Fall is correct across the nook and, with that, Magic Kingdom enters a brand new section for the rest of 2024. Halloween and Christmas seasons deliver with them a curler coaster of crowds, with dramatic variations in wait occasions and attendance in opting for the most productive vs. worst days to do MK. This explains why, with lists of the least & maximum crowded dates in August thru December, and a handful of purple flag dates to keep away from in any respect prices.
Whilst this summer season has been rather sluggish at Walt Disney Global (see Summer season (Nonetheless) Is NOT Top Crowds Season at Walt Disney Global), the parks are nonetheless about to get slower as faculties return into consultation. For all intents and functions, August is the top of summer season, and get started of the low season, Halloween-time, and “Birthday party Season.” (Prior to other people with a standard thought of “seasons” get mad at me, I don’t make the principles–Disney is the person who begins Halloween in early August, now not me.)
Birthday party Season is a large deal at Walt Disney Global as it disrupts attendance dynamics and creates a “porcupine trend” of wait occasions and crowd ranges. In a nutshell, the gang phenomenon is that each Mickey’s No longer So Frightening Halloween Birthday party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Birthday party push attendance a lot upper at the dates they’re now not going on and decrease on days of the occasions.
That is not anything new–we’ve been banging the Birthday party Season drum the decade, a minimum of. Magic Kingdom crowd patterns all through Birthday party Season are a key dialogue issues of our August thru December crowd calendars. It’s in truth one of the crucial best possible “predictions” we make–corresponding to forecasting longer traces for Seven Dwarfs Mine Educate than the Magic Carpets of Aladdin.
For our phase, we’ve been strongly recommending that readers consult with Magic Kingdom all through the day on Mickey’s No longer So Frightening Halloween Birthday party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Birthday party nights, after which bouncing to every other park at round 4 pm. Park Hopping is very important all through occasion season. Should you’re in search of the fast and candy of this publish, that’s it.
The underlying rationale for that is that many day visitors keep away from Magic Kingdom on days when MNSSHP or MVMCP is being held at evening for the reason that common park hours are shorter and Fortuitously Ever After fireworks aren’t proven to common visitors. This leads to considerably lighter crowds on days of the vacation events when Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm.
Those similar visitors then flock to non-party days in Magic Kingdom. For guests with out Park Hopper tickets (which is maximum visitors), visiting Magic Kingdom on non-party nights is the most obvious, intuitive selection. For a similar admission worth, they get a number of extra hours within the park and get to look the fireworks.
In the end, 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 visitors who base their visits on printed park hours will make a selection the 6 pm final days. (Which is strictly why Disney places the above join on the park front, so visitors bitch on their means into the park and will probably be accommodated quite than performing shocked on the finish of the day.)
In principle, it’s a no brainer! However that line of considering is strictly why our zig after they zag advice has been to do Magic Kingdom on days of Mickey’s No longer So Frightening Halloween Birthday party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Birthday party and to Park Hop in other places at round 4 pm, which is when the mix-in begins for the ones arduous price ticket occasions.
Even supposing Magic Kingdom has longer hours on non-party days, you’re going to incessantly get much less performed than you might want to earlier than 4 pm on a occasion day–in 4-5 fewer hours! As long as you’re relaxed lacking the fireworks, we extremely counsel doing all your days in Magic Kingdom on occasion dates because of the considerably shorter traces and decrease wait occasions. It’s generally so sluggish on at the present time that the usage of Lightning Lanes is senseless, which additionally manner saving cash by means of now not having to shop for Lightning Lane Multi Go.
For visitors with Park Hopper tickets, that is the actual no-brainer. You’ll do Magic Kingdom till 4 pm at the day of MNSSHP or MVMCP, after which leap to EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios and feature dinner and benefit from the middle of the night spectaculars in a type of two parks.
On a non-party day, you’ll get started out at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and/or EPCOT–our favourite choices as the ones in most cases see decrease crowd ranges on non-party days and feature extra headliners profiting from decrease waits. Then you’ll leap again to Magic Kingdom within the night hours for the final couple of hours to catch Fortuitously Ever After and middle of the night within the park.
If middle of the night in Magic Kingdom is a will have to for you (and we do counsel it–not anything 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 Major Boulevard and that post-fireworks night exodus is a nightmare. Fireworks crowds are already dangerous sufficient on commonplace nights all the way through the yr–now consider compressing 7 nights of Fortuitously Ever After crowds into best 2-3 nights!
However you don’t have to look at Fortuitously Ever After from Major Boulevard–you’ll pass to Fantasyland for a rather comfy spot. You’ll additionally wait out the post-fireworks crowd by means of taking a spin at the TTA PeopleMover or doing one of the crucial many different rides which are higher at evening. Because you’ll have (possibly) performed each and every essential appeal at the occasion day, the stakes are decrease for you than one thing who spends all of that crowded day in MK.
