Originally Posted by
DisneyDINK
Day 1 - Part 2: Disney After Hours
May 5th, 2016
I got lucky. Honestly, I haven't been spending much time on the boards here lately. Now I wish I had been. I almost missed this one. I first learned of Disney After Hours while using a popular site planning my September trip.
This trip was going to be all Universal, no Disney at all. Then I noticed a link: Disney After Hours. Huh? Never heard of it. Time for some due diligence. So, I read the link, checked the boards, read the posts, searched the web and watched about 3 youtube vids/vlogs/webcasts. Now I was legitimately excited. I was going to be at Universal for one of these dates? Cool! Was it sold out!? Nope. I bought a ticket and made some Fastpass reservations.
I will detail my exploits below, but I thought I would start by saying the Disney After Hours event is probably the most fun I have had at the MK in 20 years. Not since I was a kid have I had this memorable and unique magical Disney experience.
So, as mentioned in my last post, I did about 5 hour of Universal on 3 hours of sleep. At about 1:30 I went to my room and took a long siesta. Then I set my iPad alarm to wake, shower, primp and get to the cab stand by 5:00pm. I summoned an Uber on my phone; Universal resorts have no problem with Uber. My drive was awesome. My chauffeur, a nice young women originally from Trinidad and we had a lovely conversation. It costs $15.25 for a ride from the hotel to the Swan at 5:00pm on a weekday! File that away.
I like Kimono's for many reasons: reservations are not required, they have great sushi and unlike many Disney bars they serve the full menu. It is an ideal place to eat alone for sure. After a leisurely dinner, 2 drinks and a nice conversation with the barkeep from Philly, I boarded a bus for the MK.
After a 2 minute wait at Guest Relations a CM added my event ticket to my magic band and he told me where to go next. 50 paces to the left I went through the dedicated entry and they gave me my honking huge plackard on a lanyard. It was 6:58pm. The front has the party name and date and the back is a list of all of the available After Hours attractions.
Sadly my little point and shoot recently died on so I used my second generation GoPro to chronicle the evening. I filmed many brief videos and took many pictures that night. First, I shot some "before" vids and pics, how the MK looks before the party starts, and later I would shoot the "afters".
I managed to make 3 Fast Pass + reservations: BTMRR, PP and SM for my 3 hours from 7:00-10:00pm. I wanted to hit the attractions that either would not be open later or represented a poor use of my time if there were short or no lines. I found time to do the Bears, TTA, IASW, CoP and then Stitch got me to 9:40 or so when I walked near Be Our Guest to take in the fireworks.
As soon as the clock struck 10:00 I grabbed a diet coke. Unlimited bottled beverages and frozen treats (no pun intended) ((okay, there was one "Frozen" treat, but I didn't have one)) are included in the $150.00 price. You feel obligated to eat and drink a bit more than usual just to get your money’s worth.
Wishes ended and I was off to do some riding, and an ice cream sandwich. First Under the Sea, no line. Next, Pooh, no line and vehicle to myself. Then the Mine Train... A virtual walk on. You showed up and they were assigning numbers immediately, so I did it again. Then the Speedway, SM, Buzz Lightyear all with zero wait. I couldn't even see another guest from my vehicle on the Spin. Astro Orbiter, I had an elevator to myself and there were 4 of us on the entire ride. Everyone was invited to stay and ride as many times as they wished! Back to the mine train for 2 more rides then HM (super fun, but small crowd in the “elevator”), Splash and 2 rides in Big Thunder. Next off to PotC and then Jungle Cruise. I was the lone guest and another skipper/CM came along for fun. Either that or it was a security measure, but I am pretty sure it was the former. It was 12:40am and I was done with rides, but a bit hungry.
I walked to Casey's, the only place selling food during the event and they were still open. I sat and ate my chili dog while gazing off at the castle and the lights of Main Street. As I strolled down Main Street and recorded my last video and took my last pictures of the night as they made the closing announcement. It was 1:00am.
During the course of the evening I did not manage to consume my body weight in ice cream to mitigate the cost. I only had 3 frozen treats, a diet coke and a water. I am glad I didn't have any more.
