Disney After Hours (1/20/2017) Event Report. (#45 2/2 night)
- Thread starter Accident
- Start date
I am in on the 16th as well!
Accident
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2015
After Hours 2/2/2017
Time flies.. It was already time for my second after hours of the season. This is going to be a much more brief account as I think I described it really well....
Goal of the trip
This time I only had a ticket for myself. The goal when purchased was having a second date in case the first rained or I needed more opportunity to get video of certain rides. Also with the first time being more a father/daughter night, I didn't want to get obsessed with video and enjoy the time together. First and last nights of any events are always the most crowded as well...
I didn't really expect the new camera to be here yet and I wasn't thrilled with the footage from the other camera (but each trip is getting it better and better). I've been busy with work as my entire department is at a trade show next week so we've been trying to make it so nobody needs to work and I just didn't have time to get into disney to play with the cameras looking for the sweet spot in settings. It was also the first time I really took the new camera out for any length of time.
Pre-event
I arrived just before 7pm (park closing at 8pm) and I could already tell it's moving down to the spring crowds. The park was nowhere close to low crowd but it was lower than the last trip in. It was also warmer reaching mid 70s that day and was going to be better during after hours.
I did my normal coffee from venus, hang in the smoke section and then I hit friars for dinner (mac n cheese always hits the spot and fills me up when it's going to be a lot of walking around). Also one of the cheapest quick service options with largest portion in all of MK in my opinion.
After hours
Tonight was wishes as the park closes (which works much better to clear out the popular rides faster).
The best spot I know to really try out a 360 camera is behind the castle during wishes so I hung on the side and filmed that. Most were in the hub and it was comfy although lots of people saw it and had to run up yelling so crossing my fingers it's a good one as the way the smoke was moving past the castle looked amazing and that's rare to see. (also meant the hub was watching smoke and not fireworks). can't go wrong in the back of castle for no wind or extremely humid as your between the fireworks and not watching the high ones through the smoke of the near castle ones.. I'm too tired to look at the footage right now and tomorrow I need to pack and get off to my business trip and mini vacation up north. It'll be some time to really get it up, laptops are just too slow to deal with the video.
I like that spot because it's dark, bright flashes, usually some oohs and aahs that might overtake the music so it's just an all around how did the camera perform and with 360, did they all perform the same as not every lens got bright lights at the same time. Also it's really 360 with fireworks on 2 sides and some that do explode over you. It's not 180 or 360 party/4th/nye all around you but it's a nice place to try it.
The rest of hte night was just roaming around. I setup in the hub for awhile, I moved the camera around trying to sort out where I might want to film future stage/fireworks/special stage events from. So many trees, tall plants, giant hanging plants and light posts
I also setup at the dj for awhile, felt sorry again as there really wasn't many there and I wouldn't expect them to be. I did like hearing the music off to the distance as it's in the dance party spot. I think they should really have 2 maybe 3 characters that come out to join in time to time. not the normal ones, get something really special out in that area..
I'm very out of shape, but not sure anyone would be shape to hold 5 pounds of camera over your head while walking. the scary thing is, it should really be heavier with a longer pole and weighted to help stabilize it but since the selfie stick ban, I haven't risked bring in a monopod/pole with a waste strap to help hold it straight. I think after I get a lot more footage together I might contact the press and security groups to see if they can offer exact guidelines around their usage or maybe grant permission due to the nature that you need it above your head slightly and your not extending it to get it far away from you where it's a safety risk. shrug, who knows.
What I do know is I need to work on my arms more. I'm not going to be able to lift anything for days (and have to get luggage and head out. should be interesting).
Things I noticed different
This was the first 8pm close after hour I ever did. everyone not attending took much longer to leave but weren't a cranky they couldn't ride anymore. I think the fireworks at close really helped make it easier for many to shift forward.. So rides were empty really fast but crowds were larger in the walkways for an extra 10-15 minutes.
Nobody was asked to leave but they did station cast members at all the leave the hub points to turn away anyone not in after hours from getting further back from the hub. The hub stayed busy until 9:30ish mostly with non-attendees.
It wasn't impacting so don't take that description as it was packed, it thinned and thinned fast, just not fully cleared out with day guests as early. Rides were clear almost right away so it really didn't matter there was more people between rides for the first hour.
The crowd was lower, about 1/3 of what the first night was. My best guess is 1000 so that makes it about double what the quiet nights were last time. It didn't look like people left, baught tickets and came back like the first night. 8pm is a night time for a local with work on friday but maybe not the best time to get more people to want to buy a ticket last second. It's early enough you can hit springs or the resort meal options and finish the night off. I did look up the full schedule it was 8pm ak and HS, 9pm epcot close. normal midnight for springs.
