"Official" 2018 Disney After Hours (DAH) Thread (Now Closed, see New 2019 Thread)

[Haley R]

We are going to WDW 6/7/19- 6/17/19. Any guesses as to whether they might have DAH that early in June? From the first post, it looks like it wasn’t offered until the end of June.

It’s pretty hard to tell at this point. All you can really do is sit and hope.

 

[mcurrence]

Okay guys - I am 1 day out from choosing FP for my Sept trip and need some advice. We are doing 9/20 DAH (which is 9-12), and I would like to see HEA (8pm show) if I can from a good spot only (as in, if we can't get a good spot, we're just going to go do rides). I was thinking of doing the "longer rides" before 9 so that we can just zoom around all the others when there's no wait.

What would be best FPs to get for around 7pm? I'm thinking Splash for sure....maybe 7DMT if available, but we can always make that the kiss goodnight. Any suggestions? TIA!

ETA: I'm looking forward to doing all the rides I normally skip during the day while at MK due to wait times! PP especially!

Yay another 9/20! Are you trying to schedule all 3?
In the past, we've done 7D, Peter pan, and another in Fantasy Land but we've never done HEA during DAH. This time we're doing the HEA dessert party so we're planning on staying close to Tomorrowland. I think we're going to to Space Mountain 6-7, 7-8 Speedway (not sure we'll make it since the party starts at 6:30) and Jungle Cruise for 8-9. (fingers crossed we can swim against the masses!!!)

My suggestion is to pick three that are not too far from each other and are the longer rides like you mentioned

 

[Haley R]

Weather was looking good but now it’s showing storms and rain until 7. Hopefully it holds off or goes around us.

 

[Mousefan mom]

Thanks for your description. The 15-20 minute wait for everything you wanted to ride does not sound good. I was going to get tickets to this for my family for Aug. 11 because all of the reports I have read mentioned that the rides were all walk-on. I know there are some remaining lines at the beginning of the party. But original reports were that dah guests could bypass that through FP. But even if that is not the case now, I would think day guests would clear out soon and then waits should be mininal to non -existent. 20 minutes wait at each ride is not what I what I would be expecting at this event.

Note, only until day guests clear out. So expect this at the start of your time, and plan accordingly. They would not let me bypass/fast pass the day crowd line still in the park when after hours begin if that makes sense.

 

[VAtink]

We're heading to the Sept 20th one, and were planning on not arriving until closer to 8, which happens to be the time of HEA that night. Do they usually open the Main Street bypass for this event so people entering the park don't have to fight through the fireworks crowds? We'd prefer to not get there too much earlier, but we also don't want to be stuck in the crowds watching the fireworks. Thanks!

 

[sara_s]

Yay another 9/20! Are you trying to schedule all 3?
In the past, we've done 7D, Peter pan, and another in Fantasy Land but we've never done HEA during DAH. This time we're doing the HEA dessert party so we're planning on staying close to Tomorrowland. I think we're going to to Space Mountain 6-7, 7-8 Speedway (not sure we'll make it since the party starts at 6:30) and Jungle Cruise for 8-9. (fingers crossed we can swim against the masses!!!)

My suggestion is to pick three that are not too far from each other and are the longer rides like you mentioned

Maybe all 3, but not necessarily. I like your picks too - good ideas!

 

[scjo68]

Note, only until day guests clear out. So expect this at the start of your time, and plan accordingly. They would not let me bypass/fast pass the day crowd line still in the park when after hours begin if that makes sense.

Ok, Yes I did misunderstand! I was thinking everything your kids wanted to do all night had a line! Whew! That makes more sense, we can handle that at just the beginning.

 

[ScarletFire]

Here now! Arrived MK at 5:45 and stood in the DAH line. We were allowed entry at exactly 6pm

 

[Mousefan mom]

Have fun guys!!! May the force be with you!

 

[mcurrence]

Have fun guys!!! May the force be with you!

Hope everyone has an amazing time!!!

 

[reluctantredhead]

FWIW, I am similarly conflicted about that Sept date. It's just sitting there screaming "DAH/MNSSHP trip!"

Thanks to this thread and the AP event at TSL, that's what we're doing! We decided it was fate. We're gonna be exhausted, but we arrive 9/20 and have booked an early Eat to the beat Package, then DAH. No sleep for us I guess, because 9/21 we have the TSL AP event at 7am (ouch), we'll head back to the hotel (BC) for a nap, and then MNSSHP. Saturday will be our "low key" day, haha...we don't have anything specific booked yet, but we'll figure it out after we get our FP+ lined up tomorrow.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Here now! Arrived MK at 5:45 and stood in the DAH line. We were allowed entry at exactly 6pm

awesome! Have a great time!

 

[Ashley Marie]

Review from Josh at EasyWDW which includes a helpful list of ride duration times to help in prioritizing what to ride during DAH. And nice photos:

https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/review-magic-kingdom-disney-after-hours-summer-2018-edition/

 

[Haley R]

I’m running on 50 minutes of sleep so hopefully my review isn’t terrible lol.

We showed up at mk around 5:40 and were let in exactly at 6 like someone else mentioned. We had FPS for pirates, haunted mansion, and Peter Pan. I was able to move them a little earlier after each one so we could go directly there. We also did it’s a small world, Winnie the Pooh, carousel of progress, thunder x3 (or 4 can’t remember) during fireworks, and splash before dah started.

