Disney World Proclaims After Hours Social gathering 2025 Dates & Pricing

After Hours events are returning as soon as once more beginning in January 2025 at three of the 4 Walt Disney World theme parks! This submit shares dates, pricing, and different particulars concerning the low-crowds particular occasions at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, plus our suggestions about when to do and not do them, and a fast take a look at this 12 months’s laborious ticket occasions so far.

Let’s begin with the fundamentals. In case you aren’t acquainted with Disney After Hours, these late-night, individually ticketed occasions allow you to take pleasure in a Walt Disney World theme park for 3 further hours after common park hours. After Hours occasions embody “free” treats equivalent to ice cream, popcorn and choose drinks (air quotes round free because you’re paying for a ticket and it’s presumably constructed into the price).

Disney After Hours will begin on January 6, 2025 at Magic Kingdom; January 22, 2025 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios; and February 27, 2025 at EPCOT. The one park not taking part in After Hours is Animal Kingdom, which might be as a result of its preliminary experiment with the providing didn’t go so effectively. Folks did appear to take pleasure in Prolonged Night Hours at Animal Kingdom final Social gathering Season, however that’s a “free” occasion for sure on-site visitors, so there’s a distinction in expectations between that and the expensive After Hours events.

The primary promoting level of Disney After Hours occasions is that the variety of tickets for these occasions is restricted, which implies decrease wait occasions for a few of your favourite points of interest. In contrast to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Social gathering or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Social gathering, these After Hours evenings are marketed as low crowds occasions.

Occasion occasions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios are from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Occasion occasions at Magic Kingdom and at EPCOT are from 10 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. You will get a head begin on points of interest by coming into the park starting at 7 p.m. to squeeze much more enjoyable out of your midnight merriment with household and mates.

Let’s check out points of interest, occasion date ranges, ticket costs, and different particulars for After Hours at Walt Disney World in 2025…

After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Throughout After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you may play in Andy’s yard in Toy Story Land, be a part of the resistance with Chewbacca in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and embark on a whimsical journey aboard Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, amongst different favorites.

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, points of interest embody:

• Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Slinky Canine Sprint
• Toy Story Mania!
• Alien Swirling Saucers
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
• Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster Starring Aerosmith
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

See our Information to After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for full dates and particular ticket costs, technique, and extra.

After Hours at Magic Kingdom

At Magic Kingdom, this implies you may take pleasure in greater than 20 standard points of interest with decrease wait occasions, together with the next:

• TRON Lightcycle Run (standby line supplied)
• Tiana’s Bayou Journey (standby line supplied)
• House Mountain
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice
• Buzz Lightyear’s House Ranger Spin
• Haunted Mansion
• “it’s a small world”
• Jungle Cruise
• Peter Pan’s Flight

And lots of extra!

See our Information to After Hours at Magic Kingdom for full dates and particular ticket costs, technique, and extra.

After Hours at EPCOT

The next is a listing of a few of the points of interest obtainable throughout EPCOT After Hours:

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
• Remy’s Ratatouille Journey
• Frozen Ever After
• Soarin’ Across the World
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
• Dwelling with the Land
• Mission: SPACE
• The Seas with Nemo & Mates
• Spaceship Earth

See our Information to After Hours at EPCOT for full dates and particular ticket costs, technique, and extra.

2025 Disney After Hours Ticket Costs & Gross sales Dates

Notice that After Hours nonetheless doesn’t imply the top of the free Prolonged Night Hours. Whereas initially promoted as a particular perk for the fiftieth Anniversary, Walt Disney World has confirmed that Prolonged Night Hours will proceed all through all of 2025 for visitors staying at a Disney Deluxe Resort, Disney Deluxe Villa Resort, or different choose motels.

About the one factor that may change is the schedule, with modifications alongside the traces of what we’ve seen for Social gathering Season. However even that’s uncertain, as After Hours doesn’t trigger Magic Kingdom to shut at 6 pm like MNSSHP or MVMCP.

