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Are Disney After Hours Ticket Holders Are Getting RIPPED OFF?: Major Changes Leave Guests Disappointed

hollywood studios entrance
Credit: Disney

Every year, millions of eager fans visit Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort for a magical vacation. People dream of getting to experience the magic of Disney in person their entire lives. Once you are at the Parks, that magical dream becomes a reality. Unfortunately, another reality also becomes apparent-crowds. For many Park Guests, the massive crowds are the worst part of visiting the Parks. Desperate Guests are willing to do whatever they can to escape the crowds. Luckily for them, there are some options.

Some Guests might opt to purchase the Genie Plus Service or individual lightning lanes to help skip long lines in the Parks. This is a spendy but most effective way to make your vacation more efficient. Another way that Guests can skip the lines is by purchasing a ticket to a “Disney After Hours” event. These events give Guests full access to the Parks after the day crowds have gone away. Guests may a premium price for the promise that they will be able to experience the Parks in a much quieter state.

Unfortunately, some Guests feel scammed by one of Walt Disney World Resorts’ after-hours events due to Disney making a major change to the event.

Hollywood Studios

Credit: Disney

Disney After Hours Ticket Holders Are Getting Ripped Off

Let’s face it: visiting Disney is not cheap.

Guests easily shell out thousands on a Disney trip, and for a lot of fans, that money is saved up for years. When you are spending that amount of money on vacation, you definitely want to make the most of every moment you can on Disney property. For many Guests, that means investing in extra ticketed events so they can experience more of the Parks.

Disney After Hours has been promoted as a way for Guests to experience exclusive access to Disney’s Parks after the general public goes home. This means significantly shorter wait times and smaller crowds. At Walt Disney World Resort, one of the most popular Disney After Hours options is at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This is partially due to Star Wars Day drawing a larger audience to Galaxy’s Edge, which is inside this Park.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Credit: Disney

Many Disney After Hours dates are already sold out for the summer, but for those that remain, the price is $149 per person. The event gives ticket-holders the opportunity to enter the parks at 7:00 p.m. and stay until 1 a.m. The Park is closed to exclusively ticket-holders from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., which gives them four hours of private Park time. Unfortunately, that policy has changed. 

Disney's Hollywood Studios Toy Story Land

Credit: Disney

Disney Changes the Hours of Their “After Hours”

Disney has changed the hours that the public can be in Disney’s Hollywood Studios until 10 p.m. This means that ticket-holders are getting an hour less of private Park time than they used to. In addition to this, one Guest reported that they weren’t even able to ride that many rides due to closures forcing all ticket-holders to the same few rides. They explain;

“My wife and I did After Hours in Hollywood studios last night to say that we are disappointed is an understatement.

We bought the tickets a couple months ago for $157 each and thought it would be great as the park would be closed at 9pm and we would essentially have the place to ourselves and walk onto all the rides we want several times.

Sadly, this wasn’t the case. Firstly, they changed the park closing hours from 9pm to 10pm a couple weeks ago so we had one less hour or quite time in the park. When we seen this, we didn’t think it would be a big deal but, they were still clearing out guests who didn’t have tickets at 11pm, many of which were still in lines for the rides.

We walked onto Runaway Railroad which was nice but it’s hardly a ride you get on numerous times and the same with Rise of the resistance.

Star Wars Galaxy's Edge Falcon

Credit: Disney

Shortly after 11pm we tried Slinky dog dash, we waited nearly 40 mins to ride this and when we got off, the time had only increased l so, getting on this again would have only wasted the rest of our time.

We then seen that Tower of Terror had a 13 min wait which means it’s a walk on. We made our way there and by then it had a 30 min wait. We reluctantly waited and by the time we got off it was nearly 12:30pm.

We rode 4 rides in nearly 4hrs for $157 each. My advice is buy Genie+ for $15-$25 and rope drop Hollywood studios and you’ll have a much better experience for far cheaper. I’m probably gonna get down voted to the shadow realm for this but I feel that charging the same price for a full day park ticket for this is a complete rip off for what you get.”

Hollywood studios After Hours
by u/Smullatron in WaltDisneyWorld

You Don’t Get What You Pay For

This report is not great news for those shelling out money for an after-hours ticket. Hopefully, Disney will find a way to make this up to ticket-holders who have already purchased the ticket.

About Eva Miller

Eva was born and raised in the beautiful state of Oregon but has since relocated and lives in New York City. Since she was young, Eva has loved to perform in musicals, especially Disney ones! Through performing, Disney’s music became the soundtrack of her childhood. Today, Eva loves to write about all the exciting happenings for the Walt Disney Company. In her free time, Eva loves to travel, spend time in nature, and go to Broadway shows. Her favorite Disney movie is 'Lilo and Stitch,' and her favorite Park is Disney's Animal Kingdom.