2023 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Dates, Details, Tips, Rides & Review

After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a tough ticket occasion with restricted attendance and quick wait occasions for Walt Disney World’s hottest sights. This put up shares our expertise, information in regards to the occasion, 2023 dates & particulars, ideas & tips, and whether or not it’s well worth the cash. (Updated December 19, 2022.)

This is the most recent of the After Hours occasions, which debuted at Magic Kingdom just a few years in the past. For 2023, After Hours is as soon as once more returning to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, with dates within the winter and spring, with extra prone to come.

After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios takes place choose nights from January 4, 2023 till April 19, 2023. This occasion takes place from 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM. In addition to that, After Hours attendees can get a head begin on the enjoyable by getting into the park at 7:00 PM—a few hours earlier than the occasion formally begins!

Ticket costs for After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios range based mostly on date:

One of the hallmarks of the After Hours occasions at Walt Disney World is the limitless ice cream novelties, popcorn, and bottled drinks. These are all included in the price of this ticketed occasion–you merely stroll as much as out of doors merchandising carts stationed all through DHS and seize a Premium Mickey Bar, Coca-Cola, or no matter else.

You may also buy meals and drinks at choose eating areas, however that is usually a horrible use of the restricted occasion time. Eat earlier than you arrive or replenish on ice cream and different treats on-the-go throughout After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

During After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, sights will embody:

• Alien Swirling Saucers
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
• Slinky Dog Dash
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Toy Story Mania!
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

There’s one notable distinction between the 2023 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the final time the occasion was held is the journey roster. This is the primary time that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway shall be open for After Hours.

This is extremely noteworthy, particularly for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which usually sells Individual Lightning Lane entry and has one of many longest wait occasions at Walt Disney World. In reality, DHS has a number of of the preferred sights in all of Walt Disney World, with the very best common wait occasions amongst all 4 parks!

As such, the operative query about After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is what number of rides are you able to accomplish? Narrowing {that a} bit additional, we assume most individuals studying this are involved with headliners like Slinky Dog Dash–and the way a lot time might be saved by paying to attend After Hours versus a standard day at DHS…

During the final After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we did the next:

• Slinky Dog Dash (x6)
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (x4)
• Tower of Terror (x2)
• Alien Swirling Saucers (x1)
• Toy Story Mania (x1)
• Buzz Lightyear Meet & Greet (x1)
• Woody & Jessie Meet & Greet (x1)

That’s a complete of 16 issues, and we may’ve simply finished extra if effectivity have been our lone purpose and we didn’t crisscross the park as a lot. With Annual Passholder pricing of $99 or as much as $149 common pricing at our occasion, that breaks right down to round $6 to $10 per expertise.

We additionally ate a few half dozen ice cream novelties and had just a few Cokes, every of that are additionally limitless/included in the price of admission throughout the occasion. You can study extra about pricing and 2023 Disney After Hours dates on the official web site.

As famous above, After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios doesn’t require common theme park admission and permits entry as early as 7 p.m. As with the Disney’s Hollywood Studios model of the occasion, the particular occasion begins half-hour after official park closing–at 9:30 p.m., and runs for 3 hours till 12:30 a.m. This means you’ll be able to see Fantasmic or knock out just a few less-popular sights throughout the mix-in that begins earlier than After Hours formally kicks off.

The final time we attended, we did Slinky Dog Dash as quickly because the occasion formally started. Surprisingly, the road had already practically or completely cleared of day friends. Unfortunately, everybody else who had arrived for After Hours had this similar thought, so the road was roughly 10 minutes lengthy. Incredibly quick by Slinky Dog Dash requirements, however our longest line of the evening.

We most likely may’ve finished a bit extra selection and fewer rides on the curler coasters, however these are the issues with the longest daytime waits, in order that they have been our focus. Just with the highest two gadgets, we conservatively saved 10 hours of time in line (give or take).

Of course, not many individuals are going to decide on to attend in line an hour-plus for Slinky Dog Dash twice in the identical day, a lot much less six occasions, so the period of time “saved” right here is barely misleading. I imply, we additionally had numerous Mickey Premium Bars, bottled water, and Coke–the worth of which might’ve exceeded $50 have been we paying out of pocket, however I’d by no means purchase a bottle of water at Walt Disney World within the first place, a lot much less 6 of them in a day.

