Hard Ticket Events

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I am indebted to Kenny Cottrell for the information posted in the rec.arts.disney.parks internet newsgroup, some of which has been used on this page.

A "Hard Ticket Event" is an event held within the Magic Kingdom park, in which the park closes early, and then re-opens for the special event. On a hard-ticket night, the Magic Kingdom closes early (Generally 18:00 - 18:30), and re-opens later in the evening (Generally 20:00 - 20:30) ultimitely closing around 01:00 the following morning. Note that there are never more than three hard ticket event evenings in any one week. Graduation Night starts a little later and continues a little longer than the rest of the events.

Hard Ticket events are so called because everyone attending needs a special ticket for the event (APs, CMs, resort guests, everyone has to have a ticket specifically for this event). The number of tickets are limited (to an estimated 20,000 tickets per event).

Other than the park closing a little earlier (and the preparations that occur in the evening (setting up of certain areas, nothing that really affects the normal Day Guest)), you won't really notice that anything is going to happen. And during the day at the parks, nothing is affected from the nights activity.

The Hard Ticket Events are as follows:

• Graduation Night (April / May)

  Graduation Night is a hard ticket event especially for High School Seniors and their guests, which occurs on selected Fridays and Saturdays. Graduation Night is a little different than the rest of the hard ticket events because tickets are sold through the high schools. Tickets are only available to selected schools for the nights. (The schools pick a specific night to attend). Admission to the parking lot during the Grad Night activity is limited to school sponsored transportation.
  
  

• The Night Of Joy (September)

  Night of Joy is a *hard ticket* event that occurs on Fridays and Saturdays only (usually the Friday and Saturday after Labour Day, and then the Friday of the following week), in which about 4 or 5 Christian Bands/Artists perform during the night. Generally Night of Joy has a limited entrance of around 20,000 guests only. Tickets for the Night of Joy which runs from 8:30 PM until 01:00 AM in the Magic Kingdom usually cost around $25 each for adults.
  
  The Magic Kingdom usually closes at either 6pm (on Fridays) or 7pm (on Saturdays) and then reopens for the Hard Ticket event at 8:30pm. Most of the Magic Kingdom attractions are opened (those that are closed are ones that don't traditionally get much attention from the Night of Joy crowds) and the bands perform throughout the night.
  
  Night of Joy is attended by mostly *local* youth. This is a warning...this is a tough crowd for WDW. Both events: Grad Night and Night of Joy are attended by people who have grown up with WDW in their backyard and know the park very well. You can experience screaming, talking, and recitation of the lines during the attractions during these events because of the people who attend.
  
  So going to Night of Joy for the attractions is a *enter at your own risk* type warning. But on the otherhand, if you go to enjoy the concerts by the various artists, when it can be worth it. In most cases, it is probably not worth it to people who are visiting the parks for the very first time. BTW, during this time of the year, the parks are great during the day anyway - you can find it more crowded during the Night of Joy activities than during the day.
  
  

• Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (October)

• Mickey's Very Magic Christmas Party (December)

  Mickey's Very Magic Christmas Party is held on selected Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights throughout December, and features the Christmas Parade, free cups of Hot Chocolate with mallow and cookies, and a special fireworks display.
  
  Most of the Magic Kingdom rides are open, and free family photographs are taken by professional photographers at several locations around the park (prints are sent out to an address you nominate during January).