Disney After Hours events have been happening for several years at Magic Kingdom, and for a period of time it was kicked up a notch with the introduction of a wickedly good theme.
Disney Villains After Hours offered guests the same low waits at their favorite attractions as the regular version with a few additional evil entertainment elements tossed in.
Here’s everything you need to know, including how much it cost, who we thought should have attended, and a suggested itinerary for those that planned to go.
Update: Not currently scheduled
The Disney Villains After Hours event was offered in 2019 and 2020 prior to the parks shutting down. It has not been brought back at this point. However, the normal Magic Kingdom After Hours events have made a return in 2023. As of now, there is no word on whether the Villains version will eventually return.
What was Disney Villains After Hours?
Disney Villains After Hours was a separately-ticketed event (meaning it’s a ticket that is purchased separate from regular park tickets) that allowed people to enter Magic Kingdom at 7 p.m. and stay until either 12 or 1 a.m. (depending on the party date).
Unlike the regular version of this event, though, Disney Villains After Hours had more of a party atmosphere.
In fact, you can think of it as a sort of hybrid between Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and the regular Magic Kingdom After Hours.
Some things are the same
Like regular After Hours event, your ticket would get you in at 7 p.m., which is before the official start time of either 9 or 10 p.m. (start time depends on the night).
If you were entering with just your party ticket (meaning you weren’t spending your day at Magic Kingdom), you could get your credentials (a wristband) at the gate.
If you were going to be in Magic Kingdom before 7 p.m., you’d be able to pick up your wristband at special locations throughout the park.
Even though this version had a theme, there were still a limited number of tickets sold.
Though the ticket allowed you to enter at 7:00 p.m., the event didn’t begin until 10:00 p.m. which meant you could do things between 7 and the event starting time that weren’t available during the party.
Most importantly, that included fireworks, attractions, and character meets that weren’t open during the event.
Here’s how it is different
Food
Complimentary snacks:
Villains After Hours included the same complimentary snacks (unlimited ice cream treats, popcorn, and bottled beverages) as the regular version.
You’d typically find these at the carts and kiosks spread throughout the park, so if the line looked long at one it might be worth it to hold off and try the next one you came across.
Available for purchase:
But, in addition to all the free stuff, you’d also have access to lots of other wicked goodies (all villain-themed) that you could purchase:
Adventureland
- Tortuga Tavern – Diamond in the Rough
- Cheshire Café – Painting the Roses Red
Fantasyland
- Storybook Treats – Body Language and Poor Unfortunate Soul
- Gaston’s Tavern – Five Dozen Eggs Slush
Liberty Square
- Sleepy Hollow – Just Take Three
Frontierland
- Diamond Horseshoe Saloon Lounge – small bites, beer, wine, and specialty beverages
Merchandise
Like merch?
Villains After Hours had its own collection of exclusive merchandise, too.
If you’re looking for something to remember the evening by you’d find several items to choose from…
Entertainment
Probably the most obvious way Villains After Hours differed from the regular After Hours was by the special entertainment offerings it had:
- Disney Villains stage show – This show called “Villains Unite the Night” starred Hades and Meg from “Hercules” with some special appearances by Jafar, The Queen, Dr. Facilier, and Maleficent.
- Cursed Caravan (NEW for 2020) – A few “friends” joined Maleficent the Dragon twice nightly for the new “Villains’ Cursed Caravan.” The caravan featured several villains, including Gaston, Oogie Boogie, Cruella DeVil, and Captain Hook, among others.
- “Villanous Enhancements” to attractions – Both Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain had some fun villain-themed additions for these special nights. On Pirates, live actors joined the animatronics to entertain you as you rode. For Space Mountain, the experience was changed to be completely in the dark (no lights at the beginning, no projections, etc.).
Disney Villains After Hours map
Click to open PDF version of map.
Dates and times
If you wanted to attend in 2020, you’d have plenty of options to choose from:
Note: due to worldwide events, some previously scheduled dates were effected and are indicated below:
- Friday, February 7, 2020*
- Friday, February 14, 2020
- Friday, February 21, 2020*
- Friday, February 28, 2020
- Friday, March 6, 2020*
- Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Wednesday, March 18, 2020Friday, March 27, 2020Friday, April 3, 2020Friday, April 10, 2020Friday, April 17, 2020Friday, April 24, 2020Friday, May 1, 2020Friday, May 8, 2020Thursday, May 14, 2020Friday, May 22, 2020Friday, May 29, 2020Friday, June 5, 2020Friday, June 12, 2020Friday, June 19, 2020Friday, June 26, 2020Monday, June 29, 2020Monday, July 6, 2020Friday, July 10, 2020
*These 3 Disney Villain After Hours events took place from 9:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m.
