Recently, Disney has been offering paid after-hours events at three of the Disney World parks–Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. Since I had not seen Pandora in the Animal Kingdom yet, I decided to try the After Hours at the Animal Kingdom. My only goals were to ride Avatar and see Pandora at night, so I didn’t need to spend an entire day in the park. And I really wanted to avoid those notorious 3-hour wait times.
After Hours in the Animal Kingdom
What’s Included
The After Hours events promise super-low wait times, plus FREE snacks–popcorn, soft drinks, and most importantly, Mickey Premium Ice Cream bars! Free ice cream? I am IN. Parking or any “real” food are not included.
Hours & Entry Time
After Hours events last three hours after the close of the park, whenever that is, but you can enter with your ticket at 7 pm regardless of the end time. For example, you can enter the Magic Kingdom at 7 pm and the event could last until 1 am. In the Animal Kingdom, since it closes earlier, the event is from 9 pm-midnight.
Price
The biggest drawback to the After Hours events is the high price tag. It’s $125 per person plus tax for only 5-6 hours in the park. It actually costs less for a one-day ticket, more so if you figure the daily cost of a multi-day ticket.
What you’re paying for here are those low crowds. It promises low-wait rides at the biggest-draw attractions in the whole resort–Avatar Flight of Passage in Pandora in Animal Kingdom, Toy Story Land/Slinky Dog Dash in Hollywood Studios, and the Magic Kingdom’s general awesomeness–the 3 mountains, 7 Dwarfs, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, etc.
Personal Reasoning
Since Pandora and Avatar were my only interests in the park, After Hours at the Animal Kingdom (even at this price) made sense for my trip. I could do something else with the rest of my day, then park myself in Pandora and alternate rides on Avatar with Mickey bars. Read on to see if this is how my experience panned out. (Quick vague answer? It did and it didn’t.)
Arrival & Entry
I arrived at the Animal Kingdom and parked around 6 pm. After going through security, I found the special event queue to the right of the turnstiles, already with several people in line. Over the next hour, cast members would split the queue into three side-by-side lines, scan the barcode on our confirmation emails and gave us proper tickets, and hand out sheets listing the available attractions and entertainment.
It was also during this time that they suggested we avoid Pandora until about 9 pm, in order to let the day crowds cycle through the rides and leave. This proved to be pretty accurate, as wait times were still around 90-120 minutes at park closing.
At 7 pm, they let us enter the park, with plenty of cast members available at the turnstiles to scan our tickets & fingers and then apply wristbands on everyone as they came in.
Dinner in Pandora
I made a beeline straight to Pandora, not to ride anything, but to try the food! Earlier, I had bought a big ice cream sundae at Ample Hills Creamery on the Boardwalk (SO GOOD) so I wasn’t super hungry for a big dinner. But I did need to eat something.
Satu’li Canteen
In Satu’li Canteen, I bought a cheeseburger pod off the kid’s menu. The pod is a fluffy white bao bun filled with ground beef, and I guess there was some cheese in there, I couldn’t really tell. It came with grapes and potato chips. It was okay and would suit a kiddo’s McDonald’s tastes very well. But I don’t know that I’ll ever need to eat it again myself.
Pongu Pongu
I had also heard good things about the pineapple lumpia sold at Pongu Pongu, the drinks window around the corner from Satu’li. The lumpia is a pineapple & cream cheese spring roll dusted lightly with powdered sugar. Apparently, the lumpia is a love it or hate it kind of situation, and I fall squarely in the HATE IT camp. I even really like cream cheese! But there was just too much of it, and it’s warm…ugh, it was so gross!
If I had to do it again, I would have bought a proper meal with some proper vegetables and fish–something light but also healthy. I was planning on eating multiple Mickey bars later, after all…
Rivers of Light
It really was too crowded to try to ride anything in Pandora, so I walked over to the only other attraction I wanted to ride, Expedition Everest in Asia. And what a long walk it is! Everest and Pandora are on extreme opposite sides of the Animal Kingdom by design (to split up the crowds) but goodness, it reminds you just how big of a park this is!
When I got to Everest, even the single rider line was a 20-minute wait, and why wait when I can ride it later without one at all? So I decided instead to watch the regular 8:30 show of Rivers of Light, the new (to me) nighttime spectacular at the Animal Kingdom. I certainly wasn’t going to spend my precious Pandora hours later to watch the 9:30 party-only show.
