Magic Kingdom Weekend Report: Beating Heavier Crowds & Higher Waits
Weekend crowds and wait times have been increasing throughout Walt Disney World this fall, so we return to rope drop Magic Kingdom to see how ‘bad’ the park really is on what should be the one of the busiest days of the week. In this photo report, we’ll share our step-by-step morning and afternoon in Magic Kingdom.
For the last few weeks, we’ve been emphasizing the reality that crowds and wait times are increasing at Walt Disney World. That’s been a salient point of countless posts, so we’re not going to belabor that here. We do feel it’s worth mentioning (again) because we’re currently in the heart of what should be the fall off-season, at a time when Walt Disney World’s attendance is historically low. Our own crowd level predictions for this month were way off, and it’s also worth owning that.
However, our concern is that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, with shock-value photos of long lines becoming ubiquitous on social media and higher posted wait times in My Disney Experience scaring away a lot of people who are fearful of encountering chaos and madness in Magic Kingdom. Here we’ll try to present a firsthand walk-through of our day, which does include some crowd woes, but also plenty of silver linings and practical tips for beating those heavier crowds and higher waits…
Going into this morning, our goal was putting our 1-Day Magic Kingdom Itinerary to the test. We totally overhauled that last week based upon dramatic changes to the park that undermined a lot of conventional touring wisdom. We had already iterated and refined that plan a few times–but not in light of elevated crowds of Friday through Sunday. In any case, reading that is a great place to start if you’re looking for a plan for an “ideal” day in Magic Kingdom.
The probably many of you will have–and that we had–is that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. We entered Magic Kingdom at roughly 8:45 am, which was about 15 minutes after our target. From there, I was “forced” to grab a few photos on Main Street because the light was looking good. Then, it was off to Fantasyland.
In a perfect world, we would’ve beaten the crowd to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Unfortunately, we were a tad late and the posted wait was already 60 minutes. Often, morning waits are ridiculously inflated, but the line was already rounding the mountain, so this was probably an actual wait of over 20 minutes. That would’ve hampered subsequent steps of the plan, so we punted on it.
Instead, we did Peter Pan’s Flight, which was both a 5 minute posted and actual wait.
From there, we would’ve normally bounced to Frontierland to beat the wave of guests to those mountains.
Unfortunately, Splash Mountain was down. That meant every guest heading that direction would be instead opting for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, causing its wait time to be elevated.
We again called an audible, opting for the nearby Haunted Mansion. This isn’t normally a super high priority attraction, but it’ll see a longer wait midday and we were in the vicinity. It thus made sense to do this or ‘it’s a small world.’
Haunted Mansion was a walk-on.
Splash Mountain was still down per My Disney Experience, so we weaved over to Adventureland.
Jungle Cruise already had a line but it could’ve made to do this if we were interested in it. We were not. This is an attraction where the energy of the skipper and guests matters, and we feel that’s significantly hampered by the current protocol. Your mileage may vary.
Instead, we opted for Pirates of the Caribbean. This is another attraction that has been seeing long posted wait times, with its extended queue spilling out into Adventureland.
Our wait was about 5 minutes.
Right as we had gotten into line for Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain began running.
We knew we’d be too late to jump into line and “beat” the crowd for Splash Mountain by the time we were done, but we hoped that it’d start pulling guests away from Big Thunder.
We were correct. In watching guests heading to this corner of the park (albeit for a very limited window of time), about 80% were heading to Splash Mountain and the rest were going to Big Thunder.
Posted wait time was 30 minutes, and our actual wait was about 10 minutes. As a quick aside, this is one of the most pleasant queues at Magic Kingdom–constantly moving, great viewed, largely covered, nice breeze, etc.
By the time we were done with Big Thunder, the line for Splash Mountain stretched nearly to the bridge overlook (see right side of the photo above) so we opted to skip it.
Having not done either of the two longest lines in Magic Kingdom during the first hour of the day was not ideal, but we had already accomplished a lot–and it wasn’t even 10 am.
