Magic Kingdom Report: Least Busy Weekday
We’re heading back to Magic Kingdom for our final visit of Halloween! In this Walt Disney World photo report, we’ll look at late October crowds, wait times, and some final thoughts for spook season. We’ll also offer some strategy on how to approach the park and pre-Christmas commentary.
It’s been a few weeks since our last Magic Kingdom photo report, and that’s partly by design and partly by accident. As we’ve emphasized countless times, wait times and attendance continue to increase. Last month, crowds were up 40% over August. We’ll have another post-mortem once October ends, but (spoiler alert) it has been busier than September.
We’ve been wanting to return on a Wednesday for a while, but other things have kept coming up preventing that from happening. As we’ve stressed in our park hours updates (which also offer best & worst day of the week advice for each park), we recommend doing Magic Kingdom on a Wednesday. Finally, we had the chance yesterday to drop in and again experience Wednesday in Magic Kingdom for ourselves…
Since the reopening of Walt Disney World, literally every visit we’ve made to Magic Kingdom has been busier than the one before it. That is, until this Wednesday visit.
This day was the least crowded we’ve seen Magic Kingdom since probably around early August, with lower wait times and shorter waits across the board than we’d experienced in a while. More on that below–let’s start from the beginning…
As promised, the first of many progress reports on the Royal Makeover of the Walt Disney World entrance gateways.
Work has not started yet on this one, but it appears that could change within the next few days. Progress is being made on the Magic Kingdom parking plaza arch, but I put my camera away and couldn’t get it out in time, so you’ll just have to take my word on that.
Pretty quiet on Main Street USA.
I was honestly somewhat surprised by this. Between the release of the Haunted Mansion Minnie Mouse: Main Attraction Collection merchandise, end of Halloween season, and few dates left for Cast Members to visit before being blocked out, we expected to see more people.
Even the Halloween entertainment wasn’t drawing large crowds.
Part of this could be standard “Floridian Fatigue” of holidays. Halloween season starts in August, and by this point, many locals are ready to move on to Christmas.
In a normal year, there’s a steady stream of tourists experiencing the entertainment for the first time every single day, amping up excitement leading up to Halloween.
That’s not so much the case this year as there are far more Annual Passholders and other repeat guests visiting Magic Kingdom each day. (Although I’m sure Halloween itself will still be busy in Magic Kingdom–that’s a bit different.)
One thing I doubt will ever happen is “Bear Burnout.”
The Country Bears were once again out waving to the adoring masses, many of whom have traveled thousands of miles just for the chance to snap a selfie with one of these goofy-grinned, bumpkin bears. The way guests wave vigorously and fawn over the Country Bears reminds me a little of when the Beatles first came to America. Granted, I wasn’t alive then, but I’d imagine it’s about the same.
Jack Sparrow was also out across from Pirates of the Caribbean, entertaining guests with his rum-filled shenanigans.
While not rising to bear levels of badassery, he’s pretty cool by human standards.
A look at the entrance to Tomorrowland in the middle of the day.
As we’ve noted before, photos don’t tell the whole story right now. Photos of empty walkways don’t necessarily reflect wait times, which can still be high due to the lack of FastPass displacing guests. Conversely, photos of long-looking lines also don’t tell the story due to physical distancing.
In this case, these photos do tell the full story.
Walkways were uncrowded and lines were pretty short. Above is a 15 minute posted wait time for Space Mountain. That’s lower than it would’ve been a few weeks ago at this time of day. It’s also lower than normal for late October, which has become a busy time the last several years at Walt Disney World.
It’s not uncommon right now for Jungle Cruise to have one of the longest posted wait times in Magic Kingdom. In our experience, these posted times are pretty close to accurate.
As previously noted, we’ve been mostly passing on Jungle Cruise. This is an attraction where the energy of the skipper and guests matters, and we feel that’s significantly hampered by the current health safety protocol. Your mileage may vary.
Peak wait times for Splash Mountain have actually dropped off considerably in the last couple of weeks. This is not a function of the weather (yet), but we’d expect them to further decrease once this weekend’s cold front hits. (With that said, it’s worth noting that you don’t really get wet on Splash Mountain right now.)
