2024 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Dates, Particulars, Ideas, Rides & Evaluate

After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a tough ticket occasion with restricted attendance and quick wait instances for Walt Disney World’s hottest points of interest. This publish shares our expertise, information concerning the occasion, 2024 dates & particulars, ideas & tips, and whether or not it’s well worth the cash. (Up to date March 11, 2024.)

After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios takes place choose nights now till August 29, 2024. This occasion takes place from 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM. Along with that, After Hours attendees can get a head begin on the enjoyable by getting into the park at 7:00 PM—a few hours earlier than the occasion formally begins!

Walt Disney World is now a few months into the 2024 After Hours ‘season’ at Hollywood Studios, and reviews have been largely constructive from attendees. Crowds have been sparse many nights and, apart from breakdowns, wait instances have been low. Clearly, that is nice information for individuals who attended the occasion–they bought to trip rides with minimal waits, and subsequent to no congestion within the parks.

The largest change for the 2024 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the presence of uncommon characters, together with the next:

• Duffy the Disney Bear
• Pinocchio & Jiminy Cricket
• Mary Poppins & Penguin
• Pinocchio & Meeko
• Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers
• Glam Daisy & Donald Duck
• Glam Goofy

Different characters have been additionally current, together with however not restricted to Minnie & Mickey Mouse (regular, non-glam), however these don’t qualify as uncommon. Regardless, all of those are additions as in comparison with final 12 months and a pleasant ‘plussing’ of the After Hours occasion for 2024. These quick waits for characters and rides are actually not what you’d encounter throughout a traditional day within the park.

After gradual gross sales for a lot of the first two months of the 12 months, After Hours has now offered out 3 completely different dates at DHS. The primary of those has handed, however two extra dates throughout Spring Break are actually offered out: March 13 and 27, 2024. It ought to go with out saying, however count on bigger crowds on these dates than those earlier within the 12 months when tickets didn’t promote out and attendance was sparse.

We’re not making an attempt to rain on any parades–we occur to take pleasure in After Hours at DHS–simply making an attempt to correctly set expectations. To make sure, it’s nonetheless a basically low-crowds occasion and wait instances are going to be low even on offered out nights–simply not fairly that low! This isn’t an try to discourage you from attending–After Hours is a improbable splurge and most attendees price it very extremely.

With that in thoughts, right here’s what you have to know concerning the 2024 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Ticket costs fluctuate based mostly on date:

These are some fairly steep value will increase as in comparison with the earlier 12 months, with After Hours ticket prices up by round $30 to $36, relying upon the date. This was already an costly occasion earlier than, and now it’s even pricier.

Whether or not the occasion is “price it” is clearly subjective. We’ve been saying for years that we view this as a quasi-VIP expertise and suppose it’s one of many few upcharge choices at Walt Disney World that’s well worth the cash. Nonetheless, at these new increased value factors, it’s a extremely powerful promote. (We’ll be voting with our wallets, and never doing it.)

With all of that mentioned, each single date of After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios offered out final 12 months, so it’s straightforward to see how they justified such huge value will increase. We could not agree with worth proposition anymore, however clearly, loads of different visitors do.

One of many hallmarks of the After Hours occasions at Walt Disney World is the limitless ice cream novelties, popcorn, and bottled drinks. These are all included in the price of this ticketed occasion–you merely stroll as much as outside merchandising carts stationed all through DHS and seize a Premium Mickey Bar, Coca-Cola, or no matter else.

You can even buy meals and drinks at choose eating areas, however that is usually a horrible use of the restricted occasion time. Eat earlier than you arrive or refill on ice cream and different treats on-the-go throughout After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Throughout After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, points of interest will embody:

• Alien Swirling Saucers
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster (closed for multi-month refurbishment in 2024)
• Slinky Canine Sprint
• Star Excursions – The Adventures Proceed
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Toy Story Mania!
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

The operative query about After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is what number of rides are you able to accomplish? Narrowing {that a} bit additional, we assume most individuals studying this are involved with headliners like Slinky Canine Sprint–and the way a lot time will be saved by paying to attend After Hours versus a traditional day at DHS.

Over the past After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we did the next:

• Slinky Canine Sprint (x3)
• Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster (x3)
• Tower of Terror (x2)
• Alien Swirling Saucers (x1)
• Toy Story Mania (x1)
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (x1)

That’s a complete of 11 points of interest, and we might’ve simply carried out extra if effectivity have been our lone purpose and we didn’t crisscross the park as a lot.

We additionally ate a few half dozen ice cream novelties and had a couple of Cokes, every of that are additionally limitless/included in the price of admission through the occasion. You’ll be able to be taught extra about pricing and 2024 Disney After Hours dates on the official web site.