The moral of the story or key takeaway here is that step-by-step itineraries for Walt Disney World are absolutely great and will save you a ton of time…when everything goes as planned. Even more important is understanding the why behind those itineraries, how to think on the fly, and adapt as circumstances change.
Our morning could’ve been “ruined” if we just thoughtlessly jumped in the long line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train as called for in our plan. We would’ve saved no time there, wasted the best hour of the day, and had long waits thereafter for everything else.
The good news is that the wait time for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train had already dropped–it was now “only” 55 minutes. Still too long, as the wait time would hover in this neighborhood for the rest of the day, whereas other attractions would continue to increase.
Accordingly, we started targeting mid-tier attractions at this point. We knocked out the Little Mermaid dark ride with under a 10 minute actual wait. Everything in Fantasyland except Peter Pan’s Flights and Mine Train was still fairly modest at this point.
Bouncing to Tomorrowland, we did the same with Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. Even though the outdoor overflow queue was already in use, the wait was still under 10 minutes (and there’s a character selfie spot inside!).
Omnimover attractions haven’t had their capacity reduced as much as some other attractions, which is good for this ride’s wait time.
A couple of other things are worth pointing out with regard to the long lines.
First, they’re physically distanced. That means there’s about double (or more) the spacing as would be the normal case. So there’s really no comparing the length of a current queue to one from before March.
Second, there is no FastPass+, meaning these queues are constantly moving. I know many of you are clamoring for the return of FastPass+ ASAP, and I can understand that…to a degree. However, that would come with the significant downsides of more guests congregating elsewhere and the movement of the standby line to come to a screeching halt.
The point here is that context is everything. Don’t judge photos of lines by your past experiences or pre-closure standards. This is truly easier said than done–I still balk when seeing long lines, and this is even after breezing through numerous “long” lines already. It takes time to unlearn things!
Here’s an example of a long line that actually is long–and this isn’t even the entire thing.
Because of physical distancing in the theater, Carousel of Progress cracked a 30 minute wait during the middle of the day. The reasonable explanation might seem to be that Carousel of Progress is awesome and all of these guests have sophisticated taste and high standards. The more likely scenario is that Space Mountain was down through early afternoon and the TTA PeopleMover is also down, leaving this as a Tomorrowland ‘consolation prize.’
Another example of a deceptively long line.
It might not look terrible, but would take a while because capacity of Gaston’s Tavern is abysmal and each transaction feels like it takes an eternity. Plus it’s in the scorching sun. The Grey Stuff is not that delicious.
The above photo should illustrate how context is everything. This empty bridge between Tomorrowland/Fantasyland and the Central Plaza is a rare sight during busy days, and underscores how it’s still a relatively quiet time at Magic Kingdom, all things considered.
However, what this photo does not show is the huge line to enter Cosmic Ray’s immediately behind me, which literally stretched out onto this bridge. Two very different “stories” in the exact same scene, which together reiterate just how different things are right now. It’s really tough to reconcile everything happening in the parks when viewed through the prism of traditional touring paradigms.
The reason for that long line stretching outside Cosmic Ray’s was that Mobile Order was down.
We had planned on taking a midday break anyway, so we instead opted to do that. Aside from headliners (one of which was still down), we had finished almost everything we wanted to do before lunch, so we figured we’d be fine to leave for the busiest and hottest portion of the day.
Upon returning a few hours later, we were literally the only people entering Magic Kingdom while a steady stream of guests left.
Our thinking is that we could basically enjoy the ambiance, Halloween entertainment, snacks, and a few low profile attractions before the end of the day when wait times would start dropping at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain.
In our recent experience, wait times for Space Mountain have been fairly modest even when Magic Kingdom is busier–likely a byproduct of its capacity not being cut too considerably.
Unfortunately, it had been down most of the day, so when we checked things out in mid-afternoon, the posted wait time and physical line were both still incredibly long.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was only sporting a 35 minute wait around this time, so we could’ve done that–and probably should’ve for the sake of “research.”
However, the Central Plaza was uncrowded and the sky looked nice, so we instead opted to hang out and catch some of the Halloween cavalcades.
