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Magic Kingdom After Hours 2024 Review

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I just returned from a lovely trip to the Orlando theme parks. While there, my mom and I attended a Magic Kingdom after hours event. So, I thought I would do a little review of the experience to help others decide if it’s a good event for them.

Magic Kingdom After Hours

Magic Kingdom After Hours

Walt Disney World hosts special after hours events at their theme parks. These are separately ticketed events that take place after normal park hours. They are more expensive than a regular theme park ticket. However, they are limited capacity events so there are significantly fewer people in the park.

Currently, only three parks are hosting these special events: Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot. The Magic Kingdom dates are either a Monday or Thursday, from now until June 27th. Technically, the event is only three hours: 10 PM to 1 AM. However, your ticket will allow you to enter the park at 7 PM.

The Rides

The main appeal of these events is the ability to ride the rides without much wait. The night we attended started out rainy. So, we were able to ride lots of rides before the event officially started! By 10:05 PM we had been on Pirates, Big Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion! If we had skipped the first fireworks show (more on that below), we probably could have hit up even more rides.

By the end of the night we had ridden Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder 2x each! We also managed to ride Mine Train with minimal wait as we got on right before they closed the line for the second fireworks show. We also rode It’s a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Tomorrowland Speedway once each! As you can see, this is an amazing opportunity to ride lots of rides in a short amount of time!

The Free Snacks

These events also come with some free snacks! Select ice cream novelties and popcorn are provided for free during the event! You can also get bottled beverages included with the price of admission! They start handing them out at 10 PM, so we grabbed a couple of drinks and ice creams prior to the second fireworks show. I got an ice cream sandwich and my mom got an ice cream bar. They also had a strawberry bar available. This was a nice break and a chance to relax in between running around the park for rides.

The Entertainment

New for 2024, this event comes with a special showing of the Disney Enchantment fireworks! So, for the price of one ticket, you can see two fireworks shows! Plus, the second one is with much smaller crowds. We watched the regular fireworks show, Happily Ever After with the regular park guests on Main Street. Even with the rain and wind, it was a huge crowd. So, it was a rare (and very nice) opportunity to experience Enchantment from right in front of the castle with plenty of elbow room! Then again, we are the same people who will pay extra for a seated fireworks dessert party.

Is the Magic Kingdom After Hours event worth it?

The event costs $155-175 per person, with discounts for DVC owners and passholders. So, it’s a pricey 3-6 hours in the park. However, it was worth it for us. It allowed us to rides countless rides as well as watch two fireworks shows and enjoy a few snacks. I don’t think it would be worth it if you go often or if you have young kids who can’t stay up late. However, for two adults it’s a great night in the park.

Have you ever attended one of these events?

Mickey’s Very Merry Dessert Party Review

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You already know about Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, which I reviewed last year. However, did you know that you can also book a Very Merry Dessert Party for a seated view of the fireworks and a dessert buffet? My mom and I booked this add-on experience on my most recent trip, so I thought I would do a review in case anyone else is considering it.

Very Merry Dessert Party

Very Merry Dessert Party

Anyone who has ever visited the Magic Kingdom knows how crowded it gets for the fireworks. It’s not unusual at these special events to stake out a spot for the parade and/or fireworks 40 minutes or more in advance. In fact, that’s what my mom and I did last year. So, this year we decided to spring for Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks Dessert Party! Basically, you get a reserved seated fireworks viewing area and a tasty spread of sweets!

Party Food

Unlike at the Oogie Boogie Bash Dessert Party where you are given a plate of food, at this one there’s a whole buffet to select from! My mom remarked that she really liked this one since she wasn’t limited to eating whatever items they gave everyone. There was an apple caramel crepe that was tasty! I also enjoyed the chocolate covered strawberries and some cinnamon doughnuts! There was a mini key lime tart that surprised me as I don’t typically think of key limes for Christmas, but it was a nice reminder that I was in Florida.

