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Looking for the very best and worst days of the week to go to every park at Walt Disney World? This technique information covers Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, providing information about when the wait instances are lowest and highest, plus commentary about weekdays v. weekends, particular occasions, and extra. (Updated December 11, 2022.)
When it comes to selecting the very best and worst instances to go to Walt Disney World, there’s rather a lot to think about. If you’re singularly centered on wait instances, we advocate consulting our 2023 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars: When to Visit & Avoid to decide on journey dates.
If you’re extra involved with the standard of the general expertise, we even have one thing extra holistic: our 2023 Best and Worst Months to Visit Walt Disney World. That ranks each month of the 12 months, and recommends the three perfect weeks of the 12 months to go to. Once you slim down a spread of dates, it’s time to begin fascinated by which days of the week to do every park. That’s the place this publish comes into play.
For a lot of the final two years, typical day of the week recommendation for Walt Disney World was irrelevant or flat out unsuitable. Capacity constraints and park reservations had been massive components. Even although the Park Pass system is now not wanted to restrict attendance, it’s nonetheless getting used to redistribute crowds and normalize numbers among the many parks. All of this has upended our regular suggestions.
Thankfully, attendance and crowd dynamics have began to normalize. Even with elevated attendance and wait instances which have pushed crowd ranges to 9/10 and 10/10 on some dates, the Disney Park Pass reservation calendar is usually large open for 2023. We count on that to vary for the weeks of Presidents’ Day, Spring Break, and Easter 2023, but it surely shouldn’t be as unhealthy because the final two years.
Consequently, typical weekly attendance and crowds patterns among the many parks have additionally began to normalize. Accordingly, right here’s our new recommendation for greatest days of the week at Walt Disney World, identical because the outdated recommendation. Before we begin with the park-by-park suggestions, let’s have a look at the somewhat giant exception to all of this, which is social gathering ‘season’ at Magic Kingdom…
Party Season
Party season in Magic Kingdom encompasses early August via late December–a fairly large chunk of the calendar–when the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) particular occasions are held. On days when the social gathering is held, Magic Kingdom opens at 8 am and closes to common ticket holders at 6 pm.
On non-party days, Magic Kingdom opens at 9 am and closes at 11 pm. In different phrases, the park stays open 5 hours later to common visitors when MNSSHP and MVMCP are usually not held.
Most guests behave accordingly, making the intuitive alternative and visiting Magic Kingdom once they can spend 4-5 further hours within the park. That looks like the “obvious” alternative, as extra time within the park–to not point out really with the ability to see the fireworks and Magic Kingdom at evening–is the smarter technique.
Unfortunately, that apparent and intuitive method throws a monkey wrench into attendance and crowd dynamics throughout the social gathering season. Magic Kingdom is considerably much less busy throughout the day time hours on dates when events are held within the night, and way more busy on non-party days.
To put this into context, Magic Kingdom recurrently has 9/10 or 10/10 crowd ranges on non-party days, with Saturdays being the worst.
By distinction, Magic Kingdom usually has 1/10 to 4/10 crowd ranges on social gathering days. That quantities to a mean wait time differential of about 20 to half-hour per trip, which provides up over the course of the day to the purpose which you can accomplish extra within the party-shortened days when Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm.
As a end result, we strongly advocate doing Magic Kingdom throughout the days shortened by the Halloween or Christmas, after which Park Hopping to a different park earlier than 4 pm. Guests of the occasions can begin getting into Magic Kingdom at 4 pm, and this ‘mix-in’ time with common day visitors is when the park goes from blissfully uncrowded to busier. (We normally intention to depart by 3 pm.)
Even although non-party days supply considerably longer hours, you’ll nonetheless come out forward by avoiding Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and different non-party days. Despite far few hours on a celebration day, you’ll virtually at all times come out forward due to the time saved ready in strains.
There’s one other upside to visiting Magic Kingdom throughout the day when a celebration is held at evening: earlier opening instances. This is a large benefit, as lined in Photo Report & Strategy: Magic Kingdom Early Entry at 7:30 am on Party Days. Suffice to say, there’s an enormous distinction in crowds for Early Entry on a day when Magic Kingdom opens to the general public at 8 am v. 9 am.
