Fall is true across the nook and, with that, Magic Kingdom enters a brand new section for the rest of 2024. Halloween and Christmas seasons carry with them a curler coaster of crowds, with dramatic variations in wait occasions and attendance in selecting one of the best vs. worst days to do MK. This explains why, with lists of the least & most crowded dates in August by means of December, and a handful of crimson flag dates to keep away from in any respect prices.
Whilst this summer time has been comparatively sluggish at Walt Disney World (see Summer time (Nonetheless) Is NOT Excessive Crowds Season at Walt Disney World), the parks are nonetheless about to get slower as faculties return into session. For all intents and functions, August is the tip of summer time, and begin of the low season, Halloween-time, and “Occasion Season.” (Earlier than individuals with a conventional idea of “seasons” get mad at me, I don’t make the foundations–Disney is the one which begins Halloween in early August, not me.)
Occasion Season is an enormous deal at Walt Disney World as a result of it disrupts attendance dynamics and creates a “porcupine sample” of wait occasions and crowd ranges. In a nutshell, the gang phenomenon is that each Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Occasion push attendance a lot increased on the dates they’re not occurring and decrease on days of the occasions.
That is nothing new–we’ve been banging the Occasion Season drum the final decade, no less than. Magic Kingdom crowd patterns throughout Occasion Season are a key dialogue factors of our August by means of December crowd calendars. It’s really one of many best “predictions” we make–akin to forecasting longer traces for Seven Dwarfs Mine Prepare than the Magic Carpets of Aladdin.
For our half, we’ve been strongly recommending that readers go to Magic Kingdom through the day on Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Occasion nights, after which bouncing to a different park at round 4 pm. Park Hopping is crucial throughout get together season. In the event you’re in search of the brief and candy of this put up, that’s it.
The underlying rationale for that is that many day company keep away from Magic Kingdom on days when MNSSHP or MVMCP is being held at evening as a result of the common park hours are shorter and Fortunately Ever After fireworks will not be proven to common company. This ends in considerably lighter crowds on days of the vacation events when Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm.
These similar company then flock to non-party days in Magic Kingdom. For guests with out Park Hopper tickets (which is most company), visiting Magic Kingdom on non-party nights is the apparent, intuitive selection. For a similar admission value, they get a number of extra hours within the park and get to see the fireworks.
In spite of everything, Magic Kingdom closes at 10 pm or 11 pm on non-party nights. That quantities to staying an additional 4-5 hours later, seeing fireworks, and attending to benefit from the cooler night hours within the park. Only a few rational company who base their visits on printed park hours will select the 6 pm closing days. (Which is exactly why Disney places the above enroll on the park entrance, so company complain on their means into the park and might doubtlessly be accommodated fairly than appearing stunned on the finish of the day.)
In idea, it’s a no brainer! However that line of pondering is precisely why our zig once they zag advice has been to do Magic Kingdom on days of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Occasion and to Park Hop someplace else at round 4 pm, which is when the mix-in begins for these arduous ticket occasions.
Despite the fact that Magic Kingdom has longer hours on non-party days, you’ll usually get much less executed than you might earlier than 4 pm on a celebration day–in 4-5 fewer hours! As long as you’re snug lacking the fireworks, we extremely advocate doing all your days in Magic Kingdom on get together dates as a result of considerably shorter traces and decrease wait occasions. It’s normally so sluggish on lately that utilizing Lightning Lanes is pointless, which additionally means saving cash by not having to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Go.
For company with Park Hopper tickets, that is the actual no-brainer. You are able to do Magic Kingdom till 4 pm on the day of MNSSHP or MVMCP, after which bounce to EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios and have dinner and benefit from the nighttime spectaculars in a type of two parks.
On a non-party day, you can begin out at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and/or EPCOT–our favourite choices as these usually see decrease crowd ranges on non-party days and have extra headliners benefiting from decrease waits. Then you may bounce again to Magic Kingdom within the night hours for the final couple of hours to catch Fortunately Ever After and nighttime within the park.
If nighttime in Magic Kingdom is a should for you (and we do advocate it–nothing beats seeing the park illuminated within the evenings!) that is the optimum method for minimizing your publicity to crowds and congestion. Yeah, it’ll be chaos on Important Avenue and that post-fireworks night exodus is a nightmare. Fireworks crowds are already unhealthy sufficient on regular nights all year long–now think about compressing 7 nights of Fortunately Ever After crowds into solely 2-3 nights!
