After Hours Boo Bash Plans (Plus Doing Magic Kingdom in One Day)

The first Halloween After Hours Boo Bash at Magic Kingdom was last week (yes, in early August). And since the second party is tonight with many more to come before Halloween, we wanted to share some of what we learned last week to help you make the most of your After Hours time. We’ve got two After Hours plans for you, depending on your party style. The first takes advantage of all of the characters, treats, and cavalcades while also letting you skip some of the the longest waits. And the second is all about the rides, if you’re taking advantage of After Hours just to avoid waiting for attractions. To complement both of those, we have a MK day plan that makes sure you experience the attractions that are closed during the After Hours event and that you get to see the best of what Magic Kingdom has to offer.

General After Hours Boo Bash Notes

The first After Hours Boo Bash was attended by our excellent in-parks team to get all of the details. You can read about all of The Good, The Bad, and The Scary if you haven’t already. But here are the important details for planning:

1. Wait times for attractions are minimal. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train topped out at a 20 minute wait, but everything else stayed at or below 5 minutes the rest of the night. Especially in the last hour, everything was a walk-on. In our plans we’ll use those “maximum” waits that we found.
2. You can enter the park at 7 pm on the night of your party. You can enter attraction queues at that point to get some out of the way before the party begins, but it will be much more crowded than during the After Hours event. But hey, you paid for the event. Don’t give up 2 to 2.5 hours in the park ahead of your 3 hour party. Some good attractions to choose are longer-duration ones that would eat up a significant amount of your After Hours time (like it’s a small world, Jungle Cruise, or Country Bear Jamboree)
3. Waits for treat locations were generally non-existent. There was one 2-minute wait, but all of the others were 30 seconds or less. In our plans we’ll assume 1 minute per treat location.
4. The cavalcades are short. The longest one, Mickey’s Happy Halloween Cavalcade, is less than a minute and a half from start to finish. And the shortest (Jack’s Nightmare Cavalcade) is just 32 seconds.
5. The party plans also assume 3 minutes per character stop to watch any antics and take any photos that you want.

After Hours Plan: Here to Party

This plan is for all of the folks that are about emphasizing special party-only offerings, and low wait-times are secondary to that. It should minimize walking, while still hitting all treat locations and character spots, and also allow time to watch every cavalcade.

• This plan assumes a 9:30 pm start time for now. Once the start time moves to 9 pm, I’ll come back and edit the times listed for future parties.
• Prior to the 9:30 start, make the most of your time in the Magic Kingdom by experiencing some attractions and/or watching Happily Ever After.
• This plan includes 4 attractions, which were selected to avoid large wait times during the day or to enjoy outdoor ambiance during the After Hours event.
• You’ll be on Main Street for about 25 minutes watching the last three cavalcades, but then there will still be a little less than half an hour of party time left. Use that time for PhotoPass, getting on walk-on attractions, or whatever else you enjoyed most early in the party.

After Hours Plan: Here for the Rides

This plan is all about hopping from ride to ride and taking advantage of the low crowds to experience a lot of headliners very quickly. But, hey, if you pass by a treat location, you might as well fuel yourself with a sugar rush, right? It turns out that really all you’re missing by emphasizing rides is one out-of-the-way treat location and the ability to schedule time to see the cavalcades. If that’s not important to you, here’s a plan for how to experience a LOT of attractions quickly without totally killing your feet.

• This plan still hits most of the treat locations and offers you the opportunity to pass by character spots along your way throughout the park.
• This plan assumes a 9:30 pm start time for now. Once the start time moves to 9 pm, I’ll come back and edit the times listed for future parties.
• Prior to the 9:30 start, make the most of your time in the Magic Kingdom by experiencing even more attractions and/or watching Happily Ever After. Some attractions will be closed during After Hours (Enchanted Tiki Room, Tom Sawyer Island, Liberty Square Riverboat, Hall of Presidents, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Carousel of Progress, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor), so if those are important to you, be sure to hit them when you arrive at 7.
• This plan wraps up just after midnight. You’ll have just under half an hour left in the party to stop by other attractions, revisit favorites, take photos, or brag on social media to all of your friends about how many attractions you were able to experience.

“The Rest” of Magic Kingdom in One Day

If you’re going to an After Hours Boo Bash, but you only have one more day during your vacation to spend in Magic Kingdom, we’ve come up with a suggested plan for that one day. This plan avoids a couple of the lengthier waits that we think you should do during the party instead. And it makes sure that you hit the attractions that are closed during the party so you don’t miss out. Anything in bold in the lists below is closed during the party, so if you’re a completionist, consider it a must-do.

• Start your morning in Fantasyland. Head to Peter Pan’s Flight first, then it’s a small world, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Prince Charming’s Regal Carrousel, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid.
• As you make your way over to Tomorrowland, you can experience Mad Tea Party, or detour over to Storybook Circus for Dumbo or the Barnstormer.
• Depending on the day’s waits, you may want to grab lunch before, during, or after experiencing attractions in Tomorrowland, including Space Mountain, the PeopleMover, Carousel of Progress, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.
• If you want to catch the daily cavalcades, your best opportunity is in the early afternoon from around 1:45 – 2:15 on Main Street or in Frontierland as wait times at attractions will be high.
• In the afternoon, avoid some more long waits by cooling off in the Hall of Presidents, taking the Liberty Square Riverboat, and exploring on Tom Sawyer Island. While you’re in the area, it’s also a good opportunity to ride The Haunted Mansion so you don’t have to walk back later.
• After killing some time at the attractions without heavy waits, knock out Big Thunder Mountain. After that, finish out your attractions with Enchanted Tiki Room, Country Bear Jamboree, Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise.
• Keep in mind that as 7 pm rolls around, crowds will start picking up as party attendees mix in with day guests.
• As always, watching Happily Ever After is a great way to wrap up your day.

Which type of party-goer are you? Do you value ambiance or attractions more highly? Have you already attending After Hours Boo Bash and want to tell us how it went? Let us know in the comments!