A couple of weeks ago Disney announced a new extra ticketed event that seemed to offer something very similar to “Extra Magic Hours” but for a price. Lots of opinions were shared about the event before it even got off the ground and opinions were very divisive. I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the first night of the event at the Magic Kingdom last week. The question you see most people having about this event is whether or not it’s worth it. A hard question to answer but I will give it a shot.

Let’s first take a look at what this “After Hours at Magic Kingdom” event is all about.

What is After Hours at Magic Kingdom?

Join a very limited number of guests for over 25 attractions, Characters, ice cream and more. For seven magical nights between April 14 and May 19, 2016, more excitement awaits when Magic Kingdom park closes its gates for Disney After Hours—a special ticketed event that lets you make the most of the park for three additional hours after normal closing hours. This is your chance to take advantage of little-to-no waits, all while experiencing over 25 of the most popular attractions in the park. Tickets to the event are $149 per Guest (tax not included). You can get tickets HERE.

What do you get for the ticket price?

Exclusive access to Magic Kingdom attractions such as:

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Disney Princess Greetings at Princess Fairytale Hall

Peter Pan’s Flight

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Space Mountain

Ice Cream Novelties, Select Beverages and More

In the midst of the laughs and thrills, delight your sweet side with ice cream novelties and select bottled beverages. These treats are included with the cost of your ticket and can be found at carts stationed throughout the park (available during event hours only).

Limited amount of tickets are sold for each night. According to many cast members I talked to the ticket cap was at 3,000.

Is it worth it?

A question many guests may ask and almost impossible to answer. If an event is worth it to you or not is a total subjective question that depends on your personal characteristics. But here are some thoughts I had on this event.

When Disney says you will get exclusive access to the park and its attractions they really mean it. For this first night of the event the park was eerily empty and it was a sold out night. No attraction sported anything longer than a 5 minute wait time and there was plenty of areas of the park where you could have it all to yourself for that perfect photo op.

Free ice cream and bottle beverage stands could be found in multiple locations throughout the park. Plenty of chances to devour $150 worth of ice cream.

If you are a frequent reader of this site, a so called “huge Disney fan“”, this event is not aimed at you. I believe this event is for the “once in a lifetime” Disney visitor who doesn’t understand the amount of planning a Disney vacation demands nowadays. Disney fans who know they need to be at the park at opening and fully understand how to work the FP+ system don’t really need this. But for the ones who show up at Disney World not fully informed and therefore never get a chance to, for example, ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train because of the constantly long wait time may be really tempted by this offer.

To figure out if this event is worth it to you, you clearly have to weigh how much your time is worth against your budget. If time is of an essence and you rather not waste it in line for attractions, then yes paying $149 may be worth it to you. I have a hard time figuring out any other time when you will see the Magic Kingdom this empty. But if this is your 5th trip to Disney, you can visit Magic Kingdom more than once and plan out your FP+ correctly I see no reason why you wouldn’t be able to experience all the attractions without much of a wait time. Which only leaves you the free ice cream and that surely wouldn’t be enough to be worth the ticket price.

If this was offered during Christmas or Fourth of July weekend I could see it having much bigger appeal but as for now it is not.

Are you tempted to buy a ticket to After Hours at Magic Kingdom?