There was also a variety of beverages to enjoy! They had a nice sparkling apple cider as well as some hydrating water. I tried the sparkling wine as I typically like champagne, but it was just ok. My mom got some juice and water. They had plenty of beverage options.

The only complaint I can come up with is the fact that there are so few savory/salty items. They had some cheese and crackers, but everything else was sweet. So, this is definitely for the folks with a sweet tooth!

The View

We headed over to the Tomorrowland Terrace after waiting over an hour to meet the Seven Dwarfs. So, having a seat for the fireworks show was amazing after that! We checked in early, around 8:40 to ensure we got a table by the railing and we got an amazing view! Everyone is seated at the Tomorrowland Terrace with a view of the castle, but those who arrive early get the prime spots. So, I encourage you to arrive 20-ish minutes earlier than they tell you to for the best spots. You are free to come and go, so you could pick out your table and come back later.

I also have to say how nice it was to just sit and take in the show/view without a bunch of people pushing up on me. I was reminded just how nice this was when we left the terrace to get a spot for the second parade and was surrounded by pushy people.

Is the Very Merry Dessert Party worth it?

The Christmas Party is already an expensive separately ticketed event. Then, you add another $100+ for this dessert party. So, it’s a very expensive evening. It also takes time away from the party to sit and enjoy your treats. It also doesn’t leave any stomach space for the party exclusive treats. However, you can see an obstructed view of the parade and castle stage show from this area. Plus, the cookies they give out at the party come individually wrapped, so you can take some with you. My mom and I really enjoyed this experience and highly recommend it if you like desserts and want to sit down.

Have you ever done the Very Merry Dessert Party? What did you think?

Disney Jollywood Nights at Hollywood Studios Review

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I’ve just returned from a trip to Orlando to celebrate the holidays. One of the special events I was able to experience was the new Disney Jollywood Nights held at Hollywood Studios.

Disney Jollywood Nights

Disney Jollywood Nights

For years, Walt Disney World has had one Christmas themed add-on event: Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom. You can read my review of last year’s event at that link. Then, this summer they announced that Hollywood Studios was getting its own special event for the holidays! It was sold as a glam holiday themed after hours event, so it’s shorter than the other party in duration but also includes small crowds.

I purchased tickets for my mom and I as soon as they went on sale. Then, I eagerly awaited the event, until I saw the meltdown on social media from the first event. I was hesitant to go after seeing reviews, but decided to go ahead with the plan since we already had the tickets. Thankfully, Disney made a few changes after the first night and subsequent nights didn’t sell out. So, this is my experience of the December 4th event.

Rides

One of the reasons we were content to attend the party after the negative reviews was the low wait times for rides. We ended up riding only ride, however it was the best one. A virtual queue opens up at 8 PM for Rise of the Resistance. So, I joined right at 8 and got group number 5! My mom had never been on this ride, so I was very excited to be able to get us on this ride. While she’s not a Star Wars fan, she really enjoyed the ride. So, that was a nice way to kick-off the party.

I periodically checked the app throughout the night and noticed that most rides had low wait times. However, it was chilly and I wasn’t too interested in riding rides at that point. Plus, we had other things we wanted to do.

Characters

Initially, there was only a handful of special character meet and greets. The lines for those meets were really long. So, for the second event and onwards, Disney added some additional characters to the line-up. While at the party, my mom and I were tickled to meet a few rare characters!

Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket switch out during the party. So, we got in line first to see Jiminy, but then he switched out with Pinocchio. I was equally excited to meet both characters, so I was happy to meet Pinocchio. We came back later in the night and got in line again while Pinocchio was meeting and he switched out with Jiminy. So, we ended up being able to meet both of them during the party! I’d say we waited about 20 minutes each time and felt it was a good use of party time since you can’t currently meet either character in the US parks.