Right when dah started we got a bunch of snacks from a cart with no line. We then found a nice seat in Adventureland and ate. The rest of the night we did pirates (our own boat and no one in front or behind us), space x6, tea cups, mine train (20 minute wait), Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, buzz light year, and finished with space one more time. There were some snack stops in between all of those.

Some of my thoughts: Dh and I both agreed last night seemed more crowded than when we went on March 1 and that was a sold out night. We were never able to stay on anything and ride more than once. Mine train had a long line all night. The snack carts were efficient and we skipped any with long lines.

Now for the fun part....Dh went and lost his phone on space mountain so we wasted about 30 minutes for someone to find it. We ended up leaving and coming back later. Luckily we were able to get it but it did cut into our dah time. We still were able to do everything we wanted and had fun.

 

[Cloe Colton]

I’m running on 50 minutes of sleep so hopefully my review isn’t terrible lol.

We showed up at mk around 5:40 and were let in exactly at 6 like someone else mentioned. We had FPS for pirates, haunted mansion, and Peter Pan. I was able to move them a little earlier after each one so we could go directly there. We also did it’s a small world, Winnie the Pooh, carousel of progress, thunder x3 (or 4 can’t remember) during fireworks, and splash before dah started.

Right when dah started we got a bunch of snacks from a cart with no line. We then found a nice seat in Adventureland and ate. The rest of the night we did pirates (our own boat and no one in front or behind us), space x6, tea cups, mine train (20 minute wait), Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, buzz light year, and finished with space one more time. There were some snack stops in between all of those.

Some of my thoughts: Dh and I both agreed last night seemed more crowded than when we went on March 1 and that was a sold out night. We were never able to stay on anything and ride more than once. Mine train had a long line all night. The snack carts were efficient and we skipped any with long lines.

Now for the fun part....Dh went and lost his phone on space mountain so we wasted about 30 minutes for someone to find it. We ended up leaving and coming back later. Luckily we were able to get it but it did cut into our dah time. We still were able to do everything we wanted and had fun.

I totally agree that last night felt way more crowded than anyone else's previous reports. Which is probably a result of the vloggers getting free tickets last week. But we still got everything done that we wanted to and most things were walk ons! My only other "complaint" and I say that lightly is that all carts ran out of drinks FAST. And we're never restocked. We did get two drinks earlier in the night but the only option after that was to go get tap water from an open QS. And it was a hot night so a refreshing water would have been so nice. But I would still highly recommend the night to anyone!

Our night totals -
five ice creams
Four drinks
Two waters
Two pops
People mover
Buzz lightyear
Space Mtn x2
Mine Train
Winnie the Pooh
Dumbo
Haunted Mansion
BTMR
Splash Mtn
Pirates of the Caribbean
Tangled Photopass
Castle PP
Stocks PP in Liberty Square

 

[Haley R]

I totally agree that last night felt way more crowded than anyone else's previous reports. Which is probably a result of the vloggers getting free tickets last week. But we still got everything done that we wanted to and most things were walk ons! My only other "complaint" and I say that lightly is that all carts ran out of drinks FAST. And we're never restocked. We did get two drinks earlier in the night but the only option after that was to go get tap water from an open QS. And it was a hot night so a refreshing water would have been so nice. But I would still highly recommend the night to anyone!

Our night totals -
five ice creams
Four drinks
Two waters
Two pops
People mover
Buzz lightyear
Space Mtn x2
Mine Train
Winnie the Pooh
Dumbo
Haunted Mansion
BTMR
Splash Mtn
Pirates of the Caribbean
Tangled Photopass
Castle PP
Stocks PP in Liberty Square

We were able to get sprite and coke from a cart by seven dwarfs at about 12:30. They had all drinks except Diet Coke. I don’t think last night sold out but I was really surprised by the number of people. There were lots of kids too which I didn’t expect.

 

[Cloe Colton]

We were able to get sprite and coke from a cart by seven dwarfs at about 12:30. They had all drinks except Diet Coke. I don’t think last night sold out but I was really surprised by the number of people. There were lots of kids too which I didn’t expect.

You must have found the only one because we stopped every one we saw and they were all out of drinks, all drinks. I wouldn't have even cared if they were all out of water because I expected that

 

[GADisneyDad14]

We're heading to the Sept 20th one, and were planning on not arriving until closer to 8, which happens to be the time of HEA that night. Do they usually open the Main Street bypass for this event so people entering the park don't have to fight through the fireworks crowds? We'd prefer to not get there too much earlier, but we also don't want to be stuck in the crowds watching the fireworks. Thanks!

No, they don't open the bypass for DAH like they do for MNSSHP and MVMCP.

However, they do often open the bypass for a small window after HEA (for the purpose of making it easier to exit). I'm not sure exactly when they open it - eg, during HEA, right when it ends, etc. If you time it right you may, in theory, be able to use it, I think.

When I need to get into the MK/past Main Street crowds when it's really heavy, I usually try to cut through the Emporium as far as I can, then around past Casey's, past CP, towards Adventureland.

Good luck!

 

[donaldanddaisy]

Yikes about being out of drinks. That's not good. I think I might even complain about that. I mean we are paying for this. I'll be there next Saturday! Can't wait!

 

[123SA]

For those of you who mentioned that the park seemed more crowded last night, did you notice if there were a lot of people without lanyards? Is there a greater number of non-event guests around the park?