As you might imagine with our top three, there are certainly more than one reasons to stay at these three parks after dark, which makes choosing a single After Dark Draw very difficult! But we'll do our best to think outside the box and list the number one nighttime sightseeing activity for each.

3. Disney California Adventure

Disney California Adventure is perhaps the poster child for parks that seemingly reenergize after dark. From the electric whistle of the glowing 1920s Buena Vista Street and the lantern-lit forests of Grizzly Peak, to the incandescent Pixar Pier.

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It just so happens that the waters of Paradise Bay come alive each night with one of Disney's most amazing nighttime spectaculars ever, World of Color. Hundreds of dancing fountains, water screens, flamethrowers, and spotlights come together to create a show that tends to leave visitors speechless. In any other park, World of Color would reign supreme among reasons to stay after dark... But it's not our number one After Dark Draw for this park...

Maybe because Disney California Adventure also offers Paint the Night – the parade-envy of Disney Parks across the globe. The 21st century take on an "electrical parade" is literally hypnotic as it winds its way through the park to the tune of Owl City's "When Can I See You Again?" But even THAT doesn't stand as our number one reason to visit California Adventure after dark...

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AFTER DARK DRAW: Radiator Springs

But at Disney California Adventure, the crowning achievement has to be Cars Land. Though Disney doesn't publicize it on any Times Guide or show sheet, there's a beloved tradition in Radiator Springs every night at sundown: The Chords' 1956 hit "Sh-Boom" is broadcast through town as each of its stores kicks on its neon signs, one after another. The romantic, heart-swelling experience is just the start.

After dark, it's literally a trip to walk down the neon Route 66 with its animated signs, culminating in the vast and breathtaking Cadillac Range glowing saturated hues of desert orange and red. It's the kind of idealized experience you can only get at Disney Parks.

2. Disney's Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom wasn't really designed to be open after dark. Why? Like most zoos, when the park opened it was determined that the park's main draw – the animals – would head to bed around sundown, leaving the park with just its two rides (at that time, Kilimajaro Safaris and the Lost Legend: Countdown to Extinction). However, in the lead-up to the debut of Pandora – The World of AVATAR, Disney made a conscious effort to prepare this park for a nighttime audience. Since the animals would be in bed, Imagineers looked to super-charge the park with entertainment (and entertainment that would not be loud or bright enough to startle the animals).

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A contender for the number one reason to stay at Animal Kingdom after dark might be Tree of Life Awakenings, periodic projection shows displayed on and around the park's central icon. The short, stop-in-your-tracks-to-watch vignettes feature tasteful Disney film references that send majestic lights pouring from the tree's canopy and have leaves gently fall all around (via projection, of course). They're brief, stirring interludes that could probably stand to be expanded into a full, Happily Ever After-esque nighttime show. Disney would also market nighttime rides on Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Sunset Safaris as must-sees. 

In Asia, Imagineers constructed a gorgeous waterside amphitheater to show Rivers of Light. The nighttime show is ostensibly meant to be the park's World of Color, replacing Disney characters with beautiful footage from DisneyNature documentaries, and featuring an emphasis on storytelling, legend, and the beauty and harmony of the natural world. For some reason, the show just hasn't "clicked" with guests, and major cuts to its staffing have made the show feel depressingly lifeless. Unfortunately, the failure of Rivers of Light to grab and hold an after-dark audience meant Animal Kingdom's nighttime hours were scaled back, and the Tree of Life Awakenings shows are now seasonal.

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AFTER DARK DRAW: The Valley of Mo'ara

Still, the number one after dark draw can't be a surprise. Animal Kingdom's entire nighttime transformation was all in support of Pandora – the alien moon from James Cameron's AVATAR. It's not just that this extraterrestrial world is a sight to behold with its floating mountains and alien plants... it's that the entire land literally glows after sundown. The premise in the films is that Pandora is a bioluminscent moon where the plants and animals exude their own light (like Earth's fireflies, jellyfish, and deep-sea life). 

While you can see that glowing life anytime on the land's Na'vi River Journey dark ride, to see the entire land suddenly bathed in the otherworldly blue glow of bioluminscence is truly a sight to behold. And like Cars Land, the most spectacular thing is that it's not a show with a beginning and end; it's yours to explore.

1. Disneyland Park

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Because its common descriptors ("charming," "fairytale," "cozy," and "homey") are even more true after the sun sets, the original Disneyland is still the park to see after dark. Each and every land is completely bathed in warm, fantastic environments that you have to see to believe. Twinkling trees, the warm glow from within Frontierland's shops, the shine of brass through New Orleans Square, the flickering Edison bulbs of Main Street... There's truly nothing like it.

Though Disneyland does offer nightly fireworks and / or projection shows (displayed on the much smaller Sleeping Beauty Castle, plus the park's iconic "it's a small world" exterior), it's been since the 50th-Anniversary-inspired "Remember... Dreams Come True" that a Disneyland fireworks show has really knocked our socks off. In the meantime, it's hosted both the Main Street Electrical Parade and Paint the Night. But love it or hate it, there's no denying that one Disneyland attraction reigns supreme each night.

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AFTER DARK DRAW: Fantasmic!

Though it's since been exported to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Tokyo DisneySea, Disneyland still retains the definitive version of Fantasmic.

The show begins the instant Mickey Mouse falls asleep and follows his dream as he encounters Disney characters. Along the way, Mickey himself discovers his ability to control water, color, fire, and light. More than a mere fireworks show or projection show, Fantasmic includes dozens and dozens of live actors, two full-sized sailing ships, a half-dozen floats and barges, multiple fountain arrays, water screens, and more, and all supported by a completely original score that stands as one of the strongest in Disney's entire catalogue. 

Fantasmic is abstract, non sequitor, and largely plotless... until the Villains invade Mickey's dream intent on turning it into a nightmare, resulting in Mickey's one-on-one showdown with one of the most incredible Animatronics on Earth (and one of very few you'll see outside of rides). 

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Some Disney Parks fans absolutely detest Fantasmic, and maybe it's not so impossible to see why – the nightly show turns Disneyland's already-cramped Western half into a continuous and unrelenting state of gridlock for hours, and transforms the otherwise picturesque Rivers of America and New Orleans Square into an explosive Las-Vegas-style extravaganza not quite befitting the gorgeous, traditional, park. On paper, it's a laughable, cheesy, '90s-stylized affront to Disneyland; an operational nightmare that even the most prepared guests feel is out of their control.

Yet somehow, Fantasmic just works. The music, the special effects, and the unforgettable moments pile on one after another, making the show feel like it was actually worth the headache... And yes, most guests probably feel a little misty after the last 90 seconds... It's a driving, emotional, captivating, awe-inspiring show.

Aside from fireworks, Fantasmic was probably the impetus to make Disney Imagineers see that true "nighttime spectaculars" could radically shift Disney Parks... and boy have they.