Disney Vacation Club Moonlight Magic is back! The first Moonlight Magic event since March 2020 marks a significant milestone in the return of events at Walt Disney World. Of course, things like Disney After Hours returned in fall/winter 2021, but this is the first time that the free extra hours event returns for Disney Vacation Club Members. In this article, we’ll briefly cover what Disney Vacation Club Moonlight Magic is, and dive into our evening at the EPCOT Moonlight Magic event.
What is Moonlight Magic?
Disney Vacation Club Moonlight Magic is a Membership Magic Extras benefit. What does that mean? It means that while Moonlight Magic is not included in your Disney Vacation Club purchase, it is an added benefit for being a member.
Moonlight Magic is a free event for Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members. Moonlight Magic takes place after the park closes and promises access to new and classic attractions with shorter-than-usual wait times, Character sightings, reimagined entertainment, and delectable delights.
For more information about the 2022 events, check out our earlier article linked below.
EPCOT Moonlight Magic Hours and Check-In
Moonlight Magic at EPCOT runs from 10pm to 1am, but can start much earlier depending on your vacation details. Like other special events, guests can check in earlier than the 10pm start time.
If you already have a Disney Park Pass reservation for EPCOT AND valid admission, early check-in is available at the DVC kiosk on the World Showcase bridge from 2pm to 7pm.
If you don’t have a Disney Park Pass reservation AND/OR valid admission, you can check into the event at either the EPCOT main entrance or the International Gateway entrance beginning at 6pm. Valid theme park admission and a Disney Park Pass reservation are not required if you check-in after 6pm at either of the park entrance locations.
We showed up to the event late in the evening, looking to avoid Festival crowds and Harmonious crowds. Perhaps our first tip would be to show up early if attractions are a priority to you. There’s no doubt that you will find very low wait times for attractions during the event, but you’ll probably want to divert your attention to character “sightings” and long lines for snacks instead of riding attractions that you can ride at any time during normal park hours. As with any special events like Disney After Hours or Moonlight Magic, your experience will vary based on your priorities. If you want to ride Frozen Ever After all night, nobody is going to stop you. Before we get too far into our experience with characters, here’s a look at the attraction situation.
EPCOT Moonlight Magic Attractions
Here are the attractions that Disney says will be open during Moonlight Magic at EPCOT:
- Spaceship Earth
- Journey Into Imagination with Figment
- Test Track
- Soarin’ Around the World
- Living with the Land
- Gran Fiesta Tour
- Frozen Ever After
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
We didn’t ride anything during Moonlight Magic but wait times that we saw were generally low and certainly lower than averages throughout the day. Would we spend time riding attractions during Moonlight Magic? Probably not. Unlike Disney After Hours events, where we have to speak towards a potentially large number of guests who will only visit Disney World once every few years, you’re a Disney Vacation Club member. You’ve been on all the rides, why spend time during a special event riding what you can during your annual (or more often) trip to Disney World? Then again, we aren’t one to judge, we waited over an hour for an exclusive popcorn bucket, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
EPCOT Moonlight Magic Entertainment
What you’re really here for is the entertainment. Rare character sightings are around every corner, and a party atmosphere puts a unique flare on the Walt Disney World theme parks for Disney Vacation Club Members.
Event DJs
There are DJs spread throughout the World Discovery, World Nature, and World Showcase neighborhoods. The DJs are going to be spinning dance mixes, but nothing that you necessarily need to carve time out of your night for. These aren’t dance parties like what we see during New Year’s Eve at EPCOT, but they are appreciated and keep the party atmosphere alive. We have to admit, hearing Oola Shuka from Oga’s Cantina play right behind Journey’s Don’t Stop Belivin’ is a fun twist on what you’re used to at the Disney World theme parks.
Canada Mill Stage Drummers
There is a “wicked” fun drummer performance at the Canada Mill Stage that is something that you might want to stop and watch for a few minutes but it’s not something you need to jump out of your popcorn bucket line for.
Disney Vacation Club Welcome Home Moment Featuring Harmonious Barges
At 11pm and 12am, a short “Welcome Home” moment activates the Harmonious barges in World Showcase Lagoon. The fountains will turn on, and a message will play from Shannon Sakaske (Membership Magic VP) welcoming guests back to the Moonlight Magic events. There are no fireworks, but this is a nice touch and something that you’ll want to direct your attention to the World Showcase Lagoon for. Here’s our video, complete with “We Go On” finale from the discontinued Illuminations: Reflections of Earth show. (YouTube 4K)
EPCOT Moonlight Magic Rare Characters
Perhaps the highlight of the Moonlight Magic event at EPCOT was the rare character “sightings”. Do note that the characters are still physically distanced from guests, although we found that there was much less than 6ft between characters and guests at many of the “sightings”. Either way, that still means no hugs or high-fives.
The theme of the evening was villains, and here’s a rundown of what characters we saw and where you can find them!
Oogie Boogie – Imagination Pavilion
Captain Hook & Mr. Smee – Near Test Track
Gaston – France Pavilion
Queen of Hearts – United Kingdom Pavilion
Lady Tremaine – Canada Pavilion
Pain & Panic – Near Traveler’s Cafe
Honest John & Gideon – Near Traveler’s Cafe
Evil Queen – World Showcase Plaza Gazebo
Old Hag – World Showcase Plaza Gazebo
Kronk – Mexico Pavilion
Sheriff of Nottingham – Between Mexico and Norway
The lineup of characters was pretty good and the “lines” to meet them were generally short. We say “lines” because, at some sightings, Cast Members encourage guests to simply walk up and snap a selfie, but at other sightings, a proper (albeit short) line is formed. Seeing these characters really was the highlight of the evening and having short to no waits to interact with the characters was great.
Exclusive DVC Popcorn Bucket
During the event, DVC Members and their guests received a pack of “Delectable Delights” vouchers. These vouchers were good for essentially three snacks – either during or before the event. Even though you received three vouchers, one of the vouchers was special, and allowed you to get an exclusive Disney Vacation Club popcorn tub. You could only redeem the popcorn tub voucher during the event hours.
Other vouchers could be used before 9pm to get select food items at participating Festival Outdoor Kitchens. You can also use a voucher for a side at a quick-service restaurant, but not for a full meal.
During the event, Sunshine Seasons had a limited menu for food until 11pm, and Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe was open. There was a specialty Pluto cake available at Sunshine Seasons, but we didn’t have time to check it out.
We’ll leave you with another photo of the popcorn tub and a tip. The lines for the popcorn bucket were long – over an hour throughout the night. We got in line at 12:40am and waited over an hour for our popcorn bucket. However, not all popcorn lines are created equal. If you’re looking for a nightcap, of sorts, you’ll want to head to the Canada Popcorn Stand, which was serving beer all night – even at 1:40am when we finally made it to the front of the line to pick up our popcorn bucket.
As a quick aside, there was very limited merchandise too.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, we had a great time at Moonlight Magic! It’s great that the event has returned to Walt Disney World, and we’re hopeful that the teams can work through some of the operational struggles, aka popcorn bucket distribution. The event delivered on the promise of rare character meets and a fun, unique atmosphere in the parks. It could probably go without saying, but we’re going to say it anyway – Moonlight Magic, or any Membership Extras for that matter, should NOT be the reason that you decide to purchase DVC. These types of events are a nice added perk, but should not be part of the equation of owning a timeshare.
As it turns out, even Spaceship Earth eventually needs to sleep.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
I was at this event but you could not have been because I never saw a short lime in the area at all. I questioned if we could form a second line to just come and get the empty bucket and was told they were not authorized to do that. You couldn’t find the free ice cream that was giving out because of the long lines for the popcorn. As tor the rides, those lines were just as long because they didn’t monitor the people without bands. Overall it was not organized and poorly run after the long wait for return of this I wasted 4 hours of my time waiting in lines at 4 locations.
Agreed. Clearly, the author was at a different event than the one I attended. The one I attended was a train wreck.
The Welcome show at World Showcase lagoon was pitiful! The music sung by Kellie Coffey was inspiring, recalling Illuminations. BUT, the fountain & light show could have been SO MUCH MORE, had Disney displayed just a little more imagination and effort!