All the other events took place from 10:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m.
That’s a LOT more dates than what were available in 2019:
- Thursday, June 6, 2019
- Thursday, June 13, 2019
- Thursday, June 20, 2019
- Thursday, June 27, 2019
- Monday, July 1, 2019
- Thursday, July 11, 2019
- Thursday, July 18, 2019
- Thursday, July 25, 2019
- Thursday, August 1, 2019
- Thursday, August 8, 2019
But, be prepared for a late night. Most nights, this event took place from 10:00 p.m. until 1 a.m.
Attractions & Character Meets
Unlike Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and the regular After Hours events, there weren’t any character meets at these.
Other than that, the majority of the park was open making it easy to see and ride all of your favorites (while still having time to check out the exclusive Villainous offerings).
Here’s what you could typically find available:
Adventureland
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- Jungle Cruise
- Pirates of the Caribbean (with Villainous enhancements)
- Swiss Family Treehouse
- Enchanted Tiki Room
Frontierland
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Splash Mountain
- Country Bear Jamboree
Liberty Square
- Haunted Mansion
Fantasyland
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
- The Barnstormer
- Dumbo
- “it’s a small world”
- Mad Tea Party
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid
Tomorrowland
- Astro Orbiter
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Space Mountain (with Villainous enhancements)
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
And here’s what was NOT available:
- Happily Ever After (but you could see it with your ticket before the park closes)
- Character meets
Main Street, U.S.A.
- Meet Mickey at Town Square Theater
- Meet Tinkerbell at Town Square Theater
Fantasyland
- Enchanted Tales with Belle
- Princess Fairytale Hall
Liberty Square
- The Hall of Presidents
Tomorrowland
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
- Carousel of Progress
Disney Villains After Hours cost
Tickets for this version were slightly more expensive than those for the regular one:
- $145 (plus tax) for tickets purchased in advance.
- $155 (plus tax) for tickets purchased on the night of the event.
Discounts were available, though. Guests that had Annual Passes or were members of Disney’s Vacation Club could save $30/ticket (making the total with discount $115 plus tax).
Remember: your ticket would get you into the park starting at 7 pm so while it was pricey, it gave you 6 hours worth of park time, with several hours of that including free snacks, special entertainment, and access to most of the attractions.
We love the After Hours events at Magic Kingdom and think that if you were looking to add something special to a trip, this was a fantastic option.
How to get tickets
To purchase tickets you had a couple of options:
You could purchase them from your travel professional.
Or, if you’d rather, tickets could be purchased online or by calling 407-827-7185.
Dress the part
It is very typical for some guests to dress up (or DisneyBound) for special events like these.
If that sounds like something you would have liked to do, here’s the costume rules (according to Disney):
- You could dress up, but remember you can’t sign autographs (or try to pass yourself off as a Disney Cast Member)
- Costumes should be family friendly
- No weapons allowed (and nothing that people might mistake for a weapon), no sharp objects or anything that might injure another person
- Guests 13 and under could wear a mask as long as it didn’t cover the entire face
- For guests 14 and older: no costumes that drape heavily (like robes), capes should not go past the waist, and no masks of any kind
Planning your time
Here’s how we’d suggest you spend your time:
- Arrive at Magic Kingdom just before 7:00 so you can enter the park as soon as you can.
- Visit any attractions and character meets that won’t be open during the event.
- See the fireworks.
- Spend most of your time visiting attractions, picking up free snacks at kiosks throughout Magic Kingdom as you go.
- Plan to see at least 1 showing of the Villains Unite the Night Castle Show (typically shown at 11 p.m and 12:30 a.m. with a 10 p.m. event start time)
- See one showing of Villains’ Cursed Caravan (typically shown at 11:30 p.m. and 12:45 a.m.)
- Check out Maleficent as she wanders through the park.
- Grab a bottle or two of beverages to take back to your hotel.
- Have a PhotoPass photographer snap your pic on Main Street before you leave.
- Catch the Villains gathered at the train station on your way out.
Who should attend
Trying to decide whether or not the ticket price is worth it?
Keep in mind that we think that you don’t have to attend specially ticketed events like this in order to have a perfectly amazing vacation.
But, if you were looking for something special to add onto a vacation and you were traveling with people that can easily stay up late, this might have been a good fit.
Also, people on short trips may have found that purchasing an After Hours ticket instead of adding a day to their regular park tickets maybe made sense.
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