The massive draw back to attending Magic Kingdom on a celebration day is having to depart by 6 pm. This means lacking the fireworks and normally night within the park. The upside is which you can see fireworks from outdoors the park–or you possibly can Park Hop again to Magic Kingdom on a non-party evening. Just brace your self for considerably greater crowds than what you skilled on the social gathering day, as many individuals could have the identical thought!
There’s additionally a flip aspect to all of this, which is that the opposite 3 parks are much less crowded on non-party days and extra crowded on social gathering days. If you concentrate on it, this is smart–Magic Kingdom crowds don’t exist in a vacuum. If much less or extra persons are in a single park, the other is true within the others.
As a end result, Saturday turns into a fantastic day to go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom throughout social gathering season. That’s not the case for EPCOT, because it’s the ‘party park’ (completely different type of social gathering on this context), and plenty of Floridians and native school college students go to on the weekends to drink round World Showcase.
All three different parks turn into good choices on Mondays and Wednesdays. The converse can be true: EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom are worse choices on days when the events are held in Magic Kingdom. However, none of that is as pronounced as it’s with the curler coaster crowds in Magic Kingdom. With 3 different parks to soak up the displaced visitors, the affect is decrease on every of them than on Magic Kingdom itself.
Apologies for this prolonged rationalization, however that is the most necessary consideration in selecting your day to go to every park. More than anything, the ‘party season’ crowd dynamic is essentially the most constant and predictable–this identical dynamic has performed out with MNSSHP and MVMCP for years, and can once more in 2023.
It’s additionally the place most visitors ‘goof up’ and select the intuitive-but-incorrect method. While it doesn’t embody the whole calendar, it does apply to five months of the 12 months–for those who’re visiting throughout this stretch, we’d extremely advocate shopping for Park Hopper tickets and following this recommendation!
Outside of social gathering season, listed below are the very best & worst days to go to every park at Walt Disney World in 2023…
Hollywood Studios
We advocate doing Disney’s Hollywood Studios on a weekend. This has been the dynamic with DHS for the previous couple of years, and the underlying causes have modified throughout that point, however the salient level stays unchanged: the very best days to do DHS are Saturdays or Sundays.
Frankly, it’s troublesome to elucidate the ‘why’ of that at this level. For no matter purpose, it continues to be our expertise that weekends are barely much less busy in follow at DHS, and common every day wait instances are decrease.
One risk is that locals nonetheless do Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Saturday and Sunday, however achieve this disproprotionately early within the day. This causes an enormous spike in wait instances early on, leading to each these visitors and others bouncing early…and shorter wait instances within the afternoon and night. It’s additionally potential that locals are much less inclined to do rides, particularly ones with greater wait instances. That’s our idea, and there’s actually no different good solution to clarify the discrepancy.
Accordingly, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is our “lack of better alternatives” suggestion for Saturdays or Sundays. It comes with a few caveats, although. First, solely do DHS for those who can keep till evening time to benefit from the decrease common waits later within the day. Second, for those who don’t have to go to over a weekend, think about going a special day–doubtlessly Monday or Tuesday.
Epcot
Epcot is the worst decide on weekends for the other purpose. It’s undoubtedly the largest “local’s park” at Walt Disney World, and Epcot is extra widespread with Floridians than vacationers. Although the hole has closed a bit with the debuts of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, it’s nonetheless true.
Wait instances don’t inform the complete story–and even the principle one–on the subject of Epcot on weekends. Since locals are much less more likely to do rides, they add to ‘feels like’ crowds and congestion with out making attraction wait instances noticeably worse. This continues to be a detrimental, as strains for meals cubicles are longer and World Showcase is mostly much less nice on the weekends.
You’re additionally extra more likely to encounter teams Drinking Around the World on Saturday and Sunday. For these of you who need to relive your glory days by attending an open air frat social gathering, this may sound interesting. However, these days are lengthy behind us, and we suspect many households don’t need their youngsters in that setting.
We’re not kidding. Weekends are prime time for faculty college students with disposable incomes to descend upon Epcot’s festivals to get sloshed. (It’s noticeably worse when UCF doesn’t have a house soccer sport.) Likewise, locals prove to drink, generally to extra. Now, we’re removed from teetotalers, however this generally generally is a tad an excessive amount of for a family-friendly theme park. Even if it doesn’t cross the road (and it very effectively might not for you), World Showcase is considerably extra crowded and congested on Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays.
