After Hours Events - Ask Questions and Share Experiences Here

[dakid21]

So we are going to try and take advantage of Epcot EH on our day of arrival, since we are very limited on days available to go to any park, much less multiple ones.
We fly in around 2:30pm, pick up rental and check into offsite hotel. My thoughts were to go to Disney Springs, park there around 5-5:30pm, take bus to Caribbean so we could experience the Skyliner and ride over to Epcot. I'm assuming we would arrive with plenty of time to spare before they would allow entrance for EH 6:45-7pm. My question is, would we be able to find Bus transportation available back to DS, from one of the Epcot resorts after EH ends at 1am? Whether from Boardwalk or Yacht/Beach Club.

 

[Lesverts]

I am just trying to come up with a plan for this event.

I have never done an AHs event because I have always travelled during a time when they were not traditionally offered.

I am planning on during double Epcot that day. Early in, get through the highlights. And come back later to do another round. So should I start at Guardians and just go around to hit every ride and end at Soarin'? Especially since I don't think I want to end the night back in WSC and have to make the long trek back to the Pop bus all the way from the back of the park.

 

[summerlvr]

So we are going to try and take advantage of Epcot EH on our day of arrival, since we are very limited on days available to go to any park, much less multiple ones.
We fly in around 2:30pm, pick up rental and check into offsite hotel. My thoughts were to go to Disney Springs, park there around 5-5:30pm, take bus to Caribbean so we could experience the Skyliner and ride over to Epcot. I'm assuming we would arrive with plenty of time to spare before they would allow entrance for EH 6:45-7pm. My question is, would we be able to find Bus transportation available back to DS, from one of the Epcot resorts after EH ends at 1am? Whether from Boardwalk or Yacht/Beach Club.

DS generally closes at 11 during the week, so doubtful you would be able to get back to your car. If you really want to ride the skyliner and don't mind paying for parking, you could park at Swan, walk or take a boat to HS and get the skyliner there. Would take a while, but it's doable. Then you could just walk back to your car after the AH.

 

[CarolynFH]

don't mind paying for parking, you could park at Swan,

@dakid21, this is a good idea. I will point out, though, that parking at the Swan is something like $34/day, while parking at DHS or Epcot is $25/day. So it would be cheaper to park at DHS to ride the Skyliner. You could leave your car at DHS and then exit via the IG and walk back to it after Epcot AH is over, or ride the Skyliner one way to Epcot, take the boat back to DHS, and move your car to the Epcot parking lot (show your receipt from DHS and you won't have to pay again).

 

[kandb]

We are staying at BWI and going to EP on a Thursday. I see the park hours are 9-9pm. Does the entire park stay open until 9pm? I thought in the past, half the park closed at 7pm? Thanks for clarifying!

 

[dakid21]

DS generally closes at 11 during the week, so doubtful you would be able to get back to your car. If you really want to ride the skyliner and don't mind paying for parking, you could park at Swan, walk or take a boat to HS and get the skyliner there. Would take a while, but it's doable. Then you could just walk back to your car after the AH.

I keep seeing conflicting reports on the buses from resorts to DS. I've seen 11pm, an hour after closing, so 12am, and guest services said 1am. So, I might just skip the Skyliner idea for Epcot EH.

 

[CarolynFH]

We are staying at BWI and going to EP on a Thursday. I see the park hours are 9-9pm. Does the entire park stay open until 9pm? I thought in the past, half the park closed at 7pm? Thanks for clarifying!

That was indeed true in the past, but not anymore. And World Showcase sort of partially opens at 9 AM instead of 11 like it used to. So many changes!

 

[SkyGuy]

I keep seeing conflicting reports on the buses from resorts to DS. I've seen 11pm, an hour after closing, so 12am, and guest services said 1am. So, I might just skip the Skyliner idea for Epcot EH.