Speaking of important research, we stopped for the Pumpkin Spiced Waffle Sundae to confirm it’s still the best fall treat at Magic Kingdom. Don’t worry, it is. (See our Best Halloween Snacks at Walt Disney World for other recommendations.)
It’s probably a good thing that Sleepy Hollow normally has a ridiculous line, otherwise this might be my go-to lunch at Magic Kingdom. Something tells me my doctor would disapprove of that brilliant idea.
Most of the rest of the afternoon was spent in similar fashion, wandering around aimlessly and stopping for the Halloween cavalcades when we saw them.
Magic Kingdom felt much more comfortable for the last several hours of the day, even with waits at headliners still above 20-30 minutes.
One of the cooler character touches (well, not in the literal sense–it must be scorching on that stage) is this selfie platform in Tomorrowland. The best use of that misplaced stage outside of our beloved ‘Totally Tomorrowland Christmas.’
Oh, and we don’t want to alarm anyone, but we never saw the Country Bears out in Frontierland. Now, before you all go canceling your trips, it could just be that they were hibernating for the day–or we might’ve simply missed them. Let’s not all overwhelm the change.org servers just yet–we’ll see whether they’re out this week.
To get our bear fix, we instead opted for the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (inadequate substitute, but what are ya gonna do?!). We also did ‘it’s a small world’ before revisiting Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Actual waits for all were minimal.
Unfortunately, we did not do either Space Mountain or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This wasn’t for lack of time–we could’ve knocked both out in the last hour of the day, but decided against it.
Around 15 minutes before park closing, we jumped into line for Splash Mountain. If we were slightly more aggressive, we would’ve done Mine Train first and made it here in the final minutes of the day, but we didn’t want to miss sunset.
The line for Splash Mountain was not spilling out the front, but the entire inner courtyard was full. Despite that and the 75 minute posted time, our actual wait was exactly 23 minutes. That should give you an idea of the wait time inflation going on right now, which is likely happening to discourage guests from lining up for certain attractions. There’s only so much physical queue for Splash Mountain before it goes over the bridge, at which point there’s really nowhere for it to go since the parade route starts on the other side.
Ultimately, a surprisingly good day for us in Magic Kingdom, and even better in retrospect as we contrast it with the following day in EPCOT. There were some hiccups and heavier crowds than we would’ve liked, but not nearly as bad as the “story” told by posted wait times and photos of lines alone. With that said, there’s also the potentially huge asterisk that we simply skipped the middle of the day–but that’s exactly what you should try to do, so that’s not really a cop out.
Don’t try to swim upstream and avoid committing unforced errors and you should still be fine. Crowds peak around noon in Magic Kingdom because most guests arrive late; they then get frustrated by crowds or worn out by the heat and rules, and leave early. If you arrive early and stay late, it’s still fairly easy to beat the crowds. Figure out something else to do during the middle of the day–if you don’t want to leave the park, a long table service meal is a good idea. Oh, and this doesn’t even cover the absolute best portion of our day: sunset and evening in Magic Kingdom during Halloween season. This is already over 2,000 words and I have about two dozen more photos to share, so we’ll do a separate post on that very soon!
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
Have you visited Magic Kingdom on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday fall started? What was your experience? If you’ve also been on a weekday, how did they compare? Do you think wait times and lines are ‘too long’ given the current capacity limitations and other compromises, or does this all still sound attractive? Will you be attempting to visit Walt Disney World this summer or fall, 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!
Greatly appreciate your detailed itineraries! We’ve got two days coming up at MK (this Sunday and the following Saturday), so this is an incredible resource! Our hope is that the extended hours will negate some of the higher crowds, as I’m guessing MK will be pretty full regardless. This allows us to do Epcot and AK in the middle of the week, where I’m guessing there’s a more noticeable drop in guests. That leaves DHS for Monday and Friday, where our plan is to close our eyes and pray!! Lol
Awesome report! These are always so helpful. One thing I’ve noticed the last few visits to MK is there is always a headliner down which is so disappointing. I wonder about the maintenance of these attractions.
