Magic Kingdom Weekend Report: Low Crowds & Higher Waits
Magic Kingdom has now been open for over one month and despite the last several months crawling, it really doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. Nevertheless, we head back to Walt Disney World’s most popular park on a weekend to see how things are going on what should be the busiest day of the week.
Save for reopening day which had a low capacity cap, this was our first weekend visit to Magic Kingdom since early this year. One of our steadfast pieces of advice is and has been to avoid Magic Kingdom on weekends, which we view as the worst day for ‘feels like’ crowds. In the past, this has been predicated upon operating hours, a lack of hard ticket events, and it being the top pick for locals. (Although Disney’s Hollywood Studios has given it a run for its money since December.)
With all of the post-reopening changes, only one of those things remains true. Nevertheless, Magic Kingdom is the flagship park at Walt Disney World, and the destination a disproportionate number of locals will choose to visit when they have a day off work…which also disproportionately happens on weekends. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how things are going at Magic Kingdom as summer vacation season winds down and locals get in one last weekend hurrah…
There are a few important points here that I don’t want you to gloss over while skimming the rambling paragraphs that follow. First, this was by far the busiest day we’ve experienced at Walt Disney World since reopening. Second, it was also entirely predictable given longstanding crowd trends. Finally, the weekend was still not at all bad compared to year over year numbers and historical averages.
While we generally follow our own advice with regard to weekends at Magic Kingdom, we opted to disregard it here after some scattered reports of elevated crowds. The goal was to see for ourselves whether things were actually bad or if, like reports on the bus service at Caribbean Beach, this was a matter of skewed perspective.
Truthfully, we already had our objective answer even more visiting thanks to Thrill Data. Most days last month and this month, Magic Kingdom wait times have been roughly one-third to half their normal levels. (Keep in mind that the ‘new normal’ for Walt Disney World already was lower summer crowds. Last year, July and August were the second and third least-busy months of the year, after September.)
On recent weekends at Magic Kingdom, those wait times have been trending closer to half their normal levels, with weekdays being around one-third. For example, on the day we visited, the average wait time at Magic Kingdom was 19 minutes, down 47% as compared to the same day of the week last year. By contrast, the average wait time yesterday was 12 minutes. That’s a pretty significant difference.
Nevertheless, posted wait times only tell a partial story and we wanted to see firsthand what crowds were really like, and if the ‘feels like’ conditions were markedly worse than weekdays.
Anyway, let’s take a stroll around Magic Kingdom and see how that looked during our visit…
The posted wait time at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was 45 minutes when I took this photo.
This was likely accurate, as the line stretched around the attraction and back towards Storybook Circus. Keep in mind that this is with physical distancing and without FastPass, which makes all of these lines appear far worse than they actually are.
The other particularly long wait was Splash Mountain, which also had a posted 45 minute wait time and line out its front entrance.
These have been consistently the longest two lines at Magic Kingdom.
If you’re visiting in the near future, consider rope dropping Seven Dwarfs Mine Train followed by Splash Mountain to minimize your waits.
Peter Pan’s Flight and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad also belong in the mix somewhere early on–we haven’t tested out enough ‘temporary abnormal’ rope drop and all-day touring strategy yet.
Other attractions should absolutely be saved until later in the day.
Pirates of the Caribbean is posting longer wait times midday. By 4 pm most days, even on weekends, it’s a walk-on (or close to it).
Same goes for Haunted Mansion, which had a 30 minute midday wait.
Note the Cast Member holding the “end of line” sign, and the switchbacks on the far left of the above photo (under Big Thunder). A few hours later, this would have no line whatsoever.
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is yet another example of this.
Above is a thirty minute wait time with outdoor switchbacks during peak crowds. It’s a 5-10 minute wait–all in the air-conditioning–later in the afternoon.
Even Carousel of Progress–Carousel of Progress–has a wait on the weekend. (It’s only a 5-10 minute wait, but still fairly unprecedented.)
This is not because Magic Kingdom guests suddenly have great taste. It’s due to physical distancing in the theater…and the hot weather.
However, the wait times and photos of attraction lines paint a very incomplete picture of what a weekend visit to Magic Kingdom is actually like.
The above photo was taken immediately after the Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and Carousel of Progress crowd shots.
This shot was taken a few minutes later.
The below shot shortly after that…
By now, the trend should be obvious: the crowds are low even though wait times are high(er).
None of these are Photoshopped to remove the crowds, nor were they taken at strategic times to minimize people.
