After Hours Events - Ask Questions and Share Experiences Here

[champagne&disney]

There have been several recent reports of people purchasing an ILL$ with the AH tickets only.

Whether you do so is up to you. I do know that ROTR seems to not drop below 40 min even during the event from what I've seen.

Correct, but they aren't available during the event hours - only until "regular" park close.

 

[teach22180]

Is there a list anywhere or attractions that are *not* open during MK AH? I’m assuming Carousel of Progress won’t be running (so we’ll have to get in before normal close) but I want to make sure we don’t miss any of the “classics” that they won’t keep open late.

I looked for that before I went, but no luck. The best idea I had was to look at individual attraction pages to see their hours.

 

[wind79rain]

We’re also going April 5 and plan to purchase ILL for Rise. The wait time last week during after hours stayed close to an hour — not counting the about 15 minute ride time. You’ll want to buy it in the morning for sometime during the 7:00-9:30 window when the park is still open.

I still haven’t heard anything definitive about bring able to book LLs before the park closes. We’ll be at Epcot earlier in the day on the 5th with Genie+ and would love to be able to book a SDD and maybe a couple of others. We won’t have hoppers so just not sure if the system will let us book. Anyone know or tried it?

 

[CyndiLooWho]

We’re also going April 5 and plan to purchase ILL for Rise. The wait time last week during after hours stayed close to an hour — not counting the about 15 minute ride time. You’ll want to buy it in the morning for sometime during the 7:00-9:30 window when the park is still open.

I still haven’t heard anything definitive about bring able to book LLs before the park closes. We’ll be at Epcot earlier in the day on the 5th with Genie+ and would love to be able to book a SDD and maybe a couple of others. We won’t have hoppers so just not sure if the system will let us book. Anyone know or tried it?

This is old, but we did an AH at MK in late 2019 and were able to book 3 fast passes for the "regular" hours before the event. made it super easy for us to ride our faves twice (Space, BTM, JC). Since you can get into the parks before they close to the public, I would hope you could book ILL during that period.

 

[wilkydelts]

Fast passes are no longer used or exist.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

It's been reported by several people that they could buy ILL and Genie Plus with AH tickets only from 7:00-10:00

You are able to enter the parks at 7:00 for an AH party.

 

[madzy]

We did the after hours at HS on 3/22. We walked over from the Boardwalk at 7. We rode Mickey's Runaway, Star Tours and Alien Saucers before 9. At 9 we got some food at Woody's Lunch Box. At exactly 9:30 we headed to Toy Story Mania but first got in line for some drinks and pop corn. Lines moved quick all night for the snacks. Toy Story Mania was a walk on. After we got off we met Peep. We then went over to Slinky Dog which was at 10:00 and off by 10:30. We headed next to Millennium Falcon but that showed a 65 minute wait at 10:30 and we didn't want to risk it. We then headed to Rise and that whole experience got us off at 11:30. By this time my youngest was about done but wanted to ride Tower. We headed over there and were off by 12. Everyone was getting tired so we decided to go. We had no issue getting a bus back to All Star Music. There was one waiting as we got to the bus stop and we were the only ones on the bus. I would do after hours again at HS. This trip was definitely just for riding the attractions. I enjoy the atmosphere at the parks during the day and I do feel that our time was rushed during the after hours event, but we did ride everything with no hassle. My kids loved it.

 

[Betsyp]

Correct, but they aren't available during the event hours - only until "regular" park close.

Now I’m confused, since I thought we could use ILL during AH. Short answer, we can not?

 

[champagne&disney]

Now I’m confused, since I thought we could use ILL during AH. Short answer, we can not?

ILL access starts at 7pm usually when the park is still open to all ticketed customers. Let's say the event start is at 9:30pm - there are no ILLs after the event starts. After Hours event hours are all normal queue access.

 

[jvalic33]

Now I’m confused, since I thought we could use ILL during AH. Short answer, we can not?

Wow, our AH night was very similar to madzy. We were at the first, although we did MMRR 3 times because it was the only ride the little one could do and TSM twice.

We skipped MFSR because we did it earlier that trip, but we went to ROTR which we have done a ton of times but figured why not take advantage of it and the little one was sleeping.

I'm sure someone has timed, it but with a couple small delays it was the ride itself that ate up the time. All those mini-preshows/experiences really ate up our night and we were too tired to make it to RNR or TOT, which now in hindsight I regret. I think we should have skipped ROTR and done the other two and left. I know that sounds like a sacrilege, but honestly, if you just pay for ROTR you can walk right on it any other day and not have to worry.

It's when they get rid of ILL that everything gets more complicated.

Oh, and I also do not believe your ILL works.

 

[scrappinginontario]

ILL access starts at 7pm usually when the park is still open to all ticketed customers. Let's say the event start is at 9:30pm - there are no ILLs after the event starts. After Hours event hours are all normal queue access.

I believe you meant to say, 'AH access starts at 7PM.....'

 

[wind79rain]

Now I’m confused, since I thought we could use ILL during AH. Short answer, we can not?

From what I’m hearing you can purchase and use ILL$ (for Rise) with just an After Hours ticket while the park is still open to day guests — typically from 7-9:30. Once the park closes and the After Hours event begins the Lightning Lanes are not in use except for folks with DAS.

