Disney Park’s First After-Hours Event: Guests Let Down by 60-Minute Wait Times, Rides Shut Down

With Pride Month events and families on summer break making their way to The Most Magical Place on Earth, there’s one part of the Park experience that no one looks forward to—long lines.

Wait times during holidays and summer break are record-breaking at Walt Disney World, which means strategic planning needs to be behind each Disney Resort vacation to avoid wasting hours in sweaty queues. Aside from the rides, checking everything off your Disney itinerary at the Parks is impossible. There are always more Disney characters to greet, shows to marvel at, and dining experiences to savor.

In February, Disney announced an all-new experience for Disney Guests to linger at one of the fan-favorite Parks a bit longer. While Magic Kingdom takes the crown for Disney after hours, another Park would extend its showcase display for the first time: EPCOT.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, Test Track, and Soarin’ Around the World are some of EPCOT’s busiest attractions, and with this news, they would likely be walk-ons. Not to mention, the crowds flooding the 11 country Pavilions would dissipate, allowing for a more immersive Park experience.

With After-Hours tickets ranging from $129 to $139 for general admission based on different event dates and $99 for Disney Vacation Club members, the After-Hours nights kicked off on June 1. Any Walt Disney World Resort Guests could access an advance-purchase window at Disney Resort hotels, Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotels, and Shades of Green at Walt Disney World Resort. Tickets allow Disney enthusiasts to enjoy three hours at EPCOT with added access to all of its household favorites, free snacks, and exclusive character meet-and-greets.

Nothing is perfect on the first try, though—even at Disney. And for a few Guests who eagerly entered EPCOT for the extra magic, they took to Reddit to express their disappointment.

An Epic EPCOT Fail

Disney fans who love EPCOT have become accustomed to high expectations. The dining, the details, and the Disney magic make it one of the top theme Parks—not only at Disney World but across Spaceship Earth—we mean, the globe.

EPCOT is the ideal blend of classic Disney and current updates, making it a consistent hot spot for Guests. For those attending the first After-Hours event, the bar was high, which left Guests like ​​u/ren_in_rome disappointed enough to share this on Reddit:

Epcot After Hours Disaster

GOG is a 60 minute wait with one train down and Remys is down too. Lots of people are unhappy…

Epcot After Hours Disaster
byu/ren_in_rome inWaltDisneyWorld

The appeal of paying extra to navigate the Parks once all the kiddos head back to their Resorts for bedtime is the limited crowd size. With a cap on how many After-Hours tickets were sold, Disney set the stage for the EPCOT night to run smoothly. But according to Redditors, some of the rides didn’t run at all. In another comment, ​​u/ren_in_rome added:

No, test track was broken for like an hour, and even now they are running at low capacity

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Another Disney fan added a similar Deluxe Hours EPCOT experience in solidarity:

This reminds me… the last time I was @ EP Deluxe hours (Mon 5/22) was awful imo. On Guardians only one side was being loaded instead of both, ultimately making the total time from entering the queue to getting off 45 minutes (and it was “moving” that whole time). Um hello, isn’t the point of those hours so that there is extra time and reduced waits? 

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byu/ren_in_rome from discussion
inWaltDisneyWorld

Although Disney left some magic to be desired for these Guests, there are more opportunities to get quality EPCOT time at upcoming events with extended evening hours. Hopefully, Guests will have a smoother ride on the June 15, 22, and 29 After-Hours dates.