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

[GADisneyDad14]

How early are you allowed in the park for the After dark parties?

7pm officially, regardless of actual DAH event hours. Historically this year they've let people in more like 6pm, but recent reports (meaning, this week and last week) seem to indicate they stuck to more like 7pm. Need more reports/data points to know for sure just what's up.

 

[Lisa F]

I was pretty aggravated about it for a while but we made the best of it.

It’s just frustrating that two of the main attractions I’m paying $130/person for were down.

maybe say something to guest services, they can probably throw you a few extra FPs for them. They do this at EMM TSL when SDD is down for the majority of the event. FPs seem to be the "currency of disappointment" at WDW (someone else coined that phrase and soooo true).

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Husband and I booked DAH tickets for MK on Jan. 28th. We did it this past summer and had a fantastic time. Hopefully it won't be too chilly. Our last time happened to be on a night they were doing some blogger event so I think it may have been a little more crowded than usual, still wasn't bad at all but some of the snack lines were a touch long. We passed a cluster of people doing the in/out square squealing thing and I just kind of shook my head, laughed and asked my husband why people would pay money to have ride access and then spend their time doing that. A couple of weeks later we were watching Tim Tracker videos and saw ourselves walking right past them at that exact moment, they were the sillies "wasting time" (comped tickets I guess?).

What IS the in/out square squeling thing?

 

[jaceraden]

Yes, what does that mean???

 

[amiskell28]

What IS the in/out square squeling thing?

Yes, what does that mean???

Take a look about 1 page back for explanations.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

So is it only CMs and characters doing the square/squeal?

 

[Babs1975]

Many thanks to @Tessaf, @Elle23, @Babs1975, @Magnoliafan, and @jalpert for checking in with their reviews from Monday, even though none of us like you since you had the best DAH night ever! (Just kidding)

Links to review posts have been added to Post #10.

Next up is this coming Monday, 12/3. Looking forward to hearing how things go.

If anyone who went on 11/26 or is going 12/3 happens to know or see any of the following, I would very much appreciate any info:

- There was a report from 11/26 that they held DAH ticket holders at the front entrance until 7pm... I'd love to hear from others who either went 11/26 or are going 12/3 if they experienced/experience something similar. This would be something different than the 6pm'ish entry that has been the case for most of 2018.
- If you're already in the park via other park admission, locations of any stations set up for credential pick-up.
- Confirmation if the Tangled Lantern PhotoPass is out during DAH.

THANKS ALL!

Regarding 11/26...
We went in around 6 but with a regular day ticket so I'm not sure what time they let people in on just the DAH ticket. I actually did look over to the right to see if a line was forming, but saw absolutely nothing at 6. Makes sense now that we know how lighly attended our night was.

We did pick up our wristbands at Liberty Square guest services as well. Bummed that it wasn't a lanyard. Thought that would have been much nicer!

We did the Tangled lantern photo before DAH actually began, so can't help you there. It was probably around 9:15?? Was already totally dead in the park by then so there was no line! We normally wouldn't have done it, but with no line, why not? Came out super cute too.

Also saw some mention of fp's with DAH. For us having fp's with just DAH did not work. We got our last day's fp's cancelled. Just want to warn others on that. We got it straightened out, but did end up using a day's ticket to have our fp's that night. Which is fine. Just wish I would have known that was going to happen to avoid issues!

 

[Mikelly1221]

Can DVC members buy DAH tickets for others but not attend themselves? My parents are DVC members and I know they would have no interest in attending...however if it's allowed, I'd love to give them the money to purchase tickets for us.

Not trying to circumvent rules, just trying to figure out the rules!

 

[kittyab]

7pm officially, regardless of actual DAH event hours. Historically this year they've let people in more like 6pm, but recent reports (meaning, this week and last week) seem to indicate they stuck to more like 7pm. Need more reports/data points to know for sure just what's up.

I know DVC members were allowed in the xmas party at 2 pm. I wonder if they will do something similar?

 

[jhoannam]

We were there Monday 12/3... similar report to everyone else.

