Disney After Hours for non-DAH Guests...

mirak

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 26, 2014
....is kind of a raw deal. Space Mountain was a 25 minute wait at 8:00. By 8:45 it has swelled to a 50 minute wait. This is because Disney allowed all the DAH guests to enter and start hitting the rides at 8:15, a full 45 minutes before the regular park hours end.

Which means that at a time when my family would ordinarily be walking onto the headliners (or close to it), the crowds have actually increased. I feel like DAH shouldn’t *diminish* the value of a full price ticket for regular guests. But it does.

Just trying to walk from Frontierland to Tomorrowland at 8:20 was INSANE because people were pouring into the park.

I have no beef with selling extended hours for an additional price, but I do have a problem when that access effectively reduces my hours. I don’t think my full price ticket should be devalued so Disney can make more money.
 
....is kind of a raw deal. Space Mountain was a 25 minute wait at 8:00. By 8:45 it has swelled to a 50 minute wait. This is because Disney allowed all the DAH guests to enter and start hitting the rides at 8:15, a full 45 minutes before the regular park hours end.

Which means that at a time when my family would ordinarily be walking onto the headliners (or close to it), the crowds have actually increased. I feel like DAH shouldn’t *diminish* the value of a full price ticket for regular guests. But it does.

Just trying to walk from Frontierland to Tomorrowland at 8:20 was INSANE because people were pouring into the park.

I have no beef with selling extended hours for an additional price, but I do have a problem when that access effectively reduces my hours. I don’t think my full price ticket should be devalued so Disney can make more money.

I’ve always felt bad for day guests on Halloween and Christmas party dates. They are closing the park at 6:00, it used to be 7:00. They let party guests in at 4:00 and last year DVC members got in at 2:00. So day guests are paying for a full day but have to compete with party guests for fastpasses starting at 2:00, plus longer lines.
 
I’m sorry you didn’t have a great evening. 2/14 - Valentine’s Day, the Thursday before a holiday weekend, etc - has been one of the more popular dates on the DAH thread.

I did want to note that it is not all that unusual on any night for posted headliner wait times to dip before/during HEA (which tonight was 8pm), then to spike a bit after the show as some folks rush to catch one last ride before closing (which tonight was 9pm). There’s probably a bit of end of night inflated posted waits going on there as well.

And just a small point of clarification (which probably adds to your frustration) - official entry with a DAH ticket is actually 7pm.
 
....is kind of a raw deal. Space Mountain was a 25 minute wait at 8:00. By 8:45 it has swelled to a 50 minute wait.

Are these the actual wait times? Or posted wait times?

Because all wait times get inflated (sometimes greatly) near the end of the evening... I think it's a bit silly, but approaching the end of the night the CMs generally make the listed wait 2-3x (or more) the actual wait.

I have a hard time believing DAH guests would make an impact... or at least much of an impact... DAH must be 5-10% or less of park capacity? (am I off on numbers @GADisneyDad14 ?)
 


DAH must be 5-10% or less of park capacity? (am I off on numbers @GADisneyDad14 ?)

People throw out 3k, but I personally don’t know if that’s close to legit or if it’s just that someone said it on the Internet once so must be true. :-)

I do know for me, you won’t find me waiting in line for Space Mountain for 25 or 50 minutes pre-event when I can wait an hour(ish) and ride it over and over with minimal waits. But, I’m sure many folks may have other plans, different agendas, etc.
 
Thanks everyone for the additional info. I can say that the posted wait time at Space was 15min at 8:15. We were wrapping up at Frontier. It was 8:30 by the time we pushed through BIG crowds mainly headed into the park (which seemed weird) to get to Tomorrowland. By the time we reached Space, the posted wait time was 50 minutes and it took us every bit of 40 to get through. We could tell that the majority of people around us were all there for the special event and they were riding standby, which they are allowed to do.