Throughout the evening, the one attraction with any line was Slinky Dog Dash, which tended to be round 3-7 minutes, with an extended line initially of the evening and a big surge instantly after the fireworks. Tower of Terror additionally had a wait within the boiler room, however that’s a results of the way it masses and never a perform of crowds.

Everything else was a close to walk-on for everything of the evening. On Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, we had our personal practice as soon as, and most rides on that have been lower than one-third full. The excellent news with each RnRC and Tower of Terror is that the pre-shows have been elective. We watched every as soon as (as a result of not like Flight of Passage, they’re superior) after which skipped each on subsequent rides.

Despite this, Disney’s Hollywood Studios felt barely busier than the After Hours at Animal Kingdom occasion. Part of it is a perform of park measurement, DHS being much more compact. We’d additionally hazard a guess that there have been extra attendees on the Disney’s Hollywood Studios occasion.

Going ahead, we’d anticipate that attendance will improve on the After Hours as constructive phrase of mouth spreads. However, even when double the variety of tickets are offered, we nonetheless wouldn’t anticipate the occasion to really feel considerably totally different. Most journey autos (save for Slinky Dog Dash) have been being dispatched partially empty, so there was loads of capability to spare in these ‘walk-on’ wait occasions.

The greatest distinction you may see is a 7-10 minute look ahead to Slinky Dog Dash as a substitute of a 3-7 minute wait. We’ll regulate crowds to see what occurs there. Now that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has debuted and its headliners are included, the 2023 After Hours occasion will virtually definitely be busier than the final time After Hours was held at DHS.

Save for just a few meet & greets, none of Disney’s Hollywood Studios main leisure choices run completely throughout After Hours. This virtually necessitates a return go to to the park a distinct day, except you’ve already ‘been there, done that’ with the entire exhibits. During that totally different day, we’d additionally suggest doing any sights which can be actually prolonged from begin to end (Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run) or that don’t supply super time financial savings throughout After Hours (Star Tours).

In phrases of ideas, our recommendation could be to start out on the Sunset Boulevard rides (Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror) and finish with Toy Story Land. The latter was positively busiest proper after fireworks, and by the point that crowd cycled by Slinky Dog Dash a few occasions, it just about dissipated.

Our recommendation could be to plan your arrival to Toy Story Land for the second half of the occasion. At this level, your common cycle time (wait time plus journey plus exiting) for Slinky Dog Dash or Toy Story Mania must be at or beneath quarter-hour, and at or beneath 5 minutes for Alien Swirling Saucers or the meet & greets.

Another large piece of preliminary recommendation for the 2023 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is to avoid wasting Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance till close to the tip of the night. This goes to be the cause that many or most individuals buy tickets to After Hours at DHS, and lots of them are going to prioritize it. The line will virtually definitely be worst early-on, and considerably shorter within the final hour of the occasion.

Our expectation is that lots of friends will go in with the expectation of doing “unlimited” rides on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, with grandiose concepts of driving it dozens of occasions throughout the occasion. That is, till actuality units in.

In all probability, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will begin out with wait occasions of a minimum of half-hour when the occasion begins (if not longer). People will endure that after or possibly twice, earlier than transferring on to different sights. Others will preserve driving, however burnout will inevitably set-in for a few causes.

First, as nice as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is–and we predict it’s the #1 attraction at Walt Disney World–it’s not extremely re-rideable within the back-to-back-to-back (and so forth.) sense. It’s an amazing storytelling attraction, not one which delivers thrills or prompts a visceral response.

Second, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is lengthy. It’s a multi-phase attraction, and it possible received’t be attainable to skip all or maybe any of the pre-shows throughout the 2023 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We’ve discovered that even with excellent timing, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance takes 18 minutes to expertise from start-to-finish.

That’s the best possible case situation. More possible, these attendees who line up early are going to sink virtually an hour into one journey on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Those who do two rides again to again at first of the occasion are prone to eat up practically 90 minutes of their After Hours time. Few will do 3 consecutive rides because of this.

Even if you happen to did Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance from the second you might enter DHS till the conclusion of After Hours, it’s possible you’d solely handle about 10 rides on the Galaxy’s Edge headliner. So not precisely “unlimited” rides regardless of the way you slice it. (Honestly, that’s superb by us. We completely adore Rise of the Resistance, however I couldn’t do it 10 consecutive occasions. It would begin to lose its luster and the magic would put on off. For me, twice throughout the night is just about excellent.)

