Should I avoid or go during Resort guest late magic hours?

[3kidz4dis]

For Epoct and Magic Kindgom they have late hours for resort guests. Is this a busier time to go or a great time to go? (May visit)

 

[sponica]

I've heard nothing but good things about the MK hours. The Epcot hours are a challenge because ratatouille is so spread out from everything else.

 

[gmi3804]

I've heard nothing but good things about the MK hours. The Epcot hours are a challenge because ratatouille is so spread out from everything else.

On the other hand, Remy's is close to the Skyliner/Crescent Lake resorts, so it's a good thing to end the evening with. If you get there 15-20 minutes before closing, you might even get two rides if you're in line for the second ride by closing time.

Generally, it's a great time to go. You can get lots done, especially at MK if you prioritize shorter rides with traditionally slow-moving lines.

 

[WDWLODGE]

We've done both parks multiple times, as recently as last week. We absolutely love them both. Since it is for Deluxe Resort Guest only, crowds are smaller & lines are pretty short. Don't forget to join the Virtual Queue for Guardians at 6PM.

 

[Anna131517]

It’s a great time to go if your family can stay up that late.

 

[RoseGold]

I plan my trips around it. They are crazy empty. Go look at some Youtube videos of it.

 

[focusondisney]

We went to MK on days it was from 11 pm - 1 am. Very low crowds especially at the end. I don’t know if an earlier time frame (10- 12) might be more crowded. But we thought it was worth staying up for

 

[DeeBee3]

Our Epcot experience was great. Felt like no one around. Haven't done MK but will try at end of month. Not sure if we will really make use of it as it is so late (until 1am). I am never up anywhere near that hour.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

We love the evening deluxe hours. I hope they stick around. Definitely worth going to. But as someone else said, the hours can be quite late sometimes (11pm-1am).

 

[KristaZ]

We did the MK ones last week. We ended up leaving around 12:30 and it was basically empty at that point. We jumped in line for Peter Pan right at the start and waited about 10 minutes, everything else was a walk on. Definitely worth it, IMO if you can stay up late!

 

[js]

If we don't have a park ressie for any park but AP, can we go?
If we have a park ressie, but didn't go to the first park, can we go?
I'm DVC so I can go to the late hours.

Thank you.

 

[focusondisney]

If we don't have a park ressie for any park but AP, can we go?
If we have a park ressie, but didn't go to the first park, can we go?
I'm DVC so I can go to the late hours.

Thank you.

You have to either have a park reservation for that park or a park hopper & have checked in at your first park. It isn’t like a hard ticket event that doesn’t require a park reservation. It’s an extension of regular park hours, so you need one.

 

[js]

You have to either have a park reservation for that park or a park hopper & have checked in at your first park

Thank you.
I'm going February 1-11 so I will look to see the dates when they are doing this and keep/change my ressies to reflect the after hours.
Thank you again.

 

[subtchr]

If we don't have a park ressie for any park but AP, can we go?
If we have a park ressie, but didn't go to the first park, can we go?
I'm DVC so I can go to the late hours.

Thank you.

Just being a DVC member is not enough. You have to be staying at a DVC resort.

If that is what you meant, then yes, you need to have a park reservation and visit the park you have reserved before attending extended hours. From the Disney website:

• Guests will need valid admission and a theme park reservation for the same park on the same day to experience extended evening hours–or, Guests may experience extended evening hours if they have a ticket or annual pass with the Park Hopper option and first enter the park where they made their reservation.

 

[subtchr]

Thank you.
I'm going February 1-11 so I will look to see the dates when they are doing this and keep/change my ressies to reflect the after hours.
Thank you again.

You don't need to change anything, if you have APs. You just need to enter the park you have a reservation for first.

 

[subtchr]

We are not night owls, so they aren't ideal for us (we get too tired!), but if you are, they can be great.

We have only done them once in each park, when we were staying at Boardwalk. MK was great. Short lines everywhere, especially by the second hour.

But Epcot is just so spread out, and the high demand attractions are so far apart, it's so much more walking than MK. If you do it, and want to hit all the headliners, I'd strategically plan your order. For example, if you are staying at an Epcot resort, do Soarin', Guardians (if you can get a VQ), Test Track, then Frozen, then Remy. It's still a ton of walking, and if any have a residual queue, you may not fit them all in in 2 hours.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I only did EEH at Epcot and unfortunately Test Track was down the entire time, which made the lines at Remy and Frozen go up quite a bit (Remy was at 60 minutes the entire time). This was early May so Guardians was not open yet. It seems like when one of the big rides goes down, it causes wait times to go up at the others. Every other ride was a walk on.

 

[coasternut22]

Deluxe evening hours are great because of how empty the parks are. If you are staying in a Deluxe, I absolutely recommend attending. If you are not staying in a Deluxe, you will not see any noticeable increase in crowds on those nights, so no need to go to another park solely for this reason.

 

[StarCruzer]

I'm the person who would just ride Spaceship Earth for half of the two hours

 

[evilqueenmindy]

I did the late night hours last year at MK (10-midnight) and the event was super fun. Hardly any lines by the end of the night. Planning to do it again in January.

two things I wish I knew before I went-
-when the event ends the park is CLOSED. It’s not like regular park close where the shops are still open. we were doing to get bottled water on the way out, and nothing doing, everything is done. we ended up grabbing water at the stroller rental.

-the wait for buses at the end of the night is excruciating. if you can manage any other transportation, do it. It’s just a sea of people, and the buses are slow coming. (We were at OKW, it was a good 30 minute wait before one showed up. Thank god we got that water haha) and if you are staying at boardwalk, be prepared for an even longer wait, because all of swan and dolphin is also in line.