In search of one of the 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 data about when the wait instances are lowest and highest, plus commentary about weekdays vs. weekends, particular occasions, and extra. (Up to date October 12, 2024.)
Like lots of our planning assets, this can be a ‘train an individual to fish’ relatively than ‘giving an individual a fish’ publish. That is to say that we spend plenty of time explaining the why of crowd patterns so you’ll be able to perceive what’s occurring, how dynamics would possibly differ throughout your dates, or if it’ll really matter to you.
This may be overwhelming for some folks, so we’ll begin with the 2 greatest classes up entrance. First, each single park at Walt Disney World is busiest on Mondays. If in any respect potential, you shouldn’t do any parks on Monday. When you should, do Animal Kingdom on Monday because it’s the bottom stakes park.
Second, all of this issues much more from August via December than the remainder of the 12 months. This is because of Magic Kingdom closing early for particular occasions. Skip all the way down to the ‘Occasion Season’ part in direction of the underside for those who’re visiting throughout this timeframe. The zig after they zag recommendation there may be actually necessary!
In relation to selecting one of the best and worst instances to go to Walt Disney World, there’s quite a bit to contemplate. When you’re singularly centered on avoiding lengthy strains, we advocate consulting our 2024-2025 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar to decide on journey dates. That will get up to date pretty commonly, with every particular person month receiving a refresh proper earlier than it begins for optimum accuracy.
When you’re extra involved with the standard of the general expertise, we even have one thing extra holistic and, frankly, sensible: our checklist of the 10 Greatest and 10 Worst Weeks to Go to Walt Disney World in 2024 to 2026. When you slim down the week you wish to go to Walt Disney World, it’s time to begin eager about which days of the week to do every park.
That’s the place this publish and its updates come into play…
For a lot of the final three years, typical day of the week recommendation for Walt Disney World was fallacious. Capability constraints and park reservations had been large elements, Annual Go gross sales had been restricted to the bottom tier that blocked out weekends, and ticket offers had been irregular by historic requirements. All of this upended our regular suggestions up till 2024.
Fortunately, attendance and crowd dynamics have began to normalize. Park reservations went away for a lot of visitors, good-to-go dates had been added for Annual Passholders and Solid Members, extra Annual Go tiers at the moment are being offered, and ticket offers haven’t excluded weekends. Consequently, typical weekly attendance and crowds patterns among the many parks have additionally began to normalize.
The most important change that we’ve noticed all through 2024 is that the ‘wonky weekends’ phenomenon that we’d noticed for the final year-plus is now kind of a factor of the previous. Throughout this time, weekends had been the slowest days of the week at Walt Disney World and it was a night-and-day distinction between weekends and weekdays. Not solely was the wait instances unfold pronounced, however this additionally subverted expectations, because it was just about the other of historic norms.
In any case, ‘wonky weekends’ is now a factor of the previous. Sunday remains to be one of many higher days of the week to go to, however Saturday has develop into far worse. The truth is, Saturday is at the moment the second-busiest day of the week on common throughout all of Walt Disney World after Monday. Sunday is tied for one of the best, however that’s seasonal-dependent. Simply needed to share this replace to begin, because it’s a giant one–and a return to regular (for probably the most half).
Accordingly, right here’s our new recommendation for greatest days of the week at Walt Disney World in 2024…
Hollywood Studios
Okay, so we simply wrote that weekends are not slower–however that’s throughout all of Walt Disney World. Fridays via Sundays stay good days to do Disney’s Hollywood Studios. That is very true for those who do the weekends late or early.
Sunday nights are the best possible time to go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. When you’re arriving late (after 4 pm), you’ll be able to accomplish a shocking quantity in that half-day at DHS. Frankly, it’s troublesome to elucidate the ‘why’ of that at this level. One risk is that locals nonetheless do Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Sunday, however achieve this in the course of the center of the day and depart early.
This causes a giant spike in noon wait instances, 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.
DHS is a foul possibility on Mondays and Tuesdays. It is because it’s normally the #2 precedence park (after Magic Kingdom) for many visitors, so visitors find yourself doing Disney’s Hollywood Studios earlier of their journey…which normally means Mondays or Tuesdays.
Objectively, Wednesday or Thursday are the best possible choices–the bottom wait instances of the week at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If neither of these days work, Friday via Sundays are virtually nearly as good–doubtlessly higher for those who arrive early or keep late. Principally, crowd ranges begin out robust to start the week and drop considerably on Wednesday.
EPCOT
EPCOT is the worst decide on weekends as a result of it’s the largest “native’s park” at Walt Disney World, and EPCOT is extra standard with Floridians than vacationers. Though the hole has closed just a little with the debuts of Remy’s Ratatouille Journey and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, it’s nonetheless true.