The soft drink, ice cream and popcorn stands started to close earlier than I expected. The ones furthest back where people just weren't hanging out had long lines and lots of attention the first 2 hours but closed up early when they all left that area of the park. the ones more on the way to main street were still there so you could get stuff, just not every stand was opened. (I suspect they did this last year as I hear pete werner describe that there was less the later dates of the event last year but I think what happened is he just took his time to get to the very back of the park and never saw them opened..
Something is going on at the castle.
While I was hanging out in the hub, every 15ish minutes the music would quiet, then a louder song comes on and the castle does a little light show. It's not a projection show, it doesn't last that long. I have to watch my footage back as I think it might be the last 30-60 seconds of the kiss goodnight without the speech. I really enjoyed it, I'm starting to get tired of the blue and purple castle so to have it do a little old techie techie flash the lights different colors to music was an expected treat.
I have no clue if that is just for after hours or maybe to offer a mini kiss goodnight to day guests and people on the way out. They did the full kiss goodnight (and it was early, I got to the hub at 11 and I could see and kind of hear the speech in tomorrowland it was already going as I approached. If disney is reading this, I would love to see some random non-projection castle moments at night. I also would like to ride the fire truck up and down main street so bring that back to after hours too
.
Pictures?
I did almost all video and lots of close up castle pics so not going to post any.. Also I'm about to pass out so goodnight!!!!!!
conclusion.
even better than first one, I do like even more empty than empty MK. I didn't ride anything but that was ok, this was amazing in it's own way. This was also a good way to get in my disney before leaving the area (yes locals get width-drawl when they go away.). I can't imagine being 9 nights of no fireworks. How do people live in areas without nightly fireworks (and many to choose from???).
Last night of after hours is next up (if I don't add another night). That will be another father daughter night so I'll probably bagless it and jsut enjoy the rides that time.
Time flies.. It was already time for my second after hours of the season. This is going to be a much more brief account as I think I described it really well....
Goal of the trip
This time I only had a ticket for myself. The goal when purchased was having a second date in case the first rained or I needed more opportunity to get video of certain rides. Also with the first time being more a father/daughter night, I didn't want to get obsessed with video and enjoy the time together. First and last nights of any events are always the most crowded as well...
I didn't really expect the new camera to be here yet and I wasn't thrilled with the footage from the other camera (but each trip is getting it better and better). I've been busy with work as my entire department is at a trade show next week so we've been trying to make it so nobody needs to work and I just didn't have time to get into disney to play with the cameras looking for the sweet spot in settings. It was also the first time I really took the new camera out for any length of time.
Pre-event
I arrived just before 7pm (park closing at 8pm) and I could already tell it's moving down to the spring crowds. The park was nowhere close to low crowd but it was lower than the last trip in. It was also warmer reaching mid 70s that day and was going to be better during after hours.
I did my normal coffee from venus, hang in the smoke section and then I hit friars for dinner (mac n cheese always hits the spot and fills me up when it's going to be a lot of walking around). Also one of the cheapest quick service options with largest portion in all of MK in my opinion.
After hours
Tonight was wishes as the park closes (which works much better to clear out the popular rides faster).
The best spot I know to really try out a 360 camera is behind the castle during wishes so I hung on the side and filmed that. Most were in the hub and it was comfy although lots of people saw it and had to run up yelling so crossing my fingers it's a good one as the way the smoke was moving past the castle looked amazing and that's rare to see. (also meant the hub was watching smoke and not fireworks). can't go wrong in the back of castle for no wind or extremely humid as your between the fireworks and not watching the high ones through the smoke of the near castle ones.. I'm too tired to look at the footage right now and tomorrow I need to pack and get off to my business trip and mini vacation up north. It'll be some time to really get it up, laptops are just too slow to deal with the video.
I like that spot because it's dark, bright flashes, usually some oohs and aahs that might overtake the music so it's just an all around how did the camera perform and with 360, did they all perform the same as not every lens got bright lights at the same time. Also it's really 360 with fireworks on 2 sides and some that do explode over you. It's not 180 or 360 party/4th/nye all around you but it's a nice place to try it.
The rest of hte night was just roaming around. I setup in the hub for awhile, I moved the camera around trying to sort out where I might want to film future stage/fireworks/special stage events from. So many trees, tall plants, giant hanging plants and light posts
I also setup at the dj for awhile, felt sorry again as there really wasn't many there and I wouldn't expect them to be. I did like hearing the music off to the distance as it's in the dance party spot. I think they should really have 2 maybe 3 characters that come out to join in time to time. not the normal ones, get something really special out in that area..I'm very out of shape, but not sure anyone would be shape to hold 5 pounds of camera over your head while walking. the scary thing is, it should really be heavier with a longer pole and weighted to help stabilize it but since the selfie stick ban, I haven't risked bring in a monopod/pole with a waste strap to help hold it straight. I think after I get a lot more footage together I might contact the press and security groups to see if they can offer exact guidelines around their usage or maybe grant permission due to the nature that you need it above your head slightly and your not extending it to get it far away from you where it's a safety risk. shrug, who knows.
What I do know is I need to work on my arms more. I'm not going to be able to lift anything for days (and have to get luggage and head out. should be interesting).
Things I noticed different
This was the first 8pm close after hour I ever did. everyone not attending took much longer to leave but weren't a cranky they couldn't ride anymore. I think the fireworks at close really helped make it easier for many to shift forward.. So rides were empty really fast but crowds were larger in the walkways for an extra 10-15 minutes.
Nobody was asked to leave but they did station cast members at all the leave the hub points to turn away anyone not in after hours from getting further back from the hub. The hub stayed busy until 9:30ish mostly with non-attendees.
It wasn't impacting so don't take that description as it was packed, it thinned and thinned fast, just not fully cleared out with day guests as early. Rides were clear almost right away so it really didn't matter there was more people between rides for the first hour.
The crowd was lower, about 1/3 of what the first night was. My best guess is 1000 so that makes it about double what the quiet nights were last time. It didn't look like people left, baught tickets and came back like the first night. 8pm is a night time for a local with work on friday but maybe not the best time to get more people to want to buy a ticket last second. It's early enough you can hit springs or the resort meal options and finish the night off. I did look up the full schedule it was 8pm ak and HS, 9pm epcot close. normal midnight for springs.
The soft drink, ice cream and popcorn stands started to close earlier than I expected. The ones furthest back where people just weren't hanging out had long lines and lots of attention the first 2 hours but closed up early when they all left that area of the park. the ones more on the way to main street were still there so you could get stuff, just not every stand was opened. (I suspect they did this last year as I hear pete werner describe that there was less the later dates of the event last year but I think what happened is he just took his time to get to the very back of the park and never saw them opened..
Something is going on at the castle.
While I was hanging out in the hub, every 15ish minutes the music would quiet, then a louder song comes on and the castle does a little light show. It's not a projection show, it doesn't last that long. I have to watch my footage back as I think it might be the last 30-60 seconds of the kiss goodnight without the speech. I really enjoyed it, I'm starting to get tired of the blue and purple castle so to have it do a little old techie techie flash the lights different colors to music was an expected treat.
I have no clue if that is just for after hours or maybe to offer a mini kiss goodnight to day guests and people on the way out. They did the full kiss goodnight (and it was early, I got to the hub at 11 and I could see and kind of hear the speech in tomorrowland it was already going as I approached. If disney is reading this, I would love to see some random non-projection castle moments at night. I also would like to ride the fire truck up and down main street so bring that back to after hours too
.Pictures?
I did almost all video and lots of close up castle pics so not going to post any.. Also I'm about to pass out so goodnight!!!!!!
conclusion.
even better than first one, I do like even more empty than empty MK.
I didn't ride anything but that was ok, this was amazing in it's own way. This was also a good way to get in my disney before leaving the area (yes locals get width-drawl when they go away.). I can't imagine being 9 nights of no fireworks. How do people live in areas without nightly fireworks (and many to choose from???).Last night of after hours is next up (if I don't add another night). That will be another father daughter night so I'll probably bagless it and jsut enjoy the rides that time.
We had a great time last night
It many in the parks when we were in different sections had few peeps
So empty for us
Started at jungle cruise and ended at tomorrow land
Workers were given away the treats at the end to us
None of the rides were even close to full when we were on them
We would do this again!
It many in the parks when we were in different sections had few peeps
So empty for us
Started at jungle cruise and ended at tomorrow land
Workers were given away the treats at the end to us
None of the rides were even close to full when we were on them
We would do this again!
Accident
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2015
depends on the ride, some you can't safely stay on. Also depends if they have room for everyone waiting to ride. Generally earlier in the night your going to get off (but not go all the wait out to get back on, some exceptions where you have like btmr but not space which has a direct hallway back to the load room).
Also depends on the CM, this is new to many of them as well.
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