We also attempted to see Donald Duck in his special outfit, but he switched out and we saw Daisy instead. While I appreciate the short waits between character breaks, it was mildly annoying to get in line and not know for sure who we were going to meet.

I did appreciate the fact that the event came with free picture downloads. So, we didn’t have to worry about how my cell phone would perform in the low lighting or draining the battery.

Jollywood Nights Shows

Disney made and put on two special shows just for the event. We were lucky enough to catch both of them! We watched the second showing of the night of Disney Holidays in Hollywood. It was a cute little show that we both enjoyed. My mom remarked that it appeared that most of the budget went towards making this show and she might be right.

We caught the last show of the night of What’s This? Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing Along. This show appeared to have a much smaller budget. I applaud the actors in the show as they did a great job. It was neat seeing the big Jack puppet on stage. However, no one in the crowd was singing along and it came across a little awkward.

Holiday Entertainment

Just for the event the Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! nighttime show returned. I had seen this show previously when it was offered to regular park guests years ago. So, it was neat to see it again. However, it would have been nice to see it with a regular park ticket. It was nice to end the event with a nighttime fireworks show, like a regular park day.

Room for Improvement

Given the public backlash on this event and the inability to sell out the event, I wonder if it will return next year. If it should return, I imagine it will need to change drastically. For starters, it would be nice to have beverages and some food included, like other parties. Additionally, there needs to be more stuff going on around the park. Parts of the park were crowded while other parts had nothing going on and were empty.

Is Disney Jollywood Nights worth it?

If you have already purchased tickets to this year’s event, I say go for it! My mom and I had a good time at this event. We enjoyed meeting the characters and seeing the shows. It was also really nice to see everyone’s glamorous outfits for the event. It seemed like it would make a good date night activity for couples.

So, have you attended this event? What was your experience like?

Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot Review

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When my husband and I visited Walt Disney World last month, we booked a new to us experience, the Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot! Today I will review it and let you know who I think it’s good for and who should maybe skip it.

Behind the Seeds Tour

Behind the Seeds Tour

For those who don’t know, the Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot is a backstage look at The Land Pavilion! The Land Pavilion is where the Living with the Land ride and Garden Grill Restaurant is located. Having eaten at Garden Grill a few times and ridden the ride even more times, I was excited for a walking tour to see how Disney grows its own food!

I booked this tour 60 days out when I made our advance dining reservations. We paid $35/each. Thankfully, this was prior to Disney’s most recent resort wide price hikes. As of this writing, this tour has gone up in price and varies from day to day. It now starts at $39 and goes up to $45, depending on which day you select. There doesn’t appear to be a discount for children.

Very Informative

This one-hour walking tour is information heavy. The tour started out with a look at how Disney is fighting pests. Then, we moved on to the actual greenhouses. It was neat to see the ride from the other side. Boats rode by as we looked at squash and tried some cucumbers grown there! It was neat to see all of the different varieties of plants being grown, from coffee to vanilla beans! We even saw a picture of some Mickey shaped cucumbers they are working on.

Our guide was very knowledgeable about plants in general as well as what was in the greenhouses currently. We got to see the last of the pumpkins being grown and they were beginning to hang up the Christmas lights. The guide explained that the tours vary a little bit depending on the time of the year since they grow some food for the Epcot festivals here. So, it has a repeatability factor if you enjoy learning about different seasons.

Hands On Learning

There were a few other interactive aspects to the tour. The tour not only includes the four greenhouses, but also the fish farm. We learned about the fish and then got to feed them. They gathered everyone around the tank and we all put the food in at the same time. The fish went wild to get the food! It was neat.

We also got to pass around some spices to smell. It was fun to try and guess which spice we were smelling. The tour ended with a little picture session in front of the Mickey shaped tree.

Is the Behind the Seeds Tour worth it?

For $35, it was a neat experience. The new price hike gives me pause on value. $45 sounds a little steep to me, but I would probably still do it at least once. That being said I do not recommend this tour for children. It was a lot of information and I don’t think people with short attention spans would enjoy it. I suppose that’s why there’s not a discount for children.

