We have three days at DLR with hoppers and on two of the days DCA closes at 6p, I assume for the Halloween ticketed event. I usually like to visit the parks during the day and at night and I’ll have to make sure I do all of DCA in one night. I don’t yet know what time the park will be closing; the calendar only goes out a few weeks. [As an aside, not being able to plan in advance like I can with WDW is driving me insane.] So what would you consider the must-sees after dark? I’ve heard Cars Land is really nice.
Cars land is without a doubt the best themed area in any kind of park I have ever seen. Splurge on the $ILL for RSR without a heartbeat of hesitation. If you need QS, Flo’s should be your go-to.
Incredicoaster after dark is fun as well, but there’s a very limited window between World of Color and sunset where you will be able to ride it truly “after dark”.
Pal-Around (the Ferris wheel) has great views of the landmarks and hotels. Highly recommend going on it at least once (swinging side. No chickens. Pro tip: just lean back.)
Besides that I suppose it’s more about what interests you and hanging out in the different atmospheres.
Are you going to only go during one evening or are you going to be there during the daytime as well? I would recommend spending the afternoon and evening in DCA so you can get more of the rides in. EG, Grizzly River run is not enjoyable below 60, and you’ll need a lot of time for Guardians/Web Slingers even if you have G+.
The typical closing time is 10, I doubt that will change (but with my luck….)
What aspects do you find difficult to plan?
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I thought I read somewhere that they are now running IC during WoC. Not sure about that, but a game changer if they are.
@CharleneTX RSR is great at night, but I love it best at the magic hour when the sun is setting. Also if you’re there in Cars Land at sunset, you’ll be there for shaboom which is when they turn on all the neon signs and play some cool 50’s dance tunes. Everyone dances and it’s a cool laid-back vibe. Depending on the ages of people in your group, you can also do SR at RSR to get in multiple rides.
Have fun! The beauty of DLR is not needing to do so much planning. But for folks who enjoy planning, maybe that’s not always a plus! 
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The easiest way to plan longer term for DLR is to lookback at the most recent historical year/s & then consider any published/announced events. It’s close enough to Oogie Boogie now that dates have been released (fairly recently) so you should be able to confirm that’s the event & then use last year’s schedule for the same week to project the hours for this year.
The park hours usually come out around 6 weeks (42 days) in advance & it’s variable so days could drop in small chunks closer to 5 weeks. The entertainment schedule is generally available 30 days in advance but if you’re going close to the beginning of the start of a season/overlay/event then it could be as little as 14 days (or less) before that’s settled.
ADRs are 60 days but are very famously not exactly at 60 days and might be 59 or might be 41. If you don’t see what you want at 60 days out, setting a dining alert with a service that checks for free is a good idea. (TP doesn’t have one for DLR, but there are other sites that do).
As for planning what to see at DCA at night, agree that Carsland is a DO NOT MISS. We too love it at sunset & the sha-boom song. Flo’s is really awesome all lit-up at night but we prefer the Chili “Cone” Queso or Bacon Mac n’ Cheese cones at Cozy Cone #3, to any food that Flo’s has.
We also enjoy Avenger’s Campus all lit-up and usually eat at least a snack at night (if not dinner) from Pym’s kitchen and take it to any space we can sit & enjoy the views of the Avengers Campus. Also, I’d have to double check but for the Guardians ride, they do a Halloween “overlay” during Halloween season but it only starts after a certain time each day with the normal ride being open until about 2pm before the switchover. They may offer it even on non-Halloween nights to park guests.T hey have in the past at any rate. It’s called Monsters After Dark & it’s a continuation of the story from the normal daytime ride & really fun. Also, last year they had zombie Captain America (from Marvel What If…? series) that would come out at night in Avengers Campus.
And then lower on the list but still fun as mentioned above is the Pier. Incredicoaster at night is a really fun experience (you can see inside the tunnels so much better too) & they do run it during WOC now so that’s nice! The Fun Wheel/Pixar-Pal-Around doesn’t run during World of Color & we’ve never done it at night (we usually hit it in the morning before the wait builds up) & we always, always always do the non-swing side (the queue is up the exit) so we can just get the views & don’t have to be worried about the swinging motion (it’s not enjoyable to us). But if you like the thrill of swinging wildly with no seatbelt or other such resetraint, the swinging side is certainly available.
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