One byproduct of FastPass+ is that guests can effectively be in two places at once: in the queue (virtually) and roaming the park in person.
Because of this two places at one time dynamic, FastPass/FastPass+ reduced the overall capacity of each park. In turn, removing FastPass increased the capacity of the park as a whole. (This same move also has a theoretical impact on queue capacity that be problematic down the road, but fortunately that has yet to be tested.)
Stated differently, the Magic Kingdom as a whole feels less crowded because more guests are physically standing in line for attractions.
Being in only one place at a time is an oddly interesting dynamic, and one that’s fairly unique as compared to recent precedent. Basically, it plays out as follows…
On slower days when wait times are short, guests are spending less time in each line…and proportionately more time walking from ride to ride, and elsewhere.
On busier days when wait times are higher, guests are spending more time in each line…and proportionately less walking from ride to ride, and elsewhere.
The net result of that is ‘feels like’ crowds while walking around Magic Kingdom that are more or less the same low levels irrespective of wait times or day of the week. On the other hand, ‘feels like’ crowds are noticeably worse in lines on weekends as compared to weekdays.
This means two guests could have dramatically different perceptions of the same crowd levels in Magic Kingdom depending upon whether they focused on rides or atmosphere.
This is a plus for guests who simply enjoy wandering around uncrowded parks and soaking up the ambiance.
At least, in theory. Part of the reason why guests aren’t lingering in walkways to “soak up the ambiance” is because after about 5 minutes of doing so, your shirt will be soaking up sweat.
The cavalcades, smile & wave character greetings, and live entertainment is great–but those brief offerings are about the only compelling reason to be wandering around right now.
For us, the lack of snacks and atmospheric offerings coupled with the current heat and daytime-only operating hours makes simply enjoying Magic Kingdom a tad difficult.
I know what you might be thinking. That waving at, and selfies with, Country Bears could easily kill half the day. And it could, in theory.
But what no one wants you to know is that these fellas are only out sporadically. It’s not my intention to put Liver Lips or Big Al on blast, so I’ll just say that these boys already have their hibernation game on point. (Perhaps Disney should bring out more Country Bears since these two are so popular?!)
We still have found a couple of occasions to grab some ice cream, a spot in the shade, and enjoy the atmosphere. Definitely not as much as normal, though. Now even more than normal, EPCOT is the atmosphere park.
It’s tough to fully articulate, but right now we definitely feel much more of an emphasis on rides than everything else at Magic Kingdom. I know it won’t fix everything, but Halloween decorations (and hopefully, fall snacks!) can’t come soon enough.
On that note, one really nice touch that we noticed this visit for the first time is characters from Winnie the Pooh on the terrace at Crystal Palace.
With these characters at ground level, they were perfect for some physically-distanced selfies.
Not wanting to “waste” our hotel stay at Caribbean Beach Resort, we didn’t stick around Magic Kingdom until park closing. However, in monitoring wait times via My Disney Experience, the afternoon drop-off was not as pronounced as expected–or as occurs on weekdays.
Our guess is that people stick around longer if they still have more to “accomplish” and leave earlier once they “finish” every attraction.
Finally, it’s worth noting that crowds on Main Street at the end of the day feel moderate (which is to say, higher than the rest of the day) no matter how each individual land felt in the hours before closing. We were in Magic Kingdom yesterday afternoon and evening to assess the weekday situation, and it was a veritable ghost town. Peter Pan’s Flight and Space Mountain were both walk-ons, as were most other attractions. Only Splash Mountain and Seven Dwarfs Mine Trains had waits, and those were relatively modest.
When we arrived to Main Street around 10 minutes after park closing, it felt like every single guest was also up there. Some leaving, some hanging out, some waiting in line to enter the Emporium and check out the newly-released Halloween merchandise. This isn’t a huge surprise given the 7 pm closing time, but it was odd to go from seeing few guests throughout the park to everyone up front. We didn’t stick around long to monitor the bus situation, but there weren’t any noteworthy lines at the bus stops. Around 80% (or more) of guests were heading towards the monorail and boats, leaving us to believe that even on weekdays, crowds are skewing heavily towards locals.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you visited Magic Kingdom on a Saturday or Sunday since the park reopened? 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!
Hi, Tom! Thank you for your great reports. We rented DVC points back in December for a November trip and are hoping things clear up that our kiddos wouldn’t be quarantined from school 2 weeks afterwards…
Anyway…we have thrill-loving elementary age boys and a 2-year-old girl, so we love the rider swap option. With the absence of Fast Pass+, does that also mean we couldn’t use rider swap? Wondering specifically how they would handle that in the flagship Star Wars feature with the boarding groups, and also the rides that may have longer wait times?