When you’re eligible for it, we extremely advocate Prolonged Night Hours. It’s not so good as After Hours, nevertheless it additionally doesn’t value additional. Provided that, it’s tough for us to justify (or advocate to others) paying extra for After Hours. For more information on the free ‘model’ of this perk, see our Information to Prolonged Night Hours at Walt Disney World.

As you’re planning forward for 2025 Walt Disney World holidays, one factor to bear in mind is that ordinary park hours are usually not simply topic to vary, however completely will change. We’ve heard from a few disenchanted readers who purchased After Hours tickets on the idea of shorter common hours, solely to have hours throughout their journey dates prolonged.

Don’t be stunned when common working hours are prolonged. This positively will occur. Walt Disney World all the time releases “boilerplate” hours which are nearly meaningless, with the three parks that do After Hours open from 9 am to 9 pm. These are virtually by no means the ultimate hours, which begs the query: why launch them within the first place?!

Truthfully, it is a double-edged sword. If Walt Disney World does lengthen park hours by a major quantity (11 pm or midnight Magic Kingdom closing), it means they’re forecasting excessive attendance. If they don’t lengthen park hours in any respect, it means they’re forecasting low attendance…and also you most likely gained’t want After Hours within the first place.

Suffice to say, don’t use presently posted park hours as a foundation for making a call to purchase (or not purchase) After Hours tickets. You’re finest off buying tickets to the occasion since you need to attend for enjoyable, not since you want to attend as a consequence of hours or expectations about crowds. There are different methods to beat crowds. After Hours is finest considered as a quasi-VIP splurge that makes for a neater and extra pleasant park expertise.

We’ve achieved each single After Hours occasion that Walt Disney World has held, from the themed ones (Villains, Halloween, Christmas) to those vanilla ones at Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios (again in 2018 by means of early 2020) and once more inside the final 12 months, together with the newer After Hours at EPCOT.

For probably the most half, our experiences have been constructive, though coloured by a bit by annoyance that what was as soon as free now prices cash. At this level, that’s simply the story of Walt Disney World. Magic Kingdom used to shut at midnight on even reasonably crowded days, and on lots of those self same nights, had Further Magic Hours till 3 a.m. (Night Further Magic Hours was once 3 hours lengthy).

This was even the case throughout the Nice Recession when attendance was decrease than it’s now, so daytime crowds had been comparatively mild. Now, attendance is considerably increased (by a number of tens of millions of visitors per 12 months), and common park hours have been decreased by a number of hours per day. Extra folks crammed into fewer hours, which doesn’t compute.

Nonetheless, we’ve (begrudgingly) purchased the After Hours tickets previously as a result of we’ve felt that the events are value it as quasi-VIP experiences for a extra approachable worth. As famous above, After Hours is similar to the Halloween and Christmas events, albeit with considerably decrease crowds and minus the seasonal leisure. Actually, we’ve been so happy with this occasion in earlier years that it made our Finest Worth Splurges at Walt Disney World Listing.

You may discover these assessments are previously tense. Ticket costs are up fairly considerably for the After Hours events, by roughly $10 to $36 relying upon the date and park as in contrast to a few years in the past. For many of the ones we’d find a way or need to attend, the will increase are $20 to $30. That’s simply an excessive amount of for us to justify–however we’re additionally Annual Passholders who’ve been to the parks and achieved each attraction lots of of occasions (effectively, save for the most recent ones).

Whereas we do count on future 2025 After Hours occasions to promote out, we are able to’t assist however surprise if no dates have but as a result of others like us have reached their breaking level. At the same time as we actually benefit from the occasion and have advisable it previously, the costs are simply too excessive for us–we’re out. Perhaps we’re alone in that and different followers will fortunately pay the upper costs, however judging by crowds on the first few occasions this 12 months, it doesn’t appear to be it. Subsequent events throughout busier or hotter occasions of 12 months have bought out, however not almost to the identical extent as in earlier years.

