Official 2021 Disney Very Merriest After Hours Thread

[twodogs]

Are there same day tickets available on sold out party days like there were at Halloween?

 

[persnickity]

Has anyone seen a list of magic shots and their locations?

 

[magicwdw]

We went to the MK after hours last night and it was incredible. Since this was our first after hours event or party we had nothing to compare it to. Rides were basically walk on by 11pm, and most even earlier than that. Free treats were plentiful. The cast members were giving us as many snicker doodle cookies as we wanted. The parade was so good! We watched the fireworks by the bridge to tomorrow land and it was a good view of tinker bell flying above. Weather was perfect. Cool but not cold. We would absolutely do it again, but at these prices probably just once every year or two.

 

[Jhondy]

It’s free soda at the party, right? If so, theoretically could I go to different soda stands and take some extra soda bottles to bring back to the hotel with us?

 

[iujen94]

It’s free soda at the party, right? If so, theoretically could I go to different soda stands and take some extra soda bottles to bring back to the hotel with us?

Yes! The reusable Disney shopping bags sold at every gift shop make a lovely water and soda carrying case

 

[DisneyPanthersFan]

It’s free soda at the party, right? If so, theoretically could I go to different soda stands and take some extra soda bottles to bring back to the hotel with us?

And I was able to ask for (and receive) 2 sodas. I was asking for myself and someone else in my group who wasn't waiting in line, but I could have been saving both for later.

 

[sheila14]

And I was able to ask for (and receive) 2 sodas. I was asking for myself and someone else in my group who wasn't waiting in line, but I could have been saving both for later.

In the past I asked for pop and water!!!

 

[DisneyDoesMyHair]

How crowded are the parties typically the weekend before Thanksgiving? We have tickets for this weekend, but thinking of requesting a move to early December.

 

[DisneyDadWV]

My wife and I did the after hours last night and loved it. I wanted to post about it in case it's helpful to anyone since I've gotten so much great info from these boards.

We arrived at the gates around 6:20pm. We did some pictures in front of the Mickey & Minnie birthday cake with a great magic shot. They started letting us in at 6:40. Got pictures with Mickey, posted wait was 10 min we were done in under 5 min. Went into the emporium but it was a mad house as was Main Street so went to Space Mountain, posted wait was 35 min. TP said 15 min we were on in 13 minutes. Walked on tea cups, dumbo and mermaid. Watched fireworks above Gaston statue. Peter Pan posted 55 min, we waited 5 min. Walked on small world. Got Mickey bars and popcorn. Haunted Mansion posted 30 min we waited less than 15. Seven dwarves posted wait was 30 min, on in less than 20. Saw the end of the parade then waived to Big Al. Walked on big thunder mountain. Splash Mountain posted 5 min but decided to skip because it was getting cool and didn't want to get wet. Took pics with Captain Hook. Waited less than 5 min for Pirates. Took pics at Jingle Cruise with a fun magic shot. Wait posted 35 min so decide to wait. Shopped in the Christmas shop. Watched fireworks next to the shop. Got pictures with Santa 5 min wait. Took pics with Piglet & Eeyore. Watched some of the stage show and got more great magic shots at the partners statue. Danced with Stitch in the snow. Walked on Astro blaster. Wait for seven dwarves said 45 so passed and walked to Chrismas shop again. Watched the parade. It was now 12:40am and Jingle Cruise had 55 min posted, waited 25. Took pics in front of castle and down main Street. Got on the boat to parking at 1:45am. All cast members were awesome. Did not wait more than 5 minutes for snacks or magic shots.

We had a blast. Would absolutely do it again. Did everything we wanted and more.

Sounds like a great time!! We go on December 14th, and I was wondering one thing. What happens during the hour the park is closing after Enchantment and until the party starts at 9:00? Are the attractions that are open for the party running during this time? Like, can we ride Big Thunder at 8:30? Thanks for any info in advance!

 

[DisneyDadWV]

We don’t go to the party til Dec 21 but we planned for Dec 22 to be Epcot.
As l know we’d be miserable if we had to get up at 7 or something the next morning, DH and DS for sure
We are staying at a moderate though.
If you are staying at a deluxe just make your next day a late start at park of choice - since you’ll be staying up later again anyway.

We go on December 14th and also planning Epcot the next day. Seems like the most logical choice with the later park opening. You'll know all the people there walking around like zombies were after hours attendees the previous night.

 

[katyringo]

Those that have been- is it going tk be necessarily to stalk out spots for parade/fireworks or is there room available for a single traveler to find a spot?

 

[Luna81]

Those that have been- is it going tk be necessarily to stalk out spots for parade/fireworks or is there room available for a single traveler to find a spot?

we watched the first stage show and then stayed out for the parade So not sure there. But the fireworks - honestly you can step out onto main as they start and be fine. At least at our party which was sold out. I think we got on main maybe 10/15 minutes early.

 

[gmant]

Sounds like a great time!! We go on December 14th, and I was wondering one thing. What happens during the hour the park is closing after Enchantment and until the party starts at 9:00? Are the attractions that are open for the party running during this time? Like, can we ride Big Thunder at 8:30? Thanks for any info in advance!