That is an instance of the place analyzing wait time information would get you into hassle, as you’d (incorrectly) conclude that it doesn’t actually matter which day you do EPCOT. That couldn’t be farther from the reality, and there’s arguably no park the place choosing the proper day of the week is extra necessary from a qualitative perspective, however not a quantitative one.
Wait instances don’t inform the complete story–and even the principle one–relating to EPCOT on weekends. Since locals are much less more likely to do rides, they add to ‘looks like’ crowds and congestion with out making attraction wait instances noticeably worse. That is nonetheless a adverse, 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 Ingesting Across the World on Saturday and Sunday. For these of you who wish to relive your glory days by attending an open air frat get together, this would possibly sound interesting. We’re not teetotalers or something, however this generally could be a tad an excessive amount of for a family-friendly theme park. Even when it doesn’t cross the road (and it very properly could not for you), World Showcase is considerably extra crowded and congested on Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Once more, that is is 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 influence on the wait instances for rides. (Traces for meals cubicles are a completely totally different story!)
As such, you would possibly have the ability to “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.
Our precise recommendation is visiting EPCOT on a weekday. Wednesdays via Friday are all equally good. As EPCOT has added extra top-tier points of interest, it’s now additionally a high-priority park, and has the worst wait instances Mondays and Tuesdays. Keep away from these days.
Animal Kingdom
As a normal matter, Animal Kingdom is the park that requires the least technique and is the simplest place to beat the crowds in all of Walt Disney World. It doesn’t require shopping for Lightning Lanes, and is fairly simple to knock out every thing–after which some–for those who keep for a full day.
Objectively, one of the best days to go to Animal Kingdom are weekdays. Common each day wait instances are decrease Tuesday via Friday than they’re Saturday or Sunday. As soon as once more, Wednesday is one of the best day of the week–however you’ll be able to’t do each park on Wednesday, so Animal Kingdom is an effective possibility on Monday or Tuesday, when each different park is considerably busier.
Weekend wait instances are solely “worse” at Animal Kingdom because of the center of the day. When you’re staying on-site and profiting from Early Entry (and even going within the first couple hours the park is open), it’s fairly simple to beat the crowds. Furthermore, there’s a reasonably steep fall off in wait instances over the past couple hours Animal Kingdom is open. This one does differ by season (in the course of the holidays, it’s much less more likely to be true) however is correct to some extent all through all the 12 months.
That makes Animal Kingdom trickier than different parks at Walt Disney World by way of our suggestion. Statistically, it’s a “unhealthy” park to do on Saturday or Sunday. Nonetheless, 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 displays noon when crowds peak.
For this similar cause, Animal Kingdom is a effective possibility on Monday or Tuesday when the opposite parks are busier. You won’t have the ability to keep away from each park nowadays, through which case Animal Kingdom is your greatest (or least-bad) decide. Even on crowded days, the technique for Animal Kingdom is comparatively easy, as lined in our 1-Day Animal Kingdom Itinerary.
Truthfully, our greatest recommendation is to decide on your days for Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT first. No matter day is left over might be “assigned” to Animal Kingdom. Don’t fear an excessive amount of about this park.
Magic Kingdom
Traditionally, the worst day of the week at Magic Kingdom is Monday, and by a large margin. Keep away from Magic Kingdom on Mondays if in any respect potential.
Outdoors of Occasion Season, Magic Kingdom is a superb decide Wednesday via Thursday. The perfect day of the week in Magic Kingdom from an goal perspective is Wednesday. That is true even with Prolonged Night Hours in Magic Kingdom, which don’t noticeably transfer the needle on daytime crowds.
Locals have a tendency to go to on weekends, with Saturday being extra probably than Fridays or Sundays. Then there are Southerners who take lengthy weekend journeys, impacting all three days (however once more, Saturday disproportionately). Nonetheless, these demos are all smaller than vacationers, so none of them are really horrible.
Lastly, vacationers most steadily begin their journeys on the weekend, and Monday is the commonest 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. They’re much less more likely to go to Magic Kingdom within the second half of the week.
This leaves Thursday and Friday because the least busy days of the week at Magic Kingdom throughout regular instances of the 12 months. Sunday has additionally emerged as a surprisingly uncrowded day at Magic Kingdom. We’re hesitant to advocate visiting on Sunday as a result of historic wait time information suggests this can change, nevertheless it has actually been a superb possibility these days.
Magic Kingdom might be more difficult when it’s busy, nevertheless it’s nonetheless potential to have a satisfying and productive day within the park. We’d advocate shopping for Lightning Lane Multi-Go in Magic Kingdom, or no less than utilizing Early Entry. Observe our 1-Day Magic Kingdom Itinerary if you wish to beat the crowds with out both.
Occasion Season
Occasion 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 Occasion (MNSSHP) and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Occasion (MVMCP) particular occasions are held.
