Disney After Hours at Epcot: Is This Disney World Event Worth the Cost?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ส.ค. 2024
- This week, we went to Epcot for the first night of Disney After Hours. This special ticketed event allows you to stay in the park three hours after park close, but at a hefty price. Disney promises very low crowds and shorter waits on all the rides, but that's about it. No special parades or shows. Heck, most of the stores and restaurants are even closed during the event. We're going to show you everything you CAN do, including in World Showcase, after this event starts. Is it worth the hefty price tag to experience 6 hours in Epcot? Let's find out!
Can I just say, I love that you wear ears in all your videos! You almost never see men/masc-presenting people wearing them and I don’t know why! For some reason they’ve become designated as a ‘women’s accessory’ but they really shouldn’t be because, as you prove, men look great in them too!
I love my ears. I wear them whenever I’m anywhere in WDW (which is a lot 😂). I feel like I’m seeing more guys get on board lately, too. I was also glad to see Disney start offering ears with removable bows. Thanks for watching! 😃
I bought slinky dog ears and so badly wanted to wear them but couldn’t keep them on ny head. But yea more guys need to be on board wearing them it’s just fun.
@@EarScouts- where do you get your ears? Love the “inner tube” ones you wore to H2O Glow !!
I was there that night, too. When your "hook" (Guardians) never has a wait less than an hour, it's no longer a hook. There are several problems with Epcot and After Hours. First is that there is a lot of distance between rides and with the walls and China to Morocco being closed it's made even worse. So a lot of your time is walking. Second, is that it's devastating when a ride breaks down and you only have a few. On June 1, Guardians, Test Track, and Remy all broke down at some point. I spent an hour at Test Track because it broke down while I was there. I spent an hour at Guardians because they were only running one track. All the other rides, including Remy and Frozen, all had very short waits. Third, is the lack of anything special/unique. They could have offered characters like Remy, Starlord, the Three Caballeros, Elsa, etc. but instead only had Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale. They could make this event really great but it was a near failure on June 1, definitely not worth it.
Yes, I very much agree that our night was not ideal. If they could sort out the issues that took down their key rides (sometimes simultaneously) it would have made a huge difference, but I think a lot of what makes Epcot magical is lost when you shut down most of World Showcase. I think some folks would benefit from this event - mainly those who are pressed for time and only have one regular Epcot day to properly enjoy World Showcase. In that scenario, it is helpful to be able to get the rides done at an After Hours event. But only if they work. 😅
Same EXACT experience, we were at GOG when announced it was down. Stuck it out and waited 40 minutes total. Returned after line we were in for Test Track went down and waited 70 min for GOG. Soarin only had one theater open. Running half capacity seems to be the norm at Epcot AH and Deluxe hours events. Amazing how much goes down at 9 pm. We see you Disney! If you’re in line, you won’t be partaking of the complimentary Mickey Bars, right? If you have regular tickets, skip After hours and purchase Genie plus to get it all done, that could have saved our family of four $300. We’ve attended after hours at other parks and never had such a disappointing experience.
Hey Rob! My fiancé and I just completed our 3 day “Disney speedrun trip” as we’ve been calling it. Thanks to your videos, we were able to ride nearly everything at all 4 parks, including virtual queues for Guardians and Tron! We only skipped the rides we didn’t want to do, and we even had time to get engaged! Thank you for the in-depth explanations and easy to follow tips!!
I am going to this event later this summer and found this information very helpful. To us it is worth the price since we are flying in the day before we go on a Disney cruise and it allows us to ride major rides without a full park day especially since we don't get to Orlando until the afternoon. We haven't rode guardians or Remi yet, so we are definitely going to ride those.
Yes - that sounds like exactly the kind of trip this would be perfect for. Hope you have a great time and an amazing cruise! 😃
I was on the fence about the After Hours Event at EPCOT... this helped me figure it out. Thanks Rob!
I love how positive and upbeat you are in your videos. Thanks!
Thanks, Eric! I love being at WDW, so I always have lots of fun making these videos (even when things go less than smoothly 😅). Thanks for watching! 😃
I loved the maple popcorn. Definitely worth grabbing for free.
So. Delicious. I love that they let you refill your popcorn buckets with the maple, too. Thanks - as always - for watching and supporting our channel! 😃
Thank you so very much for running through this for us. I don’t do after hours events because I just can’t stay up that long. I also had surgery that permanently bars me from roller coasters. The idea of getting to ride Living with the Land, Gran Fiesta Tour, Frozen Ever After, and Ratatouille over and over and over with hardly any wait appeals to me, but not at this cost. All you can basically eat (besides Mickey bars) are maple popcorn and schul bread! I guess you could drink the night away at Rose and Crown, but without the piano lady (plus the fact that I’m on meds that prohibit me drinking alcohol)…. A no-go for me. If you want to see World Showcase countries virtually empty, you can show up at 9 am (or in the pouring rain.)