Thanks!
I have a question about long lines and waiting “etiquette”. I’m the old timer in my group visiting in October. I am willing to stand in line while others take in a nearby activity and join me in line a bit later. Is this something that is acceptable or is it frowned upon at Disney???
I won’t speak to the etiquette during normal times as everyone has their own opinion about this. In the current situation though I wouldn’t recommend it. The social distanced queues move fast and the wait times are inaccurate. You may never regroup in time. You are also causing your group to pass by in a tight queue a lot of people trying to keep their distance. In the present circumstances this would really piss me off. Luckily the lines are so short this isn’t necessary anyway. Tell your group to grow up and wait with you.
Personally, it is frowned upon. If it is a little kid that needs to go to the restroom or something then I think it is excusable – otherwise everyone should have to wait. It maybe depends on the size of your group – I think if it is only one other person people would be more lenient rather than an entire group.
Something that is specific to this time though is that those people not waiting in line would have to pass by everyone else that was waiting behind you, not maintaining the 6 ft distance. This might not be allowed by Disney and could make others uncomfortable.
I know people do it but officially Disney has a policy against line jumping even in normal times. I agree with the poster if someone has a little kid that needed to go to the bathroom that is one thing or your group gets separated as you enter the line but jumping line or holding place in line is frowned upon.
See guest courtesy here:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/park-rules/
I just returned from a 12 night stay. I think judging crowd levels now is difficult. I could have taken countless photos of empty parks like above. I could have also taken many shots of crowded choke points with maskless people that you typically see go viral. You would see both of those images right around the corner from each other. By any historical measure the crowds are very low. But we are in a pandemic so different measures should apply. I think the best question to ask yourself before going is, are you OK being within 6 feet of a lot of people right now? Most will be fleeting interactions and masked but not all. If you navigate the parks like a typical tourist you will be within 6 feet of a ton of people no matter what precautions you take. Don’t go by pictures but rather think about that question. Personally I am OK with fleeting contact with masked people. So most of the time I was comfortable at Disney but several times a day I was in very uncomfortable situations without that control. I don’t regret my visit though.
Today (8-19) we walked into Buzz, Peter Pan, Haunted, and Pirates. Under 10 minutes for Jungle Cruise/ Did all between appx 10am & noon
Yesterday at Epcot Soaring was under 5 mins and the Living with Land was under ten. Space Ship was down
I too am a worrier about the Carousel of Progress. There have been rumblings in the past that the machinery that turns the building is getting old and hard to repair and that Disney does not plan to fix it if it really breaks down. Of course this raises the possibility of replacing it with a new ride with the old scenes and some totally new ones. Surely with today’s technology they could make an updated mechanical version. I wish. This is almost my favorite ride ever. TTA is the first!
Can you consider doing a post about inflated wait times? I know with Fast Pass out of the picture, physical distancing, cleaning, etc. there are way more variables now. But I really want to know why wait times seem to consistently (and increasingly) be inflated. I don’t understand the purpose it serves. I’m sure crowd distribution is one possibility, but if all of the times are inflated, that doesn’t make much sense. I suppose it’s better to under-promise and over-deliver? But I certainly have actively been discouraged from riding due to wait times that have turned out to be way off.
Yes, the SNACKS! We were there towards the end of July and while I noticed there weren’t as many places to get a snack it didn’t matter too much as it was stupid hot and I was traveling with 1st timers and we were trying to fit everything in.
But now planning the December trip for just the two of us and I really need Disney to up their snack game. I love to grab a great snack and soak in the Disney feels.
The reduced menus hurt as well. The loss of the Pulled Pork Sandwich at The Boathouse completely broke my heart.
Right now we are booked for a 4 night/5 day trip and, as usual, I was scheming about how I can extend it when I suddenly realized that without park hoppers and with possibly very limited holiday offerings it might not be worth it (never would have dreamed I would have such a though).
As it stands, since this trip is a cash stay instead a points stay for us I am not sure we will be going unless they release discounts. We had a great trip in July. The first timers loved it and guzzled the proverbial kool-aid. But they didn’t know what they were missing and I do. I don’t think I’m willing to pay full price for a room with so much “less” of the magic.
The wait times on my Disney app haven’t been showing up for a few days now.
Hit the map button at the bottom.