On days when the get together is held, Magic Kingdom opens at 8 am or 9 am and closes to common ticket holders at 6 pm. On non-party days, Magic Kingdom opens at 9 am and closes at 10 pm or 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 selection and visiting Magic Kingdom after they can spend 4-5 further hours within the park. That looks like the “apparent” choice, as extra time within the park–to not point out really having the ability to see the fireworks and Magic Kingdom at evening–is the smarter technique.
Sadly, that isn’t true. Everybody making the intuitive choice throws a monkey wrench into attendance and crowd dynamics in the course of the get together season. The consequence of that visitor habits ought to likewise be apparent: Magic Kingdom is considerably much less busy in the course of the day time hours on dates when events are held within the night, and way more busy on non-party days.
To place this into context, Magic Kingdom commonly has 9/10 or 10/10 crowd ranges on non-party days, with Mondays and Saturdays being the worst. Against this, Magic Kingdom sometimes has 1/10 to 4/10 crowd ranges on get together days. That quantities to a median wait time differential of about 20 to half-hour per experience, which provides up over the course of the day to the purpose that you could accomplish extra within the party-shortened days when Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm.
In consequence, we strongly advocate doing Magic Kingdom in the course of the days shortened by the Halloween or Christmas, after which Park Hopping to a different park earlier than 4 pm. Friends 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 goal to depart by 3 pm.)
Although non-party days supply considerably longer hours, you’ll nonetheless come out forward by avoiding Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and different non-party days. Regardless of far few hours on a celebration day, you’ll virtually all the time come out forward due to the time saved ready in strains.
There’s one other upside to visiting Magic Kingdom in the course of the day when a celebration is held at evening: earlier opening instances on many/most dates. This can be a enormous benefit, as lined in Photograph Report & Technique: Magic Kingdom Early Entry at 7:30 am. Suffice to say, there’s a giant 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 implies lacking the fireworks and normally night within the park. The upside is that you could see fireworks from outdoors the park–or you’ll be able to Park Hop again to Magic Kingdom on a non-party evening. Simply brace your self for considerably greater crowds than what you skilled on the get together day, as many individuals can have the identical thought!
There’s additionally a flip facet to all of this, which is that the opposite 3 parks are barely much less crowded on non-party days and extra crowded on get together days. If you concentrate on it, this is smart–Magic Kingdom crowds don’t exist in a vacuum. If much less or extra individuals are in a single park, the other is true within the others.
In consequence, all three different parks develop into higher choices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays throughout Occasion Season. We nonetheless don’t actively advocate doing Disney’s Hollywood Studios on a Monday–since that’s its busiest day of the week (see above), nevertheless it’s not as unhealthy on a Monday throughout Occasion Season as it’s the remainder of the 12 months.
The converse can also be true: EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom are worse choices on days when the events are held in Magic Kingdom. None of that is as pronounced as it’s with the curler coaster crowds in Magic Kingdom, although. With 3 different parks to soak up the displaced visitors, the influence is decrease on every of them than on Magic Kingdom itself.
Throughout Occasion Season, we’d advocate Animal Kingdom on Monday, EPCOT on Wednesday, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Saturday. That’s actually the cleanest recommendation for navigating the advanced crowd dynamics of Occasion Season. This supersedes all the park-by-park suggestions above.
When you don’t thoughts extra congestion or a extra ‘energetic’ ambiance, do DHS on Wednesday and EPCOT on Saturday. That’s technically the marginally higher recommendation from an goal perspective, however we actually don’t like EPCOT on weekends, particularly throughout Meals & Wine (which is the very same time of 12 months).
If in case you have Park Hopper tickets, probably the most easy possibility is bouncing to Magic Kingdom on Monday evening after tackling Animal Kingdom. Once more, simply be warned that crowds can be heavier, particularly for fireworks viewing.
Apologies for this prolonged clarification, however that is the most necessary consideration in selecting your day to go to every park throughout Occasion Season. Greater than anything, the gang patterns this time of 12 months are probably the most constant and predictable–this similar dynamic has performed out with MNSSHP and MVMCP for years.
It’s additionally the place most visitors ‘goof up’ and select the intuitive-but-incorrect method. Whereas it doesn’t embody all the 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!