Hello there! Thanks so much for watching even though this sounds like it maybe isn’t an ideal event for you. I agree that there are definitely better ways to enjoy a peaceful World Showcase. My favorite is during Early Entry when everyone is trying to do rides-rides-rides. 😁
Rob, you deserve a huge thanks!! My family of three just got back from a hugely successful vacation to all four theme parks using ALL of your major strategies: Genie+, "Buzzer Beater", "Tip Boards", "Genie Slots / Modify Plan", Mobile Food Orders, and using Stand By on a Tier 2 ride (like Soarin') rather than a Tier 1 ride at general park open for the easy initial "walk on" were all invaluable in securing the best experience possible! We park hopped Epcot & Hollywood Studios. Then, two days later, we park hopped Magic Kingdom & Animal Kingdom. I nailed the 7AM Virtual Queue within that critical "5 second window" BOTH days to ride Guardians of the Galaxy and Tron -- both rides were two of our favorites. When we did Epcot, we road the rides in the front part of the park in the morning, then did the Around the World "food tour" with rides Remy and Frozen. I had a list of all of your Epcot Flower & Garden Graze "excellent" and "great" food recommendations so we didn't waste time and money. You were spot on! At mid-afternoon, we park hopped with the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios. I started booking Lightening Lanes at Hollywood Studio after 11AM and was able to get all but Slinky Dog Dash as that was gone by 11AM and never reappeared as available the rest of the day. We ended up choosing Fantasmic rather than Star Wars Rise of the Resistance for the "Buzzer Beater". At Magic Kingdom, The Tron ride broke down in the afternoon so I went to Guest Services and they were able to give us a full day virtual queue pass on the ride should it come back up after we park hopped to Animal Kingdom. We ate an awesome dinner at Satuli Canteen and used Buzzer Beater on Avatar Flight of Passage (absolutely phenomenal)! After we bussed back to Magic Kingdom, we saw Tron all lit up and running so we waited in line and rode it around 10PM. With your help, this entire vacation was totally awesome!
my sibling casper gave you the mickey ice cream treat around 2:10, she said you were very kind, thanks for including my family member in your video!
That’s so awesome - she was very sweet. Please tell her thank you for helping us all to have such a fun night. 😃 Those after hours events must be exhausting, but we really appreciate it.
Thank you! Again your vlogs are wonderful and informative! After hours at Epcot could be so much better if world showcase was not close. The rides are too far apart. There should be more meet and greets in between the ride! Mary Poppins in England, Mulan in china etc!
I couldn’t agree more. I really only think this event is a good idea if you are already planning a World Showcase day and are looking at this as a supplemental night to add time for rides. Thanks for watching! 😃
Hi Rob! I love your videos! I am planing on staying on Pop Century in August and I was wondering if you would recommend getting on the skyliner to get to the parks at resort guests rope drop time or not. In many of your videos I see you take the bus and I don't know which way is the best to get to that front of the line. :) Thank you so much for your videos! I love your warmth and the care you put into explaining everything to us! :D
I just returned for DW and found that the skyliner resorts don't have buses to Epcot or HS unless the skyliner is not running.
You always have the best ears
Thanks - it’s become a bit of an addiction. I’m so grateful to have a TH-cam channel that lets me expense them. 😅 Thanks for watching! 😃
I went last night and went straight to Guardians at about 9:15 and it was 25 minutes. During the night the one time I looked it was at 55 and then I went back again 10 minutes to close and it was 15.
This is great info - thanks for sharing. Folks have been asking if it was normal for Guardians to be at half capacity during the event and I’m glad to hear that is definitely not the case. Thanks for watching! 😃
We just got back home to Michigan from Disney and I will still be watching every single one of your videos for our next trip! ❤
Also, guardians went down when we were there a few days back! We had the lightening lane and got all the way up to get on and our lane went down and was down for almost 25 mins. It was a bummer but it came back online and we enjoyed it after that.
Thanks so much, Jessie! We really appreciate the support and are so glad you’ve enjoyed watching our videos. 😃
That’s a bummer. I feel like it used to be very rare that it went down, but it has happened more often recently. The good thing is that they usually get it back up very quickly. Glad to hear you were still able to ride.
