Is Disney World’s Magic Kingdom After Hours Worth It?
So here’s the deal: I never thought I’d pay extra to visit the Magic Kingdom After Hours event. We’re already dropping money on tickets, food, souvenirs… the idea of shelling out even more for three extra hours seemed a little nuts.
But during the last few Walt Disney World trips, we decided to try the Magic Kingdom After Hours event. And you know what? I’m so glad we did. This event is so much fun, and I think it basically pays for itself.
If you’re curious what it’s really like—especially if you’re not a rope-drop, Lightning Lane, 12-hours-in-the-park kind of person—this might just be your speed.
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What Is Magic Kingdom After Hours, Anyway?
Basically, Disney After Hours events are late-night park experiences with fewer people, lower wait times, and a bunch of free snacks (included in the event ticket). At Magic Kingdom, the event typically runs from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., but you can get in starting at 7 p.m. with your event ticket.
The night we went, the park closed to regular guests at 10, and then it was just us and a few thousand other lucky folks cruising through Seven Dwarves Mine Train and munching on Mickey Bars.
It’s not a party like the Merry Christmas Party or the Not So-Scary Halloween Party. You won’t get to see a nighttime parade or a special stage show. But if you want to ride as much as possible without standing in line forever, this is your chance. And spoiler alert, the exclusive fireworks event alone makes After Hours a can’t miss in my opinion.
What’s Included in the After Hours Ticket?
Let’s break it down. Here’s what you get:
- Early entry starting at 7 p.m.
- Access to most of the park’s rides during the After Hours window
- All-you-can-eat ice cream novelties, popcorn, and bottled drinks like Diet Coke
- A special offering of Enchantment fireworks
- Photos with PhotoPass photographers and super low crowds for castle shots
We have been to this event twice. Once we grabbed a quick service dinner and once we opted to make reservations for 1900 Park Fare for an early dinner before we headed into the park. Once the event started though, we just filled up on free snacks all night. At one point I was double-fisting popcorn and a Mickey bar like it was a competitive sport.
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How Much Does It Cost?
It’s not cheap. The ticket price the night we went was about $189 per adult. Prices vary depending on the date, and if you’re a Disney Vacation Club member or Annual Passholder, you can sometimes snag a discount.
It’s a single-night ticket—no regular theme park admission included. That said, we skipped the parks that morning, chilled at our resort pool, and saved our energy for the night. Worked out great.
I did some back of the napkin math during the event and have decided that the After Hours ticketed event (not the Christmas or Halloween party) is such a great value and I HIGHLY recommend it.. especially if you are not a pass holder.
It costed $189 and I added up a conservative 1 for 1 —- we probably got $40 worth of snacks (you get unlimited Mickey ice cream, popcorn, and bottles soda/water), a front row seat for fireworks (easily a $50 up charge if you do a fireworks dining package) , and walk on access to most if not all the rides.. which is $39 for MK typically and $22 for Tron.
So that’s almost $150 in value right there… but that doesn’t come close to the entire story. We literally walked on Tron. There were kids who were riding Tron back to back at the end of the night.
Same with fireworks. The park was empty. We walked up less than 1 minute before fireworks started and for a premium seat (yes.. everyone was sitting down and relaxing) right in front of the castle. It was magical.
What the Night Actually Felt Like
My friend and I have done two Magic Kingdom After Hours events. Here is the detailed breakdown of our itinerary (for the entire day) and what we were able to get done.
Our First After Hours Event (Quick Service and Snacks before the event)
~145pm– Made it through security at Magic Kingdom. Note: We are Annual Passholders so we reserved Magic Kingdom for this day so we could come in whenever we wanted to. If you are not an Annual Passholder, your After Hours event would start at 7pm.
2pm– Sleepy Hollow Refreshments– grabbed a Fruit Nutella Waffle. It was sooo good!
220pm– Check out the piano player at Casey’s Corner and then did some souvenir shopping
3pm- Festival of Fantasy Parade from Main Street. This was slightly unintentional. But we were shopping and there was plenty of room to sit right on Main Street. So, why not?!
340pm- Main Street Confectionary. We snagged some of the fancy popcorn. Then we put all our souvenirs and fancy popcorn in the lockers at the front of the park. No need to haul everything around with us all night!
350pm- met Mulan. This was an unexpectedly fun surprise. Mulan was hanging around the Disney photopass area near the front of the park!
515pm- Rode Jungle Cruise. The wait was probably 45 minutes’ish. Not horrible for Jungle Cruise. This was by far the longest line we waited in all day.
6pm- Philharmagic. I still have no idea why this attraction doesn’t get the love it deserves. It’s air conditioned and the entire 4D film is just so charming!
630pm- Dinner at Columbia Harbour House. A great option for hungry park goers and tired feet. Definitely snag a table upstairs. I opted for the lobster roll, hushpuppies, and lemonade slushie. Everything was perfect!
715pm- This is technically when the After Hours Event would start if you didn’t have a park ticket/aren’t an AP member. We had a Lightening Lane Single Pass for between 8-9pm, so we rode rides on our way to Tomorrowland. The first official event ride was Under the Sea- Journey of the Little Mermaid
740pm- We rode Dumbo the Flying Elephant
8pm- We had a Lightening Lane Single Pass for TRON. Yes, we still rode it later in the night. But TRON is epic. We wanted to ride it twice.
845pm– We practically walked onto Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin since everyone was heading over to see fireworks.
