Getting the Most out of a One-Day Visit to Disney World’s Magic Kingdom

Disney’s Magic Kingdom is a park filled with an unbelievable number of rides and things to do. If it’s your first visit or twentieth visit, these are tips that can be very helpful in allowing you to experience all that you can manage as well as suggestions for those crucially needed breaks from the rush to do everything. Here are my tips for getting the most out of one day.

There are 7 main areas to the Magic Kingdom: Main Street, Adventureland, Liberty Square, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Mickey’s Toontown and Tomorrowland. Each of these sections has their own style, flair and genre. To learn more about rides, areas and to view the map of Disney World’s Magic Kingdom you can visit their website http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/parkLanding?id=MKLandingPage. Here I will focus on time management of navigating the park. If you are staying at one of Disney’s resorts, there are television channels that also have good tips and park information.

Even before booking your vacation, check out the calendar on Disney’s website to see what hours the park will be open. The hours change seasonally as well as daily. You might want to book your trip according to the hours offered on the day you wish to visit. Some days the park opens an hour earlier, some nights it remains open for three extra hours, called Extra Magic Hours. Although there is an additional fee for the extra hours at night, the park starts to clear out more and more after dinner when people are tired and children are worn out. Not all of the rides are kept open at this time but the popular ones are. After dinner is the best time to get the most accomplished so if you can grab an early dinner or snack, that’s the way to go.

As for meals, if you choose to eat at less common hours, it will ultimately save you time. At the times when more people are eating, the lines for rides aren’t as long. If you’re not interested in viewing the parades, this is also a time when the lines are a bit clearer.

First of all, you should put Fast Passes on your agenda. Rides that are more crowded and in higher demand use this for crowd control. You can only obtain one at a time per park ticket and need to use the first Fast Pass before getting a second one. The rides that offer this option have machines that you put your park pass into and get it back with a Fast Pass for that ride. That slip will tell you to return between 12pm and 1pm for example. Usually the stamped time to return is about 2 hours later although as the day goes popular rides can give you a longer return timer. When you return at the time stamped on the Fast Pass ticket, instead of waiting in a line for an hour, you have maybe a 5-15 minute wait to get on that ride through the Fast Pass line.

The main entrance leads onto the Magic Kingdom’s Main Street U.S.A. This is mostly an area for shopping, dining and parade viewing. After Main Street and to the right is Tomorrowland. If possible, most of Tomorrowland is best after dark because of the lighting used in that area as well as the theme.

The railroad stops at the front of the park on Main Street U.S.A., next to Splash Mountain and deep in Toontown. Sometimes it saves time to take it rather than fight your way through the crowds.

Adventureland is to the left after Main Street. Because it is one of the closer lands, it is seemingly the most crowded area, like most, until later in the afternoon or early evening. It is best to skip Adventureland until later, after 2pm at least. If you go too early, you can wait 2 hrs or more for the jungle cruise as opposed to half an hour or less for most things in the area later. The Pirates of the Caribbean has been slightly revamped but really well, in theme with the movie, and is a lot of fun.

Fantasyland is a great first stop. The rides here are the most continuously moving of the park. This is the most concentrated group of rides so the lines move a bit faster than other areas. I recommend getting a Fast Pass for Peter Pan or Winnie the Pooh first. Snow White tends to be the shortest and fastest moving line and the carousel is also a short wait in comparison to everything else. The 3D musical, Mickey’s Philharmagic, is a cute and relaxing break. The countdown of minutes until the next show is posted at the entrance. At times It’s a Small World has a long line. When this happens, save it for later when the line is shorter in the evening.

Next, you can try the Haunted Mansion. If the line is past the gate, forget it and get a Fast Pass or come back after 5pm. The line is fairly fast moving but it’s almost empty a lot later on. If you don’t get a Fast Pass for that, you can head for one at Splash Mountain or Thunder Mountain in Frontierland or save those for about an hour or 2 before the park closes when you can catch a few quick rides on them pretty quickly. The Hall of Presidents is across from the Haunted Mansion. There are animatronics of all the American Presidents at the end and a short American history film before. It’s educational and a good break to escape the heat too.

From the Liberty Square or Frontierland area, try out Adventureland. If the Jungle Cruise is a 20-45 min wait, that’s about as good as it gets. If it’s longer, you can try a Fast Pass and ride some of the faster moving attractions in the area. The Tiki room is the cute break place of the area filled with animatronics of singing birds. Pirates of the Caribbean should move pretty well at this time though like most other things is a lot emptier at night.

You can try Toontown next if you’d like. It’s mostly an area for young children with playgrounds and a kiddie roller coaster. You can meet Mickey and other characters here. Just outside of Toontown is the Madhatter’s teacups and the line is always about the same, so ride at any time if you like to spin.

Tomorrowland is the best at night b/c it’s all lit up then. Although if you’re interested in seeing the Carousel of Progress, originally unveiled at the New York World’s Fair 1964-1965, this attraction closes at 4pm. It’s a cute review of the decades in the 20th century and a nice long 20 min or so air conditioned break from the park. After is a great time to grab a Fast Pass for Buzz Lightyear or Space Mountain before dinner, and then head back to Tomorrowland after dinner. Space Mountain is one of the two roller coasters in Magic Kingdom and is all in the dark. Keep this in mind if you’re considering the ride soon after dinner. If lines are long of you need a break, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority is an easy going laid back ride with a great view. The Tomorrowland Indy Speedway often has a long wait and even later in the day doesn’t get much better.

At the end of the day, if you didn’t catch them earlier, this is a great time to run back to the Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain. Any other rides and attractions have vastly shorter lines as well so this is the best time to ride anything as well as return to a favorite.

Enjoy your visit and I hope you accomplish everything you want to see. If it’s your first visit, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to finish everything, so please visit Disney World’s Web site to help you prioritize. Now the website even offers custom maps and itinerary planning as well as descriptions of the rides and attractions.

Reference:

• disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/parkLanding?id=MKLandingPage