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/best-restaurants-outdoor-seating-disney-world/
Completely meant to link this as a response to Julia’s ask *facepalm* that’s what I get for trying to be helpful on mobile
We went on a Friday to MK and I have mixed feelings. Being local and previously an AP holder, I usually won’t go in August but the reports of low crowds was way too tempting so I bought a 4 day. We arrived later, around 10:30 am and left by 4 pm. Thunder Mtn and Pirates were long (30+) while we were there. Peter Pan was down. Yet we were able to ride Splash Mtn, Mine Train, and Space Mtn pretty easily. Disney did a great job with social distancing and I really appreciated not having people right on top of me. Still, with the extreme heat and short visit, I question if it was really worth it. Parades and shows were missed and lines still felt longer considering the low crowds. Hoping next trip is a bit more enjoyable. Still love Disney, just was hoping for shorter lines to offset the heat factor.
Thanks for sharing your experience–and I know what you mean!
If you’re local enough to choose your next visit based on a mix of crowd reports and the day’s weather forecast, that’s something to consider. Nicer weather plus some seasonal ‘stuff’ (whatever that might end up being) would really improve the overall experience.
We just got back on Monday. Wait times were very unpleasant when you are used to fastpass. Also, posted wait times did not tell the real story, partly because they were just not very accurate in general, But because often there would be a cleaning pause while we were in the queue. A 10 minute posted wait for magic carpets actually turned out to be 40 minutes in the hot sun–makes no sense as it is way more dangerous to be standing next to a quasi-mask-compliant family for 40 minutes that spill ovee theur line marker than to sit on a ride vehicle that has not been sanitized. Until fastpass returns, we won’t be back.
Sorry to hear your experience wasn’t good!
I know you’ve been closely following the roller coaster changes since even before Walt Disney World announced its reopening date. I appreciate you sharing your feedback (as our experiences are hardly definitive), but am still disappointed to hear that it wasn’t a great trip. 🙁
Great post, Tom. Thank you. Question on my upcoming visit… I can come one of two times in September (avoiding weekends), the first is September 8-11 and second is September 15-18. I’m a bit worried about any Labor Day crowds “bleeding” into the first week. What do you think?
Labor Day crowds typically subside pretty quickly in the days that follow, but I’d still choose the second set of dates without a second thought.
As with every trip this time of year, the wildcard is hurricane season.
Thanks, Tom! Dates changed! I’ll be sure to give a report on the week. Thanks so much for this great resource! The information (in commentary and photos) is so valuable to so many.
Tom, can you be more specific why you say this? I thought the week after Labor Day was historically the lowest as well as the last week before rates jump up a bit. It’s also a concern for us.
“Labor Day crowds typically subside pretty quickly in the days that follow, but I’d still choose the second set of dates without a second thought.”
Tom,
Can you please do a report on which restaurants have outdoor seating/dining? I know you have talked about it in previous reports, and I tried going through and looking for it, and had problems finding it. Tony’s Town Square front porch in Magic Kingdom, and Spice Road at Epcot are all that I can think of. I just need for Epcot & MK. I know you talked about ordering groceries. It seems there are so few places to eat, and I am thinking of doing a resort only trip—split Poly Villas and BWV/BCV this Dec.
Thank you for all your information, even if you don’t get to that soon.
Here you go: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/best-restaurants-outdoor-seating-disney-world/
🙂
Tom,
I found the info.
Thank you.
Can you tell me more about the covid character meet and greets? Are you close enough to talk to them? Do they respond to people?
Kathleen,
I have not been, but reading what has been posted, I will answer.
They are not meet & greets. They are distanced—-like Tom shows in this post, on top of balcony, on porch far away, driving by on float. You can wave and yell at them, and they will wave back if they see you, but that is all the interaction there is, no conversation. YOu can get a photo with them in the background, as Tom shows in this report. That is about as close as you will get.
Some do still talk to you–the ones on a stage like captain jack, kylo ren, and alice in Epcot. If on a float or upper balcony it is more smile and wave.
From various blogs/vlogs I’ve seen, there is some interactivity with characters, but limited and distanced. Here’s some that I’ve seen – In EPCOT, Alice and Mary Poppins are both doing distanced meetings in the gazebo in the UK pavilion and have conversations with people, a bit awkwardly since you kind of have to shout back and forth with them. The Step Sisters are also appearing up on the castle balcony in Magic Kingdom and having shouted conversations with people. I’ve seen Pooh, Joy, Buzz Lightyear, Stitch, and Country Bears doing distanced meetings that were still close enough for them to have interactive responses with guests. I wouldn’t really qualify most of these interactions as meet & greets though.