I boarded the Admiral Joe, crossed to the TTC and caught a cab back to the Portofino at Universal, $52, $60 with my tip - see! Longer ride, but still you gotta love Uber. I guess I could have got a bus to AoA, SSR or some other hotel near the Springs and THEN grab a taxi there, but I was tired and valued my time more than my money at that point. Kinda the theme of the evening, right?
Now, I got in an extraordinary number of rides in 2:30 hours (subtracting Wishes and my choice of food instead of a ride). I could have done more, but I took my time going from ride to ride partially due to a bad toe and also due to picture and video taking. You strolled around and you could clearly hear the park music loops. The weather was idyllic and the sky was clear. The place was just beautiful. THE PARK WAS EMPTY! THE PARK IS NEVER EMPTY! THAT WAS SO COOL! You can take pictures of things and there are few or no other guests in them. My "after" pictures and videos were a stark contrast from the befores. I would love to show you all my video where I walked from the Tea Party to the Cool Ship. The difference is staggering. Even with all I did there was time to smell the roses. I think I smiled more this night than I had in the last month or two combined. You couldn't help but smile!
There were a few kids here and there, just enough for me to appreciate the fun they were having, and they WERE having a good time. Why would they be in a bad mood? There was enough time to do whatever they wanted. No mom or dad was saying the line was too long or they should wait for their Fastpass. CMs were able to interact with guests and each other if they wanted to. They had time!
Now, I get that this might not be for everyone. If you already bought your tickets or APs $158 and change with tax is a LOT of extra cash to shell out. Family of 4, that's like $635! I doubt I would want to keep anyone younger than a 12 year old out that late. Also, if you had plans for say a character breakfast or rope drop the next morning those plans are pretty much hosed.
I realize that the event might not be for you, but there is no reason to hate it. Unlike the Christmas and Halloween parties where they close the parks to regular guests early, this is truly an after-hours event. They would have closed the park at the same time anyway. If you want to argue the park is more crowded from 7-10 I observed almost zero difference. Most event goers arrived during, just before or just after the fireworks. I was looking and I didn't see anyone else wearing their pass until 9:30. Also a few of them had a valid AP or Park Hopper anyhow. Even if they all showed up at 7, all 3,000, that doesn't move the needle much on a medium to busy day. In short I don't see how others were or should have been put out by the event.
A money grab? Okay, but so is paying $500 per night for a Deluxe, $20 to park a car each day (!!!!!), $20 sunscreen and $105 for a single day at the MK. Bargains? Heck no! Wouldn't you rather have the option than not have the option?
Now, was the event a flop? Hard to say. I still can't believe the Disney Parks Blog announced the events on March 23rd. Seriously?! In a World where we make dining reservations 180 days in advance you spring this on us a mere 30 days from the first date and 60 from the last one. Who can go? Just locals really, and they better be able to either call in sick Friday or have a very late start if they are working folks. People already staying on property could go, but the late announcement made things hard. Now, if you are in town for some other reason, that is ideal. Like me, those on a Universal vacation couldn't ask for a better opportunity in my not-so-humble opinion. If you announce this the same way you do all the other special events it should sell. I will plan to be there. I would plan my schedule around something like this.
My main complaint about Walt Disney World, head and shoulders above the rest, is how constantly crowded he parks have become. This is not going to change. Disney is locking scads of guest into annual vacations with DVC. If things get slow they import peeps from the southern hemisphere by the thousands. There are special events which bolster crowds constantly! (Xmas and Halloween parties, Flower and Garden, Food and Wine, Dance Worlds, Pop Warner, the Marathon, loads and loads of conventions and a whole slew of national, state and school holidays. There is no "dead" time anymore!!! This is a great solution, at least for me.
Imagine this day: sleep in, wake up when you are good and rested, have a late breakfast, hit the pool or water park, take a nap or enjoy a little quiet time in the room, have a leisurely dinner, then this, a complete day in the MK in less than six hours, a truly unique and unforgettable Disney experience! I just described an idyllic day at Disney for me and for me that’s what this was, an idyllic day. How about you? Sounds good?
