With Disney World is getting more expensive every year. Sadly, with every price hike, there are people getting priced out. This means people have to save harder. That's what Disney's strategy has been, reduce crowds by increasing prices. This has also resulted in "upsell" events to generate more revenue which has lead to these extra extra hard-ticket events, like "After Hours".
This leads onto to more premium hard-ticketed events that Disney is offering. Even though I found events like Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party to be disappointing and overcrowded pre-COVID, I have really enjoyed the couple of times i've dabbled with the Magic Kingdom After Hours Events. I don't think i'm alone, either. Disney are now also running After Hours events at the other parks as well.
These tickets, at the time of writing, cost around $125-$150+tax per person for 3 hours of quiet park access. That includes unlimited bottled drinks, ice cream & popcorn as well. I cannot find any concrete numbers on how many tickets are sold each night, but it's a lot less than the Halloween and Christmas parties that's for sure. When I went in September 2018, I paid $125 a ticket to spend 3 hours at Magic Kingdom. To compare, a 14 day UK Disney Magic ticket costs around £500 - which is bonkers when you think about it.
However, this was the line for Peter Pan.
This was the waiting room in Haunted Mansion.
I personally have no issue with these after hour events, so long as:
Extra Magic Hours (now called "Extra Magic Time") at a minimum does not go away
It does not interfere with what is already offered on an already expensive Walt Disney World holiday
Most importantly, it's not ruined by overselling tickets like the Halloween and Christmas parties have been
$125-$150 for 3 hours is no small amount of money, but there is no other way to experience the parks this empty. While I think the event is generally worth it, the price can get out of control, especially if you're paying for a whole family.
Time is money at Walt Disney World. You could spend 3 hours in queues throughout day, or you could pay the extra $125-$150 and use those three hours doing buzzing around doing all the attractions with a minimal wait during After Hours.
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