A look at Disney Vacation Club Moonlight Magic at Epcot

Disney recently invited us out to Epcot to experience the Disney Vacation Club Moonlight Magic event. It’s an after-hours event exclusively for Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members and their guests.

Disney Vacation Club is the name for Disney’s “time share” vacation ownership program where you purchased points to use for a stay at any of their DVC resorts. This can be a savings for some. According to the DVC website, “savings are based on a cash purchase of an ownership interest at select resorts, plus closing costs and annual dues, compared to the cost of a non-member renting the same accommodations at the non-discounted rate over the full life of the membership”.

But it’s not only about the resort stays, DVC has other benefits such as discounts, but for theme park fans, a big benefit is Moonlight Magic (and the special lounge upstairs in the Imagination pavilion at Epcot).

Moonlight Magic is held multiple times a year at different Walt Disney World theme parks for DVC members on a first come, first served reservation basis. During the complimentary, after-hours event, members enjoy select attractions with shorter-than-usual wait times, special characters, entertainment, and complimentary treats.

A member can register themselves and up to four additional guests per membership at no addition cost, and no park admission is needed. Children younger than three don’t need to register. You can enter the park as early as 6 p.m., even though the official event doesn’t start until after the park closes. It runs until 1 a.m.

Here’s what we experienced.

You could check in at the front of the park, the back entrance to the park, or inside the park if you were in before 6 p.m. with a separate pass. At check-in, we were handed this map and some food coupons. These were good at some of the Flower & Garden festival booths (before 9 p.m.), or park snacks like Mickey pretzels. One coupon was specifically for a specially designed popcorn bucket filled with popcorn.

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These markers around the park indicated there was something special at this location just for the event, such as entertainment or special characters.

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There was a theme for the characters at the event we attended: Disney villains! This included some rare characters such as Oogie Boogie, the Old Hag, and others. Here’s a video overview of them all:

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This mobile DJ was set up near Captain Hook and Smee by Test Track.

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As we were getting video of the characters all night, we didn’t go on any of the rides. But on average, they had shorter wait times than during normal park hours. Spaceship Earth was a walk-on. We heard Ratatouille waits varied from 20 minutes to more than an hour.

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But the lines for the souvenir popcorn buckets were long most of the night. Although they looked long, we heard they moved quickly and most only had to wait about 10 minutes. We got ours towards the end of the night, after midnight, and only waited a few minutes. But we heard at previous Moonlight Magic events the lines were ridiculous for popcorn, so we are happy to hear they have improved. We heard one way they shortened them was by allowing guests to get their popcorn buckets before the event officially started.

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Here’s a look at the popcorn buckets, and yes, just like the Disney After Hours events, you can get unlimited Mickey ice cream bars and strawberry fruit bars.

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They also announced a special moment during the event when they played part of the music from IllumiNations while the fountains sprayed around the barges.

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In keeping with the villains theme, these zombie drummers played in the Canada pavilion. There was also a “Scenic Selfies Scavenger Hunt” available through your phone that we didn’t take part in.

We had a great time at the event and would recommend attending if you get the chance. If joining DVC isn’t for you, make friends with a member so they can bring you as their guest!

For more information on Disney Vacation Club, visit DisneyVacationClub.com. The next Moonlight Magic event is May 24, 2022 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.