Rivers of Light–Where to Enter
First, I walked to the Rivers of Light entrance across from Expedition Everest. It turns out that is for Fastpass+ only. I was directed to an entrance farther down. Nope, that is for people with dining packages. So I had to walk AAAAALLLL the way down to Dino-land PAST Finding Nemo: The Musical in order to find the standby entrance.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that once I did find the right entrance, they opened up the farthest section to the left and I got a front-row seat. It was on an extreme side of the viewing area and I think I missed some neat projections in the back of show space, but overall, it was a really good view.
Rivers of Light–the Show
Rivers of Light is the Animal Kingdom’s first nighttime show in its 10-year history. Because of the animals, there are no fireworks. Instead, lasers, water, projections, and innovative floats are used. The floats display a dynamic range of color and shoot water jets, plus images are projected onto water screens throughout the space.
At first, I really liked this show. It has a real Epcot vibe that I enjoy, probably because there are no Disney characters involved and it seems to tell a vague story. And I really like the music. I do feel that the standby crowd is given somewhat of a “B”-level experience. Maybe it’s just me, but a tiger and an elephant (Fastpass+ side) are a lot cooler than a turtle and an owl (standby side.)
Open Lotus, Broken Flower
I was disappointed in the show by the end. I thought there would be much more of a grand finale. Besides the four animal floats, there are two lantern-laden boats, four lotus flowers, and one huge central lotus flower. The larger lotus has what looks like a telescoping central framework and I kept expecting it to expand and “do something” but nothing ever happened. Looking now at videos, something is indeed supposed to happen, but I guess it didn’t the night I was there. Bummer!
An updated (and hopefully better) rendition debuts May 24, 2019.
Expedition Everest
After Rivers of Light, while the rest of the day crowd was exiting the park, I got in line for Expedition Everest and rode it twice with very little wait. There are many rides in the Disney parks that I love more than Expedition Everest, but in roller coaster terms, Expedition Everest is THE best roller coaster in all four Florida parks. Everything else really is just a kiddie coaster.
Pandora at Night
Now that it was about 9 pm, I made the long walk back to Pandora to do what I really came to do–Ride Avatar as many times as possible!
Pandora at night is really incredible. The rocks and the flowers and the pavement all light up, like they’re covered in luminescent algae. It’s kind of an obvious black-light paint trick, but the overall effect is really cool looking.
Na’vi River Journey
First, I walked right on to the Na’vi River Journey and sat with THE most obnoxious family I have ever met. But the ride itself was good! I knew not to expect too much and I was pleasantly surprised. In overall tone, it feels like an updated version of the E.T. ride at Universal.
But the Na’vi Shaman figure at the end is truly remarkable. She looks and sounds incredible, and she’s HUGE! Na’vi are bigger than humans at around 10 feet tall, and this is the attraction that really puts that into perspective.
Avatar Flight of Passage
Next, I got in line for the main attraction, Avatar Flight of Passage. I’ll tell you right now, I got to ride Avatar three times in a row before the evening was done. The first time, I waited about 30-40 minutes and the two times after that was a 20 minute wait each. So it wasn’t ever a walk-on, but considering that the majority of the people at the party were there to ride this ride, that’s not too bad. And you’ll never see wait times this short on any regular operating day.
Queue
You enter the queue in the natural caves of Pandora, which give way to the science labs of the Pandora Conservative Initiative. Since lines were so short, there were whole sections of the queue that we were able to bypass–I think there are some cool-looking luminescent caves in there as well.
Once you reach a cast member to ask how many in your party, you are sent into one of four queues, two leading up a ramp and two leading down. While waiting on the ramps, it’s pretty easy for a single rider to jump ahead to fill in an empty spot.
Pre-show
Groups of 16 are directed to numbered doors and into a chamber to stand on a number on the floor. During this preshow, you are scanned and “matched” with your Avatar and you’ll be called on to wiggle around a lot. Mainly this is to kill time, but it is kind of fun to see yourself moving around on the screen.
