You may have seen that Disney World offers various after hours events throughout the year, both at Magic Kingdom and at Animal Kingdom. These are special ticketed events, requiring purchase of a ticket separate to any daily tickets you might already have, and at over $100 per person they’re certainly not cheap. So what exactly do these tickets include, and might they be worth the extra cost to your family? We took a closer look to help you decide!
Disney After Hours events are offered on selected evenings throughout the year, offering a small number of guests the opportunity to experience the Disney magic after the gates have closed to the days guests. This is different to the Extra Magic Hours included from time to time for Disney resort guests. The events typically last for 3 hours, either 9pm – 12am, or 10pm – 1am, but guests with these tickets are allowed into the park at 7pm, giving them and extra 2 or 3 hours to enjoy any rides or attractions not included in the after hours party.
Ticket allocations are strictly limited, estimated at around 3-5000 guests, which may sound quite a lot until you consider on a normal day there can be up to 65,000 guests in the Magic Kingdom! This results in the parks feeling incredibly quiet, with almost no waits at all on all the major attractions, and offers the perfect opportunity for those castle photos!!
FastPasses aren’t available, or necessary, for the event itself, but with the opportunity to enter a few hours earlier, you can even schedule a couple of FastPasses for the few rides that close for the event too, giving you even more chance to experience the best of Disney with little waiting!
All the major rides and attractions are included at both parks, including Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin at Magic Kingdom, and Avatar Flight of Passage, Na’vi River Journey and Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom, so this is the perfect opportunity for lots of chances to ride those big ticket rides as often as you like! And there are chances to meet favourite characters too, with Princesses at Magic Kingdom and Mickey and Minnie at both parks.
The almost empty park also offers so many opportunities for fabulous family photos too, all over the parks, and there are Photo Pass photographers in all the best places too, so the whole family can get in those pics! The parks at night, all lit up, are truly magical places to be.
It’s also worth noting that snacks such as ice cream bars and popcorn, plus bottled drinks, are included in the ticket cost and available from carts throughout.
So, do we recommend purchasing tickets for the after hours Events? It depends! If you have very young children then the late hours might not be the most appropriate, and if you’re planning a long stay and lots of visits to Disney then the extra cost might not be necessary, but if you’re visiting with older children, or as adults, and it’s easy for you to build the cost into your holiday budget then we think these events are a fantastic way to feel like a VIP, and visit the parks in a really fun, special and stress-free way.
Either way, we can help you plan your days at Disney World to maximise your time at all the parks, and ensure a fun and fabulous stay at the happiest place on earth!!
