Evening Magic Hours

[Ropachs]

We've never taken advantage of the evening magic hours, nor have we seen any parks after dark. I keep reading about how different a park looks (AK) or how different a ride is (Jungle Cruise) so I'm anxious to do EMH at least once on our next trip. I have two questions: do the crowds truly thin out after regular closing time? And if you had to choose one park to experience at night, which would it be and what would you do there? Okay, that was really 3 quesitons ;)

[MidnTPK]

do the crowds truly thin out after regular closing time?

NO!!!! Not in my experience.

Depending on the park/time of day of the EMH, the park can be even more busy than regular hours...like a 7 to 10 PM in the Studios will still be crazy busy.

Otherwise, the conventional wisdom says that the last hour of the EMH is generally the only time that crowds begin to thin.

I've never been to an 11 PM- 2 AM EMH in the MK, so that might be different.

[DestinationWDW]

WOW!! YOU have to do EMH i suggest either MK or HS. The lines really do thin out especially as you progress into the EMH time period. One time we got off SM and it was as if we were the only guest in the park.. We got our picture in front of the castle and we where the only ones in the picture, it was great. The kids got to ride their favorite rides like 3 or 4 times in a row . I do strongly suggest that you take a late afternoon snooze or at least relax outside of the parks before doing EMH.

We will be there on 30th of May and the MK is open till 3am, can't wait

Have fun!!

[Fastpasssteve]

Wow! If I had to choose one park to be in after dark, it would be the Magic Kingdom. It is beautiful! If you've never seen it after dark, you've never seen the Spectro Magic Parade or 'Wishes,' the nightly fireworks display from in front of the castle. You've never seen the castle as it is bathed in various colors of light against the night sky! You've never walked through Tomorrow Land with everything illuminated, nor rode on Splash Mountain in the cool evening! All these things are so fabulous. I highly recommend this. Just once...stay until the very end of the day. You'll never want to miss it again.

[Ropachs]

Well, I have seen Wishes, but it was from the beach at the Polynesian and I did see Spectomagic, but that was from the train station. Still never truly been IN a park in the dark. I'd really like to do the rides. And if the in-laws will babysit one night, DH and I are TOTALLY GETTING ALL THE JUNK FOOD SNACKS THAT WE DON'T GET IN FRONT OF THE KIDS. :thumbsup:

[eeyorepoohfan]

:mickey:I agree! You have to do it at least once!!! We went in December and went to both the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT EMH. We did almost every single ride in EPCOT in those extra 3 hours! We only missed Test Track (still a 45 minute wait), Spaceship Earth and Ellens Energy. We rode EVERYTHING else! We walked on to almost all of the rides, except Soarin which was a 40 minute wait with only an hour left of EMH. The Magic Kingdom was almost as good on wait times. We walked on to Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and many others. Unfortunately Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain broke down. But we still had plenty to see and do. We didn't even make it to closing at MK because we were too tired that day. But the crowds really thinned as the night went on at both parks. Go back to your hotel during the day to nap or swim to get recharged. You should be good to go enjoy the late EMH. I personally always to go the park with late EMH. Some people don't recommend it, but it seemed to work for us! We will continue to visit the park with the late and early EMH in the future too! :thumbsup: And somehow we still managed to get up every morning and be to the parks to see each of their opening ceremonies! :party:

[eeyorepoohfan]

:mickey:I forgot to give my opinion on your other questions! :blush: It is hard to pick just one park after dark. But I think I would say Magic Kingdom. The castle is amazing to watch it change colors. :thumbsup: Plus, if you happen to be there at Christmas you have all the lights on the castle too! I would definately ride Jungle Cruise, Thunder Moutain, walk through the Tree House, and stroll on Main Street. But EPCOT is pretty special after dark too. Since the park is so large and spread out, it feels like you are one of the only ones walking around. Very magical! The World Showcase looks so different between night and day. I would be sure to stroll through the World Showcase as a must do. Even if some shops and restaurants are closed, it's beautiful! :thumbsup:

