**Disney After Hours - Magic Kingdom** FAQ & Discussion Thread

[WRLeGrand]

I hope this is not entirely off topic and someone can help me out:

We attend DAH at MK (Villains) on 7/1. We happen to be new AP Holders and DVC. My wife saw an advertisement where AP holders get a VAH Christmas Ornament for attending. We obviously did not get this and that's why I am here. Does anyone know how we might go about getting that after the fact. We really like to collect ornaments from the things we do a Disney, so obviously would love to add this to our collection...

 

[provoaggie]

My personal opinion, having done 2 regular MK AH and 2 Villains AH, regular AH events are better for filling your ride quota. Villains is better for atmosphere and theming. It all depends where your interests lie.

This is the absolute truth. I'm a rides first kind of person. I don't care about Atmosphere and Theming. I don't care about additional food items or merchandise, I care about rides. The problem that Disney created here is that they marketed this event with the ride focused After Hours events. I love parks but I've never been as in to Disney parks as my family is. I know that in that way I differ from a lot of the people posting here. After Hours at Hollywood Studios was probably the first time since I was a kid that I could say that I had an amazing day in a Disney park. Animal Kingdom was much the same. This was my 2nd time ever at Magic Kingdom and if the Tron coaster wasn't coming in a couple of years then I'm not sure that I'd try to make it back.

 

[AngiTN]

I'll come back Friday to update and confirm or change my thoughts but I am not going into VAH with any comparison to DAH expected.
VAH is about Villains first and foremost. It's a different event with totally different types of focus to it. I'd never expect VAH to be just like DAH, I expect and hope it is different. Otherwise, why have the thing?
We'll be comparing it to the EMH the day before. We land about 6:30 and plan to head to MK once we hit BWI. After flying I always like to walk around for a while. And this day we'll be going from sitting at a desk half the day at work to boarding a plane.
Should be easy to compare and we even have a regular DAH we did a month ago to include too.

 

[Dug720]

I'll come back Friday to update and confirm or change my thoughts but I am not going into VAH with any comparison to DAH expected.
VAH is about Villains first and foremost. It's a different event with totally different types of focus to it. I'd never expect VAH to be just like DAH, I expect and hope it is different. Otherwise, why have the thing?
We'll be comparing it to the EMH the day before. We land about 6:30 and plan to head to MK once we hit BWI. After flying I always like to walk around for a while. And this day we'll be going from sitting at a desk half the day at work to boarding a plane.
Should be easy to compare and we even have a regular DAH we did a month ago to include too.

I have absolutely nothing other than MNSSHP to compare it to on Thursday. I land Thursday late morning and at this point plan to hit Epcot for the afternoon before monorailing it over to MK. Not really going in with any agenda (besides getting a tank top...) so I will go with the flow and just enjoy being alive and being blessed enough to celebrate my birthday with a trip to Disney and a cruise on the Disney Dream!

 

[AngiTN]

I have absolutely nothing other than MNSSHP to compare it to on Thursday. I land Thursday late morning and at this point plan to hit Epcot for the afternoon before monorailing it over to MK. Not really going in with any agenda (besides getting a tank top...) so I will go with the flow and just enjoy being alive and being blessed enough to celebrate my birthday with a trip to Disney and a cruise on the Disney Dream!

Cool. We approach similarly. No set agenda in place other than I will want to see the villain stuff. We aren't M&G folks so that won't appeal to me.
We'll be sleeping in and chilling at the Resort before heading over. DH will probably want lunch at Epcot. Speaking of which, I think I'll surprise him with a Via Napoli ressie......

 

[skullsplitter]

Maybe they are reporting on different aspects. @skullsplitter seemed to have focused on the rides for younger kids (Dumbo, Barnstormer, Pooh being walk-ons). They both indicate that Space is about 20-25 minutes. We've been hearing that Space, 7DMT have had longer lines. It does make sense that the rides for younger children will be uncrowded since it is pretty late in the evening.

We really had no plan other than we wanted to do Pirates and Space. At 10 Tomorrowland was still full of day guests. We noticed Tea Cups had no wait so we moved on and just worked our way around the park. We prefer to be doing something even if it's Dumbo, rather than burning large parts of the party standing in line. Path of least resistance

 

[skullsplitter]

We went on the opening sold out event. But to me, it was still reminiscent of the 2AM 3 hour EMH of 2010ish. As the night wore on, the shorter the lines became. Never empty, but low crowds. Honestly, I don’t think they are selling more, just that more people are purchasing. I think some of the earlier DAH were just insanely low. Who else, besides me, has gone to a sold out VAH event that can compare? I’m on record saying a sold out VAH was still better for rides than EMH. But who has gone to a sold out DAH and VAH that can compare?