One factor to notice right here is that that is is essentially a qualitative evaluation, and never a quantitative one. Wait instances are usually not considerably worse at Epcot on weekends. Since a lot of the aforementioned viewers is visiting to drink, they’ve minimal affect on the wait instances for rides. (Lines for meals cubicles are a very completely different story!)
As such, you may be capable of “beat” the weekend crowds at Epcot just by arriving early, doing World Showcase first, after which doubling-back into Future World (or no matter they’re calling these “neighborhoods” now) within the early afternoon. That’s a savvy technique, and one we advocate in our Epcot 1-Day Itinerary.
With that mentioned, our precise recommendation is visiting Epcot on a weekday. Mondays via Wednesdays are all equally good. We’ve seen a slight uptick in crowds on Thursdays, and a extra vital one on Fridays. Still, not almost as unhealthy as Saturday or Sunday.
Even although the affect on wait instances isn’t horrible, Epcot is the one park we attempt to keep away from on Saturday and Sunday if in any respect potential. I’d a lot somewhat cope with the crowds and longer waits on Saturday in Magic Kingdom than these in Epcot. To every their very own, but it surely’s simply not our scene.
Animal Kingdom
As a normal matter, Animal Kingdom is the park that requires the least technique and is the best place to beat the crowds in all of Walt Disney World. It doesn’t require Genie+ or Individual Lightning Lanes, and is fairly straightforward to knock out every thing–after which some–for those who keep for a full day.
Objectively, the very best days to go to Animal Kingdom are weekdays. Across the board, common every day wait instances are decrease Monday via Friday than they’re Saturday or Sunday. However, that comes with a reasonably large asterisk or caveat…
Weekend wait instances are solely “worse” at Animal Kingdom as a result of center of the day. If you’re staying on-site and making the most of Early Entry (and even going within the first couple hours the park is open), it’s fairly straightforward to beat the crowds.
Moreover, there’s a reasonably steep fall off in wait instances over the last couple hours Animal Kingdom is open. This one does range by season (throughout the holidays, it’ll in all probability be much less true) however is correct to a point all through the whole 12 months.
That makes Animal Kingdom trickier than different parks at Walt Disney World by way of our suggestion. Statistically, it’s a “bad” park to do on Saturday or Sunday. Personally, we don’t hesitate to go to it on both of these days as a result of it’s really easy to outsmart the crowds–simply arrive early and/or keep late, and do exhibits or animal reveals noon when crowds peak.
If you’re capable of comply with that recommendation, Animal Kingdom is a stable Saturday or Sunday alternative. That early opening time coupled with a late closing time—and a restricted slate of points of interest—makes Animal Kingdom straightforward to knock out. Even on crowded days, the technique for Animal Kingdom is comparatively easy, as lined in our 1-Day Animal Kingdom Itinerary. Just make sure to not struggle the noon crowds or attempt to swim upstream and you ought to be effective!
Magic Kingdom
Historically, the worst days of the week at Magic Kingdom are Saturday and Monday.
There are a few causes for Saturday being worse. The first is locals, who disproportionately go to on Saturday once they have break day from work or college. This is fairly straightforward and simple, and likewise explains why Magic Kingdom has tended to have its longest hours of the week on Saturdays. Those longer hours, in flip, induce extra demand and end in extra vacationers additionally heading to Magic Kingdom all-day on Saturday, or Park Hopping there within the night.
The different rationalization is extra seasonal. As defined above, the dynamic is exacerbated from August via December, when there are exhausting ticket occasions a number of nights per week.
On every of those evenings, Magic Kingdom closes sooner than it might on a standard evening by 4-5 hours. Many visitors keep away from Magic Kingdom on days with shorter hours, which suggests lighter crowds earlier than the social gathering. We aren’t going to rehash the reason right here–suffice to say, Magic Kingdom is at all times worse on Saturdays, however particularly throughout social gathering season.
Outside of social gathering season, Magic Kingdom is a superb decide Tuesday via Thursday. The greatest day of the week in Magic Kingdom from an goal perspective is Wednesday. This is true even following the debut of Extended Evening Hours in Magic Kingdom, which haven’t noticeably moved the needle on daytime crowds to date.