They start checking wristbands starting at 8pm. We got on Peter Pan shortly after the fireworks and only waited 5 minutes. Some rides will have a bit of a wait still from day guests jumping in line just before closing time.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

We are here now and it’s looking like a bit of rain. What should we be prepared for in terms of cancellations?

 

[andy_dangg]

If we want to see Enchantment, should we expect to just be trying to find a spot between 7-8?

 

[gmant]

If we want to see Enchantment, should we expect to just be trying to find a spot between 7-8?

Probably. Main street to the castle was packed and we got out of there a quick as we could and watched from Gaston's

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Where would you even stand for enchantment? Your gonna be walking towards a wall of people in the opposite direction when it’s over

 

[ruthies12]

Just got home from my trip and thought I'd share my experience from going to the party on Sunday November 14th in case it helps anybody. We were focused primarily on rides but also wanted to watch the fireworks. This was our only night at MK on a trip that was at Universal the rest of the time. We did not care about parades, magic shots, or meet and greets. We were a party of 2 adults who were able to walk quickly.

We arrived later than we would have liked due to an uber issue coming from our Universal hotel and didn't arrive at the TTC until 6:45ish. We caught a ferry quickly and were at the park entrance right at 7:00. The lines were backed up really far back and we didn't get into the park until 7:25ish. We didn't notice the bypass was open and walked down main street which was extremely crowded, as were walking past the plaza I noticed the bypass was open and started kicking myself lol. We booked it back to Philharmagic cause we wanted to see that before it closed for the night. Here's how the rest of our night went with the order we did things and approximate times:

7:35- Philharmagic
7:50- got a spot for fireworks in the very crowded hub, wasn't a great spot and we were packed in but we could see most of it, we were by the bridge to liberty square
8:00- enchantment fireworks
8:20- POC (walk on)
- BTMR (walk on)
- HM (5 min wait)
- grabbed cookies and hot chocolate from columbia harbor house and ate them in line for Peter Pan
- Peter Pan (25 min wait)
- IASW (walk on)
- Mermaid (walk on)
- WTP ( 10 min wait)
- Space Mtn ( 10 min wait)
- Buzz Lightyear (walk on)
11:05- grabbed mickey ice cream bars and waters in tomorrowland and got a spot in the center of the hub for fireworks, not crowded at all, had space in front of us and behind us
11:15- Christmas fireworks (best fireworks ever imo)
11:30- Jungle Cruise (15 min wait, posted at 45 with the line getting super long very quickly, we happened to make it over there quickly, people who got in line after us waited much longer, there were a lot of angry mutterings as people walked up and saw the line)
- rode POC again (walk on) (saw Captain hook and smee meeting on stage across from POC but we didn't stop)
- got held up by a parade at this point, took us a bit to get to liberty square
- rode HM again (walk on)
- got more cookies and hot chocolate from pinocchio house, took 6 cookies to take back to hotel with us, worker's did not care how many we took
- Mine Train (20 min wait)
- got off of mine train right as it was hitting 1:00 am, we walked quickly to main street cause I wanted to go through the emporium on the way out but they were already closed, all doors were shut and they were not letting anybody in. We could see a few people still in there shopping but not many so I'm not sure what time they closed but it must have been closed for a bit at least cause those shops are usually packed.
Main street was still extremely crowded at 1:00 am there was a ton of people standing around and taking pics, they were still doing the snow for a bit too.
- as we walked out we got handed chocolate peppermint mickey shaped marshmallows. They were giving one per person but I asked for a few more and they gladly handed me extras.

Overall we thought it was more crowded than we would have liked and don't think we would pay that price again. We still had a good time and really enjoyed the christmas fireworks, but did not get to do everything we wanted, although we would have gotten at least one more thing in if we would have gotten there earlier, I had planned to arrive at the TTC at 6:15 and be in line at 6:30 and if that would have worked out we would have been much better off. They were just starting to let people in when we arrived at the ticket booths at 7:00 and there were a lot of ticket issues with people in front of us and then getting the wristbands after the ticket scanning was taking a lot of time too.

We booked our uber back to our hotel as we were on the ferry back over to TTC. We made the mistake of trying to compare prices between lyft and uber and the price jumped up significantly while we were looking because of how many people were booking cars. I would recommend just booking it right away and as early as possible if that is what you are using.

We had to reride POC cause the first time we rode it we had three women in the row behind us that were carrying on a conversation through the entire ride. They seriously never stopped talking and I'm not sure why they were bothering to ride it since they weren't paying the slightest bit of attention to the ride. We turned around and glared them a few times but they never took the hint. When we re-rode it at midnight we were the only ones in our boat and it was awesome. The re-ride on HM was just case it's a fav of ours. We had originally wanted to do Monsters Inc but decided HM was more important to us lol.

So my advice is arrive early, book your uber/lyft early if you are using that, and bring a small backpack or bag to fill up on the cookies cause they are really really good cookies and the workers were not being stingy.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Another tip for Uber after the party would be to walk to contemporary or GF and have one pick you up there.

 

[andy_dangg]

Anyone here tonight? At TTC right now and it seems the monorail is closed, everyone being directed to ferry. Resort monorail might be open?