 

[ChrisM]

Also attended the HS After Hours event on 3/22 and I'd call it a bust.

Was able to buy ILL and Genie+ with just the AH ticket and lined up ROTR and other LL's for the mix in time from 7pm - 9:30pm.

The mix in time was great as we knocked off Rise, Falcon, Slinky, Toy Story, Star Tours x2 and had dinner at Docking Bay 7 (although Rise went down for about 20 minutes while we waited for interrogation which sucked).

The event itself was sort of lame. Seemed like a lot of people still around, we got stuck on Runaway Railway for 20 minutes, and the Rise wait never dipped below 45 minutes that I could see so we didn't bother. We did less during the event than during the mix in time. And it seemed hard to figure out where the snack stands were - a couple were prominent but I had to ask three different kiosks around the theater hub where to find them and they were all clueless.

Best part was my gang were decked out with LED techno glasses which brought us a ton of extra attention from characters and guests. But maybe I should have asked Disney to pay us for providing entertainment!

 

[wind79rain]

Also attended the HS After Hours event on 3/22 and I'd call it a bust.

Was able to buy ILL and Genie+ with just the AH ticket and lined up ROTR and other LL's for the mix in time from 7pm - 9:30pm.

The mix in time was great as we knocked off Rise, Falcon, Slinky, Toy Story, Star Tours x2 and had dinner at Docking Bay 7 (although Rise went down for about 20 minutes while we waited for interrogation which sucked).

The event itself was sort of lame. Seemed like a lot of people still around, we got stuck on Runaway Railway for 20 minutes, and the Rise wait never dipped below 45 minutes that I could see so we didn't bother. We did less during the event than during the mix in time. And it seemed hard to figure out where the snack stands were - a couple were prominent but I had to ask three different kiosks around the theater hub where to find them and they were all clueless.

Best part was my gang were decked out with LED techno glasses which brought us a ton of extra attention from characters and guests. But maybe I should have asked Disney to pay us for providing entertainment!

Curious what your experience was like getting LLs for the 7-9:30 window? I assume you had to wait until each ride’s times were in that range before it would let you book?

 

[ChrisM]

Curious what your experience was like getting LLs for the 7-9:30 window? I assume you had to wait until each ride’s times were in that range before it would let you book?

That was my recollection - couldn't book until the LL windows were during those times.

 

[wind79rain]

That was my recollection - couldn't book until the LL windows were during those times.

Thanks!

Sorry to hear that the event was a bust for you. It seems like there’s a lot of luck that goes into which rides you decide to hit after 9:30. And Rise is such a long ride it eats up a lot of time even if you don’t have to wait in a long line.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Curious what your experience was like getting LLs for the 7-9:30 window? I assume you had to wait until each ride’s times were in that range before it would let you book?

That was my recollection - couldn't book until the LL windows were during those times.

I think both of you are possibly confusing LL with ILL$.

LL is part of Genie+ and to book an attraction it must 'reach' that booking time. Booking a LL only shows you next available time.

ILL$ is a separate purchase and guests purchasing ILL$ for an individual attraction can choose their return time from a variety they are offered.

 

[ChrisM]

I think both of you are possibly confusing LL with ILL$.

LL is part of Genie+ and to book an attraction it must 'reach' that booking time. Booking a LL only shows you next available time.

ILL$ is a separate purchase and guests purchasing ILL$ for an individual attraction can choose their return time from a variety they are offered.

Correct - and I don't think any of the prior conversation contradicted that.

With only an AH ticket I was able to:

Book my ILL exactly at 7am for my choice of time.

Book (regular) LLs when their booking windows reached 7pm.

 

[LilyJC]

Curious what your experience was like getting LLs for the 7-9:30 window? I assume you had to wait until each ride’s times were in that range before it would let you book?

I stacked a bunch of LLs for that window with our party’s APs/park hopper tickets. I grabbed our must-dos earlier in the day and then modified everything to fit the timeline we’d be there up until the event actually started/park closed.

 

[wind79rain]

I think both of you are possibly confusing LL with ILL$.

LL is part of Genie+ and to book an attraction it must 'reach' that booking time. Booking a LL only shows you next available time.

ILL$ is a separate purchase and guests purchasing ILL$ for an individual attraction can choose their return time from a variety they are offered.

No we’re not. Lightning lane return times tend to advance throughout the day as they are booked. So you can’t book a TOT LL that’s between 7-9:30 (if you’re only there for an After Hours event) until sometime in the afternoon. But SDD return times advance pretty quickly as they are in high demand so you could probably book on within the 7-9:30 window sometime in the morning depending on the crowd level.

Thrill data has good information about when LLs tend to be available and for what times throughout the day. My question was just that you have to wait until each rides LL return times advance to the 7-9:30 time frame in order to book them for an After Hours event (at least for the part of the event when you can enter the park but before the park is closed to day guests).

Point being that SDD might be the only LL that you could book in the morning that would have a return time from 7-9:30. MMRR, MFSR, and TOT all advance at a roughly similar rate reaching the evening hours sometime in the afternoon.

I’m just trying to figure out how many LL’s I can stack for the After Hours.