March 21, 2025 • 21 mins
This podcast episode delves into the merits and considerations surrounding the after-hours events at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. We explore whether the financial investment required for these limited-entry experiences is justified by the unique access they provide to the parks. Our discussion draws upon personal experiences, reflecting on how these events create an atmosphere reminiscent of having the park to oneself, thereby enhancing the overall enjoyment. We emphasize the significance of understanding one's personal stamina and familiarity with the parks when contemplating participation, as these events are time-sensitive and may not suit all families. Through this conversation, we aim to elucidate the value proposition of such exclusive experiences in the context of contemporary Disney park visits.
Takeaways:
- This podcast episode discusses the after-hours event at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios, focusing on its value and experience.
- The after-hours ticket provides a unique opportunity for guests to enjoy the park with significantly fewer crowds than during regular hours.
- Listeners are advised to consider whether their children can stay awake until the event concludes, as it is not suitable for all families.
- The hosts emphasize the importance of maximizing the experience by arriving early to enjoy the park before the event begins.
- They recommend this event for those who dislike crowds and want to extend their park visit without the daytime hustle.
- The podcast also highlights the additional complimentary snacks provided during the after-hours event, enhancing its perceived value.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Disney
- Magic Kingdom
- Epcot
- Hollywood Studios
- Pop Century
- Polynesian
- Crystal Palace
- Disney Springs
- Mickey
- Guardians
- Soarin
- Rise of the Resistance
- Slinky Dog
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Flight of Passage
- Navi River Journey
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Or Hollywood Studios and feellike you had the park to yourself.
Well, that's what we're goingto talk about on this edition.
The after hours event at theMagic Kingdom, Epcot center and Hollywood
Studios and whether or not itis worth the price and the experience.
How are you, Lauren?
I am good.
How are you?
We've done pretty much likeevery special ticketed thing that
you can do.
The Christmas party, theHalloween party, etc.
(00:26):
This one was something thatcame about, I think about five or
six years ago.
It did.
They decided, you know, youknow what, let's do a special ticketed
event.
Very limited crowd.
Yes.
And let's let people have afeeling of the park to themselves.
Yeah.
And it truly is that it'sreally like, I, I consider it like
an extra special event.
(00:46):
Right.
Because it's more of a VIPaccess type thing, even though it's
not.
And it's really the same pricereally as what you're going to pay
for a Christmas party orHalloween party ticket, but you're
really paying for that limitedaccess to the park.
Now there used to be a time,and I think you got to go back a
long time when there dates onthe calendar where you could walk
down Main street with about 10other people.
(01:08):
Yeah.
Like those were the, thosewere the days where Disney didn't
have anything going on.
Everyone was in school.
It was probably around likeSeptember or something.
Whatever.
There were, there were timeswhere the people knew I can go down
to Disney World and I can beatthe crowd.
And they've changed thatbecause they started going, all right,
our dead times is when we'regoing to have a race, so we're going
to have a festival or we'regoing to have something else.
And so they've sort ofeliminated a lot of those really,
(01:30):
really dead experiences thatpeople remember from the park, like
in the 1980s.
Yeah, they have.
And you, that's, that's thenumber one question that I get by
clients is when is the low season?
When is the least crowded timeto go?
And really there is no leastcrowded time anymore.
Especially with, like yousaid, I mean, they have found a way
to fill the parks in all theseasons and now we have, we have
(01:52):
an increased number ofhomeschooled students that can go
anytime.
Whereas back when I wasgrowing up, there were just weren't
as many families that weredoing that or doing hybrid type schools
and, and had more flexibility.
So yeah, I remember being inlike 8th grade and my parents us
out for my little sister andit was like her going to be her first
time.
And he.
(02:12):
My father took us out inSeptember, like three weeks after
school started in the Northeast.
We started after Labor Day.
So right away I was tellingteachers, we're going on this vacation.
I'm going to need my schoolwork.
But when we got there, mymemories of that were nothing.
No lines.
No lines at all.
Pretty much having the parkthat was like, in 84, 85, amazing.
And those, like I said, likeyou said, those days are gone.
(02:33):
And sometimes you hear it ofpeople going, oh, I went to the park
today and was dead.
But this is very, very low crowd.
Yeah, this is about 3,000people, and they're maxing out the
ticket.
Now.
When I first heard this, Ireally, really wanted to do this.
And I got to do it a couple ofyears ago.
And this was one of thosethrowing money at something and not
knowing what I was getting into.
(02:54):
Sure.
No one I knew went had done it.
And I even told my wife, Idon't even know if this is worth
it.
Yeah, let's just try it.
So we went down to Florida todo some business with the family
and see our son and whatnot.
And we, we went on a Sunday night.
Now, the hours at the time andthey, they think pretty much consistent
10:00pm to 1:00am, right.
But you can get in at 7.
(03:15):
So I made dinner reservations.
So one of our hours was doingdinner reservations and the other
two were kind of walkingaround the park.
Yeah.
And I kid you not, at 10o'clock, it felt like a magic wand
was waved and everyone was alf.
That's amazing.
We were really blown away.
We thought there would stillbe some stragglers.
People, even though theydidn't have the band, would still
try to kind of stay in thepark as long as they could.
(03:36):
Almost instantly from at 10o'clock, the crowd was gone.
That's unbelievable.
And the great thing about whatI experienced was this was at night,
and I always loved DisneyWorld at night.
So a couple of things aboutthis, and we're going to talk about
Epcot, we're talking aboutHollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom,
because, like you mentioned,this is the cost of a regular ticket
(03:57):
in some time.
In some places it's a littlehigher, depending on the season.
So you ask the question, is itworth it if you're.
If it's just the park?
Because when you go into theHalloween party or the Christmas
party, you're gettingsomething really extra.
Sure.
So is this gonna be worth it now?