Our group was mostly adult couples (think late twenties and up). It’s a good time for anyone interested in plants or seeing how Disney grows its own food. For thrill seekers, it’s best to spend time riding the rides. I also must point out that’s an hour long walking tour with most of that time spent standing or walking. So, if standing and walking for an hour doesn’t sound doable, it maybe best to avoid this one. Although, it is wheelchair accessible if that is of concern to you.

Have you done the Behind the Seeds tour at Epcot? What did you think of it?

Fantasmic Dining Package Review at Sci-Fi Dine-In

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I’ve just returned from a short trip to Walt Disney World with my husband. We decided to book a Fantasmic Dining Package on our Hollywood Studios night. I’m doing a review to help others determine if this is a good option for their trip.

Fantasmic Dining Package

Fantasmic Dining Package

For those who don’t know, Fantasmic is a night-time show at Hollywood Studios. It’s been very popular since its return following the pandemic. I hadn’t seen the show in years, but was afraid of crowds given that we were visiting on a Saturday night. So, I booked one of these packages to ensure us a good seat for the show as well as a good meal. As you might have noticed, I’m a bit of a sucker for reserved show seating with food as I’ve reviewed World of Color – One Dessert Party and Oogie Boogie Dessert Party. This package though is for a whole meal prior to the show.

There are 5 restaurants to choose from when you book this package. Initially, I selected The Hollywood Brown Derby. However, when I glanced over the menu, I realized that it was too fancy for my palate and too expensive. So, a few days out from our trip, I switched us to the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. I had eaten here previously once before with my mom, but this was my husband’s first time.

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater

As a part of our special, we were able to select an entree, either an appetizer or dessert, and a non-alcoholic beverage for our meals. We both elected to get appetizers since those seemed more appealing and worth more money. I got the onion rings, which were pretty good. Then again, I haven’t had many bad onion rings. Ha! My husband got the wings and they were tasty as well.

I had wanted to order the chicken salad sandwich for my entree, however they are unable to remove the cilantro from the mix. Sidenote to anyone from WDW reading: Please stop adding cilantro to everything. Some of us think it tastes like soap.

I ended up going with the plant based Impossible burger. While it tasted ok, it was dry as heck. My husband ordered the citrus chicken salad. His chicken was also dry, but he enjoyed the rest of the salad. Unfortunately, I can’t give the food here a glowing review. I wish it wasn’t just a bunch of burgers on the menu with 1 pasta dish. There needs to be more variety. Also, the foods we opted for that weren’t burgers weren’t amazing. So, I guess stick with the burgers or don’t eat here.

I have to say the theme is pretty cool here! My husband enjoyed seeing the sci-fi clips on the big screen. I like sitting in the cars and looking around the “drive-in”.

Fantasmic! Seating

After dinner, we headed over to the stadium to get in line for the show. Once we entered the stadium and saw the roped off area, I realized the benefit of booking this package. The prime view or middle of the stadium is reserved for these dining packages. So, if you want a great view of the show, this is how you get it.

We both really enjoyed the show and were pleased with our seats. Fantasmic is a must-do if you are visiting Hollywood Studios at night. The dining package allowed us to see the performers straight on instead of from the side.

Is it worth it?

The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater is one of the cheapest restaurants available for this package. However, it’s still $51/adult and $23/children. So, it’s still a pretty expensive meal. Personally, I don’t think the food is worth the prices Disney is charging for the regular menu at Sci-Fi. The addition of the reserved seating area at Fantasmic though is worth a lot. My meal would normally cost $35 and my husband’s was $34. So, essentially we paid $17/18 for the seats. For the view, it’s worth it at least once. If I book the package again, it will be at a different restaurant. Have you ever eaten here or booked a Fantasmic dining package?