As famous above, After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios doesn’t require common theme park admission and permits entry as early as 7 p.m. As with the Disney’s Hollywood Studios model of the occasion, the particular occasion begins half-hour after official park closing–at 9:30 p.m., and runs for 3 hours till 12:30 a.m. This implies you possibly can see Fantasmic or knock out a couple of less-popular points of interest through the mix-in that begins earlier than After Hours formally kicks off.

The final time we attended, we did Slinky Canine Sprint as quickly because the occasion formally started. Surprisingly, the road had already practically or completely cleared of day visitors. Sadly, everybody else who had arrived for After Hours had this identical thought, so the road was roughly 10 minutes lengthy. Extremely quick by Slinky Canine Sprint requirements, however our longest line of the night time.

We in all probability might’ve carried out a bit extra selection and fewer rides on the curler coasters, however these are the issues with the longest daytime waits, in order that they have been our focus. Simply with the highest two gadgets, we conservatively saved 10 hours of time in line (give or take).

After all, not many individuals are going to decide on to attend in line an hour-plus for Slinky Canine Sprint twice in the identical day, a lot much less six instances, so the period of time “saved” right here is barely misleading. I imply, we additionally had numerous Mickey Premium Bars, bottled water, and Coke–the worth of which might’ve exceeded $50 have been we paying out of pocket, however I’d by no means purchase a bottle of water at Walt Disney World within the first place, a lot much less 6 of them in a day.

All through the night time, the one attraction with any line was Slinky Canine Sprint, which was at its longest at first of the night time. Tower of Terror additionally had a wait within the boiler room, however that’s a results of the way it masses and never a perform of crowds.

All the pieces else was a close to walk-on for the whole lot of the night time. On Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster, we had our personal practice as soon as, and most rides on that have been lower than one-third full. The excellent news with each RnRC and Tower of Terror is that the pre-shows have been optionally available. We watched every as soon as (as a result of in contrast to Flight of Passage, they’re superior) after which skipped each on subsequent rides.

Regardless of this, Disney’s Hollywood Studios felt barely busier than the After Hours at EPCOT occasion. A part of this can be a perform of park dimension, DHS being much more compact. We’d additionally hazard a guess that there have been extra attendees on the Disney’s Hollywood Studios occasion.

Going ahead, we’d anticipate that attendance will improve on the After Hours as constructive phrase of mouth spreads. Nonetheless, even when double the variety of tickets are offered, we nonetheless wouldn’t count on the occasion to really feel considerably completely different. Most trip autos (save for Slinky Canine Sprint) have been being dispatched partially empty, so there was loads of capability to spare in these ‘walk-on’ wait instances.

It’s additionally price noting that none of Disney’s Hollywood Studios main leisure choices run solely throughout After Hours. This virtually necessitates a return go to to the park a unique day, except you’ve already ‘been there, carried out that’ with all the reveals.

Throughout that completely different day, we’d additionally suggest doing any points of interest which might be actually prolonged from begin to end (Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run) or that don’t supply super time financial savings throughout After Hours (Star Excursions).

By way of ideas, our recommendation can be to begin on the Sundown Boulevard rides and finish with Toy Story Land. The latter was positively busiest proper after fireworks, and by the point that crowd cycled by Slinky Canine Sprint a few instances, it just about dissipated.

Our recommendation can be to plan your arrival to Toy Story Land for the second half of the occasion. At this level, your common cycle time (wait time plus trip plus exiting) for Slinky Canine Sprint or Toy Story Mania must be at or below quarter-hour, and at or below 5 minutes for Alien Swirling Saucers or the meet & greets.

One other massive piece of recommendation for After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is to avoid wasting Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance till close to the tip of the night. That is going to be the cause that many or most individuals buy tickets to After Hours at DHS, and quite a lot of them are going to prioritize it. The road will virtually actually be worst early-on, and considerably shorter within the final hour of the occasion.

Our expectation is that quite a lot of visitors will go in with the expectation of doing “limitless” rides on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, with grandiose concepts of driving it dozens of instances through the occasion. That’s, till actuality units in.

In all probability, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will begin out with wait instances of at the least half-hour when the occasion begins (if not longer). Folks will endure that after or possibly twice, earlier than shifting on to different points of interest. Others will hold driving, however burnout will inevitably set-in for a few causes.

First, as nice as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is–and we predict it’s the #1 attraction at Walt Disney World–it’s not extremely re-rideable within the back-to-back-to-back (and so forth.) sense. It’s an excellent storytelling attraction, not one which delivers thrills or prompts a visceral response.

Second, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is lengthy. It’s a multi-phase attraction, and it received’t be attainable to skip all or maybe any of the pre-shows throughout After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We’ve discovered that even with excellent timing, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance takes 18 minutes to expertise from start-to-finish.