I.
I tell people, I told peopleabout my experience and I said, look,
at the time, I think I paid155 a ticket.
(04:19):
The a full day at the time wasabout 150 bucks.
Yeah.
But I said, look, you're notgonna get 3,000 people in the park,
just you and 3,000 people.
Yeah.
So this is a chance to go onpretty much as many rides as you
can.
I really think this is theperfect thing for somebody that hates
crowds that is just looking toextend their park day.
(04:41):
So don't look at it as it'ssomething that's going to give me
anything extra than what Imight get during the day at Magic
Kingdom.
But this is going to be atrade off that I can spend the day
by the pool at Pop Century orby the pool at the Polynesian and
then around 7 o'clock moseyover to Magic Kingdom and do all
the things that all thesepeople were doing all day long, but
in half the time or less.
(05:03):
Exactly.
And there's no special paradefor this.
There's no special show for this.
You're basically there to rideas many rides as you can see.
Some character meet and greets.
They do offer you freepopcorn, free drink soda water and
ice cream of your choice.
Yeah.
And you, they have themstationed out at various places.
You just walk right up and youcan take as much as you want.
So cool.
That is very.
(05:23):
That part to me is such anadded value that probably doesn't
cost Disney hardly anything.
Exactly.
But you know, you feel likeyou're getting so much when, when
cokes are what, $6 and an icecream, a Mickey bar is $8.
I don't know how much they arebecause I just try not to look at
that when I'm, when I'mpurchasing those for the kids.
But, but you know, when youget that what you think is for free,
(05:46):
that you've obviously alreadypaid for, then it adds so much more.
It does feel like you've,you've stepped in on a very exclusive
part.
So I've given my advice onthis is with.
Especially if you're decidingwhether or not to do it.
There are two things and Ithink you and I talked about the
one thing with the, with theHalloween party and the Christmas
party.
Know your kids, if your kidsaren't not going to make it till
(06:06):
1 o'clock in the morning,don't waste your money.
Yeah.
This is probably not going tobe for those families that have strollers
going through the parks.
Unless you are for sure thatyour kids are going to make it until
one.
Don't do it.
Yeah, exactly.
Cuz if you're buying your kida park tick and he's fast asleep
or in, in the stroller at10:30, you've wasted it.
Right.
Because it's, it's really not,it's not like.
(06:27):
It's not like a daytime with a.
Your, your three year old,four year old can nap and you still
get a full day of value.
Like when they wake up we dosome more stuff.
This is over pretty quicklyfrom 10:00 to 1:00.
It's pretty fast.
That's right.
Now I do recommend gettinglike we talked about with the Halloween
party and the Christmas party.
Get there as soon as you canto maximize.
(06:47):
Absolutely.
Because that's kind of likefound time that you're not paying
for technically that you canjust enjoy the park.
And I remember telling my wifethis when we were going in and.
And she said what time do youwant to get there?
And I said well you know, it's seven.
Let's go start like six or soas there's only 3000 people.
Yeah.
Everyone was at the gate of course.
Right.
Like everyone had the sameidea we did.
(07:08):
So 3000 people is not a lotwhen you spread it out over the Magic
Kingdom.
But it's certainly a lot wheneverybody's gathering at the front
of the entrance of the park.
I can imagine.
And you walk and you're on themonorail and you pass and you go
oh no.
Oh no.
That's awful.
There's an ocean of peopleright in front.
But it is amazing how thatpark with, with its acreage just
(07:29):
can eat up those people andyou don't even not wait.
We waited on two rides.
But again, waiting is thewrong real term.
Right.
It's really just strollingthrough the queue.
That's right.
And that was on seven Dwarves,Mine Train and Big Thunder Mountain
Railroad.
Those are only two that we hadto really kind of stroll through
the line.
Everything else was a walk oneverything else.
There were people waiting forpeople to come on.
(07:51):
Like just standing aroundgoing want to ride?
It's here.
That's crazy.
It's the most uniqueexperience I've ever had at that
park.
So if you think about it in,in your.
If you're going to be thereand there's going to be an after
hours at Magic Kingdomespecially because.
So if we are comparing.
Because essentially you'regetting the same thing that you would
(08:11):
get by buying that PremierePass that we've talked about before.
Exactly.
Yeah.
But if you compare the pricewhich the Premiere Pass for Magic
Kingdom can be upwards of 400per person, which is going to be
well over twice the amount ofwhat you would pay for the after
hours event.
And I would be willing to betthat you could get in every ride
that you would get with thatpremier pass during these three hours
(08:34):
for that.
A fraction of the cost.
Yeah.
We wrote everything we wantedto ride Space Mountain, unfortunately
was closed.
It would have eaten up evenmore people.
Yeah.
Than the feeling.
But I will, I will share thisone experience that Lori and I had.
So we were walking, you know,over down towards Adventureland from
Frontierlands.
We were taking kind of thatswoop and at one point we looked
around and nobody was around us.
(08:54):
And we looked around.
We're the only people in this area.
That's got to be almost like aspooky feeling.
It was a spooky feeling.
Like you were like you were inthe park and you weren't supposed
to be.
Yeah, like you were gonna getin trou.
Exactly.
Like we looked around andwent, there's nobody here.
And then eventually peoplestarted coming and you could see
some more people.
But for just a split second, Ilooked around and went, there is
nobody here.
Because I was paying attentionto that kind of stuff because I'm
(09:15):
like, I again, just, just tryto see what this experience would
be like.
And I had a couple of peopleask me, oh, when you get back, tell
me if that was worth it.
Sure.
And I had to say afterwards,it was worth it.
But I will throw in a caveat.
And it's.
This is the second one.
If you are an infrequentvisitor to Magic Kingdom, Epcot,
Hollywood Studios, any ofthese parks, I would not go, I would
(09:37):
not use.
