Is it better to spend a day at MK or buy the Disney After Hours tickets for only 3 hours of MK? How are the crowds? Will you really get to ‘do it all’ in that time or are there line ups even though the CL is lower? I know there’s not the extras like Meet and Greets and parades, etc, but it’s about the rides for that ticket, I would think.
Ah, the age old “is it worth it” scenario.
I can’t really answer that for you but I know that people who have taken advantage of the after hours in the past said that it was amazing. Basically had the place to themselves.
The price has been reduced from the original $149, so that may entice more folks to take part.
Are you going to be there in January? The crowds are already low (except for holidays, including MLK day). But, the park closes on the early side so at least the extra 3 hours doesn’t take you into the wee hours of the morning.
How many people are in your party? Is the price still prohibitive for you?
Do you mind being a little on the cold side? It gets pretty chilly when the sun goes down in January.
How many days will you be able to visit MK over the course of your trip?
I guess, for me, if we only had one day to be at MK, I’d do it. Having multiple days to enjoy the park makes this less enticing personally.
For me, it will be March. We have one day to do in the World, which is going to be MK. But then, this came out and I wondered if I could do that instead of our one day at MK. We could do one day at EPCOT instead. I don’t want to jam things in, though and really, it’s still cheaper to buy a two day pass (if I really can convince DH that we need two parks and two days) than a one day pass and an After Hours ticket. But is the empty park worth it?
When its a low CL day, Disney doesn’t have all the staff on or all the rides running at full capacity. So when you’re there, there is still a line up, albeit a much smaller one. If they pull that on the After Hours evenings, then you won’t get on as many rides as you want, because you’ll still be standing in some lines.
Now if it’s walk on, enjoy, repeat as necessary or move on to the next attraction, that’s maybe worth the extra money and limited time in the park.
But which is it? The million dollar question. 
Interesting. Are you going during spring break weeks? March is a lot different than January (my usual time of year). If the crowd levels are predicted to be high, it may be well worth it.
It sounds like it’s just the 2 of you, which would make the expense more attractive.
check out this pod cast from The Dis Unplugged. They talk about the after hours event from last spring.
I trust their opinions and watch them weekly.
Disney After Hours WAS an 8 hour experience since you could get in before park closed (?7p?).
I balked at it when it was first released but heard rave reviews (including that DISUnplugged podcast linked above). Given that, if they haven’t changed anything, I would be all over it like crazycakes especially in lieu of a 1day park ticket, and especially if it was 1:1 with my sweetie.
I read on the DIS that After Hours tickets in spring worked like party tickets in that you can officially enter at 7 but actually they will let you in at 4.
2 Likes
Yup I heard the 7pm thing at least, which means you get parades and fireworks before everyone leaves and you get the run of the park.
I’ll be curious to see if this is more highly populated than the last run of it. The exclusivity is what made it worthwhile and special. If it turns into another MNSSHP or MVMCP crowd-wise then it will not be worth that price.
Just read over on the TP blog that the price is only $89 for AP and DVC members.
Might be worth it. There are 4 of us, actually, but the kids are older (12 and 14) and not interested in meet and greets. They do love ice cream and might eat their admission’s worth. 
1 Like