Park: Hollywood Studios
Disney After Hours is a late night ticketed event with certain attractions and character meet-and-greets available – all with little to no wait!
Event Details:
- Select nights at Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom (not Epcot)
- $125/person, $95 with Annual Passholder discount
- 3 hour window after park closes (i.e. 9:30pm-12:30am)
- Can arrive starting at 7pm at the park for the event (without a regular park ticket)
- Limited restaurants open, no stores open
- Some snacks and drinks included with price of ticket
Our Experience at Hollywood Studios:
My husband and I attended the event at Hollywood Studios on a Friday night and had a blast! We arrived at the park around 7pm and just enjoyed walking around until the event started. We had dinner and drinks at the Brown Derby Lounge (our favorite!) while we waited for the crowds to leave.
We walked around and started to notice the park slowly getting quieter. By the time the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular fireworks show rolled around at 9:30pm, the park was already cleared out! We walked up as the show started and got a viewing spot front and center – even though the park was still open to the general public.
As soon as the fireworks ended, we headed straight to meet the Star Wars characters. We had never met them before and were so excited we were able to walk right up and meet BB-8, Chewbacca and Kylo Ren.
From there, we were able to hit all of the rides once through. We rode Rock and Roller Coaster (front row, of course), Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers (first time ever!), Toy Story Mania (I won) and Star Tours! Tower of Terror was closed, which was a huge bummer for us.
The only ride we waited significantly for was Slinky Dog Dash, which took 25 minutes. Honestly, I was a little surprised we had to wait that long, based on what I had heard from people. It’s hard when you have such a limited amount of time to spend that long on one ride, but it was still worth it.
During the night, we enjoyed our Mickey ice cream bars and strolling around the near empty park. That’s one of my favorite things to do at Disney – just enjoy the parks while they’re peaceful and quiet. And that’s exactly what we did!
Overall, we give this event a two thumbs up! Worth the extra money for just the two of us (we also have the AP discount). We would love to try it at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom!