They only come out at night
Parks offer new special events
With annual happenings such as Halloween Horror Nights and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, parks have been offering special nighttime programming for years. The separate-ticket offerings are a great way to repackage parks with compelling events and generate additional revenue. By limiting attendance, the events also feature reduced wait times for attractions. (Walt Disney World foregoes thematic overlays altogether for Disney After Hours by charging guests a premium price to enjoy three extra hours of fun without huge crowds on select evenings at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Magic Kingdom.) Let’s take a look at some new nighttime events that parks are rolling out this year.
Universal Fan Fest Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood
Do you love Dungeons and Dragons? How about anime? The original Universal park is inviting geeks, freaks, and dorks to indulge their passion with like-minded fans of manga properties Jujutsu Kaisen and One Piece as well as the role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons. With its new Universal Fan Fest Nights, it is also rolling out the red carpet for Nintendo gamers and folks who just can’t get enough of the television and film franchises Back to the Future, Star Trek, and Harry Potter. The multi-faceted event is slated for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings commencing April 25 and continuing through May 18, 2025 with tickets starting at $74 a pop.
Marty McFly wanna-bes may long for Universal’s Back to the Future: The Ride (which was supplanted by The Simpsons Ride in 2015), but they’ll be able to witness a facsimile of the lightning strike that catapulted the tricked-out DeLorean through time and space at the actual clock tower in the preserved Courthouse Square backlot set from the original movie. Star Trek nerds might want to brush up on their Klingon in anticipation of the walk-through experience that will take them aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-D and onto the ship’s bridge from the streaming series, “Star Trek: Picard.”
Guests will also have the chance to enter Waterdeep for a walkthrough Dungeons and Dragons experience, watch Yuji Itadori and the gang in “Jujutsu Kaisen: Hunger of the Cursed” on the big screen in the park’s DreamWorks Theatre, and meet Luffy and his Straw Hat Crew in the One Piece: Grand Pirate Gathering fun zone. There will be extra things to see and do in two of Universal’s existing lands, including a new castle projection show and meet and greets with characters such as a baby dragon in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and a scavenger hunt along with drone displays in Super Nintendo World. Guests are encouraged to come dressed for cosplay. The Hollywood park will also have themed food items and merchandise available for purchase (of course). By incorporating so many properties, Universal Fan Fest Nights sounds quite ambitious.
Coasters After Dark: Seven Seas Edition at SeaWorld Orlando
SeaWorld Orlando has some great coasters, including Mako, Pipeline: The Surf Coaster, and Ice Breaker. It also offers the foodie event, Seven Seas Food Festival, which is taking place now through May 4, 2025. On select evenings from March 14 through April 11, the park will be combining the two for Coasters After Dark: Seven Seas Edition. Guests will be able to get multiple rides on the thrill machines with reduced wait times and check out dishes (five of which are included with admission), such as lobster rolls and beef gyros, at the food booths. There will also be complimentary popcorn (which, let’s face it, will surely drive beverage sales). SeaWorld has offered both Coasters After Dark and the food festival in the past, but this will mark the first time that it will be offering a hybrid of the two events. Tickets start at $69, which seems like a pretty decent deal.
Volcano Bay Nights at Universal Orlando
Gorgeously lit with lava smoke billowing from its top, Krakatau mountain, which sits at the center of Volcano Bay, is a stunning sight at night. Guests will get to ogle it up close (and ride the wildly thrilling slides that wind through it, including Ko'okiri Body Plunge) at Volcano Bay Nights. Scheduled for April 12, 26 and May 3, 10, 17, 2025, the new event will offer limited attendance and reduced wait times on ten of the water park’s most popular attractions. It will also include complimentary bites of a couple of food items (as well as other dishes available for purchase) and a beach party with a DJ, games, and DreamWorks characters. Disney World has been offering a similar event, H2O Glow After Hours, at its Typhoon Lagoon water park. Volcano Bay Nights tickets costs $99.
Have you been to any nighttime events at theme parks? Might you check out any of these new ones?