And the reason I say that is Idon't want to feel like, I don't
want to add any, like, stressvalue to this.
But this is a timed thing.
I mean, it's three hours.
It's almost like a game show.
How much can you do?
It's like supermarket sweepsat Disney.
If you don't know where you'regoing, if you don't know how to get
from point A to point B, ifyou're not really sure where a ride
(10:01):
is or whatnot, that's not.
You would think because itwould be less crowded, but it's not
really conducive to somebodythat's just going, I don't know where
the Haunted Mansion is.
Where is that?
That's a really good pointbecause the, the parks are not well
lit at.
Right.
Oh, no, you're right.
On purpose, because they kindof want to make it look more magical.
And.
And so if you don't know yourway around the park, it's really
(10:24):
difficult to navigate at night.
And like you said, on a time schedule.
Yeah.
I mean, if you.
If you're the kind of personthat can get to the park and go blindfolded
to, you know, Peter Pan.
Yeah.
And not need, you know.
No need a map, you know whereyou're going, you can get from point
A to point B.
It's great because if you kidoff a ride and you say, you know
what, I want to check this outover here.
And you can kind of cutthrough and cut through.
(10:45):
That's the best way to do this.
Yeah.
Now, I did not do the afterhours at Epcot or Hollywood Studios,
but I will say there's aconcern about this for Epcot, given
the grandness of that park.
Yeah.
But it doesn't have as many attractions.
So I'm trying to weigh the two experiences.
So if you take.
And I haven't done the afterhours event at Epcot, but I have
(11:06):
done the deluxe extendedevening hours at Epcot and I think
that that was a really good experience.
However, it really onlylimited us to Future World or whatever
it's called now.
Okay.
Again, yeah.
I refuse to call it whateverit's called now, Celebration World,
all the things.
So it really limits you tothat section of the park for the
(11:27):
extended evening hours.
They do not open things in theWorld Showcase, with the exception
of Remy's and Frozen EverAfter See the Rest of the World Showcase.
So I don't know how it workswith the after hours.
That would be.
That would be interesting tome because if.
If you can go, if you canshop, if you can watch the shows,
if you can watch the movies,anything like that, that make the
World Showcase unique, then I would.
(11:49):
I would really questionwhether or not three hours is enough.
Oh, absolutely.
You know, to get that value.
Now, again, if you're justconcentrating on I want to ride Guardians
and I want to ride Soarin andI want to ride Soarin twice and I
want them to jump, then Ithink you've got some value because
there's just not enough attractions.
Oh, yeah.
All of them done.
And extra rides.
Absolutely.
And if you have Guardianslovers, which, you know they're out
(12:11):
there.
Right.
Then they can potentially justride Guardians the whole time.
Especially now that we're on astandby queue for it.
They can just continue to goover and over on Guardians and you're
never going to get that chanceduring the day.
And again, this is.
Again, you and I mentionedthis on other podcasts.
Disney rides are designed bestwhen everybody is.
There's nobody cutting youwith a pass or anything.
And none of that.
That's right.
(12:32):
All of that exists.
Like you.
You are just in a line witheverybody else.
Nobody has a special pass.
That's right.
There are no lightning lanes,no nothing.
When it's designed to move,and you are moving constantly, that's
what you're getting.
So even if you're in a line,you're not in a line for long because
there's not enough people.
But two, there's nobody.
There's no horde of peoplecoming with lightning lanes to cut
in front of you.
So every ride is.
(12:53):
Is attainable fast, right?
Really fast.
So again, you can go onGuardians multiple times.
Rise of the resistance atHollywood Studios multiple times.
You don't want to talk about apark that's navigating at night.
I mean, if you don't knowHollywood Studios, forget it.
Don't even try.
I agree.
Don't even try it.
Absolutely terrible.
Especially if you're trying tocome out of Galaxy's Edge and you
(13:13):
don't know which way you'recoming out of it, or if you're going
to be out by Muppets or ifyou're going to be out by Toy Story
Land.
But, yeah, it's.
It's crazy in the dark.
My biggest worry with this isthat, you know, Disney, when they
get a good thing, they startgoing, okay, so this was just a Magic
Kingdom idea a couple years ago.
Now they've expanded it.
But I.
I hate.
I would love to be a fly onthe wall in an executive boardroom
(13:33):
when they start going.
I think we should increase itto like 5,000.
Like, who's gonna count?
And you know they will.
They will.
And the moment people go, Ipaid 170 for this ticket.
Yeah.
And it was packed.
Yeah.
Like, they just bled it too much.
I.
I feel that way sometimes withthe Halloween and Christmas party
worry.
Right now with the Halloweenand Christmas party, because they
(13:54):
used to feel very empty.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And I think they limitedthose, and that's when they were
more enjoyable.
There are times where I'vegone to these parties where I'm like,
this is.
Oh, it's more crowded than theday slam.
Yeah.
I mean, this is loaded withridiculously crowded.
And that's.
That's what I worry about.
Because the number one reasonto buy this is not for a Christmas
parade or Halloween parade.
(14:15):
Or villains show it is to haveex VIP access to the park and make
it feel like it is your park.
Right.
And they give you that with this.
But the moment people startfeeling like that wasn't what I experienced,
word will get around andthey're gonna have to lower the people.
Yeah.
I really.
I really hope that they'llunderstand the objective with that
(14:36):
and keep it as maybe theHalloween and Christmas parties,
they.
They've shifted their ob tosay, okay, well, we're not really
paying for lower crowds here.
We're paying for these other things.
But we're going to keep thisevent to.
You are painting for the lower crowds.
And I hope that they'llcontinue that going forward.
You get the three hours in thebeginning, and I.
And I think those are valuablebecause, again, it feels like, you
(14:59):
know, like, look, instead ofgetting three hours and getting six.