Splash Mountain was definitely looking a bit rough. I sure hope it’s getting a winter refurbishment if they’re planning to run it for another year or so.
Tom, great information. How should I be thinking about wait times on sources like Thrill Data? Should I just be using them for comparative purposes versus actual wait times? Thanks!
I’ve been wondering this too. When looking at week over week numbers, increases in wait times are much higher. It’s very hard to actually assess expected wait times without being the park. Curious of your thoughts on this, Tom. And please keep up with these reports and plans? SUPER helpful when planning!
I think there’s definitely value in those wait times (I check Thrill Data daily) but more as a general proxy for current crowd trends rather than where crowds levels actually stand as compared to historic norms.
For example, I think Thrill Data accurately identifies the trend of increasing crowds post-reopening. I do not think it paints a complete/correct picture of X day/week this year as compared to last. That make sense?
Thanks, Tom! I think I understand on getting a pulse or trend on wait times since reopening. It sounds like, however, that it may not be giving an apples-to-apples comparison on a year-over-year or pre-COVID versus post-COVID basis, which I was attempting to do. Thanks!
Do you recommend having sit-down reservations for lunch at ALL the parks instead of dinner? I have some dinner reservations but now wondering if I should switch to lunch and then just do counter service for dinner? Advice?
@Laura. One thing that has always worked for our family is “linner” while touring the parks. We like doing a sit down meal around 2:30/3. It’s generally when we hit the wall, and it’s kind of our one big meal for the day. We normally do a counter service snack around 11ish, and then we will grab something maybe light when we get back to the hotel.
Every family is different, bur just an idea.
Thanks so much for the update. This makes me feel better. My family is arriving Oct. 14th and I’ve been nervous about all the “long lines” discussions. Is there anyway you can post a “New Day Plan” for AK, HS, and Epcot?? Please…
Thanks!
Thanks for your reports. Looking forward to my MK trip in about two weeks.
Hi, Tom,
Some observations from my husband’s and my visit from last Monday Sep 21. We pretty much followed your itinerary, expecting things to be better considering it was a Monday – all true. No ride shutdowns and it was obvious the posted wait times had nothing to do with reality. Our longest wait was Space Mountain at 30 min – the social distancing really does make the lines look longer, but they move fast! Interestingly, mobile food orders were shut down then, too. Had a wonderful lunch at Skipper Canteen, though we were on a waitlist for hour and a half and that was totally OK, perfect time to do Pirates and the Tiki room. Best part was the cavalcades – Villains! Nightmare before Christmas! btw, we also missed the Bears, but did see Chip and Dale there. Finally, I had read your previous post about the decorations and have to agree – what was the big deal about not putting up the ones from previous Halloweens??? It’s a crime there were NO decorations at the Haunted House!! Big bummer!
I fully support never bringing back FastPass. At least not how it was before. Virtual Queues should be the future of high demand rides that require line management.
We’re staying at the Yacht Club in a couple weeks. What would be the best way to get to MK for rope drop? We’ll have a rental car & could drive if that would be faster than buses from the Yacht Club. I’m just not sure what time the buses start running or what time the TTC lot would open up for parking & the ferry or monorail start running.
Make an early breakfast ADR at the Wave, park at the Contemporary, enjoy breakfast, and walk over to MK at 8:30. That’s my two cents!
I can leave the car parked @ the contemporary all day while we’re in the park?
Hi Tom,
You mentioned that you left the park and then returned….Is this allowed for anyone on days we have that park reserved??
Thanks.
Given this experience in MK, would you opt for a Thursday or Friday in the park? Would love to see a post, or even a mention, of best days for each park in light of current changes. We plan on doing MK next Monday and Thursday or Friday and this post made me feel a little better, thanks as always, Tom!
