Okay, so we know a lot of folks are currently planning their Disney World trips for 2026.
After Hours at Magic Kingdom
Maybe you’ve even already figured out your budget, booked your hotel, and picked out which tickets you need. If you’re looking for something a little different, though, you might want to consider After Hours events — limited ticketed events that happen after the parks close, giving you three hours in the parks with shorter lines for everything, plus free drinks and snacks. If you’re interested, Disney just confirmed that After Hours for Magic Kingdom will return in 2026.
Disney World recently confirmed that After Hours events will be returning to Magic Kingdom in 2026, although no dates for the events have been given yet. In the past, After Hours events have been held in Magic Kingdom from January through mid-May, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for dates.
After Hours at Magic Kingdom
So here’s how it works: you’ll pay for a ticket just FOR After Hours in Magic Kingdom, which generally start at 10 PM and run through 1 AM. However, you’ll be able to get into the park three hours before the event begins, or at 7 PM. Your ticket includes access to much shorter lines for rides (as tickets for After Hours are limited), as well as being able to visit Magic Kingdom with far fewer crowds.
Fewer crowds at After Hours events!
Your ticket also gets you free select snacks and drinks, including ice cream novelties, popcorn, and select bottled beverages. These snacks and drinks will be available at carts throughout the park. Other snacks and drinks will also be available for purchase at select locations throughout the park.
Popcorn and water at EPCOT After Hours
We’ll keep you updated as Disney releases more information about After Hours events in 2026, so stay tuned to DFB for more.
Everything Included in the $185 Ticket for Magic Kingdom After Hours
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Have you ever attended an After Hours event in Disney World? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!
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Went to After Hours at Hollywood Studios last year and the wife and I really enjoyed it had more than enough ice cream, popcorn and soda 😋 best of all only a 5 minute wait for Rise of the Resistance and no wait at all for Smugglers Run in fact we had the whole ship to ourselves great time will do it again 😀
Which rides will actually be available? Won’t there still be so much construction?
I wish WDW would do this event similar to “Disneyland After Dark”, with themes for the evening. I have attended Star Wars Nite, Sweethearts Nite, 80s Nite, 90s Nite, Throwback Nite and Pixar Nite. Great fun! Character meet ‘n’ greet depending on the theme.
We did AH at MK in 2023 and had the best time! My kids at the time didn’t really care about parades, shows or meet & greets and this was the most effective way to bang out a bunch of rides in a short period of time.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend AH if its your first time at MK (or any other parks) but if you’ve been before and only care about doing rides, then this is 100% worth it!
I got to ride Peter Pan’s Flight 4 times in a row, with no wait! It was a very magical ✨️ experience 😂
And the free soda and snacks were awesome!
The only mistake we made was planning our only AK day the day after. We did NOT want to get up early the next day and didnt get to AK til about noon time, which didn’t leave us much time. Which wasnt a big deal to us, but may be for others.