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

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68EEC5E5-8FD2-4939-922B-951F9E6BC012.jpeg
We didn’t do this on our dah night but I thought I would post it anyway. I LOVE that they have photo opportunities like this!

Edit: OMG I posted this on my phone, but now that I'm on my computer I can see how huge this picture is. Sorry!!!
 
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So I'm a bit late with my report from 3/1. Our flight home was canceled on 3/2 and we were "stuck" at WDW until late Sunday night. It was a bit weird being there without any plans but we had a chance to do Disney in a more relaxed fashion.

Here goes...
We had done EMH the night before and actually got a lot done so we didn't feel the need to go crazy during DAH. We spent the morning at AK and then took a 3 hour break in the afternoon. We headed over to MK at 6:30pm and entered with our AP. We were hoping to spend a little while doing the Pirate Map thingy but it closed at 6pm. Which I found odd since a lot of the spots have cool light effects that aren't really enjoyable when it's light out.
7pm dinner at Pecos (blah! Quality was horrible.)
Before 9pm
BTMR, 15 minute wait
Splash, basically walk on
Shooting gallery
Went to Liberty Square to pick up our lanyards.
Haunted Mansion, basically walk on
Right around 9pm we headed out to the front of the castle for a picture. I was worried if we didn't do it then it wouldn't happen. I wish I had waited since there were still quite a few non DAH guests hanging around.
Snacks
Space MT. 2X, walk on
Buzz 4X, walk on
Decided to walk over to PP but the wait was posted at 25 min. and we skipped it.
Snacks
Dumbo 2X without getting off, walk on
Space MT. 4X, walk on They had both sides going and earlier we were sent to the FP side (right) where I asked about the short cut to re-ride. They told us we couldn't do that. But this time we went to the regular line (left) and those CM's showed us the short cut. My DS and I would have kept riding all night but DH was waiting this round out and I was starting to feel guilty.
Snacks
Pooh, walk on
PP, walk on I was so excited it was the regular line! I had only ever been through it once so I took my time.
Tangled Lantern Pic, maybe a 10 min wait
By then it was midnight, my DH isn't one to drag his feet leaving so we headed out. We were able to get on the 2nd ferry, about 15/20 min. wait. Once at TTC, we walked back to our room at Poly getting back around 1am.

The crowd level reminded me of EMHs years ago. It wasn't empty but you could get a lot done. It was nice to walk around without feeling like you are going to get run over. I would definitely do this again!

Gah where did you find that Nana picture?? I have never seen it before! I imagine it is somewhere in the PPF queue (I was only ever on that ride once and it was when Sunblock had gotten in my eyes and I was basically blind. There could have been a walrus on the ride with me and I would have had no idea lol)
 
We went on March 1 when pirates was closed. We basically walked right through Adventureland because there wasn’t much to do.
I did a Speed Run of the Swiss Family Treehouse that night. Two people in front of me didn't appreciate my fast walking pace through all the rooms though. My husband sat on a bench and ate popcorn while I did that.
 
I did a Speed Run of the Swiss Family Treehouse that night. Two people in front of me didn't appreciate my fast walking pace through all the rooms though. My husband sat on a bench and ate popcorn while I did that.
That was our first mk day so our niece saw that and really wanted to do it. We ended up skipping it and we actually forgot to do it on our other mk day. We did Tom Sawyer island without knowing the whole fort area was closed so that was a bummer.
 




I've been thinking about the experiences y'all have described and how they compare to our MVMCP from 2016 and honestly, I think I'd lean that direction if I had a choice. In fact, the very early Halloween party (maybe they ought to rename it thusly in light of starting mid-August these days!) might be even better!

Anyway, our Christmas party was great! Yes, there were a lot of people in the park, but we still rode just about everything we wanted to ride multiple times and still saw Holiday Wishes and caught part of the second parade. All of that, plus cookies and hot chocolate, for less money than DAH. Oh, plus it's a longer time in the park. :scratchin I guess both have merits, for sure, so maybe it just depends on what time of year works better for a trip. At this rate, we'll probably end up missing all of the events since our most likely week is going to be the second week of January next year.
 
