I was at the DAH event held at DHS this Friday night, May 10, from 9:30pm to 12:30am. Here is a short report, as well as a comparative with the DAH at the MK, which I attended on Thursday evening.
I arrived at the park entrance at 6:50pm. I saw a group of people who were waiting for the DAH admission. So 10 minutes before 7pm, they were not allowed to enter the park. I moved through the turnstiles thanks to my annual pass, and I picked the wristband at the ticket station located at the intersection of Hollywood Bd and Sunset Bd.
I begun by watching the Star Wars Fireworks at 9:30pm, which basically means that DAH goers must decide between the fireworks show scheduled as part of the regular park hours, or the immediate start of your DAH event. Choosing the fireworks - which we don't have to do at MK - already decreases the value of the activity.
Then, I had the following line-up of rides:
- Tower of Terror (2x)
- Rock n' Roller Coaster (2x)
- Toy Story Mania (2x)
- The Aliens Saucers
- The Slinky Dog Roller Coaster
- Toy Story Mania (3x) -- no need to exit the vehicule -- more below
- Tower of Terror (1x)
* Everything was basically walk-on (except 2-3 mintues in the boiler room of Tower of Terror).
I knew in advance that DAH at DHS involved a much smaller number of attractions then at MK. So I understood this. I was attracted by this event because some of my favorite Disney attractions are at DHS, so I did want to ride them, again and again. However, I did hope for much more efficiency.
At the Hollywood Tower of Terror, all guests had to watch the entire pre-show. We had no option to by-pass this, so each ride took almost 15 minutes.
At Toy Story Mania, I would have appreciated a way to by-pass the regular path, which is way to long since the refurbishment. It would have been very easy, and without any additional operating cost, to open the fence between the exit way (where we drop our glasses in the bin) and to leave people returning to the attraction. Also, the 3rd time at rode TSM, there was no body waiting in line for my row. So I asked a young male cast member whether I could stay for one more ride. He wasn't sure. In contrast with many attractions I did the night before at MK, nobody was invited to stay on board for another ride whether no guest waited for the same row. Fortunately, he was soon joined my an older, female colleague who answered *yes, of course, you can!* I heard the young man explaining to his colleague that he didn't want to take a chance and say *yes* without to know the exact procedure. So I played a 4th time, I was along in my pair of cars. Then, I did a 5th time.
I was very happy to be permitted to stay on board of TSM, however I don't understand why this possibility is not advertized to all guests. I would have also appreciated an opportunity to by-pass the movie at Tower of Terror, as it was possible at Rock n' Roller Coaster.
The kiosks were more numerous than what I expected from previous messages. I had no problem to find locations for one Coke, one bottle of water, one pop corn and one ice cream sandwich. In Toy Story Land, for instance, they were two kiosks. Also, all the kiosks I attended had most of the items -- it was not necessary to pick the popcorn at one, then to move to another kiosk for a Coca-Cola.
To summary, I am not sure that DAH at DHS is a good thing. The re-ride opportunities are less clear than at MK. It is likely that I would return to DAH at Magic Kingdom, but I am not sure about DHS: fewer attractions, overlap of the regular nighttime show with the beginning of the event, lack of efficiency in the attractions...
But, I will likely arrive earlier than 7:00 (I haven't gotten our plane tickets yet because that trip is not until July).
Mk is definitely more worth the money, but DHS was a more relaxed evening. No preshow running on ToT tonight.