However you don’t have to observe Fortunately Ever After from Important Avenue–you may go to Fantasyland for a comparatively relaxed spot. You may as well wait out the post-fireworks crowd by taking a spin on the TTA PeopleMover or doing one of many many different rides which can be higher at evening. Because you’ll have (presumably) executed each necessary attraction on the get together day, the stakes are decrease for you than one thing who spends all of that crowded day in MK.
One of many added upsides to visiting the park on a celebration day is Magic Kingdom Early Entry at 7:30 am (on some dates). If park opening strikes ahead to eight am in your dates, that makes this method a double no-brainer (earlier than you get pedantic about “doubling nothing nonetheless being nothing,” simply understand that this saying is sensible to these of us with out brains within the first place).
Sadly, Walt Disney World moved away from 8 am opening occasions on MNSSHP dates through the doldrums of the low season. They largely returned to eight am opening occasions for MVMCP, but it surely wasn’t each single date.
Our hope is that they revert again to eight am openings for 2024, however we’re not optimistic. Park hours have already been extending for early to mid-August, and the primary MNSSHP reveals 9 am to six pm hours. Granted, that’ll be an extremely sluggish day and isn’t essentially consultant of what’ll occur for dates the next few months, but it surely’s in all probability protected to say that August by means of mid-to-late September aren’t getting 8 am openings.
Now that we’ve defined the why and the way of this, right here’s the checklist of least-crowded dates at Magic Kingdom for the rest of the yr.
Greatest Days at Magic Kingdom in August 2024
- August 9, 2024
- August 13, 2024
- August 16, 2024
- August 20, 2024
- August 23, 2024
- August 27, 2024
- August 30, 2024
Greatest Days at Magic Kingdom in September 2024
- September 2, 2024
- September 6, 2024
- September 8, 2024
- September 10, 2024
- September 13, 2024
- September 15, 2024
- September 17, 2024
- September 20, 2024
- September 22, 2024
- September 24, 2024
- September 26, 2024
- September 27, 2024
- September 29, 2024
Greatest Days at Magic Kingdom in October 2024
- October 1, 2024
- October 3, 2024
- October 4, 2024
- October 6, 2024
- October 8, 2024
- October 10, 2024
- October 11, 2024
- October 14, 2024
- October 15, 2024
- October 17, 2024
- October 18, 2024
- October 20, 2024
- October 21, 2024
- October 24, 2024
- October 25, 2024
- October 27, 2024
- October 29, 2024
- October 31, 2024
Greatest Days at Magic Kingdom in November 2024
- November 8, 2024
- November 11, 2024
- November 12, 2024
- November 14, 2024
- November 15 2024
- November 17, 2024
- November 19, 2024
- November 21, 2024
- November 22, 2024
- November 24, 2024
- November 26, 2024
- November 27, 2024
- November 29, 2024
Greatest Days at Magic Kingdom in December 2024
- December 1, 2024
- December 3, 2024
- December 5, 2024
- December 6, 2024
- December 8, 2024
- December 10, 2024
- December 12, 2024
- December 13, 2024
- December 15, 2024
- December 17, 2024
- December 19, 2024
- December 20, 2024
As for probably the most crowded dates, it’s principally simply the other of the above–the dates which can be not listed.
The schedule can fluctuate round vacation weeks, however days which can be usually going to be worst are Mondays and Wednesdays. Monday as a result of it’s all the time been the busiest day in Magic Kingdom–and since there are normally events on Sunday and Tuesday. It’s an identical story with Wednesday–there are sometimes events on Tuesday in addition to Thursday and Friday. Earlier within the Occasion Season (all dates earlier than September 25), Wednesday can also be the evening that Magic Kingdom hosts Prolonged Night Hours, which additionally exacerbates daytime crowds beginning within the afternoon.
In earlier years, it was the case that Saturdays had been the worst day of the week at Magic Kingdom throughout Occasion Season. That might find yourself being true once more through the coronary heart of the vacation season, however weekends haven’t been as unhealthy the final couple of years. It stays to be seen how this modifications (or doesn’t) for Occasion Season, particularly October by means of December.