Some of the added upsides to visiting the park on a occasion day is Magic Kingdom Early Access at 7:30 am (on some dates). If park opening strikes ahead to eight am for your dates, that makes this method a double no-brainer (earlier than you get pedantic about “doubling not anything nonetheless being not anything,” simply remember that this pronouncing is smart to these people with out brains within the first position).
Unfortunately, Walt Disney Global moved clear of 8 am opening occasions on MNSSHP dates all through the doldrums of the low season. They most commonly returned to eight am opening occasions for MVMCP, however it wasn’t each and every unmarried date.
Our hope is they revert again to eight am openings for 2024, however we’re now not constructive. Park hours have already been extending for early to mid-August, and the primary MNSSHP presentations 9 am to six pm hours. Granted, that’ll be a surprisingly sluggish day and isn’t essentially consultant of what’ll occur for dates the next few months, however it’s most definitely protected to mention that August thru 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.
Highest 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
Highest 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
Highest 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
Highest 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
Highest 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 essentially the most crowded dates, it’s mainly simply the other of the above–the dates which are now not indexed.
The agenda can range round vacation weeks, however days which are in most cases going to be worst are Mondays and Wednesdays. Monday as it’s at all times been the busiest day in Magic Kingdom–and since there are generally events on Sunday and Tuesday. It’s a an identical tale with Wednesday–there are incessantly events on Tuesday in addition to Thursday and Friday. Previous within the Birthday party Season (all dates earlier than September 25), Wednesday could also be the evening that Magic Kingdom hosts Prolonged Night time Hours, which additionally exacerbates daylight hours crowds beginning within the afternoon.
In earlier years, it was once the case that Saturdays have been the worst day of the week at Magic Kingdom all through Birthday party Season. That would possibly finally end up being true once more all through the guts of the vacation season, however weekends haven’t been as dangerous the final couple of years. It is still observed how this adjustments (or doesn’t) for Birthday party Season, particularly October thru December.
Be specifically conscious of non-party dates which are sandwiched between or amongst occasion dates. That is the most important purple flag from mid-October thru December, when Birthday party Season “expands” from 2-3 days a week to 3-4 days a 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 primary issues, as there are a number of days of crowds consolidated right into a unmarried date by means of distinctive feature of the ones concentrated 6 pm closings.
Pink Flag Past due 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 counsel heading off Magic Kingdom in any respect prices at the dates above, if in any respect conceivable.
If it’s now not conceivable for no matter explanation why, you’re going to completely need to profit from Early Access and acquire Lightning Lane Multi-Go. Take a noon destroy, keep past due, use savvy technique, and so forth. Those are the dates you’re possibly to stumble upon 7/10 to ten/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 Birthday party nights, and Saturday, December 21 is the beginning of Christmas week. It was once the very same dynamic final yr with December 20.
That date ended up having a 9/10 crowd stage with 48 minute moderate wait time. In contrast, Dec. 19 was once 28 mins on moderate and a three/10 crowd stage; Dec. 21 was once 31 mins and four/10. Equivalent tale for the opposite MVMCP days in that neighborhood. December 20 in truth ended up being the busiest day of Christmas or New 12 months’s weeks at Magic Kingdom–all different parks have been a lot, a lot worse within the lead-up to NYE.
Including insult to damage, Magic Kingdom was once best open from 9 am to ten pm on December 20. This yr will probably be rather other because of the timing of Christmas, however we’re nonetheless anticipating December 18, 2024 to be uniquely terrible, even amongst the ones purple flag dates.
My hope a technique Walt Disney Global has discovered from its errors is making each and every a type of purple flag dates have working hours of a minimum of 9 am to 11 pm and, preferably, 8 am to nighttime. The early October and mid-November dates would possibly now not want 8 am to nighttime hours, however the remainder of the checklist nearly no doubt will.
If Walt Disney Global goes to promote Magic Kingdom two times on such a lot of dates from August thru December and create those nightmarish crowd dynamics, the least they may be able to do is 8 am openings and nighttime closings. That is one thing that Disneyland is doing presently every day, and can all the way through the low season. And that’s with out a sea of 6 pm closings at the calendar!
Any other factor to notice is that the above least crowded checklist is relative to the dates inside of each and every week or common date vary.
As a common topic, the Birthday party Season begins out slower on all dates from August thru mid-September, after which has a slight spike on the finish of September. Attendance slows down to begin October, however ramps up for fall destroy and continues that pattern till later within the month. November and December have prime highs and coffee lows in keeping with vacation breaks, however are nonetheless, as a common topic, busier than August and September.
In different phrases, in case you’re a neighborhood who has a large open calendar and desires to pick out an collection of dates based totally upon absolute crowd ranges and not anything else, purpose for the sooner dates in August and September. There’s a powerful chance that the ones will finally end up having the bottom wait occasions of all dates at the checklist when the mud settles.
No person in truth thinks or behaves this was once, so the level is that crowd ranges aren’t static at the aforementioned checklist of the least crowded dates. Magic Kingdom has a tendency to get gradually busier over the process Birthday party Season, however even that could be a generalization.
