Magic Kingdom Update: Castle Cranes & Canal, Construction & Crowds
We once again return to Magic Kingdom for another Walt Disney World photo reports. In this update, we’ll cover the current crowds, TRON Lightcycle Power Run construction, FuelRod changes, as well as an extensive look at Cinderella Castle–both at construction that’s now finished and new work that’s just starting.
Let’s start with crowds. If you saw our recent Why You Should Visit Disney World RIGHT NOW! post, you know that we’re emphatically recommending a visit to Walt Disney World between now and early November 2019 for a variety of reasons. (Seriously, if you can swing a last-minute trip, do it!) One of those is the low crowds, and ease of avoiding them even once they get worse (and they will).
While crowds have picked up a tad since their lulls during the week of Hurricane Dorian, they are still at or around their off-season lows. With that said, this varies day by day, particularly in Magic Kingdom. If you’re visiting in the next few months, you’ll want to follow a few rules…
The first is to visit on a day when Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party or Very Merry Christmas Party is occurring. Crowds during the daytime hours when these events occur at night are the lowest you’ll see them. Due to shorter operating hours, most guests will avoid these days, meaning significantly lower crowds.
We usually recommend Park Hopper tickets during this time of year as a result, as you can simply hop to a park that’s open later if you have Park Hoppers. However, even if you don’t, you can often get more done in fewer hours than on a normal, non-party night.
The second tip is related to the first, and that’s to avoid non-party nights, especially Saturdays. Because it’s sandwiched between two party nights (or three in October!) and because locals are off work, Saturday sees disproportionate crowds to the rest of the week. Avoid Saturday.
Other than that, normal touring advice pretty much applies–and even a “busy” day this time of year is still comparatively less crowded. Since the start of the month, it has been rare to see any of the Magic Kingdom mountain range above an hour, and many days, they’re below 30 minutes. Not too shabby!
If you haven’t seen today’s separate New Automated Cameras at Mickey & Minnie Meet in Magic Kingdom, be sure to check that out. That’s a pretty big topic, so we felt it deserved a separate post.
Those new cameras just debuted at Town Square Theater, and we do a lot of editorializing about them (spoiler: we’re not fans).
On the Cinderella Castle front, we have good news and sorta-bad, sorta-good news.
Let’s start with the good, which is that the Cinderella Castle moat has been refilled, and this area now looks great. Here are some photos:
My only quibbles here are that mature trees were not planted along the walkway. I already covered my thoughts on vegetation in our last Magic Kingdom update, so I’ll spare you those here.
Additionally, there’s still no seating here for Sleepy Hollow. Hopefully, this is a temporary thing. If not, the surplus of space in this area is really awkward and unnecessary. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt on that one.
Next up, the sorta-bad, sorta-good news: THE CRANE IS BACK.
This crane has become infamous, and for years was met with consternation by guests as it “ruined” their PhotoPass shots of Cinderella Castle.
In the last couple of years, Walt Disney World has only raised this crane during the overnight hours, so that no longer happens.
Now, the only real downside to the crane is that it closes off the other pathway and results in this wall being up in Fantasyland. Not really a huge deal, in my estimation.
The (tremendous) upside of the crane is that it’s a harbinger of the holiday season.
This crane installs the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights, and this crane appearing means we’re drawing closer to Christmas…and cooler weather. It’s no secret Christmas is our favorite time of year at Walt Disney World, and I was downright excited to see this crane. Obviously, your mileage may vary.
At the Memento Mori gift shop, there are new “Host a Ghost” apothecary jars containing one of the 999 happy haunts from the Haunted Mansion. I guess this is supposed to be a full experience, with Madame Leota channeling a restless spirit from the Haunted Mansion to materialize inside the jar. At long last, a real ghost will literally follow you home.
That’s right, they’re real and they’re spooktacular!
On a partially related (but mostly super-unrelated) note, we’re happy to hear that Netflix has acquired the rights to Seinfeld starting in 2021.
Half of the pop culture references in our posts are from Seinfeld, which are likely lost on the kids these days. So, if you don’t find a particular post funny, it’s not my fault. Please just give it a couple of years and re-read in 2021 after you’ve watched the greatest sitcom of all time. I’m excited to be relevant again.
Over in Tomorrowland, we see the second crane is now totally up at the TRON Lightcycle Run construction site.
Not much else to say here, as aside from that, nothing has changed since last week’s TRON Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom: New Concept Art & Construction Photos update.
Above is another look from the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, this time from farther away to see the crane in all its crane-y glory.