I totally saw you guys right before park close on Friday, I just got OFF Splash Mountain and was hurrying to ride Haunted Mansion once more before park close, since it was my final park day after spending a week at WDW. I was too shy to say hi, but thanks for all you do! And thanks for confirming I’m not crazy and really did see you guys! Even with a mask on, I thought, “that sure looks like Tom”…. and that looks like Sarah trailing behind! 😉 I totally agree that the wait times all seem wrong/inflated. I experienced that all week. Space Mountain said an hour, and it was MAYBE 20 minutes. Same with several other rides. A relief, to say the least.
Your article was so helpful I would ask you to address another issue I encountered. I booked my stay at the Swan because I thought I would be taking the friendship boats to EPCOT to save some walking. I am a senior & though I do not need a motorized scooter walking up those hills over the bridges is tough & that long walk from the hotel to EPCOT is long. When I arrived I found the friendship boats were not running. That was not good. By the time I even made it to EPCOT I was already in pain. Any idea when these boats will resume operation? Also – can you please do an article for seniors on how to handle all the walking? Us seniors who aren’t physically disabled want to enjoy the parks too (yet we don’t have the physical endurance that young folks have). Thanks for telling it like it really is!
Your article was spot on. I only wish you posted it before I made my trip to WDW. I was there as you were. Practically the same time. Yes – i was shocked to see the crowds & wait times. Other bloggers are NOT telling it like it really is. The MK & EPCOT were very crowded & lines were long! Very disappointing considering what other bloggers were saying. Next time I will follow your advice & save this article for future reference.
Wait times do what they need to do. The alternative is closing the line because they just don’t have the space. They know most people are Passholders right now and Passholders will reject a line over 30 minutes to do the ride next time.
Kinda sucky from a customer service perspective but it does work. Passholders will not wait in a line they feel “should” be shorter or will be shorter later.
Can I ask what time you went back into MK? We are like you locals and passholders. My husband hasn’t been back to MK yet since reopening so we are going back in the afternoon this Wednesday. Aren’t big thrill people (no Splash or Space Mountain) and don’t mind if we miss 7 Dwarves either. Trying to find that “sweet spot” for afternoon entering. We followed your advice for DS, went in around 3pm and it was a great afternoon for us. We have already been on ROTR so we skipped it that day. Husband has to work and we don’t like the elevated crowds on weekends so finding good days for him has been a challenge.
Some of the best advice I ever received:
“Plan your work, work your plan.”
REALLY appreciate this article, as we have our first return to Disney planned for this weekend, Oct. 2nd-4th. The wife has been getting a little troubled with the myriad photos out there showing crowded walkways and longer wait times, but as a data guy by profession, I was trying to say I would like to see more details on what it is relative to “normal” year, comparisons from the beginning of opening during Covid-19, and were the photos of long lines due to the social distancing guidelines as much as actual wait time. Photos alone can be misleading without more meat to them, so thanks again for this!
Your advice is great as always and yes this still sounds attractive. We were there when crowds were very low and to be honest it was a little sad. I think more people makes it more fun.
Really appreciate your reports.
I know this one is too early to use for our December trip but watching your blogs I know we will be well prepared when the time comes.
Thanks Tom and Sarah
Thanks very much. This is very helpful. It sounds like you could have hit every headliner with a little luck and/or dealing with a couple longer queues.
You mentioned you got there about 15m too late for rope drop. What do you think the ideal time is now? Will 830 suffice or try for a full hour early?
Would love to see a similar post for DHS, even though I’m sure you are dreading it. That one has me the most concerned (concerned being a relative term given these are vacation days in a theme park vs. the daily struggles). Thank you!!!!
I think 8:30 am would suffice, but might err on the side of 45 minutes if it were my only day in Magic Kingdom. At some point, it becomes question of how long your family can “last” in masks and heat. Arrive later if it means being able to stay until park closing. It’s a delicate balance.
We were originally going to do DHS this weekend, but figured EPCOT would make more sense because it’d be worse…and it was. Instead, we’re doing DHS this week. Should have reports from both within the next few days, followed by DAK early next week.
Thanks again Tom.
We really appreciate all the content. It’s so nice being able to read reports from a consistent (and trusted) voice during this period.