Obviously I love visiting the Disney Parks anytime I can, but in my opinion the parks are the most enjoyable at night. There are many reasons why this is true, but I have simplified it into three main reasons. Here are my 3 reasons why the Disney Parks are better at night:
3) Beautiful Lighting
When the lights turn on in a Disney Park, I think the entire park feels more magical. The signage on Main Street U.S.A. pops, Adventureland’s low lighting feels dark and mysterious, and Tomorrowland’s neon lights makes that area of the park come alive. Walt Disney used his understanding of movie sets to make Disneyland feel extraordinary. Just like Walt Disney controlled the lighting on a movie set, at night the Disney Parks Imagineers are able to set the scene by controlling the lighting to perfectly mirror the theming of a certain area of the park. Little details like this may have never occurred to you as you walked through a Disney Park, but these little details are major parts of Disney’s ability to make the Disney Park experience feel detailed and in-depth. The more control that Disney Imagineers have over a part of the park the more astonishing it feels.
2) Shorter Lines
As you probably know Disney vacations attract a lot of young families. As night approaches, many of these families head back to their hotel to put their young children to bed. Especially after the fireworks end the park seems to drain out, which leads to vastly shorter lines. The family-friendly attractions in Fantasyland have the biggest drop off in my experience. When the park is open until 12am or later you’ll notice some of your favorite attractions will even become walk-ons. Late at night some attractions, like Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, will even allow some guests to remain seated to ride twice in a row! While this isn’t common it is a magical moment that is a lot more likely as the crowds begin to empty out towards the end of the night. My favorite time to get in line for an attraction is right as the park is closing. It probably annoys the cast members who want to go home for the night, but I’ve noticed that the wait times are often overestimated right as the park closes. By this I mean a wait time that is listed as 45 minutes might actually only be 25 minutes. I can’t confirm this, but I believe this is done to detract guests from forming big lines for an attraction at the very end of the night.
Not only are there shorter lines at night, but there are also less people walking around the park in general. Walking around the park and not being shoulder to shoulder with strangers is a nice feeling.
1) Cooler Weather
Visiting central Florida and southern California means warm weather, palm trees, and sandy beaches, but it also means extremely warm days in the Disney Parks. Both resorts in the summer season can easily reach 95-degrees on an average summer day. That warm weather is awfully tiring when you are walking around a theme park. That is why visiting the park at night is so much more enjoyable. 95-degree weather can drop down to 75-degree weather in the matter of a few hours, which makes the parks much more manageable. Being able to walk around the Magic Kingdom or Disneyland Park without creating massive armpit sweat stains is a major plus to visiting the parks at night. The heat from central Florida and southern California are so hot that you’ll probably going to want a shower and a quick nap at your hotel anyways. So now you can use that extra energy to stay up late and enjoy the park when it is nice and cool.
Stephen "Steve" Porter started going to the parks with his family in 1996. Since then he hasn't looked back! Steve was a cast member participating in the Disney College Program in 2013. Most recently he graduated from Penn State University!