It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, Walt Disney World does to conceal the show-building at Magic Kingdom. At Shanghai Disneyland, the canopy is sufficient. However, there are fewer viewing angles there. At Magic Kingdom, there’s the PeopleMover, Storybook Circus, etc. I personally don’t think it’s a huge deal either way.
FuelRod stations around Walt Disney World have started to remove the “free” verbiage, suggesting that the era of free unlimited swaps could be coming to an end.
On a related note, if you hate me and want to revel in that, be sure to check out the comments to our We Don’t Recommend FuelRods post. (The recent ones aren’t so bad, but yikes, I cannot imagine leaving a vitriolic remark to someone who disagreed with me about a battery charger!)
The good(?) news is that Walt Disney World is now testing phone charger stations throughout the parks. Here’s one in the Tomorrowland Light & Power Co. (Or, and here’s a novel idea, you could bring a high capacity charger with you to Walt Disney World and not waste time with this or swapping FuelRods!)
Finally, here it is, your moment of zen…
Err…moment of pure terror. Sorry, I always get those two types of moments confused.
Seriously, though, I looked up while waiting for the Express Monorail, and jumped a bit when I saw these. For what it’s worth, I absolutely love these dummies (and think they’re a great Twilight Zone nod), but I wasn’t expecting them to be staring me in the eyes, peering into my soul while I was mindlessly waiting for the monorail. In any case, this seems like as good of a point as any to end our Magic Kingdom update. Stay tuned for more from Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of the finished Cinderella Castle construction project? Happy to see the moat refilled? What about the annual arrival of the infamous ‘castle crane’? Excited that Christmas is fast-approaching, or are you still savoring (what should be) the start of Halloween season? Feedback about anything else covered in this Magic Kingdom update? Do you agree or disagree with our advice for dealing with the ebb and flow of Magic Kingdom crowds this time of year? 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!
Great post Tom! You peaked my curiosity about the nasty phone charger comments so I checked it out and I actually laughed out loud to people’s devotion to a phone battery! 🙂 I guess my family is in the minority, because in all the DW/DL trips we’ve taken, we’ve never had a dead battery (including the old hand me down phones my kids use). But I always insist on family time for trips which means little to no phone use. I do all fast passes, food orders, wait times, heads up games, etc on my phone, as well as most photo taking, but I never run low either, so I’m afraid I can’t relate to the people commenting on spending all day repeatedly charging every phone in their party. Hopefully I’m not sparking a huge debate as that isn’t my intent. Everyone vacation however it works best for your family and I am all for people solving their phone charging issues in whatever way they see best as well! Thanks as always for all the tips Tom! 😀
I envision a lot of disgruntled customers, and quite possibly the end of the Fuel Rod business if they start charging for the new fuel rods.
That being said, I did notice the following verbiage on the Fuel Rod website, which makes me wonder as well “The ability to be swapped (traded) instantly for a fully fueled unit at any FuelRod SwapBox (swap fee may apply at some locations).”
I have one, which I have used for approximately 3 years now, and the absolute only reason I bought it was because of the free swapping. If, and when that ability goes away, the fuel rod will be absolutely useless in my opinion. However, I also knew from the beginning, that when their initial stock of fuel rods started reaching an age where they were going to have to be replaced, that the company would very likely need to find a way to make more money in order to pay for the replacements. We may be reaching that point now.
Hi Tom – Long time lurker, first time poster. Many thanks for your advice about taking advantage of the Extra Extra Magic Hours – we are here this week and bit the bullet on Monday and arrived at Hollywood Studios st 6:00 AM. Went to Toy Story Land first and wait 10 minutes for Slinky Dog Dash – walked on Mania then went to Galaxy’s Edge and waited 25 minutes for Falcon’s run. The best part was being able to experience GE with no crowds as it filled up by 9:00 AM. It worked so well we bit another bullet this morning and arrived to HS at 6:00 AM and walked on Tower of Terror and Rockn’ Rollercoaster!! Then did the same route as Monday with the same results – made for very happy kids AND adults – truly appreciated the advice!!
I need to kind of hijack this post as I am desperate for advice/opinions from the Veterans!! We have a WDW trip planned for Thur., Nov 21-Tue., Nov 26. The only non party nights at MK are Saturday Nov 23 or Monday Nov 25 which starts Thanksgiving week. I know both will be crowded and neither ideal, but those are my choices. I’m not all that concerned with attraction wait times, we just enjoy being in the park at night especially with the Christmas decorations. Which park would you all choose? Which do we think will be less crowded? Saturday night closes at 9:00/Monday night closes at 10:00.