You’re led to a hallway to stand on your number again, then fairly quickly to the seats that correspond to that number. You get protective glasses and can stow your stuff on the back wall. The seats are like straddling a motorcycle but you don’t even have to lift your leg over the seat, you can just slide forward from the back. You have handholds and very light restraints that will come up behind your lower back and legs. Then there is a real “accidental selfie” moment as you look down into the panel while it connects you to your Avatar…
The Ride
And then the shutters open in front of you and it’s magic. All of a sudden, you are riding a banshee with the wind in your face and your banshee breathing underneath you. There is so much to look at! And if you are a roller coaster fan and like the feeling of airtime, you kinda get that feeling on this ride–the predominant flight pattern is down. Over this little ridge, then down, down, and through. It’s magical landscape after luminescent forest after breathtaking caverns. I don’t even care much about Pandora the movie, but this is really cool.
Loving It & Letting Go
First Ride
I will say that it took me all of my three rides to really fall in love with the attraction. On the first ride, I was called up as a single rider and ended up at the very edge of the large screen. I think that seat, combined with it being my initial ride made me get off and feel like I immediately needed to ride again. There was so much to see and I felt sure other seats were better than the very edge. It wasn’t bad, but the images are just a little skewed. If you’ve ever ridden Soarin and been to one side and noticed how curved the buildings look from that angle, you know what I mean. The effect is far, far less on Avatar, but it’s still a little noticeable.
Second Ride
Luckily, I could ride it again right away! This time, I had a better seat, but I was taken up with how the ride worked. I looked around at other riders more and thought about the logistics of it this time. There are two levels of riders all facing the same screen, just like you do on Soarin. And I assume the seats move independent of the floor and that’s why they have you strapped in as they do. Also on this ride, the “breathing” paddle by my left leg was stuck out–my banshee still breathed, but less so on one side. I consider this my “fat banshee” ride.
Third Ride’s the Charm
Then on the third time, I just let go and enjoyed the ride for what it was and it was amazing! I won’t say it’s automatically my favorite ride at Disney now (that’s somewhere between Tower of Terror and Splash Mountain) or even the most technologically advanced ride I’ve ever ridden (that goes to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Universal.) But it’s probably the second most technologically advanced and in the top 10 of rides at Disney. It is really cool. I would totally stand in a long line to ride this again. Maybe not three hours, though…
The real beauty of After Hours at the Animal Kingdom is that I could even do that–ride three times in a row and really get a feel for what I think about the ride in a single visit.
Ice Cream Mistakes
I failed to get any ice cream earlier in the evening, as I wasn’t hungry. So I decided between rides two and three of Avatar that I needed to finally go get some! I went to the cart in Pandora…and no Mickey bars. It’s apparently off-brand to sell them in the Pandora part of the park, so I would have had to go back to Discovery Island for one. I started in that direction but then decided I didn’t want to spend my time that way. I got a non-Mickey-shaped frozen fruit treat and got back in line for Avatar.
That last Avatar ride was the most magical but I exited the ride *just* after midnight and the end of the party. Had I not gone after ice cream, I probably could have gotten in line for one more ride on Na’vi River Journey at the end, hopefully without an obnoxious family this time.
Passing through Discovery Island on my way back and forth from Asia, I should have gotten some then! I was in “Disney Book It” mode and didn’t even think about it. I can get single-minded like that…
Suggested Touring
I hadn’t seen Pandora before so I don’t regret heading there first to try the food. But I might recommend either eating before you arrive and use all available park time to ride attractions, or to eat in Asia, possibly with a Dining Package that offers better seating at Rivers of Light.
Having seen Rivers of Light, I don’t really need to see it again (unless they’re going to make it better.) But it’s not a bad way to start your night. So starting in Asia seems better than making the long trek back and forth from Pandora more than once.
During that long walk, however, be sure to grab some ice cream on the way!! Get your ice cream before you enter Pandora! Then you’re free to cram as many rides on Avatar as possible without distraction. I feel sure that between 9 and midnight, you can fit three rides on Avatar and two on Na’vi River Journey. You could possibly fit more if you dive into the crowd starting at 7, it’s just possibly not the best use of your time.
Is it Worth It?
YES–I absolutely think paying extra for After Hours in the Animal Kingdom is totally worth it, just to ride Avatar that many times in one night. And Pandora at night really looks amazing. I do wish I took more time to wander around Pandora more, but I really made it my goal to ride as many times as I could! Perhaps exploring the land while waiting for the riding crowds to die down is a good use of your 7-9 pm party time.
Just make sure you get out of Pandora to eat some Mickey bars!
That’s so awesome!