Right.
But I mean, if you know that for.
From 10 to 1, you're going towalk on rides, make a dinner reservation,
do something else.
Like, don't stand in theHaunted Mansion line for an hour,
like at 7:30 at night.
10 seconds.
The moment the clock strikes 10.
Yeah.
So that's what we did.
(15:19):
We.
We went to Crystal palace andsaid, let's just have a dinner reservation.
Yeah.
Do some shopping at the Emporium.
Watch the fireworks and all ofthat before.
Yeah.
Get all the value of.
Of the.
Of your ticket.
But don't feel like your clockstarts with riding the attractions.
Because I can't stress this enough.
It's still.
Even two years later, it'sstill the most unique experience
(15:42):
I've ever had.
And I've gone during dead times.
Yeah.
I have never been where a castmember is saying, hey, you guys want
to ride over here?
Like, I've never seen it.
I've never seen that.
And that.
That was fantastic.
I love it.
So that was really good.
But I'm glad they extended itto Hollywood Studios, and I'm glad
they extended it to Epcot.
They are trying a little bitof Magic Kingdom.
(16:03):
Extra.
Extra hours.
Yes.
I don't know if that'll work.
Do you think that'll work?
You know, I don't know.
You mean an animal.
Animal kingdom?
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
I don't know.
So I actually have also donethe deluxe extended hours at Animal
Kingdom, and so that'sessentially the same thing over there.
And they do it every once in awhile for the extended hours.
And so I do think that giventhe same amount of attractions there
(16:26):
as really is what you'regetting at Epcot I think it could
work.
I mean, you get flight ofpassage, you get, you're not going
to get the safari late atnight, you're going to get Everest
Navi r Journey.
But you know, past that,there's not a whole lot that you
can do at night.
There's really not.
I mean, we've always, we'vetalked about Animal Kingdom.
It's, it's like a half a day apart.
It feels like it would be goodfor something like this given the
(16:47):
amount of time.
But not for the amount ofattractions that you're going to
get.
No.
So I don't, I don't think thiswill work, but I'm glad they're doing
it for the two parks that havesome of the best attractions around.
When we did our in depthseries on Hollywood Studios, we both
said, look, pound for pound,this is the best attractions in the
park.
And now you can get all ofthem multiple times with an after
(17:08):
hours pass.
And again, don't confuse thiswith the extended hours that you
get with the resort.
This is a very limitedticketed event that they really want
to make sure to limit the crowds.
I mean, if, if everyone, ifever, if they're, if they're sold
out on the deluxe resorts,everyone's going to go to that.
Yeah.
But this one is ticket andvery limited crowd.
And the good thing withHollywood Studios, if you're purchasing
that one, is that they're.
(17:30):
The number of attractions kindof that are, are clustered together.
That park is not huge.
So you can get a lot done in areally short amount of time in Hollywood
Studios.
Yeah, exactly.
So again and I, and again Ialways look at the rides that are
going to be operational, lookat what's, what they're constructing
now.
Right.
If, if something is, if you'redoing, if you're thinking about Epcot
(17:51):
and test track isn't open yet,like consider trying another time
when it is right.
I.
This is a game you can playwhere you can say, look, if I have
freedom to choose when I'mgoing down and I want to do this,
pick the, pick the park orpick the one that is going to give
you everything you want.
Because if you're going downthere and like man, it'll be great
to ride Tron twice and Tron isshut down, then you've, then you've
(18:14):
lost your right.
Main reason why you want to do it.
That's right.
So again, after hours, Ihighly recommend it, but I don't
recommend it if your childrenaren't going to make it through or
you're kind of new andnavigating the parks and issues.
That's right.
It's not something you want.
I would definitely alsorecommend it for a day that you are
not going to another park.
That's a good idea.
So try to do it in the middleof your trip.
If you, if you have the timeto do a rest day, don't do a park
(18:37):
day that day.
Just go ahead, sleep in, maybedo a character breakfast at one of
the resorts, do some pooltime, maybe head out to Disney Springs
for a little while, rest andthen head to the park.
Yeah, that's a great point.
Because when we went again, wewill go down for like, her dad, my
parents, my, our son.
Fun.
We ended up like hangingaround, hanging around, waiting.
Like, when you want to go,when do you want to go?
(18:57):
When you want to go over there.
So, yeah, this is.
If you're staying and there'san opportunity to do this at one
one night.
You're gonna, you can, you cando, like you said, have that off
day, relax, pool, enjoy yourtime, chill out, and then hit the,
hit the parks at 7:00 andenjoy it until 1:00am.
Sounds like a perfect day.
You will not experienceanything like this if, if you do
(19:18):
this.
I, I, I can't imagineHollywood studios to myself.
I mean, I can't imagine likegalaxy's edge with 200 people.
Amazing.
That is.
It's gonna be Slinky Dog at night.
It's my favorite attraction.
Oh, man.
I would just be on Slinky Dogthe whole time.
Highly recommend it.
Highly recommend it.
You know, it's funny becausemy wife and I, when we went down
with the kids 10, 12 yearsago, my daughter was very young and
(19:43):
I, we had gotten up reallyearly for a breakfast and we were
kind of bouncing around theparks and it was late at night and
Monday Night Football was onand my team was playing and Amberly
was exhausted and she wantedto go back to the hotel and sleep.
And my son and my wife werelike, we're going to Magic Kingdom
for the extended hours, whichran at that time until like 1:00.
Yeah.
And Amberly went back to the hotel.
(20:03):
She crashed out.
I watched the football game.
And I remember when they camein at like 1:45 or whenever it is
they came in, I mean, all theytalked about was, then we just ran
over here, then we just ranover here.
And then we, and I rememberthe image of they had the whole park
that felt they had the wholepark to themselves.