Thank You to anyone who can help!
Both Saturday and Monday will be very busy in the evening, but Monday will be busier and Happily Ever After (HEA) isn’t until 10, so I would personally pick Saturday night to brave the slightly lighter crowds and see HEA.
That said, do you have park-hoppers? If not, then make Saturday your MK day and know that lines will be longer during the day than on non-party days. If you do have hoppers, the smart plan would be to make your primary MK day(s) be a party day, as crowds will be MUCH lower up until 3 or 4pm when the party folks start showing up. Then you hop to another park to enjoy its nighttime offerings.
I do have the park hopper. Thanks for replying 🙂
Tom, I don’t think the dummies are a nod to the Twilight Zone. Rather, I think they’re a nod to Toy Story 4; there were creepy dummies (four if I recall) in that recent movie.
Knowing Tom, I think the Toy Story 4 reference was implied as Toy Story 4 takes so much obvious inspiration from The Twilight Zone. Per Director Josh Cooley: ““I love ventriloquist dummies – I had one as a kid,” Cooley tells The Post of why he stocked the film’s antique shop with eerie dummies that follow the orders of “villainous” doll Gabby Gabby. “I’m a huge fan [of them] in ‘The Twilight Zone’ and creepy movies.””
My childhood was haunted by the voice of Talking Tina (see: “Gabby Gabby”) after watching a late night re-run. But the episode “The Dummy” that inspired the dummies pictured in this post is as creepy as they come. Someone put together a 2-minute “Cliff’s Notes” version on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFxjwk1hjXg
Obviously the creepy dummies on the monorail are a tie-in to Toy Story 4. However, the creepy dummies in Toy Story 4 are clearly an homage to the Twilight Zone. If a=b and b=c, then a=c.
How awesome, a WDW post with a logic proof!
Yep. The Bensons. The one with the red bow tie is the head Benson. They’re Chatty Cathy’s henchmen.
We go the same week in September (the 12-20) and this is by far THE BUSIEST we’ve ever seen this week. We are used to 30+ minute waits for a couple of attractions in each park, but we are seeing over 60 minutes for the mountains and some even usual walk ons!! We have taken advantage of the extra extra magic hours, thank goodness! Even the lines for food are crazy. We pretty much talk about it all day.
I loved the castle lit up in bright white lights for christmas. I’m so glad my first trip to WDW was at Christmastime. It was such a great sight to see. Now…how do I get on the crew that sets up the lighting? Haha, sounds like a fun job, but sounds like you have to work through the night, so no daylight to see what you’re doing. I’m sure it’d be magical for about a day.
Wow Tom, I can’t believe people could get so nasty about a phone charger! Then again, I think sometimes you ever disagree with something Disney does you’re going to get some crazy defenders. I wrote a blog post about the negative experience we had with the Disney buses (waited 45min-1 hour multiple times from Coronado Springs) and people literally responded telling me it was “part of the Disney experience”!
“That’s right, they’re real and they’re spooktacular!”
Can’t believe you slid that Seinfeld reference in there… Hilarious. Have to give you props for that one.
What about the construction at the front of the park by Tomorrowland along the monorail line and pathway between MK and the Contemporary?? Is it just aesthetic construction or are they expanding Tomorrowland??
For Iphone users, go to settings and turn on “Low Power Mode” it really helps make your phone battery last longer. If you do that, it won’t fetch emails, so if you are “working” while in the park that may not be for you. But for me, I just check my emails randomly throughout the day (but I am not “working”). I was able to go all day on just my regular battery power, but I did carry a Mophie just in case. Mophie’s are pretty light, but on the second day I didn’t even take it! Also, just buy the Mophie (or similar) and then you own it rather than just renting the Fuelrod. Then you can use the Mophie on your flight etc.
At least try the low power mode, I use it all the time.
I am sure Android and other phones also have some battery saving feature so check in your settings options. Just read the description so you know what you are trading off.
