Visit Date: February 3, 2025

Growing up going to Disney World, many years and trips can blend together. But one of my clearest and most treasured memories is of my family getting to spend late nights at Magic Kingdom. While Disney still offers “extra magic hours” for their resort guests (30 minutes of early entry at all four parks), this used to be a full hour of early entry. And, there would occasionally be these “extended extra magic hours”, which is when Magic Kingdom would stay open until 1am for Disney resort guests. 

There is something about being a kid in Disney World at midnight that’s just, for a lack of a better word, magical. Since Disney stopped offering this, Sam and I weren’t able to experience this during our honeymoon in June of 2023. But when Disney announced that they were again offering these extra magic hours, I was thrilled.

And, in classic Disney fashion, things that once were free now cost an arm and a leg. The event, now branded as “Disney After Hours”, is no longer exclusive to resort guests either.  Tickets are available for this at Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios, though with different start and end times as well as different prices. There is limited capacity at these events, although it’s unclear what that capacity is and how often it gets reached.

But, as a special birthday treat, we decided to try out this paid, late night experience ourselves and see if the event is worth it.

Two tickets for this event cost us $394.06 total and included admission to Magic Kingdom starting at 7pm until 1am. Additionally, tickets included unlimited snacks — Mickey novelty ice creams, popcorn, Coke products, and bottled waters — at select food and beverage carts. While admission for this special event begins at 7pm, the official event begins at 10pm, which is when the park closes to all regular admission guests. To differentiate between late night guests and regular guests, we were given a special wristband. After 10pm, cast members checked wristbands at the ride queue entrance and turned away any regular guests.

Here’s what we accomplished (in order):

• Entered Magic Kingdom at 6:52pm (we were let through security and tapped into the park earlier, but we were corralled off until this time)
• Got into line for Jungle Cruise but quickly left the line since it was a 45 minute wait, and we weren’t sure if that would be the best use of our time
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Tron Lightcycle Run
• Carousel of Progress
• PeopleMover
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid

10pm – this is when the park officially closed and only guests who had paid for the event could enter attraction lines

• Haunted Mansion
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Snack Break – two Mickey ice cream sandwiches, two Cokes

• “It’s a Small World”
• Peter Pan’s Flight

Snack Break – one Mickey ice cream bar, one strawberry bar, one Diet Coke

• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Space Mountain
• Tron Lightcycle Run x2

The big question is, was this event worth the hefty price tag? Well, we got pretty much everything that was open done — we accomplished in six hours what would have been difficult to get done even in a full day at Magic Kingdom, particularly the three rides on Tron. Plus, our snacks alone would have cost us $41.25 out of pocket.

One of the reasons we were able to get so much accomplished was due to a lack of crowds. Even during the regular park hours (7pm – 10pm), Magic Kingdom was pretty quiet. And once the event started, the crowds dropped down to almost nothing. It’s been a long time since I was able to walk through Magic Kingdom without dodging strollers, pivoting around wandering small children, and generally fighting for my life (and sanity). Just being able to walk around freely added to the event’s value for me.

As for the snacks, the ice cream bars and sodas are the usual offerings available at the vendor carts located around the park. We didn’t try the popcorn — I actually don’t think I’ve ever had Disney popcorn despite its popularity! Our only complaint was that the one cart in Fantasyland had a ridiculously long line, and since the carts were only located in certain areas (which weren’t advertised), we decided to wait it out. Our second cart, located in Liberty Square, had no line. It would be great if Disney announced ahead of time where the carts will be located or had more than one cart in popular areas. Overall though, we were satisfied with the free snacks that Disney offered and felt that they added to the event’s value.

In addition to their regular “Happily Ever After” fireworks at 9:00, Magic Kingdom also offered an exclusive, late-night viewing of a special fireworks show — “Disney Enchantment”. I usually prioritize rides over firework shows, but I did get a few glimpses of this show while Sam was using the Tangled restrooms in Fantasyland. The show seemed fine but certainly wasn’t adding any value for us. If you’re into fireworks or were watching from a different vantage point, you may feel differently. 

What really threw this event over the edge for me was being able to turn 25 in Magic Kingdom at Cinderella Castle. Sam and I rushed from the back of the park to the castle in order to be standing right in front of the castle when the clock struck midnight. We counted down the seconds and celebrated turning a quarter of a century old together in one of my favorite places on earth. It was truly magical and a special memory. 

Another one of my new favorite Disney memories is getting off of Tron and then running and jumping back into line at 12:58, minutes before they would close the queue at 1am. Sam and I hopped off of the ride, ran through the exit queue (we did have to stop and pick up our bags from the designated lockers since we weren’t sure if they would let us back on the ride as it was close to the event ending), sprint around the outside of the ride, and then get back into line again. It truly made me feel like a little kid again, trying to maximize the amount of times on a ride. While Tron isn’t my favorite ride at Disney, it’s a great way to end a night since it’s arguably, in my opinion, one of the best rides to experience at night. 

After our last ride on Tron (we ended up being on one of the last five trains of the night), we slowly moseyed along down Main Street, taking in the lights, the smells, and just being in Magic Kingdom at 1am. The crowds were even scarcer than they were early in the night, and we have a feeling that not everyone stayed for the whole event. Back at the buses, we boarded our Pop Century bus and headed back to the resort. The Disney buses usually run for at least an hour after park close, including special late night events, which is another reason why I will always recommend staying at Disney resorts as opposed to staying off-resort. 

With all this being said, we definitely feel that this event was worth it to us, especially given how short our trip was. This was a great way for us to maximize our time in Magic Kingdom and basically fit a whole day’s worth of experiences into just a few hours!  

However, if we had more time to spend in Magic Kingdom as a part of a longer trip, we probably wouldn’t have needed this event. At Magic Kingdom the following day, the only attractions we had left to do were Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Tom Sawyer’s Island, and Jungle Cruise. We probably could have gotten away with not going to Magic Kingdom that next day, especially if Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was operating during the late night event (it was advertised in the event details when we bought tickets but changed to unavailable shortly before our trip). Using a typical one-day park ticket cost of $184.00 for this time of year, we basically paid that much so we could get around to the three attractions we missed out on in six hours on Tuesday. But with that logic, we also paid that amount to experience nearly everything in the park in the same amount of time the night before. So it’s a bit of a wash, but we both would rather pay the same amount to get more done. Even on a regular, full day in Magic Kingdom, it would be difficult to accomplish all that we did during the after-hours event.

I think this would be a great thing to do on an arrival day on a shorter trip (since you can only enter the park at 7pm) or a way to spend an evening if you’re a Disney local, since the crowds are lower. I’m not sure how often this event runs though — based on the website dates, it is running this year for select dates through May (for Magic Kingdom) and September (for Hollywood Studios and Epcot).  

Overall, this experience was absolutely worth it to us, especially given our limited time in the parks. We would definitely purchase tickets for this event, if available, on another quick trip!

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

What do you think of this event? Does it sound worth the $400 to you? Do you remember when after-hours events were free for Disney resort guests? Let us know what you think and if you have any questions for us in the comments!