Up-End the last few days of our stay for Disney After Hours?

Walt Disney World Other
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I think I already know the answer to this but I need others to obsess with me:

The MK after hours days are out for February. It would be Thursday of our trip and I’m weighing wether or not I should upend my plans now that all my ADRs have already been made.(DDP)

Orginal plan: After a late night at MK (10 pm close, 5 pm reservations at Chef Mickey) we go to the Bon Voyage breakfast at 8:05 am. After breakfast we do all day at Epcot until about 5-5:30 pm. We get over to the Contemporary for California Grill to see the fireworks from a distance, reservations at 6:50 pm. Go back to the resort for the night.

New plan: Sleep in after a late night at MK (10p close. Or stay until we’re tired). Move Bon Voyage breakfast to 10 am-ish). Go back to POR for swimming, fishing, relaxing. A CS early dinner, location dependent on what we’re feeling that day. (Currently hoping I can get a Chef Mickey for 5 pm with my TA because the kid loves it.) And get into MK the moment our after hours pass lets us. Hide out in Dumbo’s playspace during fireworks (the kid hates the loudness of fireworks) and enjoy the emptyness of the park. Friday becomes our Epcot day.

To consider:

1-The goal of this Disney vacation is to relax and not have a “Disney or Die” plan. (New Plan wins.)

2- The kid hates how loud fireworks are but wants to still see them when she can. (Old Plan wins… Unless I can move our Thursday California Grill to Wednesday or Friday. Then new plan double wins.)

3- If California Grill is out, Disney Dining Plan would allow us to take the double credit towards California Grill and split them up to Coral Reef (the kid and the man love that place) and one other restaurant. Homecoming? The Wave? (We love good food, we win either way)

4- Kid is on the spectrum and we all have sensory stuff going on. Having a day to chill, swim, and rest up for a crazy-fun night out past bedtime towards the end of our stay seems awesome… But touring plans puts our already planned MK day (Wednesday) at a 2/10. Will I be irritated that I paid so much more for basically the same crowd? And why is it so. much. money?! Basically $400 for the three of us. It would be our big splurge. On top of the splurge that is going to Disney to begin with.

5- TP shows Wednesday at MK as 2/10. We’re sticking with that. Thursday would be a no-park day. We’d be missing lots of low attendance options. Epcot should be at a 1/10 crowd and moving it to Friday makes it a 4/10 crowd. Will we miss out on a lot at Epcot?

Opinions? Insights from those who have done the after hours event? Is it worth it? Obsess with me…

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We did Disney After Hours in July on our last full day in the parks. For us it complemented our plan well as we’d planned on a MK night that day anyway with dinner at BOG so I just tweaked our BOG ADR time via the reservation finder to be a touch later.

We really enjoyed the After Hours - everything was effectively walk on - the only real lines were for the free food, which frankly was annoying. We were surprised how quickly the event went, we rode nearly everything we wanted, but only once - I had visions of riding favorites multiple times, but 3 hours really isn’t that long. The park is far emptier for after hours than any low crowd day - there’s just no real comparison there.

Very glad we did it - would look to do it again in all likelihood. Our cost for 3 was more like $200 although that did include an AP discount - did they raise the prices dramatically for 2019?

For your particular situation it is tougher to say. I think the Epcot choice depends somewhat on what you’re hoping to do at Epcot. Epcot really only has the 3 headliner rides to manage along with Spaceship Earth whose lines can really fluctuate. I’m not sure a 1 vs. a 4 will be that huge a difference there unless you hope to get multiple rides on a lot of stuff or something…

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I wondered if they raised the price too. We are going in December and they do have this available for $125. We are a party of 8 so there is no way I am paying for everyone at that price. But, we have a wide range of ages and planning on a more relaxed plan for our MK days. I may do this for my fiance and I so we can get in all the rides we want to (in case that doesn’t happen during our regular touring). I thought it was normally $119 and $89 with AP discount. That’s Disney for ya

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I think I misremembered the price. Looking up my credit card statement it appears it was actually $284.37 for 3 with an AP discount. Apparently I rounded down in my mind and thought I’d gotten a really good deal. Even at the higher price, I felt we received good value and it made for a nice end cap to our vacation with a unique final night in the Magic Kingdom. YMMV and multiplying by a lot of extra people would make it very pricey…

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When I read through this, judging on how you are portraying things, it seems like the New Plan is the clear winner. I’m not SUGGESTING that is what you should choose…merely that it sounds to me that you’ve kind of already decided but just want some reassurance or having trouble letting go of the old plan or something.

