Tips for Magic Kingdom

Okay, assuming that you’re like most theme park tourists, you’ll spend most of your time here. It’s the most trafficked theme park in the world and had 8.7 million more visits than Epcot, the second most popular park at Walt Disney World. In other words, adding the current attendance of Universal Studios Islands of Adventure to Epcot almost exactly matches the standalone total for Magic Kingdom. It’s that popular. It’s also that crowded.

Keeping this in mind, you’re going to feel like you’re in the mouth of madness at times. Some sites like Touring Plans estimate park traffic for given days, using a ten-point scale. Due to the discrepancy in crowd size, a five at Magic Kingdom can feel like an eight at one of the other parks. If you get claustrophobic at times, don’t panic or feel like you’re doing anything wrong. Your first visit to Magic Kingdom may seem overwhelming, but there are some things you can understand to make the situation more manageable.

First, you should understand that Magic Kingdom utilizes the same hub-and-spokes design as Disneyland. It’s the structure that Walt Disney himself preferred, and his Imagineers honored that vision in building the East Coast answer to Disneyland. When you get lost or confused about the best path to take, Magic Kingdom’s hub and spokes will save you.

To visualize the design, think of Cinderella Castle as the center of Magic Kingdom. Not coincidentally, all roads lead to this spot. All of the themed lands have paths that will eventually return a lost guest to the castle. Conversely, when you’re at the castle, you can follow the signs to reach any attraction. Over time, you’ll learn better paths, and the My Disney Experience app’s mapping features will also guide you. Still, a good rule of thumb at Magic Kingdom is that when you’re lost, find the castle landmark and figure it out from there.

In terms of specific plans, Magic Kingdom is so wide open that no one strategy exists. Plus, your FastPass times and locations will drive your decision making more than at any other park. If it’s not too late to choose, the best FastPasses options are Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight. If you’re already at the parks, you’re probably too late to grab the first one and may not want the second one.

Peter Pan’s Flight is something that you won’t want to stand in line to ride, even though its line queue is divine. You’ll wait at least 45 minutes for an attraction that takes about three minutes and somehow feels shorter since there’s no delay in boarding the vessel. While this is a wonderful legacy ride from the opening day of Disneyland, you may feel disappointed by waiting a long time to enjoy it. If you can’t get a FastPass, strongly consider skipping it unless you’re a Peter Pan/Tinkerbell fanatic. As for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, I think it’s in the conversation for best attraction at Magic Kingdom, but some folks find it a bit silly and dull. If you can grab a FastPass, you should definitely ride it. Otherwise, you’ll waste too much of your valuable park time standing in line here.

The beauty of Magic Kingdom as opposed to the other three parks is that you can churn FastPasses like crazy. Always have your phone in hand as you stand in line for your next attraction or sit down for a meal. Several of the best rides at Disney will have a FastPass available most of the day. Always pick the one closest to the current time. That way, you can do more. You’ll get the hang of this strategy quickly, and you’ll soon discover that you can ride and re-ride your favorite attractions often as long as you’re flexible. That’s the key to a Magic Kingdom visit. Go with the flow!

As far as highlights, plan your day around a couple of key events. At 3 p.m. each day, the Festival of Fantasy parade takes place in the streets of Magic Kingdom. Around 2:30, you should either start planning where you’d like to watch it or head to the recesses of the park where you’ll avoid the crowds. Tomorrowland is my preferred destination, but a lot of options are good. Just DO NOT head to Main Street U.S.A. or the surrounding area.

At night, the same logic applies to what is currently the Wishes fireworks display but will soon switch to Happily Ever After. These shows have a tendency to clog up the main spokes of the themed lands. Once the fireworks end, most people head to the front gate to leave for the evening. You’ll want to plan around these tendencies if you intend to stay late, which brings us to the most important point.

The key difference with Magic Kingdom is that it’s a full day park in the truest sense. Unlike the other three gates at Walt Disney World, you can easily spend multiple days here without running out of things to do. Attractions like Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, and Carousel of Progress can consume a lot of your free time without your realizing it. Similarly, Jungle Cruise and It’s a Small World both take more than 10 minutes, and first-time guests should also attend Country Bear Jamboree and Hall of Presidents at least once. That’s three hours of attractions right there, and we’re not even talking about the best stuff at Magic Kingdom.

These rides and shows also double as wonderful breathers when you’re tired, already the park’s grand champion in this category is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. You can use anything in these two paragraphs as a break, but all of them are also fun attractions, something that’s not necessarily true of a couple of other slow rides listed above.

As far as navigating the park, what I’d suggest is staying in a single themed land until you’ve seen everything that interests you. Magic Kingdom’s design is immaculate, with a masterful combination of quality attractions, random shows, and huge merchandise stores. When you slow down and take everything in, you won’t tire quickly from all the walking, and you’ll also enjoy a fuller appreciation of Disney’s most popular park.

Finally, while you’re at Magic Kingdom, you should try two foods that have attained legendary status over the years. The first is the ginormous turkey leg, which you’ll know when you see it. While the rustic turkey flavor is exactly what you’d expect, the photo ops of your holding it are why you’ll want to buy one. The other delicacy is the Pineapple Dole Whip, which you can find at Aloha Isle (or Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort). It’s an inimitable dessert that matches and even surpasses its decades-old hype.

So, there you have it. That’s all the advice you should need to have a wonderful time at the Most Magical Place on Earth. Have a great vacation, my fellow theme park tourists!