Disney World’s EPCOT After Hours Review

What is EPCOT After Hours?

Disney World After Hours Events are special ticketed events at Disney World parks primarily designed to allow guests greater access to the best rides at each park. Typically, the events run from 7PM-1AM. From 7PM to 9PM, After Hours guests are in the park with regular guests. From 9PM-1AM, the park is limited to After Hours guests, resulting in a much lower crowd and shorter ride times.

The EPCOT After Hours event is the event that takes place, obviously, at EPCOT. It’s currently offered two to three times a month and costs around $150, depending on the week. We took our two older kids to the event back in July, and it was a great experience. Go directly to the Disney source for more information.

Now, I’ll explain what is, and what is not, available at EPCOT during the After Hours Event.

What is included in After Hours at EPCOT?

For the After Hours event at EPCOT, significant portions of the park will be shut down. Again, the main attractions are the rides. At EPCOT, almost the entire World Showcase is shut down except for the countries with rides (Norway, Mexico, and France) and a little bit of England. It’s so shut off, that they won’t let you walk from Norway to France.

What it lacks in international trinkets, it tries makes up for in free stuff. You get unlimited popcorn, ice cream novelties (like Mickey Bars), bottled Coke products, and bottled water for free.

Rides at EPCOT After Hours

Second Mom to the Right and Second Daughter to the Right just before they board Cosmic Rewind.

Here’s a list of the available rides EPCOT After Hours:

Frozen Ever After
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
Living with the Land
Mission: SPACE
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
The Seas with Nemo & Friends
Soarin’ (located in The Land Pavilion)
Spaceship Earth
Test Track Presented by Chevrolet®

This is why we took our family to Disney After Hours at EPCOT. We wanted to ride all the rides, especially Guardians. We headed straight there before they closed the park and rode it twice. Then the line became really long, so we returned later and rode it two more times.

Here’s a quick screenshot from my phone of the wait times for rides at around 11:30. Guardians was higher at the beginning but slowly went down as the night progressed.

I brought a BOB stroller for my 8- and 10-year-old to make sure we didn’t waste any time. They are more than capable of walking, but I wasn’t walking.

Just me, cramming 130 lbs. worth of kids into a BOB stroller, so we can get to the rides faster. We left the baby with a sitter. This is why the BOB stroller is the best stroller for Disney World.

It was a relatively busy day at EPCOT prior to our event (Food and Wine had just started), so we didn’t ride any rides prior to 9:00. However, we were able to ride Frozen, Guardian x4, Test Track, Soarin’, Figment, Ratatouille, and Spaceship Earth. I feel like 10 rides in 4 hours wasn’t bad because we stopped for partying and snacks and bathrooms (from all the free Coke and water) quite a lot.

Here’s the downside. Guardians doesn’t really ever become a walk-on ride because it takes a while to get through the pre-show and wait after the pre-show, so we couldn’t cycle it like we hoped. Still, 4 is good.

I learned that Terry Crews saying Epcotians while the all the drunks scream “day drinkers” gets a little old when you ride this ride 4 times in 90 minutes.

Next, it was our subjective experience (and reported by other bloggers) that the rides during After Hours events tend to break down a lot. Frozen went down while we were there, and we had several minutes long stops on both Figment and Ratatouille. I imagine it’s because the rides have been running for 12-14 hours at this point.

You’ll probably see that as a downside, but my daughters love a certain Youtuber named TPM who posts people’s accounts of “in-show exits” or when people have to get evacuated from a broken ride. They were desperately hoping to have footage to share.

EPCOT After Hours Party Experience

The party experience at EPCOT consists of a live DJ playing music with club lights. Most of the time it was happening Chip and Dale were dancing with guests as well. I was resistant to dancing because I wanted to ride more rides, but my daughters loved it. Here’s some footage of them hanging out with them.

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EPCOT After Hours World Showcase Experience

As I mentioned above, one of the big downsides of the EPCOT After Hours is that the World Showcase is mostly closed during the event. If you love to wander around EPCOT, trying all the food and seeing the amazing pavilions, then this will be a huge disappointment to you.