We walked over from CR at 7ish, had 4 FPs scheduled. Our first FP was for Space and as soon as we walked out of Space it started pouring rain. We saw on the radar that it was just a quick passing storm so we went to Monsters, it was perfect timing, we walked out and the rain had stopped. At that point it was 8ish, our plan was to use our freebie FP to ride SDMT but it was down, we stopped at Starbucks to get some much needed caffeine and watch the fireworks. After the fireworks we headed over to adventure land and just made our way around the park. We walked on to every ride (unless noted) in this order: Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Splash, Snack, BTMR, HM, IASM, PP, Snack, Winnie, Under the Sea, Dumbo, Barnstormer, 20 minute wait for Speedway (only running 6 cars), People Mover, Buzz, Carousel, 15 minutes for SDMT at 12:50, we had time to get in line one more time but DH was done. We grabbed another water and snack, took some pictures and headed out at 1:15am. We had a great time!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Thread Update

Many thanks to @connorlevismom, @Saltywardog, @MicroBeta, @ELLH, @FFstreetDoc, @Nixon128, @mrsxsparrow, @jhoannam for stopping by with their 12/3/2018 thoughts and reviews. Post #10 links have been updated!

Always hard to tell from the written word, but sure does seem like a bit of a lighter crowd 'tone' for these past two events. Event saturation? New price point? Slower time of year? The later 10-1am hours? It's always interesting to me to see the ebbs and flows of these types of events, especially new times of the year events like these Nov & Dec dates.

Only one more MK DAH - this coming Monday - before a pause until January.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Can DVC members buy DAH tickets for others but not attend themselves? My parents are DVC members and I know they would have no interest in attending...however if it's allowed, I'd love to give them the money to purchase tickets for us.

Not trying to circumvent rules, just trying to figure out the rules!

I'm sorry, I don't know how DVC discounted tickets work. Hopefully someone else will know. Sorry!

 

[iujen94]

Can DVC members buy DAH tickets for others but not attend themselves? My parents are DVC members and I know they would have no interest in attending...however if it's allowed, I'd love to give them the money to purchase tickets for us.

Not trying to circumvent rules, just trying to figure out the rules!

I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing they can. If they are like AP tickets (same price), once I bought them and linked them to my MDE, I have an option to “reassign” the ticket to any of my MDE friends. And there’s no apparent indication in MDE that my ticket (as the AP holder) is any different from the tickets I bought for my family.

 

[apxstitch]

Unfortunately, not only was mine train down the majority of the night but so was People Mover. SDMT did come back up around midnight but while we were standing in line it went back down again, then back up around 12:30. Space Mountain was down nearly the entire time; as we queued up in SDMT around 12:30 SM opened back up but by the time we got off MT it was too late to get to ride it. Those rides being down irked me.

Fortunately, Ariel saved our night with - by far - the best character interaction my DD8 has ever had. We spent two rounds with her for a total of probably 12 minutes; 8 minutes the last round.


Ignoring the initial annoyance of those downed rides, all in all it was a good night.

I went to see Ariel during After Hours on 11/26 and she was AMAZING! I think she was one of my favorites from my whole trip.

 

[Ladyfish77]

Any idea why March 14th isn't included? Apologies if it was answered elsewhere, but I *think* I've read the entire thread. Of course that's the week we are going. Trying to see if I can come a few days early for the March 7 date!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Any idea why March 14th isn't included? Apologies if it was answered elsewhere, but I *think* I've read the entire thread. Of course that's the week we are going. Trying to see if I can come a few days early for the March 7 date!

My guess is it’s Spring Break related and that week, in Disney’s view, is maybe a higher crowd week. We’ve typically seen a pause in some of these upcharge events like DAH and EMM come Spring Break time. But it is weird they have dates pretty much the whole month of March this year, except that week.

 

[Ladyfish77]

My guess is it’s Spring Break related and that week

Maybe lots of Florida schools have spring break that week? Since spring breaks vary so much it just seems strange they singled out that week! Thanks

 

[Iowamomof4]

Maybe lots of Florida schools have spring break that week? Since spring breaks vary so much it just seems strange they singled out that week! Thanks

I think that will be the busiest week of all the spring break weeks.

 

[denecarter]

I think that will be the busiest week of all the spring break weeks.

Maybe lots of Florida schools have spring break that week? Since spring breaks vary so much it just seems strange they singled out that week! Thanks

It is most likely Texas. We are from Texas, had the same Spring Break last year and this year. Several of our major universities are out that week and local districts often align with them.

I think half of Texas was at WDW last March... the majority of the people we met were. Before we arrived, regular hours were increased. MK had 8 am opening daily and I think closed 11 pm & 12 pm nightly.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

It is most likely Texas. We are from Texas, had the same Spring Break last year and this year. Several of our major universities are out that week and local districts often align with them.

I think half of Texas was at WDW last March... the majority of the people we met were. Before we arrived, regular hours were increased. MK had 8 am opening daily and I think closed 11 pm & 12 pm nightly.

Lol, yeah, I was going to say it’s either local FL or Texas Spring Break around then!