This is as a result of locals have a tendency to go to on weekends, with Saturday being extra seemingly than Fridays or Sundays (however all three days seeing elevated attendance amongst Floridians). Then there are Southerners who take lengthy weekend journeys, impacting all three days (however once more, Saturday disproportionately).
Finally, vacationers most steadily begin their journeys on the weekend, and Monday is a standard first day within the parks for them. In disproportionate numbers, out-of-state vacation-goers do the preferred or their favourite park first, and that’s normally Magic Kingdom. This leaves Tuesday via Thursday because the least busy days of the week by strategy of elimination.
Magic Kingdom will be more difficult when it’s busy, but it surely’s nonetheless potential to have a satisfying and productive day within the park. We’d advocate shopping for Genie+ in Magic Kingdom, or a minimum of utilizing Early Entry. Follow our 1-Day Magic Kingdom Itinerary if you wish to beat the crowds with out both.
How Much Does Day of the Week Matter?
Admittedly, not a ton outdoors of social gathering season. By and enormous, there’s way more of a distinction in crowds between weeks somewhat than inside them. Accordingly, selecting an excellent time to go to Walt Disney World is considerably extra necessary than the way you allocate your days throughout the week.
Even extra necessary is arriving early and/or staying late, which is the only solution to beat crowds at Walt Disney World. Late morning to mid-afternoon is the busiest time of day at each single park, and when wait instances are the worst.
Just as essential is having savvy technique. Picking a fantastic day or week to go to could make touring the parks considerably simpler, however so can also having an excellent itinerary that zigs when others zag.
Then there’s the choice of shopping for your manner out of crowds with Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, which is one other good fail protected choice. (See our Walt Disney World Itineraries web page for choices with Genie+ and with out it.)
Choosing the very best days of the week–and avoiding the worst ones–at every Walt Disney World theme park comes in any case of these issues. To make sure, it’s an excellent follow and price protecting in thoughts that Magic Kingdom is greatest on Wednesdays and worst on Saturdays, or that Epcot needs to be averted on weekends.
It’s additionally helpful for these boxed into lower than splendid journey dates resulting from college or work schedules. Same goes for anybody who realistically gained’t have the choice to reach early or keep late (there’s a purpose these instances are most advantageous–as a result of it’s merely not possible for a lot of households with young children). Ditto anybody who doesn’t need to pay further for Genie+ on precept, or as a result of it’s not of their trip price range. For anybody this describes, rigorously selecting days of the week for every park can relieve some strain and end in shorter wait instances.
With that mentioned, we wouldn’t upend our previously-planned schedules to account for this. In the previous, we’ve provided day of week suggestions and have obtained frantic questions from readers who have already got their Advance Dining Reservations set, and have made meticulous plans for every park, questioning if they need to throw all of it away and begin from scratch.
The reply, with out exception, is a powerful “no.” Day of the week issues, however not that a lot. Moreover, day of the weeke suggestions are fairly straightforward to disrupt. All it actually takes is inclimate climate (comparatively commonplace in Florida) or inordinate attraction downtime. Either of these issues will be sufficient to show a “bad” day right into a “good” one by way of wait instances, or vice-versa.
Ultimately, just by advantage of researching and studying a publish about the very best and worst days of the week to go to each park at Walt Disney World, you’re higher outfitted to keep away from crowds than 95% of visitors–however since you’re virtually definitely not studying simply this technique. While the recommendation right here is theoretically helpful, it’s fairly removed from make or break.
You’re a lot better off utilizing the different sources on this weblog to decide on good months or weeks to go to. If that’s not an choice (and even whether it is), bear in mind to reach early or keep late. Failing that, use our itineraries to prioritize points of interest in the very best order. Don’t need to do this for some odd purpose, spend the cash on Genie+ and purchase your manner out of strains. If you’d somewhat not spend cash and waft throughout a midday-only go to…I assume that is the very best recommendation for you!
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about accommodations on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To lower your expenses on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips publish takes a novel have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the very best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for every thing you’ll want to know!
Your Thoughts
Which days are your favorites for every of the parks? Think it’s good recommendation to keep away from Epcot on weekends, even when it’s not supported by wait instances? What about Saturdays v. Wednesdays at Magic Kingdom? Any different greatest or worst days at every of the Walt Disney World theme parks? Do you agree or disagree with our picks? Any questions we may help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
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