It’s still one of the top 3 longest wait times in Magic Kingdom earlier in the day, but by afternoon that’s no longer the case. Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (among other attractions) all had longer wait times at this point.
About a month ago, I commented that wait times “couldn’t get much longer” because there was nowhere for some of these queues to go.
It turns out I dramatically underestimated Walt Disney World’s ability to add queue space…pretty much wherever.
There are several areas of Magic Kingdom where rows of “please wait here” markers literally encompass the entire walkway. There are also some spots where backstage areas have opened to serve as overflow queue.
I’ll keep any potential future commentary about lines not being able to get longer to myself.
One of the biggest offenders on this front has been it’s a small world.
We haven’t done Magic Kingdom on a weekend recently, so I haven’t seen this firsthand, but it supposedly spills out of its overflow queue by the Tangled Toilets and into a backstage area on Saturdays and Sundays.
On this particular weekday afternoon, the scene was fairly subdued in Fantasyland.
Of the iconic dark rides, the longest wait was for Peter Pan’s Flight, and even that wasn’t terrible at only 15 minutes.
The Little Mermaid dark ride was a walk-on, as was the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
In general, crowds were pretty low back in Storybook Circus and New Fantasyland. The biggest “crowd” was outside Be Our Guest Restaurant, and even then, there was still walk-up wait list availability (with a 40-50 minute wait) for parties of 2-4.
About an hour before park closing, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train had a 40 minute posted wait time (and was even shorter judging by the queue itself).
Our plan was to do it 5 minutes before closing…but we weren’t alone with that bright idea. The physical line was considerably longer, stretching outside the attraction marquee. The posted time was only 45 minutes at that point, which was probably close to accurate. However, I wanted to photograph sunset, so we opted against it.
That ended up being the better decision. Nice sunbursts as the sun was going down, and some good color in the clouds after the park closed.
Even though I’ve photographed the sunset in Magic Kingdom what seems like a thousand times, it’s always different. Plus, we’ve done Seven Dwarfs Mine Train what seems like nearly as many times, and it’s always the same.
Above is a look at what wait times looked like at their midday peaks (more or less).
A few hours later, both “it’s a small world” and Tomorrowland Speedway were walk-ons, with Splash Mountain and Big Thunder also being considerably shorter. The only wait time that held steady was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which, as noted above, spiked in the final minutes Magic Kingdom was open.
Ultimately, we had a great day in Magic Kingdom. Between improved weather and lighter attendance, this was probably our best visit since reopening. After a three month stretch of crowds only going up, it was great to see them coming back down. Don’t get me wrong–I want to see Walt Disney World doing well so more can return to normal, but I was also beginning to worry that the trajectory was unsustainable, especially heading into what’s normally the peak holiday season.
I’m reticent to offer much insight or make any strong forward-looking projections about what the recent decrease in crowds could “mean” for the Christmas season. There are several possibilities, including pent-up demand among locals starting to fizzle out, increased cancellations among tourists as case numbers start to spike around the United States, and/or Disney pulling back on Park Passes upon receiving more mixed guest feedback. Regardless, we’re still expecting increased crowds throughout the holiday season–perhaps just not with a trend line that basically goes straight up.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you visited Magic Kingdom in the last week or so since wait times started decreasing? Done a Wednesday in the park? What was your experience? Do you think wait times and lines are going to spike heading into the holiday season next week, or should things start to level off? Will you be attempting to visit Walt Disney World this Christmas, or are you waiting until 2021 or beyond? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We made the decision to cancel our Christmas Disney trip yesterday. I wanted so things to look better….
Do you think that WDW will close again like DL Paris?
