After Dark at the Parks: Your WDW Resort Can Help Beat the Summer Heat!
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As everyone knows, summer in Orlando is hotter than the surface of the sun, and spending all day in the parks can be brutal! I’m sharing my favorite way to use your Walt Disney World resort perks to help you stay cool and enjoy the parks after the sun goes down.
This plan requires a flexible schedule and is best suited for adults or families with teens or older kids who can easily and happily stay awake until 1:00 AM or so. And since this is taking advantage of After Hours/Party Events or Extended Evening Hours, it’s best for visitors who have been to WDW plenty of times before and don’t mind missing some daytime attractions/entertainment that may not be available during those events.
For this plan, you’ll want to look at the calendar I’ve provided below and choose several consecutive After Hours Events, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Events, and Extended Evening Hours events that include any parks you want to visit during your trip. And bonus - these events don’t use Lightning Lanes, so no need to bother with that or pay extra! You’ll enjoy much shorter lines for the attractions in most cases, simply due to the lower crowds at these events.
After Hours Events: You’ll need to buy separate tickets for each After Hours event that you want to attend. You can stay at any resort, even off-site if you want, and are still eligible to attend these events. Popcorn and drinks are included with your ticket! You’ll be allowed to enter the park at 7:00 PM, so you’ll also get a couple of hours of regular park time to enjoy before the After Hours event starts. Plan to eat dinner before entering the park so you can make the most of your park time!
Extended Evening Hours: You’ll need a regular park ticket for that day in order to stay late in the park for Extended Evening Hours. You must be a guest of a Deluxe or Deluxe Villa resort to be eligible (especially great for Passholders who already have park admission covered!) Since you have regular park admission, you can enter the park whenever you’d like to, but the idea here is to arrive around sunset so it’s not so hot. Then, after the park officially closes, you’re able to stay for 2 more hours and enjoy the attractions after dark!
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party: You’ll need to buy separate tickets for each MNSSHP event that you want to attend. You can stay at any resort, even off-site if you want, and are still eligible to attend these events. Your ticket allows you to enter Magic Kingdom as early as 4:00 PM, and the party includes unlimited trick-or-treat candy and lots of special parades, fireworks, characters, and ride overlays that are exclusive to this party and unavailable to day guests.
Once you have your parks planned, choose a resort that offers a lot of great daytime resort activities. Remember, if you want to be eligible for Extended Evening Hours, you’ll need to stay at a Deluxe resort. Each day, you can spend the day sleeping in late, enjoying resort activities (ideally indoor ones with air conditioning!), resort dining and character meals, pools, resort hopping, and Disney Springs. Then, in the evenings, visit the parks for your After Hours/Party Event or Extended Evening Hours.
You can also consider a split stay if you only need to be a Deluxe Resort guest for a day or two to take advantage of Extended Evening Hours, then you can stay at a less expensive resort for the rest of your trip. You’re still considered Deluxe resort guests for your entire check-in and check-out days. So for instance, if you were to stay at Polynesian Sunday night, check out Monday morning, and switch to Pop Century on Monday afternoon, you’re still eligible to attend Extended Evening Hours on Monday evening since you’re considered a Deluxe resort guest until the parks close on your check-out day.
In addition to Extended Evening Hours, in comparison to Value or Moderate resorts, most Deluxe resorts also offer a lot of extra resort activities to keep you busy during the day before you head to the parks! They also generally offer larger rooms, and the 1-Bedroom Villas and larger include a washer/dryer and a full kitchen, so you could save a little money by cooking meals in the room. Guests of the Cabins at Fort Wilderness are also eligible for Extended Evening Hours since those cabins are DVC properties now!
I’ve stayed at every WDW resort, and my top recommendations for resorts with the most activities and best for when you’re spending a lot of time at the resort are: Animal Kingdom Lodge (either Jambo or Kidani, both are great), Fort Wilderness Cabins, Port Orleans (either Riverside or French Quarter, both are great), and Saratoga Springs. Any Monorail Resort or Skyliner Resort would also be a great option, since that makes it easy to resort-hop and join activities at other resorts along the monorail or Skyliner routes (except the pools, of course - you are only entitled to use the pools at your own resort).
Disney has a lot of special offers happening right now that can give you a great discount on your resort room, and you can find details about those on Disney’s website. And for an even better deal on a Deluxe resort, you can rent DVC points or a Confirmed Reservation from DVC Rental Store!
PRICE COMPARISON
For a quick comparison, I looked at the prices for June 18-21, 2025. During those dates, you could attend Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom on Wednesday, an After Hours Event at Epcot on Thursday, and H2O Glow After Hours at Typhoon Lagoon on Friday. The prices below are room-only and do not include park tickets.
Booking directly with Disney and applying their “Stay Longer and Save More” special offer for a Deluxe Studio-Preferred View at Polynesian for June 18-21: $2,519.07
Renting DVC points through DVC Rental Store for the same room type and same dates: $1,575.00 (or $1,725.00 if you include Cash Back Protection)
For fun (and not super hot!) activities to do at your resort during the day before you head to the parks, check out some of these:
Pools and Poolside Activities
Rent a Pool Cabana
Guided Fishing Excursion (outdoors, but the earliest reservation is 7:00 AM)
Horseback Trail Riding at Fort Wilderness (outdoors, but the earliest reservation is 8:00 AM)
Golf (outdoors, but the earliest tee time is 6:40 AM)
Crafts and games at Community Hall
String of Memories Bead Activities at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Make Kukui Nut Leis at Polynesian
I’ve made some handy calendars for this summer so you can see all the consecutive after-dark events in the parks to help you choose your dates! A few things to know:
Events at each park are labeled with a different color. Symbols will show if that particular event is Extended Evening Hours or a ticketed After Hours/Party Event.
The parks assigned for Extended Evening Hours are only loaded onto the park calendars 60 days in advance, so right now, I could only include details for Extended Evening Hours on these calendars through July 23. For future dates beyond that, you’ll need to check the WDW park hours yourself and see which park is hosting Extended Evening Hours. I’ve included placeholders on the calendar to show you when those Extended Evening Hours should occur, assuming they follow the current pattern.
I hope these calendars and plans are helpful and allow you to take a summer Disney vacation while staying cool and taking full advantage of your resort’s amenities and activities!
