visitors in the park. I was just about to pull the trigger to buy tickets as well. Nrrr.

 

[MrsTski]

We were there. I definitely would not do it again. It was our first after hrs event but we ended up waiting in lots of lines (other than Tower of Terror- that was a walk on basically). It's way cheaper to rope drop or go during the day with genie + and you get way more time and more offerings than the after hrs. We waited longer in all lines other than tower than we ever do during rope drop/early morning and/or with fastpass.

To us it felt like a waste of money.

This is my fear! Would you mind sharing the order of rides that you did do during the night? And how longish the waits were? I really appreciate the help!

 

[Betsyp]

Was anyone at the Hollywood Studios After Hours event on Feb 22nd with RNRC closed? I had such high hopes for this After Hours event, but the two reports I've seen from the 22nd mentioned incredibly long lines (which was not the case prior to RNRC closing!). Just trying to have realistic expectations for the event on April 2nd. Thanks in advance!

Keep in mind it was still the holiday, lots of people still on vacation. Every report on AH at DS for other days has been raves

 

[Pyxie]

Keep in mind it was still the holiday, lots of people still on vacation. Every report on AH at DS for other days has been raves

Every other AH event also had RNRC so who knows. I'm interested to see the reports from the next few events.

I'm probably going to buy a ticket anyway because I only have a 2 day ticket and it doesn't start until the Thursday of my trip (due to how I booked the split stay/package) so this gives me the chance to do another park on Wednesday. But we'll see.

 

[MrsTski]

Keep in mind it was still the holiday, lots of people still on vacation. Every report on AH at DS for other days has been raves

I'm hoping that's the case, but with each party being "sold out" I guess I expected the experiences to be similar party to party, regardless of what the daytime crowds were like.

 

[mala55]

This is disappointing with all the money spent to avoid the crowds. We did an early morning one at MK a few years again and it was awesome. Rose many of the headliner rides multiple times and just walked on. Good breakfast provides as well. I was expecting the same. Oh well.

 

[brockash]

This is my fear! Would you mind sharing the order of rides that you did do during the night? And how longish the waits were? I really appreciate the help!

This is my fear! Would you mind sharing the order of rides that you did do during the night? And how longish the waits were? I really appreciate the help!

Sure...we knew there was no buffer, so decided we'd try to get some snacks first to hopefully get the lines down. We went to the main ice cream cart on sunset and the main rd/entrance at 935 (party started at 930). There was a decent line with no one moving. About 5 mins. later the CM explained they were still waiting on their event ice cream to arrive and thst they couldn’t use their daytime supply and it'd be another 10 mins or so before it arrived. - Again to me this seems nuts to not have things ready until 20. mins into a 3 hr event.

We headed to Tower a lil before 10 which was pretty much a walk on. We then rode MMRR. - The crowd was pretty thick, however the line moved pretty well and we waited 15-20 mins total. - Not horrible, but again we've always waited less with fastpass or rope dropping. We then went to Slinky and waited 40 mins. We then did Smugglers which was close to. 20 mins. We were going to. do Rise after, however the line was out of the main que spilling over into the main walking area so we. power walked back to tower did this again with pretty much a walk on and quickly went back to Rise and waited over an hour. We we walking out of the park after 1am. There was a bus waiting which was great.

I know I sound like a Debby Downer, but other than Tower there was really nothing we liked about the event. If we had been in the summer, we would have liked the cooler weather and eventually there were less ppl walking around, but all in all we felt it was a total waste of our time and money.

I did end up sending an email to Disney in hopes they improve things for future guests, but I haven't heard anything other than a generic we're sorry to hear you were disappointed email

 

[brockash]

Keep in mind it was still the holiday, lots of people still on vacation. Every report on AH at DS for other days has been raves

I hear that argument, but a sold out event is a sold out event, so there shouldn't be more ppl. there. I certainly hope it was a fluke, but the argument of it being a busier time other than the beginning of the event doesn't make sense to me.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I hear that argument, but a sold out event is a sold out event, so there shouldn't be more ppl. there. I certainly hope it was a fluke, but the argument of it being a busier time other than the beginning of the event doesn't make sense to me.

The thought would be that with a busier daytime crowd, there are significantly more daytime people in the queues at the start of the event. So there might be an hour's worth of people still in the queue right off the bat, whereas in a slower time it might only be 5min for the queue to clear out of daytime guests.

Then when you see a 60min wait, you go to another ride, which in turn has a larger wait than it would have otherwise, etc.

Of course, this should make no real difference in people out and about - I guess if all the lines are 20-30min, more people might balk at the lines and just mill about.

 

[kes601]

Keep in mind it was still the holiday, lots of people still on vacation. Every report on AH at DS for other days has been raves

But every other event had also been sold out. So the # of people in attendance should have been the same.

 

[blistex]

I hear that argument, but a sold out event is a sold out event, so there shouldn't be more ppl. there. I certainly hope it was a fluke, but the argument of it being a busier time other than the beginning of the event doesn't make sense to me.