Yes. This what my wife and I said durng the event. It felt like the old late night EMH. We used to enjoy those late EMH nights so much.

 

[WRLeGrand]

I would say that one of the major downsides of the event is that there still seemed to be a lot of the "normal" guests lingering around for a long while after 10:00 pm. Rides such as Space Moutain and SDMT were back-logged because people were still in line. I strongly feel if they are going to offer AH in any form, they may have to close the lines for these rides early to offer the "fair" attraction time to hard-ticket holders...

 

[AngiTN]

I would say that one of the major downsides of the event is that there still seemed to be a lot of the "normal" guests lingering around for a long while after 10:00 pm. Rides such as Space Moutain and SDMT were back-logged because people were still in line. I strongly feel if they are going to offer AH in any form, they may have to close the lines for these rides early to offer the "fair" attraction time to hard-ticket holders...

They should but whichever way they do it, they'll tick off guests. I believe they feel they tick off fewer guests by letting the lines operate as normal and having the overlap.

 

[WRLeGrand]

They should but whichever way they do it, they'll tick off guests. I believe they feel they tick off fewer guests by letting the lines operate as normal and having the overlap.

I agree, darned if you do and darned if you don't. Just seems like maybe Fireworks time would be a good time to let the queue end for new guests until the event begins. If you want to be assured of a specific ride, just be in line by the time fireworks begin. But probably no easy answer.

 

[KangaFan]

It seems strange that they are extending the closing to 10pm on these nights when other week nights are at 9 or 9:15, which would allow that gap to allow clearing of the daytime crowds instead of encouraging more guests to choose that day to go to MK.

 

[lucas]

Just booked the 8/29 event!

 

[Inurdrems9]

I am sure this has been asked, but I can’t find it. We have 3 FP’s for the morning of VAH (AP) , can we get 3 FP’s before the event starts with the VAH ticket?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I am sure this has been asked, but I can’t find it. We have 3 FP’s for the morning of VAH (AP) , can we get 3 FP’s before the event starts with the VAH ticket?

No, you can’t get 3 FPs with a VAH ticket connected to your MDE account if you’ve booked FPs earlier that day. You can only get your one at a time 4th, 5th, etc after using the first three (or letting them expire). Hope that make sense.

 

[maui2k5]

Would you recommend VAH at the beginning or end of trip? We can go on our first full day Aug 1 or our second to last full day on Aug 8. Which would you choose? Me, wife, girls ages 8 & 10.

 

[Haley R]

Would you recommend VAH at the beginning or end of trip? We can go on our first full day Aug 1 or our second to last full day on Aug 8. Which would you choose? Me, wife, girls ages 8 & 10.

I would say it depends on what your plans are for the next day. If you can sleep in after VAH and take a resort day or only do a half day at a park I would plan it that way. I'm leaning towards the first day just because you will have more adrenaline.

 

[maui2k5]

I would say it depends on what your plans are for the next day. If you can sleep in after VAH and take a resort day or only do a half day at a park I would plan it that way. I'm leaning towards the first day just because you will have more adrenaline.

Right now we have breakfast at Cape May Cafe at 9:25am on our last full day morning which would be the morning after VAH. After that I only have one fastpass planned from 11am-12pm for Test Track...

 

[Haley R]

Right now we have breakfast at Cape May Cafe at 9:25am on our last full day morning which would be the morning after VAH. After that I only have one fastpass planned from 11am-12pm for Test Track...

That's up to you, but I personally wouldn't want to be at VAH until after 1 am and have to wake up for a breakfast. What does your second day look like if you chose to do VAH the first day?

 

[maui2k5]

That's up to you, but I personally wouldn't want to be at VAH until after 1 am and have to wake up for a breakfast. What does your second day look like if you chose to do VAH the first day?

8am Garden Grill then 3 fast passes in the AM

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Would you recommend VAH at the beginning or end of trip? We can go on our first full day Aug 1 or our second to last full day on Aug 8. Which would you choose? Me, wife, girls ages 8 & 10.

Full disclosure, haven’t done VAH yet (but have done plenty of other MK party type things).

For me, I want “real / un-partied MK” as my first MK experience of a trip, sort of MK as it was intended to be experienced. So for you I’m assuming that means one or a few normal MK visits over your stay.

Then, follow all of that up at the end of your trip with a “special” MK night where you can enjoy the different park party vibe, mood, music, etc. Casually hit any rides you may have missed during earlier visits, see the shows, etc.

Don’t think you can go wrong either way, but for us end would work better (assuming mood/spirits/energy levels are still high at the end of your week).