This was very helpful, so basically if we want to go around the World Showcase, do that when we come in at 7pm and then make our way around.
Thank you for all the great info!
Thank YOU for watching! 😀
Thank you so much for this! We are going to Epcot after hours in July and it will help us stratigize better.
Glad to hear we had some helpful info for your trip. Thanks so much for watching! 😀
I love your channel, so informative thank you 😊
Thanks so much, Jeissa! So glad you have been enjoying our videos. 😃
IMO they should keep Guardians with Virtual Queue and allow guest to book a few times. To wait an hour during a 3 hour event is disappointing
Agreed. I’m a big fan of virtual queues. Especially when they are well-run and keep waits to under 15 minutes. Thanks for watching! 😃
Rob - thanks for giving us the scoop on this
The lack of heavy hitters like DHS and sheer volume like MK , this will never be a value for me over a full Epcot day in world showcase , but still informative !
Hi Marcus! I would agree. If you are choosing between an extra full day in Epcot or this event, I’d take the full day for sure. Thanks for watching! 😃
My wife and I tried “after hours” exactly once, back in 2015… Not a party, (so no little free treats or anything), but we were very excited to be with my parents that trip so they could stay behind with our daughter and we could take advantage of 2 full hours of “extra magic hours” at MK. We were unaware that basically the only reason to attend anything like this is to walk on most rides.
Perhaps we should have assumed this, but I feel like it was not made clear enough that *very* little else is open besides the rides. Neither of us is a big ride person, (I am a huge chicken who considers the drop on Pirates the upper limit of thrill I can take, and my wife unfortunately has back issues that have stopped her from going on her beloved coasters and such anymore), so we weren’t looking to do any of the “mountains” that most people were rushing to- we were more just wanting “walk on” to a few rides here and there, like Small World, Peter Pan, etc, and mostly just enjoy strolling through MK, noshing at various places and shopping with no crowds, etc….
We were SO disappointed to find that literally the only food we could find open was Casey’s Corner, (which was therefore swamped with people), and the only shopping open was that big Main Street Emporium. Pretty sure even the Bakery was closed. I think we went on Pirates 3 times in a row just to say we’d done it, stood in line for Casey’s for an hour for a silly Hot Dog because we were utterly famished, (not having had much dinner earlier in the anticipation of noshing around the Park), and leaving before time was even up, because there was just not much for us to do.
I know, again, people will probably say we should’ve assumed that all that would be open were rides, (which weren’t even all open by the way), but we would’ve appreciated that being made more clear. I would’ve enjoyed our little “date night” without the kiddo in WDW a lot more if we had just chosen to go to a late movie or something. We definitely won’t ever do another after-hours thing there, paid or otherwise - it’s not for people who aren’t all about the rides.
Your videos are amazing. I would love to see more park hopping genie+ videos! Looking to do an Epcot > Hollywood Studios day soon.
Hi Nick! That would make a lot of sense as a park hopping combo with easy access to the Skyliner between the parks. We’ll add it to the to-do list. Thanks for watching! 😃
I just found your channel and I’m so glad I did! We are Disney world lovers and planning a big trip in August! Your channel has great tips and tricks. You also seem incredibly awesome! Thanks for sharing such wonderful content! ✨🎡🎠
Hi Jeanette! Welcome to our channel - I’m so glad you found us. 😃 Thanks for watching and leaving this lovely comment. 😊
Amazing videos keep up the great work
Thanks so much, Luis! 😃
Great information! There were so many unknowns going into this event… thanks for getting all of the questions answered! I wonder if those rides went to half capacity due to Disney not having enough staff at those rides to run it at full capacity. I saw your reply below about how you’ve heard the waits have been better at Guardians, so I’m glad it has improved. Sounds like this isn’t something I’d go for, but for someone who wants to ride GoG over and over, I can see the appeal! As always, thanks for a fun and informative video!! You must’ve been exhausted by the end!
My name is Craig Dennis i watch your new videos all the the time i in joy all of your videos all the time you have a nice safe day today and you have a nice safe weekend and you take care👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks Craig! Hope you have a great weekend. 😃
Great video Rob & Erick.....I love these after hour videos. I'm not sure if I'd do Epcot. Maybe if Guardians was up and running at full capacity. 🤷♀️ Getting to ride that multiple times would be awesome. I've learned so much these past 18 months since I've been following and watching all your videos. I'm such a big fan...thank you both so much! 93 days to go!!! Cya in September!!