We visited Magic Kingdom on Friday (10/30). We accomplished a fair amount in the morning, but we got to our resort bus stop 2 hrs before park opening to make that happen. (The park did open early and we finished 7DMT and Big Thunder and got in line for Splash by 9.). As the day progressed, it got much more crowded to the point we felt unsafe. There was no social distancing outside of lines (and even in lines it was difficult). We tried to hang in there through the midday peak (since we were using the bus system, we knew we wouldn’t return if we left), but we eventually gave up. It was not as crowded last New Year’s Eve (when we last visited), but it was as crowded as I’ve ever seen it outside of that date. Also, without FastPasses and Extra Magic Hours, we weren’t able to accomplish nearly as much as we normally would. This was not our experience at the other parks. We had to walk a lot 10.5+ miles a day, but we were able to hit all the attractions (some more than once). I happened to strike up a conversation last night with someone visiting our resort about my disappointment in our Magic Kingdom visit. The person told me that they work for Disney and that Disney has increased capacity at Magic Kingdom to 75%. I don’t think we’ll visit again until some of the tools we typically use to avoid the crowds (FastPasses, pre-park open ADR’s, Extra Magic Hours, etc.) return. I had booked expecting the low crowds and minimal wait times of summer. I suspected that would not be our experience but “risked it” because we were desperate to go somewhere. In hindsight, I should have rescheduled or cancelled. We enjoyed our visit overall, but it certainly wasn’t the laid back trip we’d expected.
Not as crowded as last New Year’s Eve…darn typos
Increased to 75%! There’s no way Disney should’ve increase capacity above 50% during this pandemic. That’s ludicrous. Shame on Disney. Agree with everything you said. Without fast pass, shows, more restaurants open, they Are in no position to increase to 75%. And then lie to the public, that they’re operating at 35% capacity.
Is Magic Kingdom on Monday, November 9 a good day to plan a visit? Doing Epcot on Tuesday, November 10 and Thursday, November 12 at HS. Please let me know if I planned these days out correctly 🙂 so excited
Wondering why splash mountain doesn’t get you wet now? It’s my all time favorite ride!
Any hope of them opening more restaurants with the Christmas stuff>
We went yesterday, october 29th. We had a GREAT day! We rode EVERY ride! Took in most shows. We found by using the app, we were able to get the most of our day. It required about 11 and a half miles of walking and some huslte though. We found crowds keeping their distance from one another and 99% of people wearing their mask properly. We rope dropped fantasy land and got HM, Small world, PP, Winnie and Ariels grotto done before 10.:30.
So we visited MK Tues and today (Thurs). While wait times were similar to what you posted in my opinion the “feels like” crowd was uncomfortable. Social distancing is basically nonexistent except in ride queues. Esp Fantasyland and to some extent Tomorrowland. We have been at Epcot and AK as well this week and we have felt the most crowded at MK by far (though I expect that to be eclipsed by HS tomorrow :). Note- all of our previous Disney experience has been our annual trips to Disneyland on the week of Christmas, so we know what crowded feels like!
Was it about the same on both days, or did either feel worse to you?
Aaron. We were there on Saturday Oct 31, Halloween. So a weekend and the holiday. It did not feel that bad. I’ve read that at capacity, the crowd inside the park is about what attending a capacity full Halloween or very merry Christmas party. We have young kids and arrived right at park opening. I knew you could get there earlier but with breakfast plans and small kids, I was happy with our arrival. My plan was Big Thunder and then Splash, theN wing the rest via app. It worked great. We had to do rider swap so I watched the crowds grow as I waited for my family off each ride. But somehow, we stayed about 20-30 minutes ahead of the “crowd”, you would all the sudden see it grow. So we finished the first few rides, saw the crowd start to grow and then moved to fantasyland, finished little mermaid, goofy, and dumbo and then noticed the crowd coming over. It really isn’t that hard to navigate. Even with little kids and having to wait for rider swap, we managed to do most of the rides. I liked the cavalcades more than Oradea that you have to stake out for and take a while to watch but I really missed the fireworks at the end of the night. Hope this helps.
Would love to get further thoughts on this re: Jungle Cruise. What protocols are impacting the experience, exactly? Thanks!
“This is an attraction where the energy of the skipper and guests matters, and we feel that’s significantly hampered by the current health safety protocol. Your mileage may vary.“
I don’t know about others experiences, but since this started we’ve had both the best experience we’ve ever had and the worst experience we’ve ever had, and in general our other experiences were mediocre. The ride is always highly dependent on the skipper, but between the mask, face shield, and barrier between the skipper and the riders, it can make it difficult to hear some skippers and I would imagine it’s making it more difficult for them to read the guests and gauge the mood of the boat. Ultimately, there’s less interaction between the skipper and the guests, meaning a lot more of the jokes feel forced or are falling flat (and in the case of our “worst ever” experience the skipper simply hadn’t gotten the hang of how to speak into the mic with the mask – he was completely muffled the whole time, except when he shouted “oh no!” roughly 1,000 times).