That’s the very best case situation. Extra seemingly, these attendees who line up early are going to sink virtually an hour into one trip on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Those that do two rides again to again firstly of the occasion are prone to eat up practically 90 minutes of their After Hours time. Few will do 3 consecutive rides because of this.

Even in the event you did Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance from the second you can enter DHS till the conclusion of After Hours, it’s seemingly you’d solely handle about 10 rides on the Galaxy’s Edge headliner. So not precisely “limitless” rides irrespective of the way you slice it. (Actually, that’s nice by us. We completely adore Rise of the Resistance, however I couldn’t do it 10 consecutive instances. It could begin to lose its luster and the magic would put on off. For me, twice through the night is just about excellent.)

Accordingly, our robust suggestion is saving Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance till the very finish. Should you solely need to do the attraction as soon as, you possibly can leap in line 1 minute earlier than After Hours ends. This may successfully lengthen the occasion, as you’ll do your ready in line and a lot of the prolonged attraction period after the occasion has formally ended.

If you wish to do Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance twice, contemplate doing it as soon as round 90 minutes earlier than the occasion concludes, then bounce over to Toy Story Land for a bit, after which return to Rise of the Resistance once more 1 minute earlier than After Hours ends. This can be a higher balanced method, and in addition mitigates the chance of downtime (in the event you wait till the very finish, there’s at all times an opportunity that Rise of the Resistance might be down and never come again up through the occasion–it nonetheless suffers from reliability and downtime woes).

We’d additionally suggest sticking to at least one space, doing that on repeat, and never returning. Regardless that Disney’s Hollywood Studios isn’t enormous, the stroll from Toy Story Land or Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to Sundown Boulevard is a time eater.

We didn’t comply with our personal recommendation right here, as a substitute doing every a few instances, grabbing a number of the included refreshments, after which slowly meandering again in direction of the opposite whereas consuming our Mickey’s Premium Bars or what have you ever.

After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios bears similarities to the Animal Kingdom occasion. As is the case there, this can be a headliner-heavy occasion. Whereas you possibly can go for selection at Magic Kingdom, the lineup right here is extra restricted. To get probably the most worth from a time-savings perspective out of After Hours at DHS, you have to be fascinated with driving Slinky Canine Sprint and/or Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster a number of instances.

We predict that’s actually what the occasion comes all the way down to. You actually don’t must trip them each a mixed 10 instances as we did, however you’ll need to do them various instances. Should you’re a curler coaster junkie, this can be a nice occasion, and the truth that each of those headliners are close to walk-ons (and that you would be able to skip the RnRC pre-show) means you can do loops of each and get your trip counts into the double digits over the course of the night time.

Conversely, in the event you’re solely fascinated with experiencing all the things as soon as, arriving for Early Entry at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and even doing our Half-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Itinerary with a powerful Genie+ recreation must be adequate.

Whether or not you need to do After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios comes all the way down to your private attraction priorities (are you a curler coaster junkie who desires to loop the 2 main ones right here?), finances, and averseness to crowds. Should you hate crowds and are prepared to splurge on ~$175 per individual tickets, After Hours at DHS might be occasion for you.

For thrill junkies, doing Slinky Canine Sprint or Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster on repeat is a superb technique–and one that can end in a excessive trip rely, as each of those points of interest are quick period and will be looped fairly simply. Particularly, Slinky Canine Sprint is a superb attraction to do throughout After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, because it has no pre-show and usually is a high 5 attraction in all of Walt Disney World by way of the posted wait time! DHS can also be probably the most troublesome Genie+ Lightning Lane to e book, so doing After Hours as a substitute relieves that stress.

Finally, there is no such thing as a “excellent” method to effectively approaching Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Genie+ works nicely, however not practically to the diploma that it does at Magic Kingdom–and it requires staying the entire day at DHS as a result of return home windows getting pushed out. Early Entry is one other wonderful choice, however will solely allow you to hit ~3 headliners. Exhibiting up late is one other savvy technique, however it additionally received’t mean you can get all the things carried out, not to mention a number of rides on headliners.

This leaves the After Hours occasion as the easiest way to effectively “do” DHS in a frustration-free means. Clearly, this comes with a really excessive value, so After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios isn’t going to be “price it” for many and even many Walt Disney World visitors…however that’s form of the purpose. A restricted capability occasion retains issues manageable, and ends in a extra nice expertise for individuals who can afford it. We received’t be doing the 2024 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, however in case you have an enormous finances and don’t thoughts splurging, this occasion is enjoyable and reduce stress and complications that usually happen at DHS.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you consider Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ After Hours occasion? Planning on doing the 2024 After Hours at DHS to see what number of instances you possibly can trip Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in a single night time? Is that this one thing that pursuits you, or is the fee too excessive to justify? What number of instances would you need to do the 2 coasters in a single night time? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation of the occasion? Any questions we can assist you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!