The buses run until one hour after close to get people back to the hotels from DS. Once DS is closed, they generally do not let people on the buses to go from the hotels to DS. We’ve been at DS after a late movie and waited almost an hour for a bus to show. We finally gave up when a police officer suggested we might want to try a Minnie Van. I don’t think I’d put my fate in the hands of the late-night DS bus system.

 

[kandb]

That was indeed true in the past, but not anymore. And World Showcase sort of partially opens at 9 AM instead of 11 like it used to. So many changes!

Glad to hear this! Thank you!

 

[giantwiant]

Does the monorail run for Epcot After Hours? If we are staying at the Poly, it would be nice to take the monorail back to TTC. I know the Friendship boats are running for the end of the party, and the Skyliner is not running. Is the monorail?

 

[Kcnc]

Went to Epcot After Hours last night 7/6. Thankfully it seems a lot better organized than what I was reading on the first couple events. No rides went down, and most were much lower wait than what was posted. I didn't have trouble finding snacks. Also I took a picture of the flyer on my phone because I lost it pretty quick.

I can see where this event wouldn't be worth it in a lot of cases, but for us it was worth it because we are in Florida for family visit and this event gave us the chance to surprise the kids with a "one night only" revisit to Disney. They were so excited when we drove under the sign! We told them we were like Cinderella and had to leave at 1am.

Pros: Avoided heat (still so so muggy, I can't imagine mid day July heat but kudos to those who do it), well organized entry, cast members seems laid back and able to give more individual attention to kids which delighted them, shorter than advertised wait times, loaded up on popcorn and drinks and ice cream. Fun to walk through park with hardly any people and fun music blaring.

Cons: So much walking, but there's no way around it in Epcot. We did 13,000 steps in the 6 hours, but luckily Frozen and Remy's were going smooth when we got there. Would have been terrible to get all the way there and it be down. Never saw Chip and Dale. Wish they'd had posted a time and place, but to be fair I didn't think to check the app for characters. No wait times posted between 9-10pm. I understand the reasons why but it made for a guessing game during that window.

Breakdown:
9:00am- Bought ILL's for Cosmic Rewind so we'd have at least one guaranteed ride (Genie+ was also available for purchase)
7:00pm- Got to security, unsure if they let people in a few minutes early
7:17pm- Turtle Talk with Crush (so cute! Had never done before)
8:04pm- Cosmic Rewind ILL (Grandma took 4 year old to Nemo, Aquarium, and Figment)
8:50pm- Norway snack stand for beer (People with AH bands were asking about the free snacks. The CM's told them they couldn't until 9. But then manager came by and snuck them a couple ice creams but said he couldn't open until 10, but that sometimes he'll open the stand before then. At 9 he closed the shades)
9:00pm- Epcot Forever, Wasn't planning to watch this but never seen before and it was great!
9:17pm- Frozen, CM said 20 minutes, wait was 15 min
Walked into the Kafe to check it out. No one in there, but they were selling all the baked good options and alcohol. My 7-year-old told them a random story about singing on stage at school and they stopped what they were doing and announced "There's a celebrity in here!" She loved that!
9:59pm- Remy's, Posted 40 minutes, wait was 12 min
10:22pm- Remy's again, Posted 15 min, wait was 6 min
Snack and bathroom stop- Canada stand had a long line that took about 10 min, got to the front to find out it was maple flavored popcorn and no ice cream. Got the popcorn and drinks, half our party loved the popcorn and half didn't. Went to the Imagination stand and there was no one waiting. Got butter popcorn and ice cream, more drinks.
11:02- Soarin, Posted 10 min, waited 7
11:19- Soarin again, Posted 10 min but with no one behind us CM kindly let us just stay in our seats to go again.
Another snack stop near Connections. Popcorn refill and saving drinks to take home.
11:42- Test track, Posted 20 min, waited 21 min. Only time wait matched the posted time.
12:18- Test track again. Posted 10 min, waited 20 min.
(Other people split to go to Test Track and Cosmic Rewind. CR was posted 60 but took 40)
12:54- Gran Fiesta to close out night. Posted 5 min, walk on with boat to ourselves.