What we would pay to attend is themed After Hours occasions. Though not branded as such, that’s form of what Disney Jollywood Nights Christmas Social gathering is–a hybrid laborious ticket social gathering and After Hours occasion. Likewise, there was the aforementioned Villains After Hours at Magic Kingdom pre-closure, in addition to the one-off Christmas and Halloween occasions in Magic Kingdom.

All of these supplied distinctive hooks along with restricted capability and quick traces. As followers who’re repeat guests to Walt Disney World, that’s what we’d like so as to have the ability to justify doing these occasions at $150+ worth factors. In any other case, the worth simply isn’t there for us.

We’ve got been begging for a Disney Afternoon or 90s Nostalgia Nite at Walt Disney World or Disneyland. That’s the theme we all know would “converse to” the notorious Childless Millennials–or Disney Adults of the parental or kid-free selection–with disposable earnings and sentimentality for his or her childhood.

I’d additionally love a reprise of the Pirate & Princess Events, which may promote fairly effectively if given a second likelihood (they failed as a result of they launched throughout the Nice Recession and pre-social media–not as a consequence of high quality). Past that, it looks as if there’s numerous potential to faucet into the nostalgia of APs and DVC members by bringing again Needs and different extinct leisure on a restricted time foundation.

When you’re a first-timer or rare Walt Disney World customer, your calculus most likely differs from ours as Annual Passholders who’re within the parks commonly. Basically, the worth proposition of After Hours is whether or not 6 hours (3 with low crowds, 3 with low to average crowds) is best than 10-12 hours within the parks throughout the day. Even for those who used an environment friendly itinerary for Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios throughout these regular working hours, the reply to that was once sure.

With that stated, the equation has modified with Lightning Lanes, in addition to Early Entry and Prolonged Night Hours (at Magic Kingdom, a minimum of). Not less than two of this stuff are controversial, however could be extremely advantageous–particularly at Magic Kingdom. Then there’s Early Entry at DHS, which is much less divisive and affords an incredible head begin.

The opposite factor that it’s necessary to not overlook is the timing of After Hours. That is good or unhealthy, relying upon your perspective. For a lot of mother and father, it’s a complete nonstarter, because the prime time for the occasion is post-bedtime for a lot of youngsters.

For others, it’s an enormous upside when contemplating the fact of Florida climate. Humidity could be oppressive and the noon solar could be draining. At night time, the solar is down and it feels higher. That’s one of many the reason why we love After Hours in the summertime months. The climate may be very completely different originally of the 12 months, however being within the parks at night time remains to be nicer.

In the end, that’s my foundation for reluctantly recommending After Hours at Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios to first-timers or rare Walt Disney World guests with restricted trip time and more money for splurging. (We don’t advocate After Hours at EPCOT to anybody.)

The After Hours occasions are unquestionably costly, but additionally a great way to get so much achieved at Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios with out waking up on the break of day for Early Entry or criss-crossing the park whereas utilizing Lightning Lanes. Most significantly, After Hours occasions are friction-less. 

You don’t want some grand technique or plan-of-attack for experiencing a ton of points of interest throughout these laborious ticket occasions. They provide a quasi-VIP expertise with out having to be accompanied by a tour information–better of each worlds! On prime of that, After Hours happens at night time. Clearly. Level being, you’re getting the perfect of climate, crowds, wait occasions and (on account of all three) simply basic pleasantness. You’re prone to take pleasure in After Hours an ideal deal, particularly as in comparison with a traditional day within the park.

Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study motels on our Walt Disney World Resorts Opinions web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Opinions. To economize on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a novel take a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Trip Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the perfect place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for every little thing it is advisable to know!

Your Ideas

Have you ever attended After Hours at Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or EPCOT? What did you consider the occasion? Will you be shopping for After Hours tickets for 2025? Would you attend, or is it too expensive? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we can assist you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!