Serious fomo, right And I, andI said that when I heard about this,
I said that's what they weretalking about.
(20:25):
Yeah.
That really late night experience.
Let's, let's see if, let's seewhat this is all cracked up to be.
Yeah.
And get as many ice creams asyou can.
Yes.
Eat all the Mickey bars thatyou can just to your heart's desire.
It sounds amazing.
All right, so that's ourreview of the after hours event.
That's Lauren.
Lauren@AllTheMagicTravel.comHit me up.
(20:46):
Travel with Tony D@gmail.com.
thank you for listening tothis edition of the Wands and Wishes
podcast.
Please subscribe to the channel.
Leave us a five star review ifyou like our insights into the theme
park world in Orlando.
Until next time, thanks forlistening to the Wands and Wishes
podcast.
Or Hollywood Studios and feellike you had the park to yourself.
Well, that's what we're goingto talk about on this edition.
The after hours event at theMagic Kingdom, Epcot center and Hollywood
Studios and whether or not itis worth the price and the experience.
How are you, Lauren?
I am good.
How are you?
We've done pretty much likeevery special ticketed thing that
you can do.
The Christmas party, theHalloween party, etc.
(00:26):
This one was something thatcame about, I think about five or
six years ago.
It did.
They decided, you know, youknow what, let's do a special ticketed
event.
Very limited crowd.
Yes.
And let's let people have afeeling of the park to themselves.
Yeah.
And it truly is that it'sreally like, I, I consider it like
an extra special event.
(00:46):
Right.
Because it's more of a VIPaccess type thing, even though it's
not.
And it's really the same pricereally as what you're going to pay
for a Christmas party orHalloween party ticket, but you're
really paying for that limitedaccess to the park.
Now there used to be a time,and I think you got to go back a
long time when there dates onthe calendar where you could walk
down Main street with about 10other people.
(01:08):
Yeah.
Like those were the, thosewere the days where Disney didn't
have anything going on.
Everyone was in school.
It was probably around likeSeptember or something.
Whatever.
There were, there were timeswhere the people knew I can go down
to Disney World and I can beatthe crowd.
And they've changed thatbecause they started going, all right,
our dead times is when we'regoing to have a race, so we're going
to have a festival or we'regoing to have something else.
And so they've sort ofeliminated a lot of those really,
(01:30):
really dead experiences thatpeople remember from the park, like
in the 1980s.
Yeah, they have.
And you, that's, that's thenumber one question that I get by
clients is when is the low season?
When is the least crowded timeto go?
And really there is no leastcrowded time anymore.
Especially with, like yousaid, I mean, they have found a way
to fill the parks in all theseasons and now we have, we have
(01:52):
an increased number ofhomeschooled students that can go
anytime.
Whereas back when I wasgrowing up, there were just weren't
as many families that weredoing that or doing hybrid type schools
and, and had more flexibility.
So yeah, I remember being inlike 8th grade and my parents us
out for my little sister andit was like her going to be her first
time.
And he.
(02:12):
My father took us out inSeptember, like three weeks after
school started in the Northeast.
We started after Labor Day.
So right away I was tellingteachers, we're going on this vacation.
I'm going to need my schoolwork.
But when we got there, mymemories of that were nothing.
No lines.
No lines at all.
Pretty much having the parkthat was like, in 84, 85, amazing.
And those, like I said, likeyou said, those days are gone.
(02:33):
And sometimes you hear it ofpeople going, oh, I went to the park
today and was dead.
But this is very, very low crowd.
Yeah, this is about 3,000people, and they're maxing out the
ticket.
Now.
When I first heard this, Ireally, really wanted to do this.
And I got to do it a couple ofyears ago.
And this was one of thosethrowing money at something and not
knowing what I was getting into.
(02:54):
Sure.
No one I knew went had done it.
And I even told my wife, Idon't even know if this is worth
it.
Yeah, let's just try it.
So we went down to Florida todo some business with the family
and see our son and whatnot.
And we, we went on a Sunday night.
Now, the hours at the time andthey, they think pretty much consistent
10:00pm to 1:00am, right.
But you can get in at 7.
(03:15):
So I made dinner reservations.
So one of our hours was doingdinner reservations and the other
two were kind of walkingaround the park.
Yeah.
And I kid you not, at 10o'clock, it felt like a magic wand
was waved and everyone was alf.
That's amazing.
We were really blown away.
We thought there would stillbe some stragglers.
People, even though theydidn't have the band, would still
try to kind of stay in thepark as long as they could.
(03:36):
Almost instantly from at 10o'clock, the crowd was gone.
That's unbelievable.
And the great thing about whatI experienced was this was at night,
and I always loved DisneyWorld at night.
So a couple of things aboutthis, and we're going to talk about
Epcot, we're talking aboutHollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom,
because, like you mentioned,this is the cost of a regular ticket
(03:57):
in some time.
In some places it's a littlehigher, depending on the season.
So you ask the question, is itworth it if you're.
If it's just the park?
Because when you go into theHalloween party or the Christmas
party, you're gettingsomething really extra.
Sure.
So is this gonna be worth it now?
I.
I tell people, I told peopleabout my experience and I said, look,
at the time, I think I paid155 a ticket.
(04:19):
The a full day at the time wasabout 150 bucks.
Yeah.
But I said, look, you're notgonna get 3,000 people in the park,
just you and 3,000 people.
Yeah.
So this is a chance to go onpretty much as many rides as you
can.
I really think this is theperfect thing for somebody that hates
crowds that is just looking toextend their park day.
(04:41):
So don't look at it as it'ssomething that's going to give me
anything extra than what Imight get during the day at Magic
Kingdom.
But this is going to be atrade off that I can spend the day
by the pool at Pop Century orby the pool at the Polynesian and
then around 7 o'clock moseyover to Magic Kingdom and do all
the things that all thesepeople were doing all day long, but
in half the time or less.