On the other hand, whilst occasion days get gradually busier (relative to dates previous within the Birthday party Season), the rise has a tendency to be even higher for non-party dates. Said in a different way, the space in wait occasions in truth will increase on non-party vs. occasion days in October thru December. That’s because of a mixture of upper crowd ranges as a complete all through the ones months and extra occasion nights each and every week–thus consolidating crowds on fewer non-party days.
As an example, Magic Kingdom’s crowd stage would possibly finally end up being 1/10 with a mean wait time of 25 mins at the occasion day of September 15. At the non-party Monday of September 16, it may well be 4/10 with a mean wait time of 32 mins and crowd stage of three/10. That’s a distinction of seven mins.
At the occasion day of November 8, Magic Kingdom’s moderate wait time may well be 35 mins or a 6/10 crowd stage. On the other hand, the non-party day of November 13 most probably will spike considerably (it’s the one date in a 5 day stretch with out an early final), in all probability to a crowd stage of 8/10 or 9/10 and a mean wait time of round 45 mins. Even supposing the gang ranges and moderate waits are considerably upper than their September opposite numbers, the receive advantages of opting for the least-crowded date in truth greater, as the space in wait occasions grew to ten mins. That is precisely what came about final yr at the an identical dates.
All of that may well be arduous to observe, however the secret’s that you simply’ll experience 1/10 to three/10 crowd ranges by means of doing Magic Kingdom on occasion days for concerning the subsequent month. After that, crowd ranges will build up–however in spite of that, you stand to achieve much more by means of visiting on occasion days since crowd ranges will spike even worse on non-party days. So merely stick with occasion days for the bottom conceivable crowds in Magic Kingdom from August thru past due December!
One ultimate be aware is that Walt Disney Global has thrown a monkey wrench into all the above with the Loose Park Hopper Deal. In truth, it’s in point of fact tricky to evaluate the affect this promo could have. For something, there’s been nearly no buzz about it–we haven’t heard from many people who find themselves eligible and plan on taking merit (most commonly the other).
In principle, providing unfastened Park Hoppers would normalize crowd ranges to some extent. Should you learn the above, you’d know the optimum technique for leveraging Park Hoppers all through Birthday party Season. However the factor is, that’s counterintuitive zig after they zag technique. Most of the people gained’t learn this or evaluate historic wait occasions knowledge. Who in point of fact desires to go away Magic Kingdom at 6 pm and leave out fireworks? There’s restricted attraction, even for visitors with Park Hoppers.
Accordingly, I believe it’s simply as most probably–if now not extra so–that this gambit backfires and is counterproductive. It’ll completely redistribute crowds to some extent, however in what path? This would possibly not lead to upper attendance on 6 pm park final days in any respect. If I needed to guess, I’d guess that extra other people having Park Hoppers will imply much more visitors filled into Magic Kingdom for the ones exceedingly uncommon and very engaging 11 pm closings.
As such, I’m citing the unfastened Park Hopper promo as one thing that are meant to be for your radar as impacting crowd ranges…however there’s a great opportunity that gained’t normalize attendance in the way in which that Walt Disney Global hopes, and as an alternative will purpose much more crowding on past due nights in Magic Kingdom.
In the long run, that’s why we strongly counsel visiting Magic Kingdom all through the daylight hours hours of each Mickey’s No longer So Frightening Halloween Birthday party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Birthday party. Expectantly “appearing our paintings” on a few of this is helping you are making extra sense of this dynamic, and why it’ll nearly no doubt be true for August thru December 2024.
There’s no explanation why to imagine days when the Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm will probably be busier than days the park closes at 10 pm or 11 pm (or expectantly nighttime on the ones purple flag dates). Crowd ranges and moderate wait occasions from Birthday party Seasons previous are lovely conclusive in this–the knowledge is indeniable. And that’s simply from a numbers point of view, which doesn’t measure “appears like” crowds. From tons of anecdotal revel in, we will guarantee you that the space is even higher there–particularly on Major Boulevard earlier than and after Fortuitously Ever After.
In fact, that is simply the target attitude. There are nonetheless compelling subjective arguments in prefer of doing Magic Kingdom on non-party days, particularly in case you worth evenings within the park and use savvy technique. And that’s completely comprehensible! Our center of attention this is basically at the numbers, as many visitors see the calendar and draw the solely logical conclusion that they’re with ~4 further hours of the day in MK. The issue is that that is the concept means of maximum visitors, and you’ll pop out forward by means of zigging after they zag! However preferably, you’ll have a Park Hopper for a “best possible of each worlds” method.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Does this persuade you that you’ll, from an purpose point of view, pop out forward by means of doing occasion shortened days all through Birthday party Season at Magic Kingdom? Or, are you continue to unpersuaded, favoring the longer day and subjective superiority of middle of the night in Magic Kingdom and getting to look Fortuitously Ever After? Did you consult with on any of the ‘purple flag’ dates final yr? Do you settle or disagree with our overview? Any questions we will will let you resolution? Listening to your comments—even whilst you disagree with us—is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please percentage your ideas underneath within the feedback!
