Written by: Rachel Webb, Travel Planner
After Hours Events at Walt Disney World returned in 2024 to Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. Earlier this month, I along with a fellow travel planner, Jess, were able to enjoy the EPCOT event. You may be wondering what exactly these events are and if they are worth the money?
These special ticketed events are held at select parks on select nights from 10:00pm to 1:00am with guests being able to enter the park early at 7:00pm. With limited tickets sold, these are the perfect opportunity to explore the parks with lower crowds meaning you can enjoy some of the most beloved attractions at lower wait times! In addition to the lower wait times, the ticket includes all-you-can-eat popcorn (including the Maple Popcorn in Canada.. my favorite), ice cream treats (the Mickey ice cream sandwich…mmm), and select bottled drinks at several snack carts throughout the park. There were also characters throughout the park for meet and greets!
We arrived at 7pm to enter EPCOT and immediately checked wait times at some of the most popular attractions to get an idea of the benefit of After Hours Events. Our party date coincided with Spring Break so wait times were long on arrival ranging from 55 minutes to over 2 hours. Despite not having a regular park ticket, we were still able to experience several of the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival vendors– the Frozen Desert Violet Lemonade at Pineapple Promenade was my favorite! We walked through Journey of Water on our way in and even snagged a great spot to view Luminous: The Symphony of Us at regular park closure.
Immediately following the fireworks, the standby line to Remy’s was still about an hour long from the regular park crowd so we headed to Guardians of the Galaxy where we walked straight through the standby queue. Next, we headed to Test Track, Frozen Ever After, and Remy’s, all of which were a 5-minute standby queue. On our way, we of course indulged in all the included snacks and danced with Chip and Dale at the DJ dance party! After both starting our travel day bright and early, we only made it til midnight; however, I highly recommend adding on an After Hours event to your next trip!
