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

[Haley R]

Awesome - thank you!

In the past (this summer) the other credential pickup spot has been just outside of Stitch by the FP kiosks.

Thank you again.

Did they get rid of liberty square as a pick up spot?

 

[TLPL]

I am interested in going for the night of January 7th. It starts at 8pm. So we only have 1 hour extra before the official start time? That's too bad. Wish they would let us in earlier. We are on a budget and can only go either the DAH or 1 regular day. It is a tough decision to make!

 

[apxstitch]

Here's my report of the highlight of my trip and the most AMAZING thing I've ever done in my entire life!

MK on the 26th was crazy but I was expecting that because it was only 1 of 2 non party nights. I had 3 fastpasses booked but only used 2 so I could eat and ride the train. Lines were long for everything including the carousel. It rained (torrential downpours) on and off for most of the night. I had to ask 10 Cast Members where I could go to check in for my After Hours wrist band, eventually I found it at Stitch's Great Escape in Tomorrowland. I got to see HEA for the first time which totally blew me away.

I started my After Hours back in Fantasyland with Dumbo and Under the Sea, the line for Ariel was still too long so I headed over to Princess Fairytale Hall and met all the princesses both sides (in less than 10 minutes), went on It's a Small World in a boat by myself (totally cool) and walked right onto Peter Pan's Flight, the Haunted Mansion was very creepy with only 3 other guests but was the best experience I've ever had on it because I got to hear the whole attraction with no one talking, went to Big Thunder and rode that 3 times in a row in the back seat with no one else of the train (can we say AWESOME) and went on Pirates, then I went to see the castle and got some awesome pics with no one there, then went to 7DMT and rode that 7 times in a row in less than 15 minutes. I walked right up each time and was told to just pick a row so I tried the front, middle and back and the back is definitely the best. Then I went to meet Ariel (she was the best character interaction I had) and went on Dumbo again, back to ride the Mad Tea Cups (can we say never again) and Winnie the Pooh. Are you exhausted yet? Because I am but I had to make the best use of my time so it was off to Buzz Lightyear and the People mover (twice) because I needed the rest and I was enjoying it. That was it for me it was 1 am before I knew it and I managed to ride 14 attractions 24 times. I did stop for 5 bottles of water, 2 popcorns and 3 strawberry bars which I enjoyed while walking.

This was worth every single penny I spent on the ticket. I spoke to a CM at Haunted Mansion and he told me only 500 tickets were sold and he's never seen After Hours so empty. It was cold but the rain that was off and on for most of the night had stopped. All of the walkways were empty and it was absolutely glorious. I think it really spoiled me for the rest of the trip though.

I would do this again in a heartbeat. I would do only this over a full day in the park. I spoke to other guests who said the same thing. If you can do this event I highly recommend it. I had an absolute blast!

 

[apxstitch]

The CM also told me a normal sold out night is 3000 tickets and even with that many it would still be very low waits for everything. I guess I got extra lucky because 11/26 was added on after the original announced dates and not a lot of people knew about it. I feel blessed that I got to experience it.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I am interested in going for the night of January 7th. It starts at 8pm. So we only have 1 hour extra before the official start time? That's too bad. Wish they would let us in earlier. We are on a budget and can only go either the DAH or 1 regular day. It is a tough decision to make!

It is 7pm entry officially, regardless of the actual event time. For most of 2018 they have let ticket holders in at more like 6pm, but there was a report from this past Monday that looks like they may have stuck to 7pm. Need more reports to confirm just what’s up with that.

But yes, it’ll be 7pm officialy and maybe earlier if lucky.

 

[focusondisney]

I’m going to add to the Feb 21st discussion. When you try to buy tickets online, Feb 21 is not an option. No wonder the CMs don’t know it is available.. now I wish I was going that night, it will probably be empty because no one can buy tickets!

 

[focusondisney]

Oops, never mind. I just saw GaDiisneydad’s post that husbatw was just recently released with others that still aren’t bookable online. Well isn’t it just dumb to release dates & not make them bookable online immediately anyway??

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Well isn’t it just dumb to release dates & not make them bookable online immediately anyway??

It's a reoccurring pattern with some of these events for some reason. At the moment, DHS DAH, AK DAH, and MK DAH for February 21, 2019, March 21, 2019, March 28, 2019, April 4, 2019, April 11, 2019 are only available by calling. The new MK dates were added to the lineup on 11/15/2018.