Be notably conscious of non-party dates which can be sandwiched between or amongst get together dates. That is the largest crimson flag from mid-October by means of December, when Occasion Season “expands” from 2-3 days per week to 3-4 days per week.
There are some 4-5 days stretches when Magic Kingdom is just one till 10 pm or 11 pm as soon as. This creates main issues, as there are a number of days of crowds consolidated right into a single date by advantage of these concentrated 6 pm closings.
Crimson Flag Late 2024 Dates at Magic Kingdom
- September 25, 2024
- September 28, 2024
- October 2, 2024
- October 5, 2024
- October 9, 2024
- October 16, 2024
- October 19, 2024
- October 26, 2024
- November 13, 2024
- November 16, 2024
- November 20, 2024
- November 23, 2024
- November 25, 2024
- November 28, 2024
- December 4, 2024
- December 7, 2024
- December 11, 2024
- December 14, 2024
- December 18, 2024
We might extremely advocate avoiding Magic Kingdom in any respect prices on the dates above, if in any respect potential.
If it’s not potential for no matter cause, you’ll completely need to reap the benefits of Early Entry and buy Lightning Lane Multi-Go. Take a noon break, keep late, use savvy technique, and so forth. These are the dates you’re most probably to come across 7/10 to 10/10 crowd ranges at Magic Kingdom. That’s nonetheless “beatable” however provided that you’re correctly ready!
One particular date we need to draw your consideration to is December 18, 2024.
December 17 and 19-20 are Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Occasion nights, and Saturday, December 21 is the beginning of Christmas week. It was the very same dynamic final yr with December 20.
That date ended up having a 9/10 crowd degree with 48 minute common wait time. Against this, Dec. 19 was 28 minutes on common and a 3/10 crowd degree; Dec. 21 was 31 minutes and 4/10. Related story for the opposite MVMCP days in that neighborhood. December 20 really ended up being the busiest day of Christmas or New 12 months’s weeks at Magic Kingdom–all different parks had been a lot, a lot worse within the lead-up to NYE.
Including insult to harm, Magic Kingdom was solely open from 9 am to 10 pm on December 20. This yr shall be barely completely different as a result of timing of Christmas, however we’re nonetheless anticipating December 18, 2024 to be uniquely terrible, even amongst these crimson flag dates.
My hope a method Walt Disney World has realized from its errors is making each a type of crimson flag dates have working hours of no less than 9 am to 11 pm and, ideally, 8 am to midnight. The early October and mid-November dates may not want 8 am to midnight hours, however the remainder of the checklist nearly actually will.
If Walt Disney World goes to promote Magic Kingdom twice on so many dates from August by means of December and create these nightmarish crowd dynamics, the least they’ll do is 8 am openings and midnight closings. That is one thing that Disneyland is doing proper now every day, and can all through the low season. And that’s and not using a sea of 6 pm closings on the calendar!
One other factor to notice is that the above least crowded checklist is relative to the dates inside every week or basic date vary.
As a basic matter, the Occasion Season begins out slower on all dates from August by means of mid-September, after which has a slight spike on the finish of September. Attendance slows down to begin October, however ramps up for fall break and continues that pattern till later within the month. November and December have excessive highs and low lows primarily based on vacation breaks, however are nonetheless, as a basic matter, busier than August and September.
In different phrases, should you’re a neighborhood who has a large open calendar and needs to choose an assortment of dates primarily based upon absolute crowd ranges and nothing else, goal for the sooner dates in August and September. There’s a robust chance that these will find yourself having the bottom wait occasions of all dates on the checklist when the mud settles.
Nobody really thinks or behaves this was, so the level is that crowd ranges will not be static on the aforementioned checklist of the least crowded dates. Magic Kingdom tends to get progressively busier over the course of Occasion Season, however even that could be a generalization.
Nonetheless, at the same time as get together days get progressively busier (relative to dates earlier within the Occasion Season), the rise tends to be even higher for non-party dates. Acknowledged otherwise, the hole in wait occasions really will increase on non-party vs. get together days in October by means of December. That’s attributable to a mixture of increased crowd ranges as an entire throughout these months and extra get together nights every week–thus consolidating crowds on fewer non-party days.
For instance, Magic Kingdom’s crowd degree would possibly find yourself being 1/10 with a median wait time of 25 minutes on the get together day of September 15. On the non-party Monday of September 16, it might be 4/10 with a median wait time of 32 minutes and crowd degree of three/10. That’s a distinction of seven minutes.