Accordingly, our sturdy advice is saving Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance till the very finish. If you solely wish to do the attraction as soon as, you’ll be able to bounce in line 1 minute earlier than After Hours ends. This will successfully lengthen the occasion, as you’ll do your ready in line and many of the prolonged attraction period after the occasion has formally ended.

If you wish to do Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance twice, contemplate doing it as soon as round 90 minutes earlier than the occasion concludes, then bounce over to Toy Story Land for a bit, after which return to Rise of the Resistance once more 1 minute earlier than After Hours ends. This is a greater balanced strategy, and in addition mitigates the chance of downtime (if you happen to wait till the very finish, there’s at all times an opportunity that Rise of the Resistance shall be down and never come again up throughout the occasion–it nonetheless suffers from reliability and downtime woes).

We’d additionally suggest sticking to 1 space, doing that on repeat, and never returning. Even although Disney’s Hollywood Studios isn’t big, the stroll from Toy Story Land or Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to Sunset Boulevard is a time eater.

We didn’t comply with our personal recommendation right here, as a substitute doing every a few occasions, grabbing among the included refreshments, after which slowly meandering again in the direction of the opposite whereas consuming our Mickey’s Premium Bars or what have you ever.

After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios bears similarities to the Animal Kingdom occasion. As is the case there, it is a headliner-heavy occasion. Whereas you’ll be able to go for selection at Magic Kingdom, the lineup right here is extra restricted. To get probably the most worth from a time-savings perspective out of After Hours at DHS, you want to be fascinated with driving Slinky Dog Dash and/or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster a number of occasions.

We suppose that’s actually what the occasion comes right down to. You definitely don’t have to journey them each a mixed 10 occasions as we did, however you’ll wish to do them quite a lot of occasions. If you’re a curler coaster junkie, it is a nice occasion, and the truth that each of those headliners are close to walk-ons (and you could skip the RnRC pre-show) means you might do loops of each and get your journey counts into the double digits over the course of the evening.

Conversely, if you happen to’re solely fascinated with experiencing all the things as soon as, arriving for Early Entry at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and even doing our Half-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Itinerary with a powerful Genie+ sport must be enough.

Whether it is best to do After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios comes right down to your private attraction priorities (are you a curler coaster junkie who desires to loop the 2 main ones right here?), funds, and averseness to crowds. If you hate crowds and are keen to splurge, After Hours at DHS shall be an amazing occasion for you.

It’s completely a matter of non-public choice, however we predict the 2023 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios occasion will supply a lot extra worth than it beforehand did now that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway are included. While all of these are long-duration sights (and we would contemplate skipping two of them throughout After Hours because of this), it’s nice to have entry to them.

For thrill junkies, doing Slinky Dog Dash or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster on repeat is a good technique–and one that may end in a excessive journey rely, as each of those sights are quick period and might be looped fairly simply. In specific, Slinky Dog Dash is a good attraction to do throughout After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, because it has no pre-show and usually is a high 5 attraction in all of Walt Disney World by way of the posted wait time! DHS can be probably the most tough Genie+ Lightning Lane to e book, so doing After Hours as a substitute relieves that stress.

Ultimately, there isn’t a “perfect” strategy to effectively approaching Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Genie+ works properly, however not practically to the diploma that it does at Magic Kingdom–and it requires staying the entire day at DHS as a consequence of return home windows getting pushed out. Early Entry is one other wonderful possibility, however will solely assist you to hit ~3 headliners. Showing up late is one other savvy technique, but it surely additionally received’t assist you to get all the things finished, not to mention a number of rides on headliners.

This leaves the 2023 After Hours occasion as one of the simplest ways to effectively “do” Disney’s Hollywood Studios in a frustration-free method. Obviously, this comes with a excessive worth, however in our estimation, the After Hours occasion is extra prone to be “worth it” at DHS than another park. (Of course, Magic Kingdom is probably the most iconic park at Walt Disney World, so it’s arduous to argue with that as a superb possibility.) It’s on this foundation that we’re recommending the 2023 After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to most friends who’ve it of their funds. This occasion is a good way to splurge and reduce stress and complications that usually happen at DHS.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you consider Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ After Hours occasion? Planning on doing the 2023 After Hours at DHS to see what number of occasions you’ll be able to journey Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in a single evening? Is this one thing that pursuits you, or is the associated fee too excessive to justify? How many occasions would you wish to do the 2 coasters in a single evening? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluate of the occasion? Any questions we will help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!