(05:03):
Exactly.
And there's no special paradefor this.
There's no special show for this.
You're basically there to rideas many rides as you can see.
Some character meet and greets.
They do offer you freepopcorn, free drink soda water and
ice cream of your choice.
Yeah.
And you, they have themstationed out at various places.
You just walk right up and youcan take as much as you want.
So cool.
That is very.
(05:23):
That part to me is such anadded value that probably doesn't
cost Disney hardly anything.
Exactly.
But you know, you feel likeyou're getting so much when, when
cokes are what, $6 and an icecream, a Mickey bar is $8.
I don't know how much they arebecause I just try not to look at
that when I'm, when I'mpurchasing those for the kids.
But, but you know, when youget that what you think is for free,
(05:46):
that you've obviously alreadypaid for, then it adds so much more.
It does feel like you've,you've stepped in on a very exclusive
part.
So I've given my advice onthis is with.
Especially if you're decidingwhether or not to do it.
There are two things and Ithink you and I talked about the
one thing with the, with theHalloween party and the Christmas
party.
Know your kids, if your kidsaren't not going to make it till
(06:06):
1 o'clock in the morning,don't waste your money.
Yeah.
This is probably not going tobe for those families that have strollers
going through the parks.
Unless you are for sure thatyour kids are going to make it until
one.
Don't do it.
Yeah, exactly.
Cuz if you're buying your kida park tick and he's fast asleep
or in, in the stroller at10:30, you've wasted it.
Right.
Because it's, it's really not,it's not like.
(06:27):
It's not like a daytime with a.
Your, your three year old,four year old can nap and you still
get a full day of value.
Like when they wake up we dosome more stuff.
This is over pretty quicklyfrom 10:00 to 1:00.
It's pretty fast.
That's right.
Now I do recommend gettinglike we talked about with the Halloween
party and the Christmas party.
Get there as soon as you canto maximize.
(06:47):
Absolutely.
Because that's kind of likefound time that you're not paying
for technically that you canjust enjoy the park.
And I remember telling my wifethis when we were going in and.
And she said what time do youwant to get there?
And I said well you know, it's seven.
Let's go start like six or soas there's only 3000 people.
Yeah.
Everyone was at the gate of course.
Right.
Like everyone had the sameidea we did.
(07:08):
So 3000 people is not a lotwhen you spread it out over the Magic
Kingdom.
But it's certainly a lot wheneverybody's gathering at the front
of the entrance of the park.
I can imagine.
And you walk and you're on themonorail and you pass and you go
oh no.
Oh no.
That's awful.
There's an ocean of peopleright in front.
But it is amazing how thatpark with, with its acreage just
(07:29):
can eat up those people andyou don't even not wait.
We waited on two rides.
But again, waiting is thewrong real term.
Right.
It's really just strollingthrough the queue.
That's right.
And that was on seven Dwarves,Mine Train and Big Thunder Mountain
Railroad.
Those are only two that we hadto really kind of stroll through
the line.
Everything else was a walk oneverything else.
There were people waiting forpeople to come on.
(07:51):
Like just standing aroundgoing want to ride?
It's here.
That's crazy.
It's the most uniqueexperience I've ever had at that
park.
So if you think about it in,in your.
If you're going to be thereand there's going to be an after
hours at Magic Kingdomespecially because.
So if we are comparing.
Because essentially you'regetting the same thing that you would
(08:11):
get by buying that PremierePass that we've talked about before.
Exactly.
Yeah.
But if you compare the pricewhich the Premiere Pass for Magic
Kingdom can be upwards of 400per person, which is going to be
well over twice the amount ofwhat you would pay for the after
hours event.
And I would be willing to betthat you could get in every ride
that you would get with thatpremier pass during these three hours
(08:34):
for that.
A fraction of the cost.
Yeah.
We wrote everything we wantedto ride Space Mountain, unfortunately
was closed.
It would have eaten up evenmore people.
Yeah.
Than the feeling.
But I will, I will share thisone experience that Lori and I had.
So we were walking, you know,over down towards Adventureland from
Frontierlands.
We were taking kind of thatswoop and at one point we looked
around and nobody was around us.
(08:54):
And we looked around.
We're the only people in this area.
That's got to be almost like aspooky feeling.
It was a spooky feeling.
Like you were like you were inthe park and you weren't supposed
to be.
Yeah, like you were gonna getin trou.
Exactly.
Like we looked around andwent, there's nobody here.
And then eventually peoplestarted coming and you could see
some more people.
But for just a split second, Ilooked around and went, there is
nobody here.
Because I was paying attentionto that kind of stuff because I'm
(09:15):
like, I again, just, just tryto see what this experience would
be like.
And I had a couple of peopleask me, oh, when you get back, tell
me if that was worth it.
Sure.
And I had to say afterwards,it was worth it.
But I will throw in a caveat.
And it's.
This is the second one.
If you are an infrequentvisitor to Magic Kingdom, Epcot,
Hollywood Studios, any ofthese parks, I would not go, I would
(09:37):
not use.
And the reason I say that is Idon't want to feel like, I don't
want to add any, like, stressvalue to this.
But this is a timed thing.
I mean, it's three hours.
It's almost like a game show.
How much can you do?
It's like supermarket sweepsat Disney.
If you don't know where you'regoing, if you don't know how to get
from point A to point B, ifyou're not really sure where a ride
(10:01):
is or whatnot, that's not.
You would think because itwould be less crowded, but it's not
really conducive to somebodythat's just going, I don't know where
the Haunted Mansion is.
Where is that?
That's a really good pointbecause the, the parks are not well
lit at.
Right.
Oh, no, you're right.
On purpose, because they kindof want to make it look more magical.
And.