I've been thinking about the experiences y'all have described and how they compare to our MVMCP from 2016 and honestly, I think I'd lean that direction if I had a choice. In fact, the very early Halloween party (maybe they ought to rename it thusly in light of starting mid-August these days!) might be even better!

Anyway, our Christmas party was great! Yes, there were a lot of people in the park, but we still rode just about everything we wanted to ride multiple times and still saw Holiday Wishes and caught part of the second parade. All of that, plus cookies and hot chocolate, for less money than DAH. Oh, plus it's a longer time in the park. :scratchin I guess both have merits, for sure, so maybe it just depends on what time of year works better for a trip. At this rate, we'll probably end up missing all of the events since our most likely week is going to be the second week of January next year.
We go almost every year to either MNSSHP or MVMCP... They are 2 completely different animals... Plus with as many parties as they have there is absolutely no time to do a DAH as well.
DD and I got every single ride in that were our "must dos" during DAH. AND saw Talking Mickey with only a 10 minute wait. And we have some awesome MM photos.
So, I kind of think it may be like comparing apples and oranges.
 
Sorry if this question has already been asked, but do they only have the After Hours event January-March or do they have it other times of the year?
 
Gah where did you find that Nana picture?? I have never seen it before! I imagine it is somewhere in the PPF queue (I was only ever on that ride once and it was when Sunblock had gotten in my eyes and I was basically blind. There could have been a walrus on the ride with me and I would have had no idea lol)
Yes it is in the queue for PPF. I had such a great time going through slowly!
 
Sorry if this question has already been asked, but do they only have the After Hours event January-March or do they have it other times of the year?

Post #1 has historical info. 2016 was April/May but it was sort of a different animal at a much higher price point - an arguably failed first attempt by Disney. 2018 is nearly identical to 2017, unless they were to go and add more dates (which I don't think is highly likely).
 
Still here on vacation! Today is a rest day so I’m doing laundry and catching up on social media. Our DAH night was really good! It felt busier/more crowded than I anticipated, and I agree that Pirates being down played a big role in that. I didn’t plan on the temp being SO cold, but we rolled with it. Here is a list of our activities:

6:30

7DMT-FP

Pizza at Pinocchio’s

it’s a small world

BTMRR-FP during fireworks. Highlight for DH

Haunted Mansion

Astro Orbiter

Ice cream, popcorn

Speedway highlight for DD2

Space Mountain x2

Astro Orbiter

Lantern picture highlight for DD1

7DMT

Ariel meet

Barnstormer x2

Peter Pan our first time through interactive queue! Very fun

Winnie the Pooh

Ice Cream, popcorn

Space Mountain x2

Ice cream, popcorn

Pictures -glad we stopped but we were cold and tired at this point so not the best smiles

Overall, we would pay for this again. The girls loved being able to run and skip between rides, without encroaching on others’ space. My husband loved the low/no waits and felt it was a good value.
 
So glad everyone had a great time! This was our first DAH, and even though it seems it was busier than other nights by comparison, we didn't notice at all. It was so wonderful to have space to walk around and enjoy Magic Kingdom. It was especially great for us because our trip was only 3 1/2 days - DAH was perfect for squeezing in most of our favorites.

My Dad sits out of some rides because of his back, so he was the designated popcorn and soda runner. My brother got an ice cream, but I was way too cold (and stuffed from BOG, honestly) to enjoy anything frozen.

I'll be honest - it probably wasn't super efficient that we ate a big meal, bypassed FPP pre-event, and chose to wait 15 minutes for PP over doing rides with lower waits and saving the Fantasyland 2 for last. But it was the way we wanted our night to go, and we all had an awesome time. I'm usually a type-A tourer, so to experience the night with my parents (who prefer a slower pace) was great.

We got to the park around 6:45 and entered via the event gates. Our BOG reservation was at 7, and we had dinner until 8:30. We headed to Frontierland immediately afterwards, which we thought was relatively empty.