Hi Kimmy! While I had a lot of fun, I would not say it is my favorite after hours event at WDW. I think there is potential, but it would need some changes to make it more worthwhile. Thanks - as always - for watching! 😃
Thanks,
Comprehensive as expected. We were bummed about the closed down lands but I think we’ll still go as planned. Biggest takeaway is, since we’re staying at dolphin, we’ll probably spend from 7 to 9 exploring from England to China since we can’t do later and grands love Japan department store. Actually maybe they’ll wander and I’ll try to catch last American adventure show at 7:45. Then along with the rest of the party goers we’ll head for guardians just because I wanted to ride before gorging on Mickey bars and. popcorn! After that we’ll play it by ear, we want to do frozen a time or two, the Mexico ride, test track, spaceship earth, and try maple popcorn but given the distances it’s hard to plan efficient travel route!
Hi Carol - I think it definitely makes sense to start with your favorite World Showcase stuff, especially since you’ll be entering through the International Gateway. Hope you have a great trip! 😃
@@EarScouts can you enter from World Showcase for just the event? I see when I am buying tickets that it only shows the main entrance.
Awesome vid... Love how you do step by step... So very helpful... Thanks so much...
Thank YOU so much for watching! 😃
Great video! Thank you so much! I would love to see you attend this again to see if the event improves! :)
Hi Melissa - Thanks for the suggestion! 👍 I don’t think we’ll do this one again this year, but I have heard that things got much better. It seems Guardians has been closer to a 15 minute wait for much of the night recently.
Thanks - a great coverage for something I've been super curious about. From my standpoint this wouldn't be worth it. Better to come for a slow day with Genie+ and you can have everything available to you. Thanks for a complete coverage, I liked it.
Thanks so much for watching - so glad you enjoyed this one. I would agree that if you had the choice of adding a regular Epcot day to a trip OR adding this, I’d do the extra day. 👍
Awesome feedback!! Thank you for sharing
Thank YOU for watching! 😃
Thank you for this awesome and informative video. We are doing this on our next stay in August and your video got me super excited. I noticed you had an image of the wait times, I checked at home last night to see how it was looking and didn’t see anything pop up. Do you know if it was just available for those who had a ticket to the event?
Very informative video, thanks Rob!
Thank YOU for watching, Jennifer! 😃
We go on the 22nd, and there have been 2 nights in the books. All the reviews I have seen for both nights have reported GOTG running at only half capacity 😢. If that is being done intentionally, that is really crappy of Disney to that. I guess I will find out on Thursday when we go.
Hi Elizabeth - some comments I’ve seen from other folks who went said that they saw Guardians as a 15 minute wait for most of the night. I would suspect that means it’s running at full capacity. My sense was that it was a mechanical issue the night I was there, but it could be a lack of staff to safely run both sides. Thanks for watching! 😃
I saw you that morning we had a chat with you at soarin in the morning
We're on the fence to do this on our trip next month, but we're not hearing good things. Looking forward to watching the video knowing you will provide great info and honest information.
Hello Giovanni - I would say it’s a mixed bag. Definitely not a must-do, but could make sense for some folks. Thanks - as always - for watching! 😃
Yayyy! Been waiting for your thoughts
Hi Karen - I hope you enjoy the video! 😃
perfect timing thank you!
can you book a virtual boarding pass for gotg @ 6pm still?
Thank YOU for watching! 😀
Another great and informative video. This looks like so much fun, but I’m not much of a night owl. 🦉 I wonder if I’d make it though the event. 😴 😂
Hi Chrisann - it was a laaate night. 😅 It was fun, though. For me, I think I prefer the themed parties like Not-So-Scary or the Very Merry Christmas Party, but if you want to pack in a bunch of rides in a short time, this can definitely help you do it. Thanks for watching! 😃
When I was first planning my trip, I really wanted to do after hours, than I realized it was EPCOT, so I decided not. But than I decided to do VIP, and I feel I scored better 😊
I’d say VIP tour will be way more fun than an After Hours at any of the parks. 👍
Good information but did wish you said what the time was when entering the rides. So for instance we assume you got on Galaxy at 1am? Just easier to budget time
Hi! I am going to be going to Epcot After Hours in a few weeks. Are you able to enter at 7pm through the entrance by the skyliner? Wasn’t sure if with this ticket there is a special entrance and was planning on eating dinner at the Riviera then taking the skyliner over.
Thanks for this! We have tickets for the 6/29 event.
Awesome - we hope you have a great time. Thanks for watching! 😃
Thanks again Rob for a timely, and helpful video. We have reservations at the Contemporary in Jan. '24, and you vids help me decide where to spend the money. I mean, we all know there's no such thing as saving money on a Disney visit.😃 BTW, do you know how far in advance Disney post the After Hours dates? And am I correct in thinking you don't have to buy a day pass to be able to buy an after hours pass. Thanks again sir, and it would be great if I saw you in the parks on our visit.