Greatest & Worst Days at WDW Recap
We’ve lined plenty of floor and it may be overwhelming, so let’s attempt to break down one of the best and worst days to go to every park at Walt Disney World in a extra concise method:
Go to on These Days:
- Wednesday and Thursday do Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Sunday can also be good at Disney’s Hollywood Studios if staying late
- Thursday or Friday do Magic Kingdom
- Wednesday via Friday do EPCOT
- Any weekday do Animal Kingdom–for those who should do a park on Monday, make it DAK
- Occasion Days do Magic Kingdom if in a position to Park Hop elsewhere
Okay to Good Days:
- Fridays and Saturdays are effective at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Sunday is sweet at Magic Kingdom, with nights being greatest
- Weekends are effective at EPCOT if arriving and leaving early
- Saturday and Sunday do Animal Kingdom if arriving early or staying late
Keep away from These Days:
- Saturday, Monday and Tuesday don’t do Magic Kingdom
- Monday and Tuesday don’t do Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Saturdays and Sundays don’t do EPCOT if staying all-day
- Saturdays and Sundays don’t do Animal Kingdom if arriving late and leaving early
With it laid out like this, it is best to see that some days are persistently one of the best and worst for a number of parks. Which means in the course of the course of a median trip, you might need no selection however to do sure parks on days that aren’t objectively nearly as good. Don’t fear about that, as defined within the closing part…
How A lot Does Day of the Week Matter?
Common wait instances can differ by 3 to 10 minutes on one of the best versus worst days of the week at every park. That won’t appear to be a lot, however a ten minute distinction is definitely enormous. Over the course of the day, that may means spending an hour (or extra) much less time ready in line for those who select accurately.
Nonetheless, it’s not normally a ten minute distinction–that’s an excessive instance. You additionally in all probability wouldn’t select the worst days if choosing at random, nor would you unintentionally go at solely the time of day when crowds are heaviest and the hole is highest. So in follow, you’ll be able to in all probability anticipate to save lots of just a few minutes per experience by making good selections with the day of the week you go to every park. That’s not a ton of time, nevertheless it does add up over the course of a visit.
Throughout Occasion Season, selecting one of the best days and avoiding the worst issues much more than all different instances of the 12 months. Particularly for those who’re visiting in the course of the closing three months of the 12 months, selecting the correct day might be make-or-break in your notion of crowds. Even then, there’s sometimes way more of a distinction in crowds between weeks relatively than inside them.
Accordingly, selecting a superb time to go to Walt Disney World is considerably extra necessary than the way you allocate your days inside the week. Much more necessary is arriving early and/or staying late, which is the only approach 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.
Simply as essential is having savvy technique. Selecting an ideal day or week to go to could make touring the parks considerably simpler, however so can also having a superb itinerary that zigs when others zag. Then there’s the choice of shopping for your manner out of crowds with Lightning Lanes, which is one other good fail secure possibility. Talking of which, we’ve got a complete Information to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World for many who wish to totally grasp the newest technology of paid FastPass.
Selecting one of the best days of the week–and avoiding the worst ones–at every Walt Disney World theme park comes in spite of everything of these issues. To make certain, it’s a superb follow and price holding in thoughts that Magic Kingdom is greatest on Thursday or Friday, or that EPCOT ought to be averted on weekends.
It’s additionally helpful for these boxed into lower than best journey dates on account of faculty or work schedules. Identical goes for anybody who realistically gained’t have the choice to reach early or keep late (there’s a cause these instances are most advantageous–as a result of it’s merely not possible for a lot of households with babies). Ditto anybody who doesn’t wish to pay further for Lightning Lanes on precept, or as a result of it’s not of their trip finances. For anybody this describes, fastidiously selecting days of the week for every park can relieve some strain and lead to shorter wait instances.
With that mentioned, we wouldn’t upend our previously-planned schedules to account for this. Up to now, we’ve supplied day of week suggestions and have obtained frantic questions from readers who have already got their Advance Eating 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. Furthermore, day of the weeke suggestions are fairly simple to disrupt. All it actually takes is inclimate climate (comparatively commonplace in Florida) or inordinate attraction downtime. Both of these issues might be sufficient to show a “unhealthy” day right into a “good” one by way of wait instances, or vice-versa.
In the end, just by advantage of researching and studying a publish about one of the 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 actually not studying simply this technique. Whereas the recommendation right here is theoretically helpful, it’s fairly removed from make or break.
You’re significantly better off utilizing the different assets on this weblog to decide on good months or weeks to go to. If that’s not an possibility (and even whether it is), keep in mind to reach early or keep late. Failing that, use our itineraries to prioritize points of interest in one of the best order. Don’t wish to do this for some odd cause, spend the cash on Lightning Lane Multi-Go and purchase your manner out of strains. When you’d relatively not spend cash and waft throughout a midday-only go to…I suppose that is one of the best recommendation for you!
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study resorts on our Walt Disney World Motels Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To save cash on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys publish takes a singular have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Journey Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for every thing you have to know!
Your Ideas
Which days are your favorites for every of the parks? Assume it’s good recommendation to keep away from EPCOT on weekends, even when it’s not supported by wait instances? What about weekends at Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Another greatest or worst days at every of the Walt Disney World theme parks? Do you agree or disagree with our picks? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!