Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1am with fireworks and two night-time parades. The days with longer hours are signific-
antly more crowded because people equate longer hours with more bang for their buck.
This isn't necessarily true. While a longer day does offer more time in the park, it also
brings with it longer lines, increased congestion in common areas, and a more stressful
overall experience. With two days at Magic Kingdom, most guests will want to visit on one
less crowded day to hammer out the priority attractions and also visit on a day that they can
enjoy the nighttime entertainment.
• Animal Kingdom is typically least busy early on Mondays and Tuesdays. It's
busiest on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, particularly on days with morning
Extra Magic Hours.
• Hollywood Studios is least crowded early in the week on days it doesn't offer Extra
Magic Hours, particularly Sundays and Tuesdays (Sundays are quite crowded
during the annual mid-May to mid-June Star Wars Weekends.) Wednesdays and
Saturdays are typically busiest otherwise.
• Epcot is generally least busy on Mondays, Thursdays, and weekends (except dur-
ing the Food and Wine Festival in the fall, when weekends are quite busy).
• Magic Kingdom is typically least busy on Tuesdays, Wednesdays,, and Fridays.
One reason why Magic Kingdom tends to be busiest on weekends and Mondays, and the
other theme parks less crowded on those days, is the number of people that arrive over
the weekend and head to the Most Magical Place on Earth first thing. We recommend put-
ting off Magic Kingdom for a Tuesday or Wednesday, not only because it's less crowded
and more enjoyable, but also because seeing it first might spoil the very different experien-
ces at the other theme parks. While much of Magic Kingdom is an exercise in excitement
and sensory overload, Epcot in particular takes more time and thought to discover its rich-
ness. This isn't to say the other theme parks are “bad”, but it can be difficult to get young
kids excited about an educational boat ride about horticulture after experiencing the 50-foot
plunge on Splash Mountain the day before.
But there are exceptions to these general guidelines, which is where the daily crowd cal-
endars and recommended parks come into play. Be sure to check out your dates as soon as
possible. Once you've sorted out which parks you will see on which days, begin entering
the details in the planning sheet, on the facing page. (There's room in it for dining as well,
which is coming in Chapter 7.)
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