Our recent rides on Jungle Cruise have been pretty similar to Krista’s “worst ever” experience, with those exact same problems on multiple ride-throughs.
Would you do HS on a Sunday or a Monday (Dec. 13 or 14)
Was wondering when the AP holders and FL resident package purchasers would start to burn out and crowds begin to decrease. Would you say January thru March might seem like ghost towns at the parks? I’m thinking we could see a Wednesday crowd in February being nothing Disney bloggers and Youtube Vloggers running around (But that could be a small army in itself!) .
Think April will kick back up as Spring Breaks start back up?
I’m reticent to make crowd predictions since current times are so uncertain, but I do think January through March (save for holiday weeks) will be quieter, especially without the special events (runDisney and youth stuff at WWoS) and conventions that have caused them to spike over the last couple years. Walt Disney World could have a true off-season during the coming winter.
April and beyond is less clear. I’m inclined to say those will be busier because of spring break. On the other hand, there is likely to be a window of time when the CDC relaxes physical distancing guidelines (meaning capacity can increase on attractions) but crowds have not yet spiked (because there will be a lag between announcement of that and people actually traveling). I highly doubt that’ll happen by April, but you never know.
We were at MK on Monday and it wasn’t too bad ( I don’t often take pics any more but I actually took the same Tomorrowland pic that you posted!)
Yesterday (Weds) I was at Epcot and that was pleasant too – I rarely do the frozen ride but at 30 minute wait I went for it! 9was on ride at 29 minutes!)
Did the Halloween decorations ever get boosted, or is the final product still “put up the pumpkin wreaths and call it a day”?
Yep, that was the final product. Let’s hope Christmas ends up being better.
We were there yesterday as well…. very pleasantly surprised at the low crowds!
So lovely to read about an uncrowded day 🙂
Love your newsletter!Hope that you can help me with some questions , I’m planning a trip to WDW for the end of the year, any advice of whether it’ll be best to visit the parks the last week or the first week of January. Does Magic Kingdom still has the fireworks show at the end of the day? I’m holding on buying park tickets until the beginning of Dec due to fear of a Covid lockdown, will that be too late! Thank you!
No fireworks. All cancelled due to COVID crowd protocols, as are many things. All holiday stuff ends on December 30th in the parks (Epcot holiday festival and MK castle projections,etc). You may find fewer crowds the first week of January as most folks clear out after the 1st.
Have a great trip!
We were there yesterday! I promised my hubs 2 months ago that yesterday wouldn’t be busy. Sad we missed you. We would have said hi.
Hope you had a great day in Magic Kingdom! 🙂
Hi! Any thoughts on the crowd levels for the week of Nov 1st? Also, I can do the magc kingdom on thursday or friday, i am not sure which day would be best? I know the Christmas stuff starts on Friday. I am more concerned with the wait times. Taking my two younger grandchildren. Do you think the MK will be substantially busier on Friday vs Thursday?
Thank you so much for all of the information you provide on the parks!!
Next Friday will almost certainly be busier than Thursday at Magic Kingdom. It’s hard to say by how much in terms of wait times, but “feels like” crowds will likely be much higher.
We had an amazing Tuesday last week that mimics what you saw.
I hope that’s on for next week. I just flip-flopped MK (now Tue) and HS (now Wed) after reading (thanks, Tom) about the new RoR virtual queue sign-up policy. At least it’s gonna be cooler!
When we visited in August, I stood underneath the porch so my wife could get a picture of me with Big Al. Not as impressive as when he is out walking around, but still awesome.
Tim, I saw the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965. Nothing at WDW is anywhere close to that. Imagine a walk off home run for Game Seven of the World Series at a home stadium. Closer to that, but still not as loud.
Yeah, that basically sounds like what I experienced yesterday with the Country Bears at Magic Kingdom. 😉