So, 9-12 rides depending on the person in our party. Definitely more than we got done on our Epcot day during our weeklong trip. But no shopping or dining this time either. Fun memory made! Probably won't do it again though, feels like we checked it off the bucket list. I would be interested in trying a MK After Hours if they come back when we're in the area again.

 

[krismom345]

Went to Epcot After Hours last night 7/6. Thankfully it seems a lot better organized than what I was reading on the first couple events. No rides went down, and most were much lower wait than what was posted. I didn't have trouble finding snacks. Also I took a picture of the flyer on my phone because I lost it pretty quick.

I can see where this event wouldn't be worth it in a lot of cases, but for us it was worth it because we are in Florida for family visit and this event gave us the chance to surprise the kids with a "one night only" revisit to Disney. They were so excited when we drove under the sign! We told them we were like Cinderella and had to leave at 1am.

Pros: Avoided heat (still so so muggy, I can't imagine mid day July heat but kudos to those who do it), well organized entry, cast members seems laid back and able to give more individual attention to kids which delighted them, shorter than advertised wait times, loaded up on popcorn and drinks and ice cream. Fun to walk through park with hardly any people and fun music blaring.

Cons: So much walking, but there's no way around it in Epcot. We did 13,000 steps in the 6 hours, but luckily Frozen and Remy's were going smooth when we got there. Would have been terrible to get all the way there and it be down. Never saw Chip and Dale. Wish they'd had posted a time and place, but to be fair I didn't think to check the app for characters. No wait times posted between 9-10pm. I understand the reasons why but it made for a guessing game during that window.

Breakdown:
9:00am- Bought ILL's for Cosmic Rewind so we'd have at least one guaranteed ride (Genie+ was also available for purchase)
7:00pm- Got to security, unsure if they let people in a few minutes early
7:17pm- Turtle Talk with Crush (so cute! Had never done before)
8:04pm- Cosmic Rewind ILL (Grandma took 4 year old to Nemo, Aquarium, and Figment)
8:50pm- Norway snack stand for beer (People with AH bands were asking about the free snacks. The CM's told them they couldn't until 9. But then manager came by and snuck them a couple ice creams but said he couldn't open until 10, but that sometimes he'll open the stand before then. At 9 he closed the shades)
9:00pm- Epcot Forever, Wasn't planning to watch this but never seen before and it was great!
9:17pm- Frozen, CM said 20 minutes, wait was 15 min
Walked into the Kafe to check it out. No one in there, but they were selling all the baked good options and alcohol. My 7-year-old told them a random story about singing on stage at school and they stopped what they were doing and announced "There's a celebrity in here!" She loved that!
9:59pm- Remy's, Posted 40 minutes, wait was 12 min
10:22pm- Remy's again, Posted 15 min, wait was 6 min
Snack and bathroom stop- Canada stand had a long line that took about 10 min, got to the front to find out it was maple flavored popcorn and no ice cream. Got the popcorn and drinks, half our party loved the popcorn and half didn't. Went to the Imagination stand and there was no one waiting. Got butter popcorn and ice cream, more drinks.
11:02- Soarin, Posted 10 min, waited 7
11:19- Soarin again, Posted 10 min but with no one behind us CM kindly let us just stay in our seats to go again.
Another snack stop near Connections. Popcorn refill and saving drinks to take home.
11:42- Test track, Posted 20 min, waited 21 min. Only time wait matched the posted time.
12:18- Test track again. Posted 10 min, waited 20 min.
(Other people split to go to Test Track and Cosmic Rewind. CR was posted 60 but took 40)
12:54- Gran Fiesta to close out night. Posted 5 min, walk on with boat to ourselves.

So, 9-12 rides depending on the person in our party. Definitely more than we got done on our Epcot day during our weeklong trip. But no shopping or dining this time either. Fun memory made! Probably won't do it again though, feels like we checked it off the bucket list. I would be interested in trying a MK After Hours if they come back when we're in the area again.