On the get together day of November 8, Magic Kingdom’s common wait time might be 35 minutes or a 6/10 crowd degree. Nonetheless, the non-party day of November 13 doubtless will spike considerably (it’s the one date in a 5 day stretch with out an early closing), probably to a crowd degree of 8/10 or 9/10 and a median wait time of round 45 minutes. Despite the fact that the gang ranges and common waits are considerably increased than their September counterparts, the profit of selecting the least-crowded date really elevated, because the hole in wait occasions grew to 10 minutes. That is precisely what occurred final yr on the equal dates.
All of that is perhaps arduous to comply with, however the backside line is that you simply’ll get pleasure from 1/10 to three/10 crowd ranges by doing Magic Kingdom on get together days for in regards to the subsequent month. After that, crowd ranges will enhance–however regardless of that, you stand to realize much more by visiting on get together days since crowd ranges will spike even worse on non-party days. So merely follow get together days for the bottom potential crowds in Magic Kingdom from August by means of late December!
One ultimate notice is that Walt Disney World has thrown a monkey wrench into the entire above with the Free Park Hopper Deal. Actually, it’s actually troublesome to evaluate the influence this promo could have. For one factor, there’s been nearly no buzz about it–we haven’t heard from many people who find themselves eligible and plan on taking benefit (largely the other).
In idea, providing free Park Hoppers would normalize crowd ranges to a point. In the event you learn the above, you’d know the optimum technique for leveraging Park Hoppers throughout Occasion Season. However the factor is, that’s counterintuitive zig once they zag technique. Most individuals gained’t learn this or evaluate historic wait occasions knowledge. Who actually needs to go away Magic Kingdom at 6 pm and miss fireworks? There’s restricted enchantment, even for company with Park Hoppers.
Accordingly, I feel it’s simply as doubtless–if no more so–that this gambit backfires and is counterproductive. It’ll completely redistribute crowds to a point, however in what course? This may occasionally not lead to increased attendance on 6 pm park closing days in any respect. If I needed to guess, I’d wager that extra individuals having Park Hoppers will imply much more company crammed into Magic Kingdom for these exceedingly uncommon and intensely attractive 11 pm closings.
As such, I’m mentioning the free Park Hopper promo as one thing that ought to be in your radar as impacting crowd ranges…however there’s a superb likelihood that gained’t normalize attendance in the best way that Walt Disney World hopes, and as an alternative will trigger much more crowding on late nights in Magic Kingdom.
In the end, that’s why we strongly advocate visiting Magic Kingdom through the daytime hours of each Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Occasion. Hopefully “displaying our work” on a few of this helps you make extra sense of this dynamic, and why it’ll nearly actually be true for August by means of December 2024.
There’s no cause to imagine days when the Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm shall be busier than days the park closes at 10 pm or 11 pm (or hopefully midnight on these crimson flag dates). Crowd ranges and common wait occasions from Occasion Seasons previous are fairly conclusive on this–the information is indeniable. And that’s simply from a numbers perspective, which doesn’t measure “appears like” crowds. From heaps of anecdotal expertise, we will guarantee you that the hole is even higher there–particularly on Important Avenue earlier than and after Fortunately Ever After.
After all, that is simply the target angle. There are nonetheless compelling subjective arguments in favor of doing Magic Kingdom on non-party days, particularly should you worth evenings within the park and use savvy technique. And that’s completely comprehensible! Our focus right here is totally on the numbers, as many company see the calendar and draw the completely logical conclusion that they’re higher off with ~4 further hours of the day in MK. The issue is that that is the thought strategy of most company, and you’ll come out forward by zigging once they zag! However ideally, you’ll have a Park Hopper for a “better of each worlds” method.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study accommodations on our Walt Disney World Accommodations Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To economize on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys put up takes a novel take a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Experience Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for all the pieces you have to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Does this persuade you which you can, from an goal perspective, come out forward by doing get together shortened days throughout Occasion Season at Magic Kingdom? Or, are you continue to unpersuaded, favoring the longer day and subjective superiority of nighttime in Magic Kingdom and attending to see Fortunately Ever After? Did you go to on any of the ‘crimson flag’ dates final yr? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions—even whenever you disagree with us—is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
