From a dad’s point of view, this is how our super magical night went…
So this evening we finally got to open our mouths on a secret we’ve been keeping for quite a long time. We surprised the kids with a trip to Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom during their After Hours event. Now, if you’ve never been to the park during this time, take my advice and go! Seriously I think the only drawback might have been that during After Hours (10pm-1am), some of the rides and snack shops were closed. But that is such a small inconvenience considering all that is included in the price of admission. All you can eat ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, and bottled water or soda were at the locations that remained open.
Braden and Elizabeth were both ecstatic because we let them have soda after 10pm. All of us were excited to try our first Disney ice cream bars/sandwiches. Breanne, Elizabeth, and Katelyn all had ice cream bars while Braden and I had the ice cream sandwich. If we weren’t in such a hurry to ride all of the rides we could, I could’ve had another 4 or 5 of them. They were so good.
Okay, so getting back to the start of our evening. We got to the park at 7pm. Yes I know, After Hours runs from 10pm-1am. But the great thing is you are allowed entrance into the park starting at 7pm. This is wonderful because, again, not all rides are open during the late hours. So, whatever rides/attractions you might want to visit, you’ll have an extra 3 hours to do it before the park closes and the magic hours begin.
So our evening started off with a little PhotoPass setback. Thankfully, we had a cast member who was willing to go above and beyond to make sure our experience was as magical as it could be. She got everything taken care of and was wonderful. She even walked us over and gave us Fast Passes to meet Mickey and Minnie who were dressed in their 90th birthday outfits for our first pictures. It was awesome.
Once we were up, I set my scooter aside. Then I hopped back to join everyone else to get a few pictures. Mickey was so awesome and walked over to grab my scooter and brought it back to me. I loved that he did that.
Walt Disney World
Now, no adventure to Disney would be complete without taking a ride on the Carousel of Progress. This is Braden’s favorite ride. As soon as he knew we were pulling up to Magic Kingdom one of the first questions out of his mouth was are we going to ride the Carousel of Progress.
This ride is one of the most underrated rides in the park. Most people may recommend skipping this ride but it is definitely one to visit. This is the one ride in the park that Walt Disney himself had a hand in designing and he put a lot of love into it. It may be an older ride but there is just something about it that speaks of Walt Disney. It brings you back to the old days of optimistic, ambitious thinking that he was best known for. So take my advice and DO NOT skip this ride.
After catching the very last show on the Carousel of Progress, we set off to ride and do as much as we could in the time we had. From the perspective of someone who needed wheels to get around, I’m super thankful that the park and its streets are cared for as much as they are. Getting around with one good leg to propel me forward was never a problem. Although I was constantly bringing up the rear and trying to catch up.
Getting to ride every ride still open with almost no wait time was so cool. Some rides we even got to ride twice since there was no line!
Walt Disney World
We went everywhere in the park from Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, to Frontierland, Adventureland, and Liberty Square. If we had a little more time we probably would have stopped more than once for ice cream and water/sodas since they were all you can eat/drink. Through all of the ground that we covered, there were still a few rides that we didn’t make it to. But, overall we did and had a super fun time with the park being near 90% empty. After Hours are totally worth it and completely magical!
We finally left the park at around 1:30am, tired and exhausted but loving every minute of it. Walt Disney World has a special place in mine and my family’s heart. No matter the length of time or time of day, it’s always a blessing to us to be able to spend time with each other in a place where you never have to grow up.
Walt Disney World
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