And so if you don't know yourway around the park, it's really
(10:24):
difficult to navigate at night.
And like you said, on a time schedule.
Yeah.
I mean, if you.
If you're the kind of personthat can get to the park and go blindfolded
to, you know, Peter Pan.
Yeah.
And not need, you know.
No need a map, you know whereyou're going, you can get from point
A to point B.
It's great because if you kidoff a ride and you say, you know
what, I want to check this outover here.
And you can kind of cutthrough and cut through.
(10:45):
That's the best way to do this.
Yeah.
Now, I did not do the afterhours at Epcot or Hollywood Studios,
but I will say there's aconcern about this for Epcot, given
the grandness of that park.
Yeah.
But it doesn't have as many attractions.
So I'm trying to weigh the two experiences.
So if you take.
And I haven't done the afterhours event at Epcot, but I have
(11:06):
done the deluxe extendedevening hours at Epcot and I think
that that was a really good experience.
However, it really onlylimited us to Future World or whatever
it's called now.
Okay.
Again, yeah.
I refuse to call it whateverit's called now, Celebration World,
all the things.
So it really limits you tothat section of the park for the
(11:27):
extended evening hours.
They do not open things in theWorld Showcase, with the exception
of Remy's and Frozen EverAfter See the Rest of the World Showcase.
So I don't know how it workswith the after hours.
That would be.
That would be interesting tome because if.
If you can go, if you canshop, if you can watch the shows,
if you can watch the movies,anything like that, that make the
World Showcase unique, then I would.
(11:49):
I would really questionwhether or not three hours is enough.
Oh, absolutely.
You know, to get that value.
Now, again, if you're justconcentrating on I want to ride Guardians
and I want to ride Soarin andI want to ride Soarin twice and I
want them to jump, then Ithink you've got some value because
there's just not enough attractions.
Oh, yeah.
All of them done.
And extra rides.
Absolutely.
And if you have Guardianslovers, which, you know they're out
(12:11):
there.
Right.
Then they can potentially justride Guardians the whole time.
Especially now that we're on astandby queue for it.
They can just continue to goover and over on Guardians and you're
never going to get that chanceduring the day.
And again, this is.
Again, you and I mentionedthis on other podcasts.
Disney rides are designed bestwhen everybody is.
There's nobody cutting youwith a pass or anything.
And none of that.
That's right.
(12:32):
All of that exists.
Like you.
You are just in a line witheverybody else.
Nobody has a special pass.
That's right.
There are no lightning lanes,no nothing.
When it's designed to move,and you are moving constantly, that's
what you're getting.
So even if you're in a line,you're not in a line for long because
there's not enough people.
But two, there's nobody.
There's no horde of peoplecoming with lightning lanes to cut
in front of you.
So every ride is.
(12:53):
Is attainable fast, right?
Really fast.
So again, you can go onGuardians multiple times.
Rise of the resistance atHollywood Studios multiple times.
You don't want to talk about apark that's navigating at night.
I mean, if you don't knowHollywood Studios, forget it.
Don't even try.
I agree.
Don't even try it.
Absolutely terrible.
Especially if you're trying tocome out of Galaxy's Edge and you
(13:13):
don't know which way you'recoming out of it, or if you're going
to be out by Muppets or ifyou're going to be out by Toy Story
Land.
But, yeah, it's.
It's crazy in the dark.
My biggest worry with this isthat, you know, Disney, when they
get a good thing, they startgoing, okay, so this was just a Magic
Kingdom idea a couple years ago.
Now they've expanded it.
But I.
I hate.
I would love to be a fly onthe wall in an executive boardroom
(13:33):
when they start going.
I think we should increase itto like 5,000.
Like, who's gonna count?
And you know they will.
They will.
And the moment people go, Ipaid 170 for this ticket.
Yeah.
And it was packed.
Yeah.
Like, they just bled it too much.
I.
I feel that way sometimes withthe Halloween and Christmas party
worry.
Right now with the Halloweenand Christmas party, because they
(13:54):
used to feel very empty.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And I think they limitedthose, and that's when they were
more enjoyable.
There are times where I'vegone to these parties where I'm like,
this is.
Oh, it's more crowded than theday slam.
Yeah.
I mean, this is loaded withridiculously crowded.
And that's.
That's what I worry about.
Because the number one reasonto buy this is not for a Christmas
parade or Halloween parade.
(14:15):
Or villains show it is to haveex VIP access to the park and make
it feel like it is your park.
Right.
And they give you that with this.
But the moment people startfeeling like that wasn't what I experienced,
word will get around andthey're gonna have to lower the people.
Yeah.
I really.
I really hope that they'llunderstand the objective with that
(14:36):
and keep it as maybe theHalloween and Christmas parties,
they.
They've shifted their ob tosay, okay, well, we're not really
paying for lower crowds here.
We're paying for these other things.
But we're going to keep thisevent to.
You are painting for the lower crowds.
And I hope that they'llcontinue that going forward.
You get the three hours in thebeginning, and I.
And I think those are valuablebecause, again, it feels like, you
(14:59):
know, like, look, instead ofgetting three hours and getting six.
Right.
But I mean, if you know that for.
From 10 to 1, you're going towalk on rides, make a dinner reservation,
do something else.
Like, don't stand in theHaunted Mansion line for an hour,
like at 7:30 at night.
10 seconds.
The moment the clock strikes 10.
Yeah.
So that's what we did.
(15:19):
We.
We went to Crystal palace andsaid, let's just have a dinner reservation.
Yeah.
Do some shopping at the Emporium.
Watch the fireworks and all ofthat before.
Yeah.
Get all the value of.
Of the.
Of your ticket.
But don't feel like your clockstarts with riding the attractions.
Because I can't stress this enough.
It's still.
Even two years later, it'sstill the most unique experience
(15:42):
I've ever had.