I'm not an expert so maybe I am wrong on this, but, I was at HS that evening on a regular park hopper, and I stacked LLs for the evening during the afternoon. The wait times were insane, and in particular, ROTR had a listed 310 minute standby wait at 3:38 PM (I took a screenshot of it because it was so mindblowingly long). That means that people who got into the ROTR line at 3:30 were theoretically just getting off the ride at 9-9:30 PM. We walked by at 7 PM and the listed time was still 190 minutes, putting a person entering the line at 7 PM getting off the ride at 10-11 PM. And regular park guests could keep getting in that line until 9:29. Given that, I don't see how that massive earlier standby line wouldn't have impacted the ROTR line well into the event.

We did Aliens around 6:45 and the standby line for SDD for 140 minutes, I didn't look at what it was later but it also seems like the first half hour of the event might have been impacted there as well.

 

[TikiRob]

When I saw they changed park hours from 9:00p to 9:30p and added a 10:00p Fantasmic we decided not to go. I think that half an hour of people still in lines and the extra Fantasmic show has a ripple effect on After Hours.

 

[kes601]

We walked by at 7 PM and the listed time was still 190 minutes, putting a person entering the line at 7 PM getting off the ride at 10-11 PM

Disney has been known to insanely inflate the wait times when they have a paid event coming up -- AH / Halloween Party / Christmas Party. This is to discourage people from getting in line at the end of the night.

 

[rangerxenos]

Disney has been known to insanely inflate the wait times when they have a paid event coming up -- AH / Halloween Party / Christmas Party. This is to discourage people from getting in line at the end of the night.

They were definitely doing this on the 22nd, wait times listed near official park closing time were not realistic if you knew what the queues normally look like. Toy Story Mania had a 65 minute wait time listed, and it was maybe 10 minutes.

Of course, I noticed that they're doing that a lot even during the day now, I think they're trying to make the people who are paying for Genie+ think they're getting a better deal because they think they're saving more time than they actually are.

 

[UpstateMick]

It was one of the biggest wastes I have ever done in 23 years of going to WDW! I would NEVER do this event again. Save your money. We enjoyed TOT and that was it! We enjoyed this because it was the LAST thing we did before leaving and the cast members were awesome. I cannot say that for the rest of the event and cast members. Cast members were packing people in at Runaway Railroad 4-5 to a seat, no matter your size (after a 20-minute wait). People were asking to for more room several times, and the cast member loading simply kept repeating "4-5 to a row, move all the way over, 4-5 to a row" Similarly, the castmembers managed the entrance and line at ROTR were downright rude. We had asked when entering how long the wait was and was told "it's right in front of you if you look up!" On the 45-minute wait, we were told at certain points to "keep moving, fill in the spaces, all the way down, all the way down" This was being shouted at people when someone finally said to one of the cast members "Can you please stop shouting!" They responded with "Just trying to get everyone on the ride and moving!" in a snarky tone. Overall, it was waiting for rides, pissed-off guests, snarky cast members, and a "here have some ice cream and shut up" kind of night. We went to guest services at the end of the event and called Disney Services the next AM to express our displeasure. They replied with a disingenuous "We are sorry you were disappointed." Please, please, please AVOID this event at all costs. We did the event in MK 2 nights previous to this and it was AWESOME!

 

[MrsTski]

Sure...we knew there was no buffer, so decided we'd try to get some snacks first to hopefully get the lines down. We went to the main ice cream cart on sunset and the main rd/entrance at 935 (party started at 930). There was a decent line with no one moving. About 5 mins. later the CM explained they were still waiting on their event ice cream to arrive and thst they couldn’t use their daytime supply and it'd be another 10 mins or so before it arrived. - Again to me this seems nuts to not have things ready until 20. mins into a 3 hr event.

We headed to Tower a lil before 10 which was pretty much a walk on. We then rode MMRR. - The crowd was pretty thick, however the line moved pretty well and we waited 15-20 mins total. - Not horrible, but again we've always waited less with fastpass or rope dropping. We then went to Slinky and waited 40 mins. We then did Smugglers which was close to. 20 mins. We were going to. do Rise after, however the line was out of the main que spilling over into the main walking area so we. power walked back to tower did this again with pretty much a walk on and quickly went back to Rise and waited over an hour. We we walking out of the park after 1am. There was a bus waiting which was great.

I know I sound like a Debby Downer, but other than Tower there was really nothing we liked about the event. If we had been in the summer, we would have liked the cooler weather and eventually there were less ppl walking around, but all in all we felt it was a total waste of our time and money.

I did end up sending an email to Disney in hopes they improve things for future guests, but I haven't heard anything other than a generic we're sorry to hear you were disappointed email

Thank you so much for this detail. It is so frustrating to me how different that night way! One question - when you got into the MMRR/Smugglers/Slinky lines, did they let you go in the Lightening Lane? Of did you have to enter the standard line? I'm just wondering if the lines are so backed up with daytime park goers, if After Hours guests get to use the Lightening Lanes to bypass them? {Hopefully I'm explaining this correctly!}

 

[brockash]

Thank you so much for this detail. It is so frustrating to me how different that night way! One question - when you got into the MMRR/Smugglers/Slinky lines, did they let you go in the Lightening Lane? Of did you have to enter the standard line? I'm just wondering if the lines are so backed up with daytime park goers, if After Hours guests get to use the Lightening Lanes to bypass them? {Hopefully I'm explaining this correctly!}

No you go in the regular line.