We managed:

BTMRR x2
Splash x2
HM
PP (Mom's favorite, couldn't miss)
IASW
7DMT (8 minutes)
WTP
Buzz x 3 (my brother just HAD to get to 999)
Space x2
People Mover

I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
 
So glad everyone had a great time! This was our first DAH, and even though it seems it was busier than other nights by comparison, we didn't notice at all. It was so wonderful to have space to walk around and enjoy Magic Kingdom. It was especially great for us because our trip was only 3 1/2 days - DAH was perfect for squeezing in most of our favorites.

My Dad sits out of some rides because of his back, so he was the designated popcorn and soda runner. My brother got an ice cream, but I was way too cold (and stuffed from BOG, honestly) to enjoy anything frozen.

I'll be honest - it probably wasn't super efficient that we ate a big meal, bypassed FPP pre-event, and chose to wait 15 minutes for PP over doing rides with lower waits and saving the Fantasyland 2 for last. But it was the way we wanted our night to go, and we all had an awesome time. I'm usually a type-A tourer, so to experience the night with my parents (who prefer a slower pace) was great.

We got to the park around 6:45 and entered via the event gates. Our BOG reservation was at 7, and we had dinner until 8:30. We headed to Frontierland immediately afterwards, which we thought was relatively empty.

We managed:

BTMRR x2
Splash x2
HM
PP (Mom's favorite, couldn't miss)
IASW
7DMT (8 minutes)
WTP
Buzz x 3 (my brother just HAD to get to 999)
Space x2
People Mover

I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
I think you still did pretty well considering you ate dinner before it started. I agree that it was so nice to walk around and not worry about running into someone. Dh and I agreed that we might have liked it more just the two of us so we might do that next year lol.
 
Just posting for posterity and next year I guess. We did the 3/8 DAH. It was due to be our only MK day on the trip, so I ended up using one day of an old no-expire ticket, plus the DAH ticket. We also did the desert fireworks. I shudder to think what this single day cost me. The original hope was that we would be able to enter at 4 and then get our fill in, but when that didn't pan out with this year's DAH, we just used up the extra ticket.

Anyway, we got to the park around 2:15 and did Mine Train, BTMRR, and Splash with fastpasses, and did Haunted Mansion via standby. Some other stuff too, but I don't remember. Got lanyards at Liberty Square ticket office around 7:00 and went to the desert fireworks, which was great. We milled around after the fireworks, and then headed over to Space Mountain about 8:30 and were let in through the fastpass line. We then went to the tomorrowland speedway and asked to use the fastpass line. We were initially told we had to wait until 9:00, but then he waived us through. After that, we did Small World. Got done around 9:15 and headed to Peter Pan. About a 20 minute wait. It was like everyone had the same idea.

After that, we took things pretty leisurely and just enjoyed the empty park. I can't remember exactly what we did, but we did Space at least once more. Got a Mickey Bar. Rode Mine Train. Rode Splash. We also did the frontier shooting arcade, which was open. Spent a few bucks and had it all to ourselves, which was fun. We were cold from Splash Mountain and left a little before closing after taking a bunch of pictures on Main Street.

We made a conscious decision not to run around and get as much in as possible, but instead just to take advantage of being able to be in the Magic Kingdom without a plan and completely at leisure. To each his or her own, but this really was worth it and then some for us.

Edit: dessert not desert!!!
 
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Just got back... had a great time and rode everything we wanted to. The park seemed much more crowded than what was reported for earlier dates. The only popular ride we “walked on” was splash mountain and I assume that has something to do with it being 50 degrees here. Peter Pan was about 20 min wait, sdmt was 10-20 depending on what time during the night. Haunted mansion had no wait for the preshow but the room was full. Bmtr had a short wait the two times I rode it. Space mountain had a short but consistent line that was at one point almost at the split which still only took about 5 minutes. No where in the park was it empty. Can’t remember who talked about the secret walkway out of the exit back onto space mountain but that was a huge timesaver and I felt like a true Disney insider when I used it haha so props to whoever that was. Thanks to everyone that provided so much info for this event and made my planning so much easier!

What's this secret exit? :)
 
What's this secret exit? :)
When you get off space, look on the wall for a horizontal green or red line. One side is red and the other is green but I’m not sure which is which. You will follow this line around a corner, walk up a ramp, and will be back at the spot where they split left or right to get back on the ride. It saved us tons of time.
 
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