More than 20 million guests visit Magic Kingdom annually, which works out to more than 57 thousand daily visitors. You’re fighting a lot of other vacationers each time you stand in line, and so you need a competitive edge. Here are six Magic Kingdom attractions with the longest lines and six with the shortest.
6) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
FastPasses. During peak park hours, more than 20 attractions will come with wait-times of 30 minutes or more. Friends, you don’t want to spend half an hour waiting on Astro Orbiter. FastPasses are the difference between your riding six attractions or 12 during a park day.
I’m telling you right now that you need to get good atFastPasses are particularly important for the most popular attractions. Everything that we’ll discuss here has a wait of at least 50 minutes on crowded days. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad varies more than the other attractions on this list, but your best case scenario is 30 minutes on most days. During the afternoons when Magic Kingdom is most crowded, you’re looking at 50 minutes or more.
5) Jungle Cruise
Given the sheer volume of boats in operation on Jungle Cruise, this boat ride has one of the highest throughputs at Magic Kingdom. Due to its eternal popularity, however, the line is always problematic. You’ll rarely find it shorter than 40 minutes.
During peak periods, expect to wait 55 minutes or so. As I'm writing this, the wait-time was 80 minutes on a summer day, which is just…too much for Jungle Cruise. And I say that as a super-fan.
4) Splash Mountain
The positive about Magic Kingdom wait-times is that most of the rides fall into the middle of the bell curve. In other words, the majority of attractions regularly have waits between 25 and 35 minutes. So, anything that you see listed in the top six should be your highest priority for FastPasses.
Splash Mountain is an attraction that has a lot of variance. On a regular afternoon, the wait-time should be an hour. On a hot Florida day, you should add 20-30 minutes to that number. Conversely, rainy days dramatically reduce the wait-time. Most people stay away at such times, but I’m crazy. I recommend riding it then since you’re already wet.
3) Space Mountain
Splash Mountain and Space Mountain are effectively tied. The difference is that Space Mountain has a steadier wait-time of 60-65 minutes. Since it’s indoors, the only times when it closes are for mechanical reasons. And since it’s an iconic attraction, demand is steady throughout the day. Splash Mountain has peaks and valleys, but the desire for intergalactic travel is constant.
2) Peter Pan’s Flight
The top two attractions at Magic Kingdom in terms of wait-times are easy to guess. Well, that’s true for anyone who has spent much time at the parks over the past few years.
Since the arrival of New Fantasyland, Peter Pan's Flight has come with the second-longest lines at Magic Kingdom. You'll rarely see a wait-time of less than 50 minutes here, and a 75-minute line is relatively standard. For this reason, I stress to everyone that you should only ride this when you have a FastPass.
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