901pm– We opted to ride People Mover during the Happily Ever After fireworks. It was really relaxing!
945pm– After the People Mover we walked over to Adventureland and grabbed the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake from Aloha Isle.
955pm– We jumped in line for the Enchanted Tiki Room right before 10pm.
1019pm- After Hours Event officially starts and non-party goers have to leave. We literally walked onto Pirates of the Caribbean.
1034pm– Walked onto Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
1049pm– We walked with a purpose to the fireworks area in front of Cinderella’s Castle. We got snacks from the closest snack cart and 5 minutes before fireworks got the best seat ever… sitting against the railing in front of the Walt statue!
11pm- Enchantment Fireworks. The park was empty. Everyone was chill, spread out. No one was blocking our view. No cellphones shoved in your face or kids on shoulders. It was AWESOME!
1124pm– After Enchantment was over we literally walked onto Haunted Mansion. It was a 13-minute wait (so no wait).
1142pm- rode it’s a small world
1226am- rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
1242am– We made it to TRON right before 1am. And that is how we closed out the night.
Correction– we closed out the night by meandering back through the park with virtually no one there, taking photos of Cinderella’s Castle and admiring the lights on Main Street.
Our First After Hours Event (Quick Service and Snacks before the event)
For this After Hours Event we actually didn’t enter the park until right before 7pm. Instead we had a fantastic dinner at 1900 Park Fare.
Our reservation was at 4pm (the first dinner reservation of the evening) and we took the monorail to Magic Kingdom afterwards, snagging our wristbands for the After Hours Event just before 7pm.
What we didn’t know is that sometime around 7pm Magic Kingdom would suffer a massive power outage and just about every ride in the park would go down. Here is how our night went, even with this strange and very disruptive event:
7pm’ish– We went to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. It was slammed. I had never seen it that busy before. The culprit? Yeah, the power outage had just hit.
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~745pm– There wasn’t much open at this point. But we didn’t want to watch Happily Ever After with 100,000 of our best friends, so we opted to ride People Mover (that was working miraculously). We actually rode it twice and it was so odd to ride through Space Mountain with the lights on. Really such a strange experience.
After Happily Ever After fireworks we were starting to panic a little bit. But cast members assured us the power was slowly coming back on. So, we cooled our heels a little bit and grabbed a Rapunzel Sundae from Storybook Treats. That is always a great idea.
9pm’ish– Rides were starting to come back on so that was a great sign! We dipped into Philharmagic because it’s awesome.. and we wanted to wait for some of the crowds to clear out.
right before 10pm- We walked over to Country Bear Jamboree. The newly reimagined show is so cute!
After Country Bear Jamboree, we saw the log flume from Tiana’s Bayou Adventure running. This was a surprise since that wasn’t supposed to be a ride for the After Hours Event. So, we hightailed it over to the ride and… we got to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure not only as a walk-on, but we were the only riders in our ride vehicle! Score!
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was finished around 1045pm and we raced to Cinderella’s Castle. We arrived at 1055pm, quickly grabbed snacks, and then found a perfect spot to sit… yes sit, right on the curb in front of the castle.
Once again, no one even sat in front of us. No one was anywhere near us. Seeing fireworks at Magic Kingdom this way is utterly magical. (pun totally intended).
After fireworks, here is what we accomplished (in 1.5 hours):
1130pm- Haunted Mansion, which was another 13-minute non wait.
Potty break at the lovely Rapunzel restrooms.
1145pm- it’s a small world
midnight- Peter Pan’s flight
1230am- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
1255am- TRON!
No Lightning Lanes, no virtual queue, no stress.
And that’s kind of the beauty of it—this is the Magic Kingdom without the pressure. No trying to beat the crowds or tap into a genie. Just ride, snack, smile, repeat.
The Snacks Deserve a Shout-Out
I wasn’t expecting much from the complimentary snacks, but honestly? They nailed it. The snack carts were easy to find and always stocked. We picked up multiple Mickey Bars, lots of Diet Coke, and enough popcorn to count as dinner. It felt nice to grab something whenever we wanted without thinking about price or mobile orders.
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
Not everything is open. We didn’t see Tom Sawyer Island, Carousel of Progress, or the Hall of Presidents running that night.
Is It Right for Every Family?
Honestly? No. If your kids can’t stay up past 8 p.m., or you’re hoping for a full meal and shows, this might not be the best use of your budget. But if you’ve got night owls, or teens who love thrill rides, this event’s a dream.
Here’s who I’d recommend it for:
- Families on a short trip who want to ride everything without marathon park days
- Couples looking for a more relaxed, less crowded experience
- Disney fans who’ve “been there, done that” and want something new
- Anyone trying to escape the long lines of the day
We did more rides in three hours than we did during a full day in the parks. And we weren’t rushing. That says a lot.
Final Thoughts
If you’re someone who wants to hit all the most popular attractions without standing in the sun for 12 hours, Magic Kingdom After Hours is totally worth considering. The low crowds, lower wait times, and laid-back pace were exactly what we needed after a few high-energy park days.
It’s not the same as daytime Disney. It’s quieter, cooler (literally and figuratively), and feels a little more magical somehow. Like a secret you’re in on.
Would we do it again? Honestly, yes—especially on trips where time is tight and we want to pack a lot in without the stress.
And the best part? No need to fight for Lightning Lanes, plan your whole day around the Jungle Cruise, or stake out fireworks spots for an hour. Just walk in, ride what you want, and enjoy your Mickey Mouse ice cream under the stars.