Thanks for the review~ any chance you can post the photo of the flyer?
Were tickets still available day of?

 

[focusondisney]

Thanks for the review~ any chance you can post the photo of the flyer?
Were tickets still available day off?

I bought 2 tickets online yesterday morning & got the AP discount.

 

[focusondisney]

We didn’t get to the park until 9, we entered IG just as the fireworks were starting. Since there were no wait times listed, we gambled on what to do first. We started with spaceship earth.

SE & 9:15. Walk on
Seas walk on
Land walk on got our own boat
Soarin @ 10:20 posted 20 mins, 6 people in line before row assignments. The middle section ended up full, plus a few people in row 1 on the left side.

Ice cream/ water outside imagination

TT in line @ 10:40, off @ 11:20 posted time changed from 25 - 35 during that time
BR
Frozen @ in line @ 11:35 -20 min posted) off 11:54
Mexico Donald 12:00 walk on, 1 other family in the boat
Checked popcorn @ Canada, only maple so just got waters

Remy 12:22 posted as 15 minutes, walk on right to loading area

Slow walk back to BWI, in room @ 12:50

We saw Donald & Mickey taking pictures, no other characters. We were not interested in doing Guardians or Mission Space. We’re mid 60s, AP holders who come a few times a year. So we move a little slower & aren’t worried about doing absolutely everything. But we accomplished everything we wanted to & were back in the room sooner than I anticipated. We had a big dinner so only 1 ice cream snack. Normally I would bring some popcorn back to the room but didn’t bother this time.

The DJ music was great, it made moving around the park a lot of fun. And kind of kept us pumped up & kept us from dragging. The heat & humidity the other hand….

 

[picprincess]

My 10yr old daughter and I attended both HS and EP after hours last week 6/28 and 6/29. I felt that both events were well worth it for us. We haven't been to Disney in several years and had never experienced Star Wars land at HS or GotG and Remy at Epcot. Going in the peak of the summer heat, I was excited to experience late nights at the parks to avoid the heat and it definitely was a plus!

HS: We checked in and entered at 6:45pm and headed straight to Star Wars Launch Bay and were able to meet both Darth Vader and Chewy before they closed at 7pm. We then headed to ride Star Tours and then grabbed a quick bite to eat. We could see that there were storms approaching so we headed to Toy Story Mania to hopefully wait out the rain inside. We rode the ride and hung out in the gift shop for awhile waiting on the lightening to dissipate. We eventually put on our ponchos and headed out in the rain. We rode TSMM again and then headed to Mickey/Minnie's runaway railway. After some snacks and a RR break, we hit up Rise of the Resistance with a 20 min wait followed by Millennium Falcon. We got some more snacks and took some photopass pictures and by this time, SDD had reopened after the lightening delay so we got in line. It was about a 20 minute wait, so not too bad. We then rode Mickey's runaway railway twice after this with no wait and then decided to get in the SDD line for one last ride before closing at 1am. There were plenty of snacks and the characters came out at the end of the event due to the rain/lightening.

EP: We entered at 6:40pm with our AH tickets. We took some photopass pictures and rode GotG with our virtual queues that we picked up after 2pm today. We then rode Living with the Land, Soarin, and Turtle Talk with Crush all with virtually no wait. We got in line for GotG again at about 9:15 and it was a walk on all the way to the pre-show. We rode TT next, got snacks, RR break and took photopass pictures. We saw Chip & Dale at the dance party outside of Connections Cafe and then headed towards Canada to pick up maple popcorn. We rode Remy twice with no wait and then made the long walk to Frozen where we took more photopass pics and got snacks. We then hit up TT again, more snacks and RR break and got in line for guardians one last time at 12:42am. It was a lot of walking, but we accomplished everything we wanted and it was a fun night! As I look back on it, we could have given up riding Frozen or TT and ridden Guardians one or two more times, but my daughter had a blast and that's what counts!