Look, it just seems crummy to me. That sort of influx doesn’t happen on a regular night. We’ve always had success then hitting headliners with minimal to no wait. I guess the word to the wise is to simply avoid DAH if you’re not going to buy the event and you want to shut down the park.
 


This is because Disney allowed all the DAH guests to enter and start hitting the rides at 8:15, a full 45 minutes before the regular park hours end.

Also, Disney allows DAH ticket holders in between 6:30 & 7. Many of them are doing fastpass rides or rides that won’t be open during DAH. What you experienced was probably related to regular guests getting in one last ride & not DAH guests.
 
Thanks everyone for the additional info. I can say that the posted wait time at Space was 15min at 8:15. We were wrapping up at Frontier. It was 8:30 by the time we pushed through BIG crowds mainly headed into the park (which seemed weird) to get to Tomorrowland. By the time we reached Space, the posted wait time was 50 minutes and it took us every bit of 40 to get through. We could tell that the majority of people around us were all there for the special event and they were riding standby, which they are allowed to do.

Look, it just seems crummy to me. That sort of influx doesn’t happen on a regular night. We’ve always had success then hitting headliners with minimal to no wait. I guess the word to the wise is to simply avoid DAH if you’re not going to buy the event and you want to shut down the park.
Happily Ever After fireworks were from 8-8:20pm. That was the huge crowd you were pushing through to get from Frontierland to Tomorrowland. I was in the middle of it near the castle, yes it sucked but I think it’s like that most nights. I entered the park at 6:30 for DAH and it felt very crowded, I had FP booked so that’s all I did for the hours before the event because all the rides had decent waits (There was even a wait for PeopleMover). I agree with your point though that if a large volume of people are staying late, or entering later in the afternoon, then it may shift the typical patterns for wait times. Sorry it affected your end of night.
 
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On the flip side of it many of us DAH attendees stay out of the park during the day or at least make a much shorter day out of it, thus helping to reduce your lines and not be competing for fastpasses. In my mind that more than makes up for any extra bit of wait during the crossover hour, if there really is any.
 
Special ticketed events are noted in park hours so you have the option of avoiding the parks on these days. I think it is more likely that the "jump in the line right before closing" strategy is becoming more and more popular, hence the longer than anticipated waits.

Remember that the DAH people have paid more than the cost of a standard admission ticket for three hours ... pretty pricey, but it is a choice they make for the privilege of enjoying the park with fewer crowds. The fact that they can enter the park earlier than the actual start of the event doesn't give them any special privileges ... they will wait along with everyone else until the specified start of the event..
 
What I have a problem with on evening special events are the day crowds hanging in the parks after the events start and the jammed lines for the first hour from day people jumping in line right at closing. They’re fully entitled to get in line, just like those paying for the event get to come in early. It all evens out. Disney is much better at clearing day guests at paid events, but do little about it during EMH’s.

As others have said, those entering early for the event aren’t jumping into long lines for the headliners. Why would they when they can ride them during the event with little to no wait - we don’t even attempt a headliner until the day crowd has run through the lines. Lines always swell close to closing when the closing time is relatively early. It’s not DAH guests causing it, it’s day guests.
 
I also think there's more of a late-line thing going on because the park is clearly not closing. On a normal light, there's a smidge of wind down as the park starts to close, but on a DAH everything is still open -- rides are still moving, CMs are still mulling about. Most people have some degree of urgency when it comes to respecting closing times, but with DAH it seems more like an arbitrary thing.
 
Having attended a DAH event that was sold out, I don't see how it would be possible for that small crowd to affect wait times in any measurable amount. I've seen SM wait times swell at the end of the night many times when there was no upcharge event scheduled. I think there were several variables involved with your experience and I don't think DAH attendees were the culprit.
 
We were let in at 6.25pm on Thursday and there was probably a queue of 30 people waiting. This was the first time I had stepped foot in Mk for 20 years and my god it was busy. I really don't think the after hours guests made any impact to a Park that busy.

I would also put money on the fact the majority of after hours guests are already in the park on day tickets.
 

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