Since the event is geared towards getting to ride as many rides as possible, this makes sense. It reduces staff and energy needs and focuses all the attention on World Discovery/Celebration/Nature and the three rides in the World Showcase.

EPCOT After Hours Snack and Drink Experience

While the snack and drink choices are limited, getting unlimited free food of any kind at Disney World makes you feel like you’re staying club level. We drank several waters each (it was still a little hot in July at midnight), a few Coke Zeros to stay awake, and plenty of popcorn and ice cream. Mickey Bars are my go-to classic Disney treat, so this was a huge win for me. They had several stations throughout the park that all offered the same thing.

Second Dad to the Right Tip: If you want to take some drinks or snacks home with you at the end of the night, you can, but they’ll close the snack stations about 30 minutes before they close the park.

Is EPCOT After Hours Good for Kids?

I think this event is perfect for kids IF they are really into rides and handle staying up late. It’s a lot of walking late at night, and there’s no real nutrition to be had. You really have to know your kids and what they’re capable of. It’s a lot of money to spend if they tap out at 11PM. Bring healthy snacks if you need that your kids need that.

It was amazing for our kids. We took our 8- and 10-year-old, and they handled it well. We did make the younger one take a nap before we started the night. We did a Magic Kingdom After Hours night in January without a nap, and I had to carry her from Liberty Square to the bus stop without a stroller, but she did great at EPCOT with a stroller (I know she’s old. It was for me to push them fast.).

Things to Consider

Here’s a few things to consider if your planning on booking and After Hours.

Weather

Rain can ruin this event at most parks, but since most of the rides at EPCOT are inside, they should still be active no matter the weather. However, if you don’t want to transverse the park in the rain, wait until closer to your trip to book the event. EPCOT is the least popular After Hours event, so it’s unlikely to sell out.

I’m not a travel agent, but if you have an agent you like, let them book the event for you. They get commission on parties even though they don’t get commission on regular one day tickets.

Summer

We love doing the After Hours events during the summer time. Summer is miserably hot in Orlando, so doing night events like After Hours or the night event at the water parks is a great option to get Disney magic without the sweat.

Speaking of summer, click here if you’re looking for other ways to deal with the heat at Disney.

What To Do with First Two Hours

Remember that the After Hours event starts at 9PM when everyone else is leaving the park. However, you’re allowed to enter the park at 7PM. So what should you do for the first two hours?

Chances are that the lines for rides will be really long during the regular park day. Therefore, use your time to enjoy the parts of EPCOT that will shut down during the After Hours event, such as the pavilions, the food booths, the great drinks, and maybe even a

We went in July on the first day of the Food and Wine festival, so we got to experience some great food before the party started. Eating on top of trash cans is the best.

One of my best friends was running several booths in between Morocco and France during the Food and Wine Festival. https://www.instagram.com/husband_dad_disneycastmember/

Can you use Genie Plus or DAS at After Hours Events?

You can’t use Genie Plus. Since everything is very short lines (except the top tier rides) you don’t really need it anyway.

You can use DAS. In fact, if you qualify for DAS, you can get much more value out an After Hours event. You can get a call back time for a lightning lane at Guardians, and then do other rides while you wait. Disney really shines in their ability to help those with disabilities.

For more information about Genie Plus, Lightning Lanes, and DAS, check out this article.

Verdict: Is EPCOT After Hours Worth It?

So, is the Disney After Hours at EPCOT worth it? For us, we wanted access to the rides, so we say yes. At the time of writing, Guardians of Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is still virtual queue, so getting to ride that repeatedly is amazing. On top of that, there’s always long lines for Frozen, Test Track, and Ratatouille, which was not the case at After Hours.

If you love EPCOT for the World Showcase and not the rides, then this will be a disappointment to you. EPCOT is my favorite park, partially for the rides, but mostly for the food and beautiful aesthetics.

We loved this After Hours event, but we wouldn’t do it more than once a year unless they released another new ride.

Conclusion and Further Reading

Hopefully this gives you an idea as to the great experiences in an After Hours event and prepares you to enjoy it.

If you love rides, check out my daughter’s favorite rides for kids at EPCOT.