It may or may not be for you, but it works great for me!
those circles in the concrete across from sleepy hollow did in fact have trees planted in them for about a day, another site caught photos of them a couple days before the walls came down. then suddenly, no trees. the thought going around was it blocks the view of the castle, but to me that’s just idiotic if in fact that was the official reason for deciding to remove them. plenty of other places to view the castle from. ALL of disney is severely lacking in shade, and what shade does exist is eaten up by people instantly when it becomes available. i’m 100% in favor of more trees and more shade, but clearly disney is not (toy story land anyone?). we missed the refilled moat by a week but did at least get to see the opposite side filled.
to the points about crowd levels- i outlined what our experience was last week on another post, but there were a few days we definitely didn’t experience the lack of crowding (seriously, 9/11 at magic kingdom was nuts, a wednesday). i’ll point out again, fall seems to be a big international visitor time, we heard a lot of portuguese and a lot of eastern european languages during our week. i was shocked when i checked my touringplans account to see they had listed every day we were there as a 1… i’d hate to see even a 5 if some of the days we were there were considered a 1! there were times we couldn’t even navigate a pathway due to congestion, that to me is not “low crowds”. ride times were mostly on the lower-ish end, but in some cases our fastpasses came in exceptionally handy. all mountain times we saw were listed as 45-60 minutes, and peter pan was usually well over an hour. i still agree now is probably a good time to go, but crowds are there.
I’ve not seen this mentioned anywhere, but it sure looks like they made a mistake in the vertical placement of the blue doors and “spouts” in the brick work closest to Sleepy Hollow. When the water level is a normal (pre-construction) height the “doors” and “spouts” are under water. The curbing along the water way includes a cutaway to give a deeper water effect, and that curbing is currently exposed because of the necessary lower water level. I’m wondering if they will just shrug this off or if we’ll see them attempt to fix?
The first time I visited, I brought one battery charger and still my phone was dead before the end of the day. The second time, I brought three, lost one, and usually managed to keep my phone full. But wow, it is hard! What with the Disney app for FPs, reservations, online ordering AND all the games you can play in line and such – plus things like Pokemon Go, which hogs battery, Facebook posts and just using the darn thing for photos – it’s pretty much the most essential thing you can bring to the parks! So I am glad Disney is creating as many options as possible for people.
I attended the MNSSHP on a Tuesday the 9/17 as recommended- the crowds were ENORMOUS! I followed the same advice for the Christmas party last early December- same result. The crowds were so bad the rides were 60 mins plus. Crazy and you could not navigate between frontier land and Haunted Mansion. I think the recommendations are way off. I spoke to manager at Poly today they are 100% full. I also tried the early magic hours recommended for Star Wars and got there at 6 – 30 min waits for just Slinky Dog and 70 min waits for the Falcon- just nuts. I think these stories are written at behest of Disney to increase demand but make our Disney trips more expensive and miserable- don’t listen to the influencers
I can’t defend the vitriol, but I think the more reasonable people supporting FuelRods are right. $30 is minuscule for any frequent WDW visitor, and until something capable of delivering a full day’s charge in the same weight and form factor exists, there’s a place for it in the market. I’m surprised the ubiquity of the kiosks hasn’t worn you down yet. But if they renege on the free swaps, you’ll have the last laugh 🙂
As for the automated photopass pics, Disney could go one step further and replace Tom with a robot that drives around the park snapping relentlessly. The quality might be lower, but if it were loaded with the full Seinfeld scripts…
And the “auTOMated” photo robot could also be programmed to simultaneously check everyone for moles (freckle’s ugly cousin).
To be relevant again assumes relevance at a previous point in time. You sure?
Just in case you didn’t want to click over to the fuel rod post for an insult.
:-).
“I cannot imagine leaving a vitriolic remark to someone who disagreed with me about a battery charger.”
Are you new to the internet? 😀 (Obviously, I’m just kidding. I get your point and it is amazing what people will type.)
I’m glad to see the moat filled!
Picked up Birnbaum’s Disney for kids 2020 and it said the tomorrowland speedway will be closed all of 2020. Haven’t seen anything on here about that. Is it true? We’re going in Feb and my boys would love that ride.
That’s *probably* a misprint. Speedway was closed for the first half of 2019 and is not expected to close again. The railroad, on the other hand, has been closed all of 2019 and is not expected to reopen any time soon. I’m guessing Birnbaum’s goofed and said Speedway when they meant railroad.
I just did my FP+ for my stay Nov. 16-23 today (got everything I planned on getting!). I’m really hoping crowds will stay low, but not holding my breath. I’tll be my first trip to WDW, and I spent way too much on parties, after hour events, and the like, hoping for an awesome vacation. Haha. I’m not really looking forward to seeing a lot of construction, closures, and cutbacks, but I think it’ll still be magical just because I wouldn’t have known any better.
There is still so much going on that I promise you will have an unbelievable time! Your days will be filled.Enjoy and happy first visit!