For the life of me I can't figure out the rationale, especially in this connected world where people want to do things online. There is either some method to the madness that has to do with how they monitor outreach and ticket sales for marketing purposes.... or IT is so bad behind the scenes that it takes several weeks to have the website programming updated for new dates. Or it's just not an internal priority because they think/know they have a good product on their hand and tickets will sell. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but what do I know?!?!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Did they get rid of liberty square as a pick up spot?

No, I suspect that and the Main Street guest relations office are also options as well.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

One was Tortuga (where I went)

Follow-up question... mind if I ask exactly where in/near Tortuga Tavern?

Also, did they do wrist-bands, lanyards, or both?

Thanks!

 

[pangyal]

Please forgive me for the potentially dumb question.

I thought that I remembered reading that some DAH guests were allowed in the fastpass line when the event started in order to mitigate the wait due to day guests still being in line at park close. Is this something that potentially happens at the start of the event or at the time that they’ve been letting people in for DAH (e.g., 7pm)?

 

[Magnoliafan]

Follow-up question... mind if I ask exactly where in/near Tortuga Tavern?

Also, did they do wrist-bands, lanyards, or both?

Thanks!

Wristband, no lanyard.

And I’m sorry, but I’m not sure exactly where at Tortuga. The right side, I think. There was a cast member holding a sign.

 

[Haley R]

Please forgive me for the potentially dumb question.

I thought that I remembered reading that some DAH guests were allowed in the fastpass line when the event started in order to mitigate the wait due to day guests still being in line at park close. Is this something that potentially happens at the start of the event or at the time that they’ve been letting people in for DAH (e.g., 7pm)?

This is a hard question to answer because it depends on the cm at the start of the line. I will say that in March we got in a couple lines before dah started because the cm seemed confused and didn’t know what to do. In July it was a hard no from every cm about going through the fp line before dah started

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Please forgive me for the potentially dumb question.

I thought that I remembered reading that some DAH guests were allowed in the fastpass line when the event started in order to mitigate the wait due to day guests still being in line at park close. Is this something that potentially happens at the start of the event or at the time that they’ve been letting people in for DAH (e.g., 7pm)?

My read from reports is that it’s a CM YMMV thing both before and after DAH starts. I think some just do the “sure, whatever” response if asked, but I don’t think it’s official policy or anything since reports are inconsistent.

 

[pangyal]

^Thank you both kindly for your input! Since we for sure won’t be making it past 10 for the DHS one next Saturday (!), I’m looking at ways to maximize the value .

 

[Haley R]

^Thank you both kindly for your input! Since we for sure won’t be making it past 10 for the DHS one next Saturday (!), I’m looking at ways to maximize the value .

Did you already book your 3 FPs that you can use before dah starts? That will help some.

 

[chelynnah]

Do these after hours events impact the regular day hours at the park? I guess what I'm asking is, do the parks close any earlier than normal for these events and are they noticeably more crowded during the day, leading up to the DAH event?

I didn’t see an answer to this in the first few posts after it. No it doesn’t impact regular park hours. While the allow you in at 7 the event is for 3 hours after park close. So currently our date on 29 Feb the park closes at 8 so DAH will be till 11pm. In the past the Feb normal hours have been extended to 9, so I’m hoping to see that happen. But if it affected ‘normal hours’ you’d have seen times move backward and that definitely hasn’t happened.

 

[lvdis]

I didn’t see an answer to this in the first few posts after it. No it doesn’t impact regular park hours. While the allow you in at 7 the event is for 3 hours after park close. So currently our date on 29 Feb the park closes at 8 so DAH will be till 11pm. In the past the Feb normal hours have been extended to 9, so I’m hoping to see that happen. But if it affected ‘normal hours’ you’d have seen times move backward and that definitely hasn’t happened.

Thank you for your response! I'm just worried the after hours folks will arrive early to see jingle bell jingle bam and make that area a lot more crowded. Our plan was to go to HS on 12/8 which is now the first after hours night there.

 

[chelynnah]

Thank you for your response! I'm just worried the after hours folks will arrive early to see jingle bell jingle bam and make that area a lot more crowded. Our plan was to go to HS on 12/8 which is now the first after hours night there.

That is very possible as they let them in the park earlier than closing.

 

[pangyal]

Did you already book your 3 FPs that you can use before dah starts? That will help some.

Honestly, there are only four rides at DHS in total that DS will do, and three of those are now Tier 1...so that wouldn’t help. But thank you !

Apologies for the thread drift...I will keep this thread on track for the MK version after this !