We got back a couple of weeks ago and Magic Kingdom definitely was the busiest park. Not only in times, but in what it felt like. Fantasyland bad us feeling uncomfortable since it’s already narrow to begin with. It was pretty jam packed. We definitely had to wait way longer than we thought we would for most rides. The only semi walk on we had was space mountain and we still waited about 10 minutes.
All other parks were great! After our day at MK we were expecting the worst at HS. Boy were we wrong. It was fantastic using the arrive late method! We’ve already done rise of the resistance several times and didn’t want to deal with the nightmares we’ve heard about at HS. We walked onto the Millennium Falcon twice in a row. Slinky dog we waited no more than 10 minutes etc. MK was by far the worst and had us freeling the most uncomfortable
Thanks for sharing your experience!
We’ve had success recently with DHS feeling less crowded, but that’s definitely not always the case in the mornings. (However, it always or pretty much always is with the later arrival strategy.)
Am going in Nov. Arrival day is Sunday and I got pass for MK. Now am thinking I should save that and go to Epcot instead. Can I change pass days any time? Does anybody know.
Yes we’re here currently and just changed our 2nd time planned in MK for Epcot instead. World Showcase is just too hard to pass up. We loved the atmosphere in Epcot and the kids have done enough rides… So yes to answer the question you can change as long as you haven’t checked into that park…
That depends on your ticket really. I changed pass days for my July trip about three times without issue–for the most part. You just cancel the park pass you have, and create a new park pass for that same day.
If you have a ticket that’s hanging on from a previous visit though, this can cause a unique problem once you get into the parks. I had a ticket from March, which Disney extended to be available until Sept 2021. I made a park pass using that ticket for a Tuesday at Hollywood Studios, which ‘locked in’ that ticket for that date. So later, when I went in and switched that park pass online for a Wednesday, it said my ticket had expired (since it was now after the the new, locked in ticket date). Thankfully a helpful cast member fixed the problem for us, but it’s something to watch for!
We have been here the last 7 days and have waited in longer (duration) lines than our last 5 trips. Not as short of lines as we expected. We always come mid September or first week of December and are educated about fast passes. We are also surprised at lack dining options, even for quick service or a quick soda/Mickey head. Sometimes it’s been hard to find a bottle of water without a 10 min wait. This trip has been okay, but not up to par and just as expensive. Few housekeeping and transportation issues. Still glad we did it, assuming post covid crowds jump.
After reading your blog about the small crowds for the last couple of months, we decided to take our trip which had to be postponed from late May.. We were there last week and visited all four parks. We visited Magic Kingdom on Monday and Friday. The waits were longest on Mine Train and Splash Mountain followed by Big Thunder. Middle of the day had the largest crowds but nothing compared to our last visit 4 years ago. By 5 pm, almost all the rides were walk on including Space Mountain. We went to Animal Kingdom on Sunday and the longest wait was only 35 minutes for both Everest and Flight of Passage. By 5:30 pm, we walked on Flight of Passage which in my opinion is the best ride at Disney. Tuesday we arrived at Epcot about 2pm and we were the only people entering the park and we didn’t see other visitors until after we rode Spaceship Earth. Frozen had the longest wait about 40 minutes. It was really nice to just stroll around the countries which was a ghost town until about 6 pm when more people showed up for the Food & Wine Festival. We went back to Epcot on Saturday shortly after opening and it was a totally different experience. Crowds were everywhere. Wednesday and Thursday we took on Hollywood Studios. You can easily do HS in one day but we wanted a second opportunity at Rise of the Resistance but that didn’t happen because the park was much more crowded on Thursday compared to Wednesday. It was so crowded on Thursday, we were actually uncomfortable. There wasn’t enough space to social distance. As a Disney fan that has been visiting since the 70s as a child, the lower crowds felt like the old days. We stayed at Fort Widerness which was quite full because there are several camping loops that were closed. But with that said, very few people were taking the buses or boats to the parks. Hoping to visit again in December while the crowds are still low.
Tom, thanks for all the information you post.
I’m glad to see Carousel of Progress having a wait! It’s like a comfort food to me, and I’m always nervous Disney going to do something to it (and not in a good way).
We were there Saturday and I’ll say we didn’t wait as long as posted times majority of the day.
Quantum physics proves you can be in two places at the exact same time!!!!! LOL
I guess that’s the solace of Quantum.