Don’t let it irritate you. If you are willing to pay for it on one plan, then it isn’t really throwing away money, since you planned to spend it anyhow. It just isn’t necessarily as beneficial. Forget about it. One year, we decided to splurge and get Park Hoppers. Cost us something like $200+ extra dollars to do so. But we didn’t park hop once until our very last day…and the only reason we did on that last day was because my son wanted a wallet that he saw at MK. We park hopped into MK, went to the gift shop, bought the wallet, and then left. :slight_smile: Oh well. The money was already spent. No use crying over spilled milk, as they say!

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The number of people at DAH will be nothing in comparison to day time crowds (no matter how low the CL). We rode almost every ride when we did DAH. And some rides twice. So worth it. The only ride wait was for 7DMT and even that was just 15 minutes. Thanks to a nice CM we found out that our DAH pass worked as a FP for rides before the party started–huge benefit.

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Really? We are considering this for December 10th so this bit of info seems amazing!

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It was amazing. And we didn’t know it the first hour we were there, but then we went to get in the regular line for Buzz and CM saw our passes and directed us to the FP line. Sure enough it worked for other rides. We went right over to SM and got in the FP line. I felt silly that I didn’t know this, but then I texted a friend who was at DAH the same night we were and she didn’t know either (but was grateful for the info).

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Awesome! We are buying tickets now. I love going with my girlfriends, all the extras feel cheap when I only have to pay for myself! How many hours in advance can you get in to MK?

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It was 3 hours before the event for us. DAH was 10-1 and we could enter at 7. I know that the times of DAH vary a little.

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Thanks!

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Thanks so much for all the information! I had no idea you could get in THREE hours before the event and it turns into a FP when you get there. That changes some things for us.

At this point I’m hoping my TA can work some Disney magic for the California Grill because all three of us were looking forward to that. I won’t waste the time at Chef Mickey before the AH event (since the event starts at 8 and we can sneak in at 5). Maybe we can get it in another day. Or if CG doesn’t work out we can stick with our Wednesday CM reservations.

This morning I was on the fence. Seeing that the old plan isn’t as good as the new plan from other’s POV, it makes the choice easier for us. We’re gonna splurge on the AH event! All the ice cream and popcorn we can eat! :raised_hands::raised_hands::raised_hands::raised_hands:

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:heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes:

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I wouldn’t count on this. The website says DAH guests can enter the park at 7, and then lists all the different days it’s offered and the times of the event. I think maybe you can enter at 7 no matter what time it starts, but not earlier.

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@Dreamer, is there a list somewhere of what is NOT open at DAH? On the website, it just says more than 25 attractions, including . . . Do you remember anything being closed? Are any character meets open or is it just mostly rides?

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I think they listed the attractions on the DAH–I will try to locate mine. Many things were open but not all of them. CoP wasn’t open during DAH ( I remember that clearly because we saw the very last show). Fairytale Hall was open–met all 4 princesses in a matter of minutes because there was no line at all.

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Found the event guide. Sorry it’s rather beat up.

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I just booked DAH for February 7th! So pumped!!! It’s our last full night of our trip. I just kept thinking what a magical way to finish the trip. And since there’s no TP to manage/plan we can just let the kids take the reigns which I think they will love!! We have morning plans the next day before we leave in MK but it’ll be nice to “have all our boxes checked” from the night before. Can just spend the last day enjoying the time together, watching my girls get made up at BBB, and eating lunch at CRT before we head home! Can’t wait to hear what you decide to do for your trip!

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THAT’S the night we would go! How funny!!!

I love the idea of letting the kid “be in charge” because no lines means whatever goes, too.

Well if I was waiting for a sign, there it is! We’re gonna make it happen. And maybe see you there! :joy:

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Yay!!! So excited for both of us!!! It would be fun if we ran into one another!