Hi Jim! They usually announce these events at least a few months before they start (and often as much as 4-5 months). For example, they just announced the holiday parties that will start in early November, but the tickets won’t go on sale until July. I’m hoping these After Hours events evolve into something more like the events around Christmas and Halloween. Thanks for watching! 😃
@@EarScouts Thanks Rob, I'll keep a weather eye on the dates.
what about Mickey's Halloween party? I just bought tickets for September and I hope it's worth it! Love your video!
This is so helpful, thank u! Without the world showcase I think we’ll pass
Yup - it’s a bummer that there isn’t much to do in that whole half of the park. Thanks for watching, though! 🙂
Did the MK after hours, the issue I found is so many people are still in line when the park closes so there really isn't that much time, I exhausted myself running back and forth the last couple of hours, I didn't think it was worth the money. It should be a little longer to account for all the people still in line.
Yup - for that one you really have to start with less popular attractions for that very reason and then work your way up to the big tickets like Mine Train. Thanks for watching and taking the time to let us know how your MK experience went. 😃
Hey great video. Do you know how this would compare to the deluxe hotel extended hours? In terms of crowds or what in world showcase is open? Thanks.
We went to extended evening hours and it was exactly the same as this video other than it still had a virtual queue for Guardians. We were stunned by how little was open, especially in World Showcase! We were very disappointed and won’t bother doing extended hours in Epcot again. We liked the extended evening hours in Magic Kingdom more. I would definitely not pay for a ticket for so little reward and so many steps.
I love your Goofy shirt! Where did you get it? And those ears are great too!
Thanks so much! I actually found it at Epcot in one of the gift shops, though I have since seen it in lots of stores and on ShopDisney.com. The ears are reversible and came with a detachable bow. They’re one of my new favorites. Thanks for watching! 😃
@@EarScouts thank you so much!
Question guys: If I purchase an ILL for a ride at 7am, can I book a time for the evening - or do I need to wait til 1pm to book an evening ILL? I'm wanting to try to get on Tron at night. Thanks much.
Thanks for this handy review! We're going to the event in August. I heard that you can't queue up for Guardians until 9 pm. Do you know if that's the case?
Hi Leslie - I’m not sure because I got there just as they were opening the queue at 9. That said, there was a line of folks entering, which makes me think they allowed them to form some sort of line beforehand (though they weren’t allowed inside the regular queue until 9). Hope that helps!
Did you guys do the after hours event at Hollywood studios?
Norway to France? That’s rough.
Yup. Definitely not an event for fans of World Showcase. Thanks for watching! 😃
Right? World Showcase is the main draw of EPCOT! I guess they just wanted people to ride the attractions, but when even those are down you’ve got to be wondering if this event is worth it…
Is this not a part of the Extended Evening Hours for Deluxe Resort folks? Is it a separate ticketed event regardless of where you're staying?
Hi Renee - correct. This is a separate thing that anyone can attend by purchasing a ticket. Thanks for watching! 😃
can you bypass the design your car part of Test track to save some time
Only if you do single rider, which may or may not be open during the event. And you’d be separated from your group to ride, which can be a bummer.
So they are running only half the GotG track on purpose? If so, then what is the point of this event?
Hello! I don’t think it was on purpose. There was likely a mechanical issue - but it could have also been a staffing issue. Not sure, but my sense was that it *should* have been running at full capacity. Thanks for watching! 😃
How to book
Was the single rider line for Test Track open?
Great question and I wish I had noticed if it was. Sorry I can’t help with that one. 😬
Apologize if you said it, what date did you go, first night or June 15?
Hello! No worries - it was the first night (June 1). Thanks for watching! 😃
Is this the same as the extended hours perks from deluxe resorts?
Hi Andrew - it’s a bit different. For starters, there’s a lot lower capacity. Also, the hours are different and there are extra things like the dance party and free snacks. Of course, the biggest difference is the price. EEH is included when you book a qualifying hotel stay - this one costs extra to attend. Thanks for watching! 😃
@@EarScouts thank you
Do you know if anything was open past Norway?
World Showcase was closed from China to Moroco.
Thanks for helping with that one! 🙂
Seems like a lot of wasted opportunity with this event. But thanks as always for showing us everything you can.
What day did you come here
Hello - we were there opening night (June 1). Thanks for watching! 😃
The first night was June 1st. Not this week.
Yup - we filmed this June 1. Just took a while to edit.