 

[4littleones]

Just wanted to say we watched the fireworks and went to Guardians right after. I fully expected a long wait but it was crazy fast. Sorry I don't know the exact wait. At the end of the night we made our way back and got in line around 12:35 or so and it was a much longer wait. So if the end of the night is your plan, longer wait for us. If you think you need to skip the fireworks and get in line asap at 9pm, wasn't necessary for us.

 

[TikiRob]

Just wanted to say we watched the fireworks and went to Guardians right after. I fully expected a long wait but it was crazy fast. Sorry I don't know the exact wait. At the end of the night we made our way back and got in line around 12:35 or so and it was a much longer wait. So if the end of the night is your plan, longer wait for us. If you think you need to skip the fireworks and get in line asap at 9pm, wasn't necessary for us.

Thank you for this! We haven't seen EPCOT Forever and thought we had to skip it to get onto Cosmic Rewind at 9pm.

If the strategy is fireworks and then Cosmic Rewind, where is the best viewing to quickly get to the ride after and avoid the exiting crowd?

 

[KuiilHasSpoken]

Our family had a wonderful evening at Epcot After Hours last night. We weren't sure what to expect since it was our first after hours event, but we loved it.

We entered at the International Gateway at 6:40 and toured the countries until the fireworks show. We watched the fireworks from the viewing area between Mexico and Canada directly across from USA. This was a great viewing area that was also close to the rides we were interested in.

After the fireworks we went to Soarin which was a walk on. We then went to Test Track which was also a walk on. It was slightly after 10 and we then took a break for snacks before heading to Guardians. We rode it 3 times in a row with very short lines. Posted wait times were between 15-25 minutes. The first time was a walk on, the second time it was a 5 minute wait, and the last time it was a 10 minute wait. It was then around midnight and seemed to be more busy with the posted wait time up to 45 minutes. Rather than riding a 4th time we decided to head to Remy's which we rode 3 times before heading home. We were able to get a lot accomplished with low wait times. Being out of the heat and the easy availability of snacks and drinks were a bonus. We'd do it again!

 

[4littleones]

We also did the Typhoon Lagoon H2O Glow After Hours Party on Saturday night 7/8/23. Positive experience with that party too. We got there right at 6pm and had super close parking. There was a line of people waiting to head in for the party but the check in was efficient. Our crew of 7 were excited to get in the wave pool so we spent probably an hour there. Next we did the body slides and that was a little wait but not bad, I'll guesstimate 15 mins. Next some of us did the speed slides, pretty much almost a walk on. I think soon after that it was park close for everyone else. We rode everything that was open minus Gang Plank. Mayday Falls was not running. We did Crusher Gusher multiple times. That and Mayday were the longest waits but nothing was more than 15 mins and without the sun and extreme heat 15 mins wasn't an issue at all. It's also a small space and you can accomplish so much even with 15 min waits compared to the Epcot Party where you need to account for more walking time.
The fun floats in the Lazy River were I nice bonus too. My oldest daughter was excited to get a Kevin Float. I waited a bit to get a sparkly glitter float. There were also a few Sully Floats and Nemo and Sparkle ones but I dont remember any others.
The only food purchase I made was the bathtub with Dole whip thingy. I feel like it was easier to find drink stations and popcorn station. Ice cream seemed to not have as many locations.
I can't compare day time July Typhoon Lagoon Waits to the party. I will say my husband and I Both felt like there was more of a crowd than we anticipated at the Typhoon Lagoon Party and Epcot felt like a lot less people. I imagine that is because Epcot is more dispersed. I just expected more of a walk on at Typhoon for all rides however that wasn't the case. Most everything had a wait but it was extremely manageable with most things being 10-15 mins. You can accomplish everything multiple times since there is not much walking from one ride to the next.

 

[Disdreamprincess]

Do we think there will be no other dates offered @EPCOT past what is advertised for this summer?