[Chic-a-pin]

We went to EMH at AK last year...not much was open (EE, Kali, Tough to be a Bug were running) but it was SO COOL walking around there at night. Quite a few times it was just my husband & I walking down a pathway like we were the only ones there :mickey:

[elmjimmlm]

AK is one of the best at night...It is totally different to walk through after dark...Its a different place than during the day...For ride purposes then MK because everything is open and I dont think the wait times are that bad...I would much rather be in the parks at night...It just seems better to me...:mickey:

[tmz814]

We will be there on 30th of May and the MK is open till 3am, can't wait

Have fun!!


I'll be there on that night as well and can't wait for EMHs at MK. I loved staying until 2am the last time I was there and am planning on trying to make it until 3am this time. :-) :mickey:

[SurferStitch]

We've found evening EMH at DHS to be crazy busy. No, the lines did not thin out AT ALL the entire 3 hours. It actually seemed busier than during the day.

We were at evening EMH at MK a couple weeks ago, and crowds DID NOT thin out. It was a Saturday, which probably didn't help. Crowds weren't huge at all, but Peter Pan never went under 45 minutes, even at closing at 1:00 am! We had some pics taken in front of the castle around 12:30 am, and there were people everywhere. The rest of the week had relatively low crowds.

Never did AK EMH at night. Will have to try that.

[biodtl]

Maybe it varies depending on the time of year. We don't go at super-crowded times, and we always enjoy evening EMH - the crowds DO seem to go down a bit and we get to do everything we want.

[KylesMom]

I have two questions: do the crowds truly thin out after regular closing time? And if you had to choose one park to experience at night, which would it be and what would you do there?

Well, we're "summer dwellers" at Disney, and have found that evening EMH no longer have any value for us. If MK closes at 10 or 11, we've still found the crowds overwhelming at 12 & 1:00 am.

The one park we haven't done evening EMH for is Animal Kingdom - I think it would be really cool to ride E:E in the dark & we're kicking the idea around for this next trip. However, if it is as crowded as the other three parks at night, it wouldn't be our cup of tea - absolutely just too crowded for us. :(

[kathiep]

We're summer visitors too and after dragging my family EMH at MK 2 years ago - I swore "never again". DH swore it would be a mob scene but MK just has a magical feel at night that can't be beat so I insisted he was wrong. He still won't let me forget that for once, he was finally right! It wasn't necessarily the lines for the rides but navigating through the crowds was impossible. I think there were a lot of non-park guests who hadn't left. They couldn't ride any rides so the wait times were good but the park was packed. We tend to stick to morning hours now and avoid evening at all costs. That being said, I did make a late ADR for AK on a night of evening magic hours. I do really want to see that park at night.

[renecat]

We always do EMH and find it a good time for no waits. I can't speak to the summer time because I won't go in the summer. I would think that even in the summer it should be less crowded than during regular hours since only people staying on property can take advantage of EMH. If you can only do one park I would say MK. Hope you get to try it.

[IloveDisney71]

We always take advantage of the EMH hours at MK and AK. At the MK they have so many rides open that the wait times aren't usually too bad. It just depends on the time of year you go. The AK is beautiful at night to and EE has a totally different feel to it at night. I don't like DHS EMH's at night. There are so few rides open that the wait times seem worse than during the days and the crowds are awful. I've found that to be the case no matter what time of year I've been.

[i'm grumpy]

This past week parks seemed to be bursting at the seams and the bus service was terrible!!

[Darbylew]

We love the evening hours in the parks. The
AK is so different at night. Only people staying
in the Disney resorts can stay for the morning
and evening hours. We were there last week
and I did not feel that the crowds were bad at
all and the bus service was great for us. I do
think that the crowds do thin out some during
the magic hours. Have a fun time! We did!!!!
:mickey:
BEEN THERE DONE THAT AND GOING BACK IN
OCTOBER! :D