And I've gone during dead times.
Yeah.
I have never been where a castmember is saying, hey, you guys want
to ride over here?
Like, I've never seen it.
I've never seen that.
And that.
That was fantastic.
I love it.
So that was really good.
But I'm glad they extended itto Hollywood Studios, and I'm glad
they extended it to Epcot.
They are trying a little bitof Magic Kingdom.
(16:03):
Extra.
Extra hours.
Yes.
I don't know if that'll work.
Do you think that'll work?
You know, I don't know.
You mean an animal.
Animal kingdom?
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
I don't know.
So I actually have also donethe deluxe extended hours at Animal
Kingdom, and so that'sessentially the same thing over there.
And they do it every once in awhile for the extended hours.
And so I do think that giventhe same amount of attractions there
(16:26):
as really is what you'regetting at Epcot I think it could
work.
I mean, you get flight ofpassage, you get, you're not going
to get the safari late atnight, you're going to get Everest
Navi r Journey.
But you know, past that,there's not a whole lot that you
can do at night.
There's really not.
I mean, we've always, we'vetalked about Animal Kingdom.
It's, it's like a half a day apart.
It feels like it would be goodfor something like this given the
(16:47):
amount of time.
But not for the amount ofattractions that you're going to
get.
No.
So I don't, I don't think thiswill work, but I'm glad they're doing
it for the two parks that havesome of the best attractions around.
When we did our in depthseries on Hollywood Studios, we both
said, look, pound for pound,this is the best attractions in the
park.
And now you can get all ofthem multiple times with an after
(17:08):
hours pass.
And again, don't confuse thiswith the extended hours that you
get with the resort.
This is a very limitedticketed event that they really want
to make sure to limit the crowds.
I mean, if, if everyone, ifever, if they're, if they're sold
out on the deluxe resorts,everyone's going to go to that.
Yeah.
But this one is ticket andvery limited crowd.
And the good thing withHollywood Studios, if you're purchasing
that one, is that they're.
(17:30):
The number of attractions kindof that are, are clustered together.
That park is not huge.
So you can get a lot done in areally short amount of time in Hollywood
Studios.
Yeah, exactly.
So again and I, and again Ialways look at the rides that are
going to be operational, lookat what's, what they're constructing
now.
Right.
If, if something is, if you'redoing, if you're thinking about Epcot
(17:51):
and test track isn't open yet,like consider trying another time
when it is right.
I.
This is a game you can playwhere you can say, look, if I have
freedom to choose when I'mgoing down and I want to do this,
pick the, pick the park orpick the one that is going to give
you everything you want.
Because if you're going downthere and like man, it'll be great
to ride Tron twice and Tron isshut down, then you've, then you've
(18:14):
lost your right.
Main reason why you want to do it.
That's right.
So again, after hours, Ihighly recommend it, but I don't
recommend it if your childrenaren't going to make it through or
you're kind of new andnavigating the parks and issues.
That's right.
It's not something you want.
I would definitely alsorecommend it for a day that you are
not going to another park.
That's a good idea.
So try to do it in the middleof your trip.
If you, if you have the timeto do a rest day, don't do a park
(18:37):
day that day.
Just go ahead, sleep in, maybedo a character breakfast at one of
the resorts, do some pooltime, maybe head out to Disney Springs
for a little while, rest andthen head to the park.
Yeah, that's a great point.
Because when we went again, wewill go down for like, her dad, my
parents, my, our son.
Fun.
We ended up like hangingaround, hanging around, waiting.
Like, when you want to go,when do you want to go?
(18:57):
When you want to go over there.
So, yeah, this is.
If you're staying and there'san opportunity to do this at one
one night.
You're gonna, you can, you cando, like you said, have that off
day, relax, pool, enjoy yourtime, chill out, and then hit the,
hit the parks at 7:00 andenjoy it until 1:00am.
Sounds like a perfect day.
You will not experienceanything like this if, if you do
(19:18):
this.
I, I, I can't imagineHollywood studios to myself.
I mean, I can't imagine likegalaxy's edge with 200 people.
Amazing.
That is.
It's gonna be Slinky Dog at night.
It's my favorite attraction.
Oh, man.
I would just be on Slinky Dogthe whole time.
Highly recommend it.
Highly recommend it.
You know, it's funny becausemy wife and I, when we went down
with the kids 10, 12 yearsago, my daughter was very young and
(19:43):
I, we had gotten up reallyearly for a breakfast and we were
kind of bouncing around theparks and it was late at night and
Monday Night Football was onand my team was playing and Amberly
was exhausted and she wantedto go back to the hotel and sleep.
And my son and my wife werelike, we're going to Magic Kingdom
for the extended hours, whichran at that time until like 1:00.
Yeah.
And Amberly went back to the hotel.
(20:03):
She crashed out.
I watched the football game.
And I remember when they camein at like 1:45 or whenever it is
they came in, I mean, all theytalked about was, then we just ran
over here, then we just ranover here.
And then we, and I rememberthe image of they had the whole park
that felt they had the wholepark to themselves.
Serious fomo, right And I, andI said that when I heard about this,
I said that's what they weretalking about.
(20:25):
Yeah.
That really late night experience.
Let's, let's see if, let's seewhat this is all cracked up to be.
Yeah.
And get as many ice creams asyou can.
Yes.
Eat all the Mickey bars thatyou can just to your heart's desire.
It sounds amazing.
All right, so that's ourreview of the after hours event.
That's Lauren.
Lauren@AllTheMagicTravel.comHit me up.
(20:46):
Travel with Tony D@gmail.com.
thank you for listening tothis edition of the Wands and Wishes
podcast.
Please subscribe to the channel.
Leave us a five star review ifyou like our insights into the theme
park world in Orlando